The logic of competitive influence-seeking: Russia,Ukraine, and the conflict in Donbas

The crisis in Ukraine since late 2013 has seen four successive internationally mediated agreements that have been at best partially implemented. Drawing on extensive fieldwork and 42 key informant interviews sides, we explain this outcome with reference to the logic of competitive influence-seeking: Russia is currently unable to achieve a friendly and stable regime in Kyiv and thus hedges against the consolidation of an unfriendly pro-Western and stable regime by maintaining its control over parts of eastern Ukraine and solidifying the dependence of local regimes there on Russian support. This gives Russia the opportunity to maintain the current status quo or settle for re-integration terms through which Russia can sustain long-term influence over Ukraine’s domestic and foreign policy. We conclude by reflecting on the consequences of competitive influence-seeking in the post-Soviet space: the likely persistence of low-intensity conflict in Ukraine; the further consolidation of territorial divisions in other post-Soviet conflicts; and the need for policy-makers in Russia and the West to prioritize the management of the consequent instability.     

‘An act of faith’ or a new ‘Brown Empire’? The dismissal of India’s international anti-Racism, 1945–1961

At the inaugural UN session in 1946, an Indian-sponsored resolution was passed with a two-thirds majority against South Africa’s racist treatment of Indians. India continued its activism over racism and apartheid throughout the 1950s, though the issue was increasingly seen as a painful yearly ritual. Still, Indian diplomats persisted in raising the issue every year, despite diminishing results. The British settler-colonies were particularly offended by India’s campaign, as it challenged the discursive justification for their existence. They rejected what they saw as India’s emotional, hypocritical, even imperialist, campaign against racism. By tracing the construction and rejection of anti-racist politics, we examine the dismissal of racism as a ‘legitimate’ international issue.     

Education for whom? Engineering multiculturalism and liberal peace in post-conflict Kosovo

ABSTRACT

This paper traces the changing relationship between the state and its education system at the intersection of diverging visions and agendas of local and international actors in post-war Kosovo in the period 1999–2014. Specifically, it explores why and how externally driven reforms that carry the ideals of an inclusive multi-ethnic polity clashed with domestic actors’ visions of education as a locus of national resistance and independent statehood. To critically inquire into the direction of education reforms in the post-war context, the empirical part of the analysis identifies critical historical junctures through which these competing ideas and relevant actors changed and/or gained traction. Accordingly, the paper focuses mainly on the post-war period, but also considers the pre-war period in order to highlight the predominant vision of local actors on the roles of education, its intertwinement with unfolding conflicts, and its central role in processes of state formation and nation-building, in particular in a post-war context. The analysis is based on genealogical historical narrative, textual analysis of key official documents related to the education sector in Kosovo, and semi-structured interviews conducted in Pristina in November 2013 and October 2016. The analysis demonstrates that the role of education in post-war Kosovo reflects tension between multicultural ideals promoted by international actors, on the one hand, and nationalist, often exclusive concerns of local actors embedded in an unfinished and contested process of state- and nation-building, on the other hand. The paper finds that by over-emphasizing equal collective rights, extensive autonomy for the different communities and ethnic-based decentralized governance, international actors have unwillingly contributed to further education separation along ethnic lines.     

国际碳交易机制复杂化及中国应对

目前,国际碳交易机制网络群体呈现复杂化态势,碳交易机制复合体、碳交易机制集群与碳交易机制联结相互渗透,同时其内部也进行着良性协同、建设性合作与功能性竞争的有序互动。在无政府状态、利益认知差异以及全球气候治理体系转型等普遍性因素影响下,国际碳交易机制复杂化的成因有着自身的特殊性,是其发展进程中的必然产物。另外,国际碳交易机制间的互动具有双重效应,其协同合作将会带来经济发展与气候保护的双赢结果,而如果互相掣肘则会增加碳交易成本甚至造成负减排。因此,中国在复杂化的国际碳交易机制中推进新型碳外交并实现碳中和目标,既需要充分发挥自身团结国际力量的优势以及国内和国际双循环新发展格局的核心作用,促进碳交易机制间的协同与衔接,又要积极践行《巴黎协定》关于碳交易机制整合的倡议,与各国及相关国际组织共同将碳交易机制整合的规范推广到整个国际社会以及其他议题的全球治理之中。     

