Examining the immanent dilemma of small states in the Asia-Pacific: the strategic triangle between New Zealand,the US and China

ABSTRACT

Small states throughout the Asia-Pacific are confronted by a growing dilemma over how to balance their traditional security ties with the US and rapidly growing trade with China. This gives Washington and Beijing potential leverage over small states to use within their competition with one another. This article explores the implications of this for New Zealand – a small South Pacific state that prides itself on maintaining an independent foreign policy. Situated within the small state literature, it utilises a material-based strategic triangle to illustrate the fundamental facets of New Zealand's position. Relatedly, the article examines how Wellington has managed its burgeoning relations with China and the US over the past decade and critically considers New Zealand's independent foreign policy. It finds that New Zealand has adopted a mixed set of strategies to manage its position between the US and China, closely aligning itself with Washington while remaining nonaligned on some key security issues in the Asia-Pacific region. New Zealand has certainly not opted for neutrality. The article concludes that New Zealand and other small states must remain vigilant, may want to consider alternative strategies of alignment, and outlines a number of areas where additional research could prove fruitful.     

The Narrative History of the Chocolate Wars: A Short and Tasty Bargaining Game

ABSTRACT

This single lesson classroom game is designed to test student knowledge of Realist and Liberal concepts through an imbalanced resource bargaining mechanic. The game is designed for approximately 20 students divided into state teams of three to four students each and uses chocolate to represent the state teams’ economic capacity, military capability, and human security. Each state team had competing goals, over which they must cooperate or conflict for additional pieces. This game also uses an abstract design to maximize active learning through a short course of play while also making the game useful for testing concepts at any point in an International Relations course. In addition to offering a complete yet easily modifiable game for classroom use, this article also describes the game’s pedagogical contribution to the discipline, game design notes, and techniques for preventing students from stuffing their faces with game pieces.     

联盟体系与伙伴关系——论美国亚太再平衡战略的安全支点

美国亚太再平衡战略,强调在经济、安全领域维持美国的主导地位。要实现这一目标,联盟体系及伙伴关系是美国意欲借助的重要支撑,在安全领域这种表现尤为明显。在此种战略意图支配下,美国强化了与传统盟友的关系,并极力拓展新的伙伴关系,借助联盟体系、伙伴关系这两个安全支点的作用,美国力图构建其领导下的亚太安全结构。     

US bureaucratic politics and the decision to invade Iraq

Why did the second Bush administration decide to invade Iraq in 2003? This article suggests that the question can usefully be addressed by looking at the ways in which regime change in Iraq became part of bureaucratic politics within the US government – under successive administrations – following the unsatisfactory termination of the first Gulf War in 1991. It is contended here that the limitations on bureaucratic politics within the second Bush administration were important in that the path toward a presidential decision for invasion was cleared by the failure of the higher echelons of the national security bureaucracy under Bush to work effectively in exercising core functions of challenge and debate.     

黑格尔悲剧理论的社会思想基础

18世纪的德国，温和的自由主义思潮、浪漫主义化的民族主义思潮以及浪漫主义化的保守主义思潮，深刻影响了德国历史文化的发展进程。黑格尔的悲剧理论深深植根于18世纪后期、19世纪前半期的德国乃至欧洲的历史文化发展过程中，和这三股思潮的发展紧密联系在一起。     

Liberalism and religion: the plural grounds of separation

ABSTRACT

In what sense, and to what extent, should a liberal state be secular? Many interpret liberal-egalitarian political theory as dictating a radical separation between church and state. Against this view, Cécile Laborde has powerfully argued that, in fact, liberal-egalitarianism is not committed to strict separation as such. Laborde understands the liberal-egalitarian commitment to separation as ultimately grounded on a principle of neutrality. However, she argues that the conception of neutrality to which liberal egalitarians are committed is much more ‘restricted’ than it is often thought. If a commitment to separation is derivative from a commitment to neutrality, then, if neutrality is restricted, secularism is minimal. This means that not all forms of religious establishment should be regarded as impermissible from a liberal-egalitarian perspective. Contra Laborde, I argue that restricted neutrality should not be understood as the only ground of separation. Separation has plural grounds. Forms of religious recognition that do not violate any of the requirements of restricted neutrality may still be regarded as impermissible from a liberal-egalitarian perspective, if they (1) violate a basic commitment to fairness, (2) treat citizens in a patronizing way and/or (3) violate, in their justification, a requirement of sincerity, as grounded on reciprocity.     

正确认识并有力引领新自由主义思潮

正确认识并有力引领新自由主义思潮对于推进中国特色社会主义事业具有重要意义。要准确把握新自由主义思潮的发展及其基本主张,尤其要正确认识我国的新自由主义思想的实质,从而加强社会主义核心价值体系建设,采取针对性强的措施对新自由主义思潮实施有力有效的引领。     

The dynamics of federalism,subnational markets and trade policy-making in Canada and the US

Preferential trade agreements are now the dominant trend in the international trading regime. Unlike earlier ‘first generation’ agreements, the new agreements became more comprehensive in their coverage, impinging on areas that are subject to subnational jurisdiction of federal systems. Given constitutionally-prescribed competences allocated to subnational governments, the diversity of interests and sensitivities of subnational entities bring deeply entrenched regulatory practices under scrutiny. Few studies have focused on whether the combination of economic liberalization and political fragmentation will push federal and sub-federal entities to address domestic market fragmentation. We examine whether international market liberalization fosters domestic regulatory and structural reforms to cross-border barriers to trade in Canada and the United States. We show that while the political incentives and functional pressures generated by free trade agreements have fostered attempts at addressing internal market restrictions in Canada, the US has not followed the same path due to weaker mechanisms of intergovernmental coordination.     

关于索马里危机的地缘经济与政治思考——兼论罗佐夫分析索马里危机的独特视角

亚丁湾海盗问题似乎已经渐渐淡出人们的视野,然而索马里问题依然十分值得人们关注。里克·罗佐夫从地缘经济和地缘政治的角度探讨了索马里危机的性质,认为美国和北约为其军事目的和确保其全球能源主导地位而采取控制整个印度洋的计划与行动,才是索马里的真正危机。尽管罗佐夫对索马里危机的一些分析还不够到位,但他对国际社会的提醒却并不是多余的。解决索马里问题必须从根子上着手。中国必须正视国际霸权存在的现实,在努力提高自身软实力的同时也要十分重视硬实力的继续提升。