A view from below: industrial re-structuring and women's employment at four Russian enterprises

The labor market in Russia has changed significantly during the last decade. This transformation has resulted in notable changes in employment and unemployment patterns, and in labor mobility, flexibility and insecurity. One critical question is whether these changes signal important differences in labor market outcomes by gender. The approach taken here is to focus on the Russian industrial enterprise. In our study, we find that women experience different internal labor market opportunities and external job prospects than men and those differences in experience are reflected in the actual hiring practices at our firms, with men substituting for women, and women finding it particularly difficult to negotiate the increasingly closed labor market in Russia. At the same time important differences persist among women, differences that do not exist for men.     

Playing Games with International Relations

After reviewing the advantages and disadvantages in using simulations to teach International Relations, this paper develops pedagogy for using simulations to teach International Relations (IR) theory. After discussing methods for integrating simulations into a class on IR theory the paper then goes on to present three simulations and the theories that they can be used to teach. The three simulations are the Classical Realism Game, Prisoner's Dilemma to the N th degree, and Diplomacy. Finally, the three simulations are compared.     

略论朝贡制度的虚幻：以古代中国与东南亚的朝贡关系为例

很多东西方学者所认为的中国与东南亚之间长期存在的“朝贡贸易与宗藩关系”,实际上并不具备“朝贡”和“宗藩”的实质。将到中国者统称为朝贡者,基本上是中国统治者以及历代史官、文人的一厢情愿。中国朝廷通常没有也不打算利用这种表面上的、自我安慰式的“朝贡宗藩”关系来干预东南亚地区事务。实行“朝贡体制”数百年的明清两朝,其海外政策基本上是不作为的自我封闭政策,并没有获得对东南亚的实际政治影响力。     

Perceptions of global inequality: a call for research

In light of media attention to and growing public awareness of the globalizing economy, a case for the expanded empirical investigation of public perceptions of international income distribution and inequality is presented. Theoretical issues to be illuminated by such studies are considered; exploratory qualitative data are provided to illustrate the rich potential of such research; and a variety of issues that must be addressed when conducting future research in this area are reviewed.     

Industrial Relations and Justice Ideologies in the Firm: A Justice-Based Explanation of Works Council Effectiveness

This paper investigates why the effectiveness of works councils varies across firms. Drawing on a large body of literature on justice in organizations, and on the basis of the premise of methodological individualism, we present the groundwork for a justice-based theory of workplace codetermination. The theory focuses on workers' attitudes toward justice in organizations, the structural reasons behind these attitudes, and their consequences for the effectiveness of codetermination. Results from a qualitative employee survey in four German firms provide first empirical support for the theory presented.     

全球化视域中的国际传播与中国对外宣传

在经济全球化的进程中,信息传播的意义重大,它使以民族国家为主要载体的国际传播,在国际政治、经济关系的互动中发挥着重要的作用。因此,为更好地“让世界了解中国,让中国了解世界”,必须遵循传播活动的规律,搞好对外宣传工作,这样才能有效地优化中国现代化建设的国际舆论环境,更好地为社会主义建设服务。     

关于大学生人际交往的心理素质教育

随着社会经济的发展,大学生在社会环境和成长过程中面临的问题更加复杂、多样:自以为是、以自我为中心,自卑心理、怀疑心理极强。这些不良的心理素质的形成往往受到社会环境、家庭教育、校园环境等影响。为此,必须把心理健康教育渗透于学科教学中,组织开展健康的校园文化活动及建立心理咨询服务组织,不断提高大学生人际交往的心理素质。     

Japan and identity change: why it matters in International Relations

Abstract

Two approaches to identity have been employed to explore issues in Japan's international relations. One views identity as constituted by domestic norms and culture, and as constitutive of interests, which in turn cause behaviour. Proponents view Japan's ‘pacifist’ and ‘antimilitarist’ identity as inherently stable and likely to change only as a result of material factors. In the other approach, ‘Japan’ emerges and changes through processes of differentiation vis-à-vis ‘Others’. Neither ‘domestic’ nor ‘material’ factors can exist outside of such identity constructions. We argue that the second, relational, approach is more theoretically sound, but begs three questions. First, how can different identity constructions in relation to numerous Others be synthesised and understood comprehensively? Second, how can continuity and change be handled in the same relational framework? Third, what is the point of analysing identity in relational terms? This article addresses the first two questions by introducing an analytical framework consisting of three mutually interacting layers of identity construction. Based on the articles in this special issue, we argue that identity entrepreneurs and emotions are particularly likely to contribute to change within this model. We address the third question by stressing common ground with the first approach: identity enables and constrains behaviour. In the case of Japan, changes in identity construction highlighted by the articles in this special issue forebode a political agenda centred on strengthening Japan militarily.     

Fiji’s Foreign Relations: Retrospect and Prospect

Abstract

Of all the island states of the Southwest Pacific, Fiji’s foreign relations have been the most fraught since the advent of independence in the region, due largely to a succession of coups d'état. These have invariably precipitated adverse responses from major partners and aid donors, notably Australia, New Zealand, the United States and the European Union. The last coup in 2006 also unsettled relations in Fiji’s more immediate region, especially among some of its smaller Polynesian neighbours, contributing to Fiji’s unprecedented suspension from the Pacific Islands Forum. This article reviews Fiji’s foreign relations from the time of independence in 1970 through the period of successive coups to the 2014 elections. It also examines Bainimarama’s strategies in extending foreign relations in the broader international sphere as well as issues surrounding the ‘normalisation’ of relations with its traditional partners.     

Uncertainties at the European Union's southern borders: actors,policies, and legal frameworks

A multiplicity of legal and political arrangements regulate the European Union's external borders. With borders representing the intersection between national and international law and politics, the EU also acquired some legal competences in this realm. The resulting triple set of rules coincides with the growing disaggregation of the classical functions of borders. This state of affairs generates legal and procedural uncertainties and results in a growing ambiguity and lack of transparency, in terms of competences and accountability. Due to the EU's concerns with transnational terrorism, and the growing securitization of migration, the EU's borders with the states of the Middle East and North Africa are particularly relevant in this regard, with the resulting uncertainties touching upon fundamental rights. This article discusses the conceptual starting point of the growing institutional, legal, and political complexity at the EU's southern borders, together with relevant aspects and developments, thus also providing the background to the different contributions in this special issue.