Chinese Middle Class Attitudes Towards International Affairs: Nascent Liberalization?

2004 ◽  
Vol 179 ◽  
pp. 603-628 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alastair Iain Johnston
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Government Policy ◽  
International Institutions ◽  
The United States ◽  
International Affairs ◽  
Beijing Area ◽  
Income Groups ◽  
Domestic Reform

There is a growing interest in the preferences of an emerging middle class in China towards domestic reform. But little attention has been paid to middle class views on world affairs and foreign policy. Given the murky trajectory of political reform in China it is uncertain how middle class preferences may affect government policy. But with the growing role of entrepreneurs in policy-making, one could plausibly expect that middle class voices will increasingly be heard at the top. We need to know what these voices are saying. Using longtitudinal data from the Beijing Area Study this article examines the attitudes of Beijing's middle class towards free trade, international institutions, military spending, the United States and nationalism. It finds that generally the middle class exhibits a greater level of nascent liberalism than poorer income groups. This is consistent with what various international relations theories would expect.

EMPIRE AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS IN VICTORIAN POLITICAL THOUGHT

2006 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 281-298 ◽  
Author(s):  
DUNCAN S. A. BELL
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
International Law ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
The United States ◽  
International Affairs ◽  
Global Order ◽  
Colonial Empire ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Relationship

This essay surveys recent scholarly work on the political theory of empire and international relations in Britain during the long nineteenth century. It traces the dominant themes and arguments to be found, points to some interpretative and methodological weaknesses, and highlights a number of topics that remain to be explored in detail. I focus on the following: the relationship between liberalism and empire and, in particular, the role played by the idea of civilization in circumscribing liberal claims to universality; the nature and evolution of international law, and the key role that jurisprudential thought played in shaping conceptions of civilization and setting the bounds of legitimacy for imperialism; the vexed relationship between the history of imperial thought and cultural/political history; and the important, though frequently marginalized, role of the colonial empire in the Victorian imperial imagination. Finally, I suggest that areas that remain to be explored in depth include non-liberal visions of international affairs; the role of theology in shaping conceptions of global order; and the balance between the United States, Europe, and the various (and very different) elements of the empire.

An international hierarchy of science: conquest, cooperation, and the 1959 Antarctic Treaty System

2021 ◽  
pp. 135406612110338
Author(s):  
Joanne Yao
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
International Institutions ◽  
Social Performance ◽  
Early 20Th Century ◽  
Antarctic Treaty ◽  
The Antarctic ◽  
International Status ◽  
Antarctic Treaty System

The Antarctic Treaty System (ATS), created in 1959 to govern the southern continent, is often lauded as an illustration of science’s potential to inspire peaceful and rational International Relations. This article critically examines this optimistic view of science’s role in international politics by focusing on how science as a global hierarchical structure operated as a gatekeeper to an exclusive Antarctic club. I argue that in the early 20th century, the conduct of science in Antarctica was entwined with global and imperial hierarchies. As what Mattern and Zarakol call a broad hierarchy, science worked both as a civilized marker of international status as well as a social performance that legitimated actors’ imperial interests in Antarctica. The 1959 ATS relied on science as an existing broad hierarchy to enable competing states to achieve a functional bargain and ‘freeze’ sovereignty claims, whilst at the same time institutionalizing and reinforcing the legitimacy of science in maintaining international inequalities. In making this argument, I stress the role of formal international institutions in bridging our analysis of broad and functional hierarchies while also highlighting the importance of scientific hierarchies in constituting the current international order.

scholarly journals Introduction to the Special Issue: Soft Power of Civil Society in International Relations

2012 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 473-476
Author(s):  
TAKASHI INOGUCHI
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Soft Power ◽  
The United States ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Policy Makers

This special issue focuses on the role of civil society in international relations. It highlights the dynamics and impacts of public opinion on international relations (Zaller, 1992). Until recently, it was usual to consider public opinion in terms of its influence on policy makers and in terms of moulding public opinion in the broad frame of the policy makers in one's country. Given that public opinion in the United States was assessed and judged so frequently and diffused so globally, it was natural to frame questions guided by those concepts which pertained to the global and domestic context of the United States.

