China, Russia, and Twenty-First Century Global Geopolitics

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul J. Bolt ◽  
Sharyl N. Cross
Keyword(s):  
World Order ◽  
The United States ◽  
First Century ◽  
Major Powers ◽  
Security Issues ◽  
Energy Trade ◽  
Common Interests ◽  
Economic Ties ◽  
The Military ◽  
The Relationship

This book provides a comprehensive analysis of the Chinese–Russian bilateral relationship, grounded in a historical perspective, and discusses the implications of the partnership between these two major powers for world order and global geopolitics. The volume compares the national worldviews, priorities, and strategic visions for the Chinese and Russian leadership, examining several aspects of the relationship in detail. The energy trade is the most important component of economic ties, although both sides desire to broaden trade and investments. In the military realm, Russia sells advanced arms to China, and the two countries engage in regular joint exercises. Diplomatically, these two Eurasian powers take similar approaches to conflicts in Ukraine and Syria, and also cooperate on non-traditional security issues, including preventing colored revolutions, cyber management, and terrorism. These issue areas illustrate four themes. Russia and China have common interests that cement their partnership, including security, protecting authoritarian institutions, and reshaping aspects of the global order. They are key players challenging the United States and the Western liberal order, influencing not only regional issues, but also international norms and institutions. Nevertheless, Western nations remain important for China and Russia. Both seek better relations with the West, but on the basis of “mutual respect” and “equality.” Lastly, Russia and China have frictions in their relationship, and not all of their interests overlap. While the