Reviving the Russian empire: the Crimean intervention through a neoclassical realist lens

Although many policy-makers and scholars maintain that international norms have altered the motivations underlying state behaviour, this article argues that states continue to pursue national self-interest, but in ways that remain understudied. While traditional realist assumptions explain a great deal of state behaviour, they have not been widely used to account for important alternative tools of state intervention, such as economic and normative strategies. Focusing on the case of Russia's 2014 intervention in Ukraine, this article offers insights into how, and under what circumstances, these tools are used to accomplish traditional state objectives. Guided by the tenets of neoclassical realism, the article argues that in the case of Russia, military force is no longer the sole, or even the primary, means used to accomplish traditional security goals. Such dynamics have significant theoretical and policy implications for contemporary international relations.     

从科索沃独立看国际法上的分离与干涉

科索沃问题的实质是国际法上的分离问题,国际法上不存在分离权,民族自决权也不包含分离权,因此科索沃不能主张行使分离权,更无权要求取得第三国的支持和援助,除例外情况,国际法禁止对他国进行干涉。对一国分离运动进行的干涉,侵犯了该国国家主权和领土完整,违反了国际法基本原则和《联合国宪章》,国际社会、联合国和国际法从未允许第三国或国际组织干涉一国分离运动。     

地缘性介入与制度性嵌构：美国亚太区域水安全外交战略

根据地缘利益诉求(攻势/守势)与跨国流域水治理程度(工具性/制度性)两个指标,可以将"水安全外交"界定为国家以及相关行为体围绕跨境水资源安全问题展开的博弈行为。水安全外交包括冲突预防型、霸权引导型、水互动冷漠型和治理后现代型四种类型。作为霸权引导型的美国水安全外交战略,其核心是通过水的全球治理来巩固其全球霸权地位,主要表现在两个方面:一是通过大国的地缘性介入,保障其水外交的战略利益;二是通过对区域水治理体系的制度性嵌置和重构,保持其水外交的合法性和有效性。美国通过水外交的四条路径(联盟和议题联系方式、同水外交大国的协调方式、国际组织议题嵌入、网络化伙伴关系)推进水安全外交政策和安全战略的制定。在其水外交进程中,国内外的动因机制发挥了重要作用。美国通过水安全外交拓展自身在亚太的地缘利益诉求,推行美国价值观的水治理原则和规范,嵌构以美国为核心的水安全治理体系,遏制地区大国(特别是中国)的水话语权,以最终实现美国在区域水—能源—粮食纽带安全中的战略优势平衡。     

刑法视域下的群体性事件研究综述

在群体性事件中因人群大量聚集极易伴生聚众型犯罪、侵犯财产和伤害人身的犯罪以及其他犯罪,刑法学从群体性事件概念、类型、特征和社会危害性等方面进行考察,为关于群体性事件的刑事政策的制定,刑法规制群体性事件的基本原则的设定以及处置群体性事件的司法实务提供理论和实证上的支持,最终为群体性事件的理性、规范和法治处置做出应有的贡献。     

An island unmixed: European military intervention and the displacement of Crete's Muslims, 1896–1908

This article examines the displacement of the majority of Crete's Muslim population after an upheaval led to the establishment of an autonomous regime on the island in 1898, following the military intervention by a coalition of European powers (Britain, France, Italy and Russia). By drawing a connection between Cretan topography and the type of intervention, I argue that the coalition's policies played a central role in Muslim emigration from the greatest Ottoman island. The article highlights the sectarian lens through which the European decision-makers regarded relations between the island's Christian and Muslim populations. In so doing, it makes a contribution to the history of European intervention in the Ottoman Empire. The final section offers a glimpse into the diminished Muslim minority under the autonomous regime, which was established after Abdülhamid II withdrew his soldiers from Crete, signifying de facto termination of Ottoman sovereignty on the island.     

Military action but not as we know it: Libya,Syria and the making of an Obama Doctrine

This article examines the evidence for a putative Obama Doctrine. Its main finding is that a Doctrine is identifiable and is characterised by a modus operandi deriving its strength not from what it threatens to do but from what it offers: a calibrated, multilateral response to egregious humanitarian crises. This nascent Doctrine is identifiable in three main ways: first, it is an attempt to clarify and institutionalise a response to the massive human rights violations that have typically engendered little or no action on the part of the USA. Second, it seeks to recast a series of false choices which have historically compelled an uncomfortable commitment to stability rather than the pursuit of reform. A third defining element concerns the practical application or operationalisation of this philosophy. While adding clarity – specifically in terms of identifying how and when to act – the Obama Doctrine is very broad indeed, raising concerns about both content and articulation.     

Diffusion of treatment interventions: exploration of ‘secondary’ treatment diffusion

Abstract

The present report presents outcome results from a randomized controlled effect study on extended Aggression Replacement Training (ART). In a pre–post design, a 30-hour ART intervention was found to significantly reduce behavioral problems and increase social skills. The control group did not demonstrate comparable changes, but still indicated improvement. Such control-group improvement may be caused by improper treatment and control group implementation (diffusion of treatment) and/or ‘secondary’ diffusion caused by participants in the treatment group affecting control group subjects by demonstrating changed behavior. Both mechanisms were explored, and it is concluded that the improvement observed in the control group was due to such ‘secondary diffusion’. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

Beijing and the Myanmar problem

Abstract

The re-emergence of China as a major economic and political power has drawn attention to the role it might play in solving regional problems. Prominent among many Asian issues on Beijing's agenda is its southwestern neighbour, Myanmar, and in particular the military machine that has long ruled the country with an iron fist. The junta in place today is both acknowledged as problematic by policymakers in Beijing, and seen by the wider world as a regional challenge on which China should take the lead. However, there is little agreement on ways forward. To determine how Beijing might handle the Myanmar problem, this article first examines the concept of intervention, reviewing the manifold modes found in the contemporary world and drawing up a typology. Then it surveys arguments about intervention, focusing on perspectives that are relevant in this context. Next it presents arguments about intervention in Myanmar, and follows up by looking in some detail at China's current low-level engagement. Finally it considers where Beijing might go from here in dealing with Myanmar. The argument pulled together in the conclusion is that while nobody has a full solution to the Myanmar problem, a case for enhancement of China's role can be grounded not only in its global obligations, but also in precepts found deep in its national tradition. It is here that efforts to boost Beijing's engagement should be directed.     

Responsibility to Protect or Right to Punish?

Abstract

This essay argues that the new global regime of R2P bifurcates the international system between sovereign states whose citizens have political rights, and de facto trusteeship territories whose populations are seen as wards in need of external protection. Under the direction of the UN Security Council, the International Criminal Court has become an integral part of the international R2P regime by allowing for the legal normalization of certain types of violence (such as Western counterinsurgency efforts), while arbitrarily criminalizing the violence of other states as ‘genocide’. In place of this unequal global regime, the essay concludes by arguing for an internally-driven process of political reform and legal reconciliation, as pioneered in South Africa.