Category: Issues and articles

Incoherent Policies

Florian Böller and Sebastian Werle
Fencing the bear? Explaining US foreign policy towards Russian interventions

Choosing Sides

Ogen S. Goldman and Uriel Abulof
Democracy for the rescue—of dictators? The role of regime type in civil war interventions

Forum: the EU Global Strategy

Hylke Dijkstra
Introduction: One-and-a-half Cheers for the EU Global Strategy

Maria Mälksoo
From the ESS to the EU Global Strategy: external policy, internal purpose

Jolyon Howorth
EU Global Strategy in a Changing World: Brussels’ Approach to the Emerging Powers

Mai’a Davis Cross
The EU Global Strategy and diplomacy

Wolfgang Wagner and Rosanne Anholt
Resilience as the EU Global Strategy’s new leitmotif: Pragmatic, problematic or promising?

Sven Biscop
All or Nothing? The EU Global Strategy and Defence Policy after the Brexit

Michael E. Smith
Implementing the Global Strategy Where It Matters Most: The EU’s Credibility Deficit and the European Neighbourhood

Nathalie Tocci
The Making of the EU Global Strategy

Books Reviews

Mario E. Carranza
The case for U.S. nuclear weapons in the 21st century

Dinshaw Mistry
Deadly impasse: Indo-Pakistani relations at the dawn of a new century

Trine Flockhart from the University of Kent, United Kingdom has just published an article entitled “The coming multi-order world”.

Abstract: The article shows that the current international system is changing towards a completely new form of international system, conceptualized as a multi-order system. The suggestion for a multi-order world stands in contrast to three current narratives about the future global order expressed through a multipolar narrative; a multi-partner narrative and a multi-culture narrative. The article demonstrates that although each narrative points to a plausible future, neither fully captures what lies ahead. Using English School concepts such as order, international society, international system and primary and secondary institutions, the article reveals a conception of the coming international system as a system consisting of several different ‘orders’ (or international societies) nested within an overall international system. In the coming ‘multi-order world’, the liberal order will continue, and may even be strengthened internally, but its global reach will be a thing of the past. Moreover, the challenge in a multi-order world will be to forge new forms of relationships between composite and diverse actors across complex lines of division and convergence. Scholars and policy-makers should note that the coming multi-order world will be radically different, requiring new thinking and new institutions and the acceptance of diversity in both power and principle.

Access the full article here (Open Access).

Shaohua Hu from the Department of Government and Politics, Wagner College NY, has just published an article entitled “A framework for analysis of national interest: United States policy toward Taiwan”.

Abstract: The rise of China in the 21st century has generated a new round of debates on American policy toward Taiwan. Generally speaking, one side suggests that Washington should adjust its Taiwan policy to improve its relations with China, while the other argues against downgrading the relations with Taiwan. Both sides invoke the concept of national interest, but the concept is not unproblematic, and cherry-picking different facts and arguments is far from convincing. This article has two purposes: using the concept of national interest to examine the Taiwan policy, and using this case to illuminate the concept itself. After reviewing the concept, I propose what I call ‘four Ps’ framework to facilitate policy-making and analysis. The framework comprises four factors that help determine which policy is in national interest. They are players (decision makers), preferences (foreign policy goals), prospects (possible outcomes), and power (the capability of achieving goals).

Access the full article here.