叙利亚冲突与国际人道主义法的“劫难”

国际人道主义法致力于规制武装冲突,以实现"军事需要"与"人道主义"之间的平衡。叙利亚冲突导致了震撼人类良知的人道主义灾难,也导致了国际人道主义法的巨大灾难。叙利亚冲突本身的特征、一些国家暴虐"反恐"的泛滥,国际人道主义法本身的缺陷,都影响了叙利亚冲突各方关于如何实现"军事需要"的考量,导致各方几乎都忽视了国际人道主义法的要求。以参与方的不平等和非对称为核心特征的叙利亚冲突,代表着全球范围内武装冲突的"新常态"。以平等为基础、以互惠为条件的既有国际人道主义法,已经难以满足此种"新常态"。在推进国际人道主义法的建设过程中,国际社会须将当代武装冲突的非对称性考虑在内,推动某种共同但有区别的责任与义务。国际社会迫切需要确定"恐怖主义"的定义,以免"恐怖主义"标签被进一步泛化和滥用。国际社会还需检视和减少国际人道主义法与国内外其他规范体系之间的矛盾和冲突,弥合不同规范体系之间的裂痕。     

总体国家安全观视野下的中国周边安全合作

中国总体国家安全的实现,不仅需要加强国内安全治理,也需要重视国际安全合作。周边地区对于中国国家安全至关重要,也是总体国家安全观践行的首要外部区域。十年来,中国积极践行总体国家安全观,在政治安全、国土安全、军事安全、经济安全等多领域与周边国家加强合作,谋求以新安全格局保障新发展格局。纵观中国与周边国家安全合作的历程,呈现出以下特点：统筹安全与发展、协调推进各领域安全、尊重差异与各有侧重、战略谋划与务实推进相结合。中国在周边地区积极践行总体国家安全观,可以更好地维护主权、安全、发展核心利益,营造和平稳定的周边环境和推动周边安全共同体建设。但是,总体国家安全观在周边地区的实践过程中也存在安全互信不足、泛安全化、系统效应受限等局限,需要中国与周边国家基于“求同存异”原则,循序渐进地推进周边安全共同体的构建。     

霸权衰落与“泛安全化”：基于美国的个案分析

衰落是霸权的宿命,但霸权国既不会主动放弃国际政治中的主导地位,也不会静待霸权体系崩溃。处于衰落阶段的霸权国期待维持与崛起国之间的权力差距,以延长霸权的寿命。然而,权力转移等国际关系结构性因素的变化导致离岸平衡和军事打击等传统手段难以在衰落阶段奏效。相比之下,“安全化”为霸权国家的霸权护持行动与选择——如领域撤退或强制惩罚——提供了合法性依据。同时,由于霸权的同心圆特性,核心利益被触动会引发霸权国在核心和外围领域的全方位的打压,进而泛化议题和对象。衰落中的霸权国通过“危机感知”—“构建并接受安全化诉求”—“泛安全化”的传导路径,将维持霸权地位的诉求以泛安全化的形式展现出来。然而,美国霸权衰落的经验事实表明,泛安全化作为衰落阶段的霸权护持手段不仅与理论预期相反,而且成效也不尽人意。面对美国霸权的泛安全化,中国应当保持战略定力,坚守并贯彻总体国家安全观。     

Liberalism against the people: learning to live with coups d’état

ABSTRACT

This article argues that a perceived liberal ‘defection’ to a 2006 military coup in Thailand can help illuminate the authoritarian face of liberalism during an existential crisis; more provisionally, it is proposed that the Thai experience may provide lessons for understanding liberal decisionism. Detailing a single case has the advantage of embedding the discussion in cultural, historical and political detail without which the action is incomprehensible. The article applies decisionist and morphological theory and historical analysis as it explores the factors and motives leading to liberal coup complicity. The article’s chief objective is to make intelligible a form of liberal extra-constitutional decisionism in a non-western setting.     

