上海合作组织扩员后的地区定位与合作格局

作为新地区主义的一种实践形式,上海合作组织成立后不断发展。上海合作组织坚持以“不干涉内政”原则为核心的主权规范,遵循“国家主义”发展路径。扩员之前,在应对安集延事件、吉尔吉斯斯坦政局动荡等地区安全与政治挑战的过程中,上海合作组织确立了以中亚为地缘安全中心的地区定位。在开展各领域合作的进程中,上海合作组织秉持协商一致的原则,其内部形成了“大国引领、中小国家平等参与”的合作格局。扩员之后,上海合作组织继续遵循“国家主义”发展路径,但其地区定位与内部合作格局出现了新变化。印度和巴基斯坦的加入,使中亚的地缘安全中心地位相对下降,以中亚为重心、南亚为重要延伸成为上海合作组织新的地区定位。印度和巴基斯坦两国的加入,还增加了上海合作组织内部合作格局的复杂性,使“大国引领”的合作格局面临深刻转型,“中小国家平等参与”的合作格局也在发生演变。目前,上海合作组织处于发展转型的十字路口,其发展面临的不确定性需要给予更多关注。     

Latvian sandstone caves as cultural phenomena

This article examines academic cooperation in the Baltic Sea Region. Academic networks are being discussed as indicators of regionalization, but research on the empirical basis is scarce. In the article, the regional networks of 70 higher education institutions in the Baltic States and the German federal state Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania are analyzed. The analysis shows a heterogeneous pattern for the regional higher education area. Regional embedding depends on the focus of an academy and its participation in regional networks. The article concludes with a discussion of options to be considered by regional organizations in order to strengthen regional academic cooperation.     

From sultanism to neopatrimonialism? Regionalism within Turkmenistan

This paper proposes that under President Berdimuhamedov, the government of Turkmenistan has begun to move away from the ‘sultanism’ of the Niyazov era. Instead, the new government exhibits characteristics and has pursued policy changes that prepare conditions for the further development and entrenchment of localized networks of elites based on kinship. Such changes suggest that the government of Turkmenistan may develop into a more classic neopatrimonial system of authoritarian governance similar to the other post-Soviet republics in Central Asia. This argument is advanced by examining changes between the governments of former President Niyazov and Berdimuhamedov with regard to three areas of the Turkmen state's relationship with its constituent regions: regional composition of the national cabinet; hakim (governor) policy; and regional development. This examination relies largely on a comprehensive survey of online Turkmen state-media sources, as well as numerous supportive secondary sources.     

What is a region? Towards a statehood theory of regions

This article presents the outline of a statehood theory of regions with the aim of contributing to a better understanding of what regions are, how they function and how they emerge. First, a definition of region is introduced that starts from the use of the concept of region in everyday language. It is argued that ‘region’ is a discursive tool used to refer to governance units that are not states but have some statehood properties. Second, a comparative framework is developed that allows to present theories of regions in a systematic way. Third, this framework is used to outline a general theory of regions at the supra-national, sub-national or cross-border level. This theory can be labelled as a ‘statehood theory of regions’ as it underlines the statehood properties of regions as well as the complex relationships between states and regions. According to this theory, regions are in a double relation to states: they are to some extent supportive to the state(s) that created them, and they have a tendency to gain autonomy from their creators. The whole paper can also be regarded as an exercise in interdisciplinarity as it brings in perspectives from psychology and personality theory in order to transpose the Hobbesian metaphor of states acting as persons to the understanding of regions.     

Regional Mobilization in the ‘New Europe’: A Research Agenda

This Special Issue re-assesses regional mobilization in the ‘New Europe’. We anticipate that enlargement to Central Europe, the entering into force of the Lisbon Treaty and the largest economic and financial crisis since the birth of the European Community have affected how regional governments respond to Europeanization along three different dimensions: (1) the position they take vis-à-vis the process of EU integration more generally, (2) the strategies they adopt in response to Europeanization pressures and (3) their internal structures and dynamics of the EU member states as multi-level states. The article introduces a framework and formulates hypotheses to examine why and how Europeanization pressures in the ‘New Europe’ affect regional mobilization along these three dimensions. In the final section, the article also introduces the various contributions to this Special Issue and relates them to the analytical framework.