South Africa as an emerging power: from label to ‘status consistency’?

South Africa proudly wears the label ‘emerging power’, with its membership of the BRICS and G20 probably the most visible signs of this conferred status. This paper explores the concept of the emerging powers within the context of current global power shifts and locates South Africa within this group. It discusses the criteria for and characteristics of emerging powers, and then turns to some of the constraints and challenges faced by these states. Specific attention is paid to the ‘how’ of these states' recognition and inclusion in global institutions and the impact of domestic conditions and regional politics on their positions, focusing particularly on South Africa. It concludes that these factors will continue to challenge South Africa's ability to rise above the semblance of importance conferred by its inclusion in the category of emerging powers to a position in which it exercises this status to its own advantage, including its idealistic objectives of promoting greater global equality and recognition for Africa and the global South. Although other emerging powers face similar challenges, South Africa's domestic constraints and related lack of regional and global reach, politically and economically, threaten its ‘status consistency’ as an emerging power.     

The political value of languages

A theory of linguistic justice needs to take into account the three distinct values of language as a medium for communication, as a source of individual identity and as an instrument for political self-government. Doing so would undermine Van Parijs’ claim that political borders and peoples should be downgraded to a purely instrumental role for purposes of social justice. But it would widen the scope of egalitarian global justice by including a universal right of individuals to membership self-governing polities and it could provide more solid theoretical foundations for his defence of coercive territorial language regimes.     

Pension Programs Around the World: New Comparative Global Policy Data

Abstract

Income protection during old age is a universally recognized human right. Are nations fulfilling their responsibility for income support for older adults? Using a new global dataset on social protection conceptualized and built by two of the authors, this paper examines whether countries have legislated for national pension systems, and the characteristics and adequacy of those systems.     

Timing as a source of regulatory influence: A technical elite network analysis of global finance

Rules governing the international financial system are the subject of some of the most intense distributional battles waged in any area of global governance. Who wins and who loses such battles – and why? I develop a novel analytical framework – technical elite network (TEN) theory – which explains the widely varying levels of influence that stakeholders enjoy over global financial standards. TEN theory draws attention to how issue‐specific characteristics of international finance – in particular, its highly technical and complex nature – shape the distributional consequences of global regulatory processes. It posits that such characteristics influence distributional outcomes by (i) affecting who claims first‐mover position and, thus, sets the agenda in global financial rulemaking, and (ii) ensuring that proposals made by first movers are increasingly difficult to alter at later stages of rulemaking. I provide empirical evidence for the theory by examining two regulatory regimes that are central to the efficiency and stability of the global financial system: the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision and the International Accounting Standards Board.     

论卡特政府时期美国全球战略发生历史性转变的内在根源(Ⅱ)

吉米·卡特是美国历史上少有的在执政期间真正有意致力于推动世界和平的总统之一。他为抑制美苏军备竞赛,裁减军备与缓和当时的国际紧张局势做出了不懈的努力。他的这些努力使他后来荣膺诺贝尔和平奖。然而,由于卡特的这种外交方针触犯了当时美国国内某些极端保守势力的利益,在国际上又遭到苏联霸权主义的扩张带来的冲击,使他在执政期间屡屡遭受外交政策上的挫折。分析美国外交政策史上这一特定时期的种种内在和外在的因果联系,对于我们今天更深入地了解美国外交政策的内在动因具有极为重要的参照意义。     

分众化时代电视节目主持人个性化浅议

主持人的个性就是个人综合素质和人格魅力的浓缩,它与节目在受众中的传播效果息息相关。本文着重从主持人与节目价值取向、角色回归、专业水准、人格化传播等方面阐释主持人只有体现个性化,才能有持久的生命力。     

学科细分与学科扩展的统一——政治学研究的新趋向

政治学研究的新趋向,集中体现为两个特点,一是研究热点的跨学科性;二是研究方法的开放性。在政治学基本理论方面,预计未来的研究走向,仍会体现这两种特性。而近期的潜在研究热点,可能会集中在文化(文明)与政治、宗教与政治、科学与政治等关系领域。     

应对全球化新浪潮 发展社会主义民主——评《全球背景下的中国民主建设》一书

从16世纪起,全球化经历了三次浪潮.全球化的三次浪潮也就是全球民主化的三次浪潮.我国应该怎样应对这个全球化、民主化的新浪潮,这是我国学者应该重点研究的一个重大政治理论课题.<全球化背景下的中国民主建设>一书能够着眼民主化浪潮汹涌澎湃的全球背景,立足我国社会主义初级阶段的实际,对我国民主建设作了全方位、多层次、宽领域的考察,既肯定成绩、总结经验,又点明不足、展望未来.     

Biotic Carbon Sequestration and the Kyoto Protocol: The Construction of Global Knowledge by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

This paper explores the dynamics of the production of global knowledge by an international knowledge organization, in this case the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Based on previous notions of international boundary organizations, the idea of international knowledge organizations emphasizes the knowledge generation function of such organizations rather than their convening function. Using the case of controversial Kyoto Protocol biotic carbon sequestration policies, I argue that boundary work and uncertainty management are the essential dynamics in the successful construction of global knowledge by international knowledge organizations. This uncertainty management occurs in a manner broadly, although not completely, in conformance with the institutional preferences of powerful policy actors. Global knowledge can legitimate and help refine global policies, but the process of its construction must be iterative and transparent if it is to be credible for global environmental governance over the long-term.