Scholarship Versus Pedagogy: The Future of International Studies Education

1989 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miriam Gilbert
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Government Policy ◽  
The United States ◽  
International Studies ◽  
Complex World ◽  
National Geographic Society ◽  
Huge Number ◽  
National Geographic ◽  
Society Report

Student bashing has become all the rage. Allan Bloom has decried today's youth as “spiritually unclad, unconnected, isolated, and no inherited or unconditional connection with anything or anyone,” creating a storm of controversy. E. D. Hirsch has declared students to be culturally illiterate and the National Geographic Society now tells us they are geographically illiterate, as well.Admittedly, statistics can be powerfully persuasive and the results of the recent National Geographic Society report should shake us up. One in seven Americans surveyed could not find the United States on a world map, let alone name the country in which “apartheid” is official government policy. Obviously, something larger than map skills is at stake here. As the survey demonstrated, a huge number of Americans know virtually nothing about world affairs. In a country whose influence is global, millions of people display indifference to, and ignorance of events, beyond our borders.Surveys deocumenting the educational shortcomings of U.S. students indeed have become a dime a dozen. Yet whether or not we agree with these assessments, we have been undeniably offered a grim evaluation of both our students and the job we have done with them. I question, however, whether Bloom's “back to basics” prescription or the acquisition of Hirsch's data base of 5,000 key facts will really make our students smarter, more aware of the complex world they live in. Can “great books” alone (and who will choose them?) or arbitrary concepts devoid of context prepare our students for an interdependent world in which nothing—including the role of the United States— is really certain? Nonetheless, we are compelled to take a good, hard look at ourselves, to reexamine and clarify our role as educators, and to reaffirm education as a potential and potent vehicle for change.

scholarly journals The Role of Nuclear Weapons in NATO’s Early Cold War Strategies (1949–1957)

2015 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 107-120
Author(s):  
Petra Kiss
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
International Relations ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
Nuclear Weapons ◽  
The United States ◽  
Strategic Thinking ◽  
Atomic Weapons ◽  
The North ◽  
Significant Factors

Since August 1945 atomic weapons have become significant factors in international relations, every state with great ambitions has aspired to get atomic secrets. The primary goal of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) created in 1949 was – possessing the United States’, a nuclear power’s, security guarantee – to deter the Soviet agression. The first strategic documents of the Alliance were written with this very purpose. However, in the 1950s there was a shift in the allied nations’ policies, which influenced NATO’s strategic thinking as well, so in 1957 a real different strategic concept was adopted. Gaining technological superiority became the most important goal, which led to development and intense production of nuclear weapons. This article examines the emerging role of nuclear weapons and the changing strategy of the Alliance between 1949 and 1957.

scholarly journals The Pandemic and the Crisis in the System of International Relations

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 6-19
Author(s):  
Al. A. Gromyko
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
International Institutions ◽  
Competitive Advantages ◽  
Direct Impact ◽  
The Us ◽  
The World ◽  
World Economic ◽  
Strategic Autonomy ◽  
The Eu

The research is focused on several key problems in the system of international relations influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic. It is shown that the events caused by it and broadly identified as a coronacrisis have a direct impact on the world economic contradictions (pandenomica) and political ones, including the sphere of security. These particular aspects are chosen as the main objects of the research. The author contends that the factor of the pandemic has sharpened the competition between regional and global players and has increased the role of a nation- state. In the conditions of transregional deglobalisation, regionalism and “protectionism 2.0” get stronger under the banners of “strategic vulnerability” and “economic sovereignty”. A further weakening of multilateral international institutions continues. The EU endeavours to secure competitive advantages on the basis of relocalisation, industrial and digital policies and the Green Deal. The article highlights the deterioration in the relations among Russia, the US, the EU and China, the unfolding decoupling between Washington and its European allies, which stimulates the idea of the EU strategic autonomy. An urgent need for the deconfliction in Russia – NATO interaction is stated.