西方“技术联盟”:构建新科技霸权的战略路径

新一轮科技革命与产业变革正在深入发展,科技正成为大国战略竞争的主战场。围绕科技发展与应用之规则、标准、体系等因素的竞争,将直接影响到国际战略的权力结构与国际体系的重塑。基于"技术多边主义"战略,美国将与其伙伴国家围绕高科技领域组建"技术联盟",共同制定全球科技发展与治理的新规则、新标准,进而实现对新科技塑造权力的掌握。随着西方"技术联盟"框架体系日渐成型,全球力量结构、国际格局与国际体系都将受到深刻影响。     

深海安全治理:问题缘起、国际合作与中国策略

深海区域是重要的全球公域,其丰富的资源储备和巨大的军事战略价值成为吸引世界各国深度参与深海开发的重要诱因。近年来,各国深海力量投送的不断加强,也在国际深海领域造成了如生态安全、军事安全、经济与资源安全以及人身安全等各种传统及非传统安全问题。国际深海安全问题的出现,会对深海开发的良性发展产生严重的影响。因此,重视和加强对国际深海安全问题的治理迫在眉睫。现阶段,国际社会在相关国际法和国际机制的基础上,已经初步形成了以国际海底管理局等国际组织和主权国家共同参与的总体治理架构。但是,现阶段的国际深海安全治理还存在着治理主体层次不够多元、军事等传统安全领域的治理相对乏力等亟须解决的问题。近年来,中国在和平利用国际深海资源方面,发展迅猛。进一步关注国际深海安全问题、有效参与国际深海安全治理,对于中国而言意义重大。在此背景下,中国可以在进一步有效感知深海安全问题、夯实参与国际深海安全治理的实力基础以及打造深海“人类命运共同体”等方面进一步着力。     

全球公共产品视角下的中国国际发展合作

中国的对外援助事业随国际、国内形势而变化。近年来官方对国际发展合作的重视不仅促成中国对外援助指导思想的转变,也为对外援助向国际发展合作转型奠定了理念基础。中国为发展合作提供全球公共产品的实践不断丰富:一是基于本国成功经验而开展的减贫国际合作成为重要公共产品,二是通过创新农业技术合作方式为解决全球粮食安全问题提供更多公共产品,三是借助三方合作更好地创新公共产品供给模式,四是持续加强全球卫生公共产品供给。中国对外援助在取得积极成效的同时,也面临经济、技术实力有限、援助项目可持续性不足、受援国国家治理与互不干涉内政之间协调困难、国际发展合作的话语权有待提升等挑战。未来,中国应注重从制度建设、资金筹集、可持续性提升、受援国能动性发挥、国际话语权提升等方面做更充分准备。     

国际私法中规则和标准之争的经济学分析

国际私法规范是应该主要表现为规则还是应该表现为标准引起了很大的争论,传统的理论分析在这个问题上并没有得出令人满意的结论。20世纪60年代经济学的方法被引进到国际私法领域中,并且首先被运用到对规则和标准合理性的论证中,现有的经济分析并没有给人们清晰的思路来解决规则和标准的争论。要想用经济学的方法来解决国际私法关于规则和标准之间的争论,必须深入到规则和标准的经济学本质并结合国际私法的实际,才能得出科学的结论。     

构建海事司法鉴定机构的探索——以上海建设国际航运中心为视角

近年,海事、海商等涉海案件的数量逐年增长。海事诉讼案件中的待证事实多涉及专门性问题,需要通过科学实证予以鉴别和判断。上海在建设国际航运中心的同时根据国际法原则以及国际惯例,设立专门的海事司法鉴定机构已成为海事司法的必然要求。构建与完善海事司法鉴定机构对规范海事司法鉴定市场、维护当事人权益、保障社会法治建设、促进海事诉讼的审理与上海国际航运中心的建设都具有极为重要的意义。     

International Public Goods and Agency Problems in Treaty Organizations

This paper analyzes the extent to which international public goods and agency problems are present in international organizations. A noncooperative model of the funding choices of donor countries and the subsequent policy choices of an international agency is used to develop hypotheses about the behavior of ideal and problematic international agencies. The analysis suggests that international agencies are likely to be underfunded and undermonitored relative to that which maximizes the joint interest of signatory countries. The funding and policy implications of the model are tested using data from the Global Environment Facility (GEF). The statistical results suggest that (i) treaty obligations affect behavior of Annex 1 and non-Annex 1 countries, (ii) GEF’s allocation of grants generally advances the international environmental agenda, and (iii) significant free-riding and agency problems exist in GEF as it is presently organized. Overall, the empirical results suggest that treaty organizations may be relatively effective, if not perfect, instruments of international public policy.