scholarly journals Lines of (In)Convenience: Sovereignty and Border-Making in Postcolonial South Asia, 1947–1965

2017 ◽  
Vol 76 (4) ◽  
pp. 963-985 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisabeth Leake ◽  
Daniel Haines
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
South Asia ◽  
Border Studies ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Border Zone ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
Colonial Era ◽  
Archival History ◽  
Bounded Space ◽  
Border Policy

Border studies in South Asia privilege everyday experiences, and the constructed nature of borders and state sovereignty. This article argues that state elites in India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan during the 1950s and 1960s actively pursued territorial sovereignty through border policy, having inherited ambiguous colonial-era frontiers. By comparing security and development activities along the Durand Line, between Afghanistan and Pakistan, with the better-known case of India and Pakistan's ceasefire line in Kashmir, this article demonstrates that the exercise of sovereignty required a bounded space that only borders could provide and a rejection of competing border zone authorities. The local specificity of each border, however, created the historical conditions in which political elites acted. Combining an archival history methodology with conceptual insights from political geography and critical international relations, this article uses an original integration of two important Asian border spaces into one analysis to highlight tensions between sovereignty's theory and practice.

scholarly journals Bad World: The Negativity Bias in International Politics

2019 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 96-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dominic D.P. Johnson ◽  
Dominic Tierney
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Fundamental Principle ◽  
Human Mind ◽  
Negative Information ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Negativity Bias ◽  
Positive Information ◽  
Psychological Phenomena ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
New Research

A major puzzle in international relations is why states privilege negative over positive information. States tend to inflate threats, exhibit loss aversion, and learn more from failures than from successes. Rationalist accounts fail to explain this phenomenon, because systematically overweighting bad over good may in fact undermine state interests. New research in psychology, however, offers an explanation. The “negativity bias” has emerged as a fundamental principle of the human mind, in which people's response to positive and negative information is asymmetric. Negative factors have greater effects than positive factors across a wide range of psychological phenomena, including cognition, motivation, emotion, information processing, decision-making, learning, and memory. Put simply, bad is stronger than good. Scholars have long pointed to the role of positive biases, such as overconfidence, in causing war, but negative biases are actually more pervasive and may represent a core explanation for patterns of conflict. Positive and negative dispositions apply in different contexts. People privilege negative information about the external environment and other actors, but positive information about themselves. The coexistence of biases can increase the potential for conflict. Decisionmakers simultaneously exaggerate the severity of threats and exhibit overconfidence about their capacity to deal with them. Overall, the negativity bias is a potent force in human judgment and decisionmaking, with important implications for international relations theory and practice.

Colonial Education, Political Elites, and Regional Political Inequality in Africa

2021 ◽  
pp. 001041402199717
Author(s):  
Joan Ricart-Huguet
Keyword(s):  
Political Elites ◽  
Colonial Education ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Colonial Era ◽  
Political Inequality ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Strategic Bargaining ◽  
Recruitment Practices ◽  
Colonial Legacies ◽  
Home Region

Political elites tend to favor their home region when distributing resources. But what explains how political power is distributed across a country’s regions to begin with? Explanations of cabinet formation focus on short-term strategic bargaining and some emphasize that ministries are allocated equitably to minimize conflict. Using new data on the cabinet members (1960–2010) of 16 former British and French African colonies, I find that some regions have been systematically much more represented than others. Combining novel historical and geospatial records, I show that this regional political inequality derives not from colonial-era development in general but from colonial-era education in particular. I argue that post-colonial ministers are partly a byproduct of civil service recruitment practices among European administrators that focused on levels of literacy. Regional political inequality is an understudied pathway through which colonial legacies impact distributive politics and unequal development in Africa today. JEL: F54, I26, N37, N47

scholarly journals François Fénelon: Modern philosopher or conservative theologian?

2021 ◽  
pp. 147488512110020
Author(s):  
Alexandra Oprea
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Political Economy ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Education Of Women ◽  
Political Philosopher

Ryan Patrick Hanley makes two original claims about François Fénelon: (1) that he is best regarded as a political philosopher, and (2) that his political philosophy is best understood as “moderate and modern.” In what follows, I raise two concerns about Hanley’s revisionist turn. First, I argue that the role of philosophy in Fénelon’s account is rather as a handmaiden of theology than as an autonomous area of inquiry—with implications for both the theory and practice of politics. Second, I use Fénelon’s writings on the education of women as an illustration of the more radical and reactionary aspects of his thought. Despite these limits, the book makes a compelling case for recovering Fénelon and opens up new conversations about education, religion, political economy, and international relations in early modern political thought.

Cyber Power in International Relations

2021 ◽  
pp. 65-81
Author(s):  
Tim Stevens ◽  
Camino Kavanagh
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
International System ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Strategic Objectives ◽  
Or Practice ◽  
State Actors ◽  
Strategic Outcomes

This chapter provides a conceptual and analytical framework for the understanding of ‘cyber power’ in the theory and practice of international relations. Cyber power is the product of relationships between actors, rather than a material quantity that can be possessed and converted into strategic outcomes. This chapter identifies four forms of cyber power that arise from different configurations of state and non-state actors: compulsory, institutional, structural, and productive. Analysis of national cyber strategies shows how states develop, leverage, and exploit their relationships with the actors and structures of the international system to generate cyber power in pursuit of their strategic objectives. Cyber power should therefore be understood as a multiplicity of forms of power in and through cyberspace, not as a singular concept or practice. Moreover, cyber power should be framed within broader conceptualizations of power, rather than treated as somehow distinct and discrete.

