19. Strategic Studies: The West and the Rest

2018 ◽  
pp. 329-347
Author(s):  
Amitav Acharya ◽  
Jiajie He
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Western World ◽  
Strategic Culture ◽  
The West ◽  
China And India ◽  
Security Challenges ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Strategic Studies

This chapter examines the limitations and problems of strategic studies with respect to security challenges in the global South. It first considers the ethnocentrism that bedevils strategic studies and international relations before discussing mainstream strategic studies during the cold war. It then looks at whether strategic studies kept up with the changing pattern of conflict, where the main theatre is the non-Western world, with particular emphasis on the decline in armed conflicts after the end of the cold war, along with the problem of human security and how it has been impacted by technology. It also explores the issue of whether to take into account non-military threats in strategic studies and the debates over strategic culture and grand strategy in China and India. It concludes by proposing Global International Relations as a new approach to strategic studies that seeks to adapt to the strategic challenges and responses of non-Western countries.

The challenge of Spenglerian pessimism to Ranke and political realism

1991 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 267-284 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Farrenkopf
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Persian Gulf ◽  
Dark Side ◽  
Political Realism ◽  
The West ◽  
Global Recession ◽  
Eternal Hope ◽  
The Persian Gulf ◽  
The Cold War

The crisis in Communism and the apparent end of the Cold War have provoked a resurgence of liberal optimism and Western triumphalism. Recent visions of a peaceful world have been conjured up, only to be overtaken by war in the Persian Gulf and the threat of global recession. Awareness of the dark side of international relations in the twentieth century persists despite the irrepressible hopes of many of its students. At this juncture in history, therefore, when eternal hope once again collides with recurrent despair, it is timely to consider the international relations thought of Oswald Spengler, the author of The Decline of the West and ‘pessimist extraordinary’.

scholarly journals The United Nations is grounded on the Westphalian state system. Throughout the de-colonizationperiod, the Organization ceased to be peculiar to the West only, and soon became the prevalent model in theentire globe. The Cold War also solidified and institutionalized the Westphalian State as the fundamentalprinciple in international relations. The end of the Cold War, however, along with the collapse of theEastern bloc, the challenges of peace and security in Africa, and the failure of the states in coping withhumanitarian crises increasingly made the three fundamental principles of Westphalian state, namely the“non-interventionism”, “sovereign-equality” and “territoriality” disputable among political scientists. Newapproaches and arguments on the end of the Classical Westphalian state and the emergence of a so-called“New Medieval Age” have widely been circulated. This paper alternatively suggests that, since the end of thecold war, the world politics has gradually and decisively been evolving into a system of states that could becalled Neo-Westphalian.

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 235-266
Author(s):  
Öner Buçukcu
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
International Relations ◽  
United Nations ◽  
World Politics ◽  
State System ◽  
The West ◽  
Sovereign Equality ◽  
The World ◽  
Peace And Security ◽  
The Cold War

The United Nations is grounded on the Westphalian state system. Throughout the de-colonizationperiod, the Organization ceased to be peculiar to the West only, and soon became the prevalent model in theentire globe. The Cold War also solidified and institutionalized the Westphalian State as the fundamentalprinciple in international relations. The end of the Cold War, however, along with the collapse of theEastern bloc, the challenges of peace and security in Africa, and the failure of the states in coping withhumanitarian crises increasingly made the three fundamental principles of Westphalian state, namely the“non-interventionism”, “sovereign-equality” and “territoriality” disputable among political scientists. Newapproaches and arguments on the end of the Classical Westphalian state and the emergence of a so-called“New Medieval Age” have widely been circulated. This paper alternatively suggests that, since the end of thecold war, the world politics has gradually and decisively been evolving into a system of states that could becalled Neo-Westphalian.

The critical impasse of peacebuilding: Toward an analytically eclectic critique of liberal peacebuilding

2019 ◽  
Vol 74 (4) ◽  
pp. 581-599
Author(s):  
Cheng Xu
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
International Relations ◽  
International System ◽  
The Other ◽  
Research Programs ◽  
Middle Range ◽  
Security Challenges ◽  
To Come ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Liberal Peacebuilding

In the decades following the Cold War, scholars of International Relations (IR) have struggled to come to grips with how the fundamental shifts in the international system affect the theoretical underpinnings of IR. The debates on peacebuilding have served as a fierce battleground between the dominant IR research programs—realism and liberalism—as to which provides both the best framework for understanding contemporary security challenges as well as policy prescriptions. I engage with the recent arguments made by David Chandler and Mark Sedra, two prominent critical scholars of IR, and argue that IR as a field would be best served to leave behind the “great debates” of the different research programs, and instead focus on middle-range problem-solving and analytically eclectic approaches. This essay further argues that the best way forward is for critical theorists to take a conciliatory approach with the contributions from the other research programs.

Explaining the International Relations of Secessionist Conflicts: Vulnerability Versus Ethnic Ties

1997 ◽  
Vol 51 (4) ◽  
pp. 721-753 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen M. Saideman
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Cold War ◽  
International Relations ◽  
International Cooperation ◽  
International Conflict ◽  
Gulf War ◽  
The West ◽  
Successful Resolution ◽  
The Cold War

With the end of the Cold War, many observers expected that international conflict would be less likely to occur and easier to manage. Given the successful resolution of the Gulf War and the European Community's (EC) efforts to develop a common foreign policy, observers expected international cooperation to manage the few conflicts that might break out. Instead, the disintegration of Yugoslavia contradicted these expectations. Rather than developing a common foreign policy, European states were divided over how to deal with Serbia, Croatia, and Bosnia. Germany pushed for relatively quick recognition of Croatia and Slovenia, whereas other members of the EC wanted to go slower. Some observers expected Russia to fall in line with the West because of its need for investment and trade, but instead it supported Serbia. It is puzzling that Europe failed to cooperate regardless of whether greater international cooperation could have managed this conflict. How can we make sense of the international relations of Yugoslavia's demise? Since secession is not a new phenomenon, we should study previous secessionist conflicts to determine if they share certain dynamics, and we should consider applying to Yugoslavia the arguments developed to understand such conflicts.