Karl Marx's Vision of America: A Biographical and Bibliographical Sketch

1980 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 465-503
Author(s):  
Robert Weiner
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Karl Marx ◽  
The United States ◽  
Abraham Lincoln ◽  
New Era ◽  
War Of Independence ◽  
Made In

Karl Marx and the United States is a subject which immediately elicits interest, but also surprise. Interest, because of its contemporary importance; surprise, because Marx and America have appeared so remote from one another. Marx has definitely influenced America, but that will not be the theme of this essay —instead, we will concern ourselves with the role of America in the thought of Marx. The magnitude of this role is illustrated by a statement made in Marx's letter to Abraham Lincoln, written in 1864 on behalf of the International Workingmen's Association:The workingmen of Europe feel sure that as the American war of independence initiated a new era of the ascendency of the middle-class, so the American Anti-slavery war will do for the working-class.

5. Oil and Political Economy in the International Relations of the Middle East

2019 ◽  
pp. 107-131
Author(s):  
Giacomo Luciani
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Middle East ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Political Development ◽  
Primary Source ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Political ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Rentier States

This chapter looks at the role of oil in the political economy and the international relations of the Middle East. Oil is commonly considered a political commodity. Because of its pivotal importance as a primary source of energy, governments are concerned with its continued availability and seek to minimize import dependence. Historically, interest in oil — especially in the United Kingdom and the United States — strongly influenced attitudes towards the Middle East and the formation of the state system in the region, following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Oil also affects the power balance within the region. The polarization in the region between oil-rich and oil-poor states is thus an essential tool of analysis. The parallel distinction between rentier and non-rentier states helps to explain how oil affects the domestic political development of the oil-rich states and influences their regional relations.

scholarly journals On the concept of international disorder

2020 ◽  
pp. 004711782092228
Author(s):  
Aaron McKeil
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
International Order ◽  
World Politics ◽  
International Affairs ◽  
Order And Disorder ◽  
Recent Interest ◽  
History Of ◽  
International Systems

International relations today are widely considered to be experiencing deepening disorder and the topic of international disorder is gaining increased attention. Yet, despite this recent interest in international disorder, in and beyond the academy, and despite the decades-long interest in international order, there is still little agreement on the concept of international disorder, which is often used imprecisely and with an alarmist rather than analytical usage. This is a problem if international disorder is to be understood in theory, towards addressing its concomitant problems and effects in practice. As such, this article identifies and explores two ways international order studies can benefit from a clearer and more precise conception of international disorder. First, it enables a more complete picture of how orderly international orders have been. Second, a greater understanding of the problem of international order is illuminated by a clearer grasp of the relation between order and disorder in world politics. The article advances these arguments in three steps. First, an analytical concept of international disorder is developed and proposed. Second, applying it to the modern history of international order, the extent to which there is a generative relationship between order and disorder in international systems is explored. Third, it specifies the deepening international disorder in international affairs today. It concludes by indicating a research agenda for International Relations and international order studies that takes the role of international disorder more seriously.

Helsinki Syndrome: The Parachronistic Renaissance of Finlandization in International Politics

2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tapio Juntunen
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
International Affairs ◽  
Power Politics ◽  
Original Process ◽  
The Past ◽  
Great Power Politics ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Ukraine Crisis ◽  
International Anarchy

The ongoing conflict in Ukraine has produced a number of commentaries that have tried to grasp the crisis through the comforting lens of historical analogies. One of the most perplexing of these has been the revival of Finlandization, or the idea of the “Finnish model” as a possible solution to the Ukraine crisis. In this article I interrogate these arguments, firstly, by historicising the original process of Finlandization during the Cold War. Secondly, I argue that the renaissance of Finlandization is based on parachronistic reasoning. In other words, the Finlandization analogy has been applied to modern-day Ukraine in such a way that the alien elements of the past context are, to paraphrase Quentin Skinner, “dissolved into an apparent but misleading familiarity” in the present re-appropriation of the idea and its contextual prerequisites. Indeed, the reappearance of Finlandization in the context of the Ukraine crisis reinforces the idea that the real drivers of international affairs can be reduced to the axioms derived from the transhistorical logic of international anarchy and the iron laws of great power politics. Thus, this article makes a novel contribution to the theoretical discussion on the role of analogies and myths in International Relations.

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