Visas and work permits: Possible global negotiating initiatives

We discuss global options for initiatives intended to ameliorate adverse impacts of visa and work permit systems used by national governments around the world. We first describe and document some of their effects, noting the relative lack of other research work on these issues. We then discuss proposals for a new and supplemental global visa structure which have been made as part of the Mode 4 GATS negotiations in the WTO, suggesting that the GATS/WTO may be an imperfect institutional location for negotiating on these matters. We then evaluate other approaches, including what realistically could be possible if a new body specifically created for global negotiation in the area were to be used.

Old and New Labour Narratives of Whitehall: Radicals,Reactionaries and Defenders of the Westminster Model

This article argues that throughout its history, the leadership of the Labour Party has chosen to embrace a benign view of the Civil Service, as part of a wider acceptance of the constitutional status quo reflected in the Westminster model. There has nevertheless been a long tradition in the wider Labour movement that has questioned whether Whitehall is capable of working for a government with radical aspirations. This article examines Labour's historical approach towards Whitehall, before reflecting on the extent to which the present Administration, while appealing to radical and reforming rhetoric has, like its predecessors, continued to embrace the status quo. It concludes by arguing that a contemporary and credible narrative capable of challenging the Westminster model has yet to emerge from the broader movement.     

Rereading the Public: Isolationism and Internationalism Revisited

This is the first installment in what we hope will be a recurring series of Forums in ISP. In each segment we intend to provide an outlet for peer-reviewed dialogue and debate on important topics in the field and to allow our readers to discuss material previously printed in the pages of ISP. Below are two comments on "Challenging U.S. Policymakers' Image of an Isolationist Public" by Steven Kull and Clay Ramsay published in ISP 1:1. Both comments raise a number of important issues pertaining to the relationship of public opinion and foreign policy, and also address more general questions of domestic impact on foreign policy outputs and several significant methodological questions about approaches to polling. The Forum begins first with comments by Richard Clark and Kenneth Dautrich, is followed by comments from Shoon Murray, and concludes with a response from Kull and Ramsay.     

A history of sex and the state in Southeast Asia: class,intimacy and invisibility

This essay offers a history of international marriages that questions the definition of marriage and what it meant to belong, as a legal subject or citizen, to a colonial state in Southeast Asia. European imperial states deployed monogamous marriage alongside other weapons of empire as a justification for intervention into Southeast Asian societies. With monogamous marriage came also European notions of belonging that traced surnames and legal subject status (later citizenship) via husbands and fathers. The ramifications for individuals in international marriages between Asian women and European men are well known. However, the vast majority of ‘international marriages’ were not those between colonial Europeans and Southeast Asian women, but between Southeast Asian women and lower class Asian men from India and China. Colonial states ignored or failed to register these lower class intra-Asian intimacies because their unions did not threaten colonial rule so long as they ensured a continuous pool of labor and promoted the colonial economy. Unlike recent theories which argue for an omniscient state that penetrates into the personal lives of its populations, this essay maintains that states intensely regulated marriage and belonging for some subjects but not for others. This longstanding unevenness in the management of intimate unions provides a historical context for understanding shifts in the marital regimes of contemporary postcolonial states. Taking a long-term view, the essay asks if recent increases in international marriages might be better understood as spikes rather than as absolute increases resulting from ‘globalization’. A historical framework ties the rise and fall of international marriage to early modern trade patterns, imperialism's labor requirements, war, and the recent demand for labor that has arisen from low birth rates and economic changes. Each of these ‘events’ entailed a large-scale movement of populations which resulted in the development of intimate unions.     

中苏论战于国际共运的意义新探

中苏论战是国际共产主义运动中的重大历史事件。传统观点认为,中苏论战导致了国际共产主义运动中的思想混乱和统一社会主义阵营的解体。然而,文章认为中苏论战对于国际共产主义运动具有重大意义,它打破了国际共产主义运动传统模式。促进了社会主义模式多样化的探索,推动了各国党独立自主潮流的发展,最终开创了国际共产主义运动的新局面。     

国际强行法保护的人权

人权并不存在等级 ,所有的人权 ,包括公民权利 ,政治权利 ,经济、社会和文化权利 ,对于维护人的尊严都具有同等的重要性。在国际人权法上有一些人权属于“受国际强行法保护的人权”。但是 ,这些人权也不是更重要和更高级的人权 ,它们是维护人的尊严所需要的“最低限度的人权”。     

共产国际、联共(布)与中共早期主要领导人的更替

中共成立后至1931年间,其主要领导人发生了几次大的更替。它们都是在共产国际与联共(布)的掌控下完成的。莫斯科在取舍中共主要领导人时,更多的是顺从自己的理论指向或自身利益的需要。按照莫斯科的意图来取舍中共的主要领导人,给中国革命事业和中共党的自身建设带来了两个主要弊端:一是共产国际、联共(布)的理论指向和自身利益不一定符合中国革命的利益;二是这样做的结果使中共主要领导人的更替完全围绕着莫斯科的意图来进行,党不能独立自主地选择自己的领导核心。两个弊端给中共领导的革命事业以及自身建设带来了不利影响。     

备战打仗中的国际人道法规则运用

国际人道法的基本原则之一是区分对待战斗员和平民,以便在武装冲突中有效地对战争受难者进行保护,平衡"军事必要"与"人道需求"这一矛盾。从实践经验上看,我军在战争中往往守法做的比较好,而在对付敌人违法作战方面准备不足。在未来军事斗争中应利用国际人道法的相关知识,做到既严格遵守又灵活运用。具体做法包括:将遵守国际人道规则列入部队训练和演习内容;运用国际人道法合理进行目标选择与打击;做到正确、灵活地对待和使用保护性标志;灵活处置国际人道法的守势反用等。     

中美摩擦的国际规则之争与全球可持续治理的中国方案

中美之争是全球治理陷入当前困境的外在表现。全球化发展至今,军事等传统安全问题已经不是全球治理最大的困扰,如何在全球权力结构变化之下调整治理思路、模式以应对资源枯竭、环境恶化等具有跨界特征的问题才是当务之急。现有的全球治理具备了奥兰·扬所提出的国际制度变迁的内部矛盾、权力结构变化、外部压力等要素,已处于明显变革之中。与全球治理并行推进的《变革我们的世界:2030年可持续发展议程》(简称"2030议程"),以新型伙伴关系合作、多元化等核心理念获得了全球最大范围的支持,并由于具有显著的外部性而承载着全球治理的责任。"2030议程"在理念普适性和目标务实性方面的优势,为全球治理以可持续治理为新内涵实现理念的转换和相关实践提供了机会。但不可忽视的是,目前主导力量不足以及公共产品匮乏的现状,将严重制约全球可持续治理的落实。中国提出的"一带一路"倡议,以"人类命运共同体"的理念指导,沿着可持续发展的道路推进相关国家、地区的有效发展和治理。~①中国在主动提供治理公共产品的同时,不断以"共商、共建、共享"原则和多方参与分享的创新理念提高相关国家的参与能力,为国际可持续治理培育和储备支持力量,并推动解决治理变革的关键制约因素。随着"一带一路"倡议不断得到全球认可和支持,全球可持续治理将不断从中获得现实和潜在的改革动力。因此中国可以更多的担当,从全球可持续治理的角度,通过理论的完善和实践的充实,将"一带一路"倡议定位于全球可持续治理的中国方案。