scholarly journals Looking for the Impossible: The Futile Search for a Balanced Doctrine of Humanitarian Intervention

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 105-122
Author(s):  
A. Grigoryan
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Cold War ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Humanitarian Intervention ◽  
International Regime ◽  
The West ◽  
Great Opportunity ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
The Cold War

Many in the West, especially in the human rights community, saw the end of the Cold War as a great opportunity for a normative transformation in international relations. They argued that the concept of sovereignty was an anachronism and that a new international regime should be created allowing for easier intervention against states that subject their citizens to violence. It seemed like a relatively straightforward issue of clashing normative principles at fi rst. As the conversation about interventions has evolved, however, it has become increasingly clear that the problem is much more complex. This article examines the set of complex trade-off s between various values and norms related to humanitarian intervention and demonstrates that no interventionist doctrine that balances these values and norms is possible. It empirically examines these tensions in the context of interventions in Kosovo and Libya.

scholarly journals Chaos Synergy, Geopolitics And Culture Explain History Of International Relations. A Critique of William Wohlforth

2019 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-28
Author(s):  
B. F. Martynov
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Legal Culture ◽  
Ir Theory ◽  
Political Realism ◽  
The West ◽  
Adequate Understanding ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Will ◽  
The Cold War

The article is a critique of William Wohlforth’s piece on usefulness of IR theory in explaining the history of international relations published in this issue of MGIMO Review of International Relations. It offers an alternative answer to the key question raised by Wohlforth – why humans continue to resort to such a self-destructive method of conflict resolution as war. The author argues that the current aggravation of relations between Russia and the West helps find a new way of answering this eternal question. With the help of historical examples and logical reasoning the author shows that international relations are governed not so much by structural anarchy, as Wohlforth argues, as by «natural spontaneous systemic force», which does not depend on the will of people and manifests itself in events that seem random and irrational. This force can be rationally known by studying how classical geopolitics, cultural (especially legal culture) and civilizational factors influence international relations. These aspects, according to the author, explain both the Cold War and its on-going «second edition». Taking into account civilizational, cultural, historical, linguistic and legal characteristics of actors becomes the key to an adequate understanding of international politics. It should also be noted that cultural and civilizational features affect not only the practice of international relations, but also the IR. According to the author, the theory of political realism in Russia has been reinterpreted in light of the maxim: «God is not in power, but in truth». Thus, an important category of Russian realism turns out to be «justice».The alternative answer to the question about the recurrent practice of wars in international relations can be formulated as follows: the states are sometimes forced to fight each other due to their geopolitical contradictions complicated by cultural and civilizational differences.

The Future of the World. The World Futures Studies Federation and the Future as Counter Expertise

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenny Andersson
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
International Relations ◽  
World Order ◽  
Futures Studies ◽  
The West ◽  
The World ◽  
The Future ◽  
Science And Politics ◽  
Peace Activist ◽  
The Cold War

Chapter 8 explores the making of futures studies as a counter reaction to futurology and protest against the Cold War world order. Taking as its focus the World Futures Studies Federation, created by the West German journalist and peace activist Robert Jungk and the philosopher and international relations theorist Johan Galtung, the chapter returns to futurism as an interrogation into the nature of humanity, and to the future as a fundamental utopian category. Futures studies were an example of a kind of neo-utopianism, which not only claimed that alternative worlds were possible but also tried to construct new ways of envisioning and realizing such worlds. Futures studies were constructed as a kind of militancy that straddled the boundaries of social science and politics, and mixed in religious and eschatological notions too. Crucial to this enterprise was the willingness to transcend the Cold War world order and create a united Mankind.

The European Peace and Security Order at Risk

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wolfgang Richter
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Institutional Context ◽  
The West ◽  
Security Challenges ◽  
Peace And Security ◽  
Regional Order ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Global Influence ◽  
The Eu

This chapter examines the regional order of Europe after the end of the Cold War by discussing its actors, interests, institutions, norms, and principles to determine if the peace and security “between Vancouver and Vladivostok” is at stake. Hence, the global influence of the continental order is put into its historical and institutional context. The maintenance of this order has become increasingly difficult as the extensions of both the EU and NATO to the East, the failed assertiveness of the OSCE, and the conflicts in Georgia and Ukraine have shown. The main risks lay in the fragile relations between Russia and the West and it remains open if the current negative trend will be reversed. However, the chapter suggests the strengthening of the OSCE, a new NATO–Russia accord and more cooperation in global security challenges as feasible countermeasures.

Drawing the Right Line

1987 ◽  
Vol 81 (1) ◽  
pp. 112-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom J. Farer
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Armed Attack ◽  
The Past ◽  
Self Defense ◽  
Foreign Intervention ◽  
Collective Self ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Cold War

As a recurring feature of the Cold War that has dominated international relations for the past four decades, foreign intervention in civil armed conflicts has focused and inflamed scholarly debate over the content of the relevant legal restraints. Conflict has raged particularly around the following issues: First, what forms and degree of assistance to rebels constitute an armed attack within the meaning of Article 51 of the Charter authorizing individual and collective self-defense? Second, in cases where assistance does not reach the armed attack threshold, are there any circumstances in which the target state and/or its allies may nevertheless use forceful measures to terminate it?

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