scholarly journals THE ROAD TO CHAGHI: A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE ON PAKISTAN’S NUCLEAR PROGRAM

2018 ◽  
Vol 57 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-124
Author(s):  
Muhammad Ali ◽  
Suwaibah Qadri ◽  
Rizwana Jabeen
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
South Asia ◽  
Arms Race ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
Western World ◽  
Nuclear Program ◽  
The Road ◽  
International Environment ◽  
Qualitative Work ◽  
Nuclear Arms Race

Nuclearization of South Asia always remains the most imperative concern for the international community particularly when In May 1998, India and Pakistan tested their nuclear devices which plunged South Asia into a relentless nuclear arms race. Since then, the nuclearization of South Asia has been a reality but the region is as insecure as it was before. Historically, Pakistan’s nuclear program has been a subject of contention with the Western world. Pakistan has worked hard and successfully to build diverse nuclear capabilities. It will preserve these capabilities for the predictable future as a necessary deterrent against perceived existential threats from India. The objective of this study is to provide historical background of the initiatives undertaken by Pakistan towards the development of its nuclear program and highlight the major challenges and hurdles that stood in the way of achieving this goal. Paper conclude that under the present turbulent regional and international environment, Pakistan should carefully weigh its options to become an internationally acceptable normal nuclear state without compromising its genuine security concerns. It is hoped that the finding of this qualitative work would not only facilitate scholars and experts of international relations, but also be a massive contribution for the students in this field.

scholarly journals Battlefield praxis: The alliance of realism and constructivism and the “fall” of liberal internationalism

2017 ◽  
Vol 69 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 262-282
Author(s):  
Vladimir Ajzenhamer
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
International Relations ◽  
The United States ◽  
Precise Determination ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Time Interval ◽  
Liberal Internationalism ◽  
Current State ◽  
Disciplinary Field ◽  
Political Praxis

The Great Debates are an important stage in the development of International Relations (IR) as a science. However, the ?exactness? of its chronology and content, as well as the precise determination of the actors and results, is questionable on several grounds. Therefore, relying on this, often contradictory, interpretations of the outcome of the Great Debates, little can be said about the current state of the mentioned theoretical dialogue. Today, IR scholars mostly discuss abandoning the idea of macro theory and the pluralistic silence in which medium-scale theories resonate in peace. However, this "diagnosis" still does not give us an answer to the question of who really won the fight of so-called big theories, or which theoretical paradigm today has the greatest influence within the disciplinary field? Applying the idea of reflexivity between the theory of international relations and the practice of foreign policy, the author of this paper rejects the restrictions of the mythos of the discipline (at the center of which is the myth of the Great Debates) and turns to the analysis of international political praxis as an instrument for the identification of the mentioned theoretical impact. At the center of the analysis are the foreign policy principles of the United States, which the author reviews in a hundred-year time interval, in particular emphasizing the doctrine of Wilsonianism and the principles of foreign policy advocated by the current US President Donald Tramp. Facing Wilsonianism and Trampism (determining, in turn, the latter as a realistic-constructivist Anti-Wilsonian coalition), the author offers his view of the current state of paradigmatic ?clashes? in the theory and practice of international relations.

scholarly journals BANGLADESH-INDIA RELATIONS: TRENDS AND CHALLENGES

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (12) ◽  
pp. 243-251
Author(s):  
Shah Alam
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
South Asia ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Underlying Causes ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Historical Legacies

The smooth relationship between Bangladesh and India is essential for these two neighboring countries as the relationship between the two countries is historical. The relations between the two countries are also highly significant for the international relations of South Asia.  The good relations between these countries originated since the liberation war of Bangladesh in 1971.  Seemingly, the good relations between them have been prevailing and continuing since the independence of Bangladesh. However, the relations between Bangladesh and India has been complicated and intricate. The historical legacies have often strained the relations between these two nations instead of cementing the bond through ancestral ties. The relations have been further complicated by the prolongation in resolving the disputable issues like waters sharing treaties, immigrant infiltrations, killings in the border, and so many. Hence, most of the Bangladeshi citizens believe that relations between Bangladesh and India are imbalanced. Thus, this paper argues that a combination of all these factors has, therefore, contributed to developing anti-Indian feelings among Bangladeshi citizens. This study aims to identify and explain the presence of such an antipathy towards India among Bangladeshi people. Upon exploring the underlying causes behind the anti-Indian sentiment among Bangladeshi citizens, the paper, finally, outlines some policy implications.

The Philadelphian system: sovereignty, arms control, and balance of power in the American states-union, circa 1787–1861

1995 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel H. Deudney
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Balance Of Power ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
The European Union ◽  
American States ◽  
Close Analysis ◽  
Legitimate Violence ◽  
American Union ◽  
Real State

A rediscovery of the long-forgotten republican version of liberal political theory has arresting implications for the theory and practice of international relations. Republican liberalism has a theory of security that is superior to realism, because it addresses not only threats of war from other states but also the threat of despotism at home. In this view, a Hobson's choice between anarchy and hierarchy is not necessary because an intermediary structure, here dubbed “negarchy,” is also available. The American Union from 1787 until 1861 is a historical example. This Philadelphian system was not a real state since, for example, the union did not enjoy a monopoly of legitimate violence. Yet neither was it a state system, since the American states lacked sufficient autonomy. While it shared some features with the Westphalian system such as balance of power, it differed fundamentally. Its origins owed something to particular conditions of time and place, and the American Civil War ended this system. Yet close analysis indicates that it may have surprising relevance for the future of contemporary issues such as the European Union and nuclear governance.

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