The narratives behind the EU's external perceptions: how civil society and elites in Ukraine,Israel and Palestine “learn” EU norms

ABSTRACT

The EU's normative promotion is a keystone in the arch of its Foreign and Security Policy, reflected in establishing a “ring of friends” in its neighbourhood. However, the EU's normative impact in these countries is often hindered by domestic constraints. Conversely, deeper socialisation through persuasion and “learning” may advance towards the promotion of EU norms better. By tracing the “learning” component of the EU's external perceptions in its Eastern (Ukraine) and Southern (Israel and Palestine) neighbourhoods, this paper elaborates upon the receptiveness of EU norms. Considering the specific attention that the ENP draws towards the support of civil society, this paper focuses on “learning” narratives of EU norms among civil society elites in Ukraine, Israel and Palestine as the key targets of EU assistance – with a particular focus on various conceptualisations of learning in the learning process. Notwithstanding perceptions of the EU as a normative power, we find that the learning processes remain too complex to be captured within a single theoretical framework. Whereas communicative rationality implies learning about each other's identities through rational arguing, our analysis demonstrates that identity performance is one of the most emotive and crucial factors in perceptions of learning.     

India after the 2014 general elections: BJP dominance and the crisis of the third party system

ABSTRACT

This article critically assesses claims that India has entered a new party system after the 2014 general elections, marked by renationalisation with the BJP as the new ‘dominant’ party.’ To assess these claims, we examine the electoral rise of the BJP in the build-up to and since the 2014 general elections until the state assembly elections in December 2018. Overall, we argue that despite the emerging dominance of the BJP, a core feature of the third party system -a system of binodal interactions- has remained largely intact albeit in a somewhat weaker form. Furthermore, by comparing the post 2014 Indian party system with key electoral features of the first three party systems, we conclude that the rise of the BJP has thrown the third-party system into crisis, but does not yet define the consolidation of a new party system.     

Regionalism in the Global South: Mercosur and ECOWAS in trade and democracy protection

ABSTRACT

The aim of this article is to analyse the performance of regionalism in the Global South through a comparative analysis of Mercosur and Ecowas with regard to the trade and democracy protection agendas, by contrasting their institutional design and regional leadership concerning the two issues. Firstly, it analyses the evolution of intra-regional trade as well as the trade agenda of each bloc concerning international negotiations with other states or economic blocs. Secondly, it discusses the relevance of democratic stability in the two regional organisations and how each organisation has performed in cases of democratic rupture in member states. When comparing the dynamics of the two organisations, we argue that differences in terms of institutional design and regional leadership have meant that Ecowas has been less ambitious than Mercosur in its trade agenda, but more decisive vis-à-vis the region’s democratic stability. Thus, this article aims to contribute to the comparative regionalism literature, setting out an analytical comparative framework for assessing the performance of regional organisations, which remains a difficult task for this particular research agenda.     

论能源安全的公共产品属性与能源安全共同体构建

能源资源是大自然对人类社会的馈赠,本质上是各国和人民都有权享受的公共资源,对这种权利的安全保障是能源安全的应有之义。能源安全本质上是一项公共产品,突出能源安全的公共属性有助于能源安全的不断完善,有助于世界经济的发展和人类福祉的提高。从国家能源安全、区域能源安全到全球能源安全,国际能源安全的公共属性不断加强。国际能源安全公共属性特征的变化为"能源安全共同体"的形成创造了客观条件,国际社会各行为体有必要在主观认识上朝构建"能源安全共同体"的方向努力。"能源安全共同体"建构可从区域经济一体化开始,强化区域经济一体化组织成员对共同体的认识,把能源安全作为实现区域一体化的又一重要抓手,改革、完善和创新有关国际组织和机制,通过"政府间主义"—"跨国家主义"—"超国家主义"的路径演变逻辑,通过功能主义的纵向整合,构建层次递进的国际能源安全共同体。     

Child marriage,human rights and international norms: the case of legislative reform in Trinidad and Tobago

Abstract

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child entered into force in 1990. It condemns child marriage, violence and discrimination against children and enjoins tutelage for their education and health. Implementing such principles in national legislation sometimes conflicts with local norms relating to respect for cultural and religious traditions. This was the case of Trinidad and Tobago, a multicultural and multi-religious society that legally sanctioned child marriage until 2017. The paper makes two unique contributions to the literature. First, using the literature on child marriage and the obligations under international conventions, the paper creates a child marriage conceptual framework with the main normative positions on child marriage. Second, using the framework, it explores the normative motivations underlying the domestic legal reform debates held in parliament between 2015–2017. The paper uses the conceptual framework to explain the transformations in the traditional positions of local religious and ethnic groups, provides evidence of norm penetration from the international to a local multicultural setting and furthers the literature on international human rights norm penetration and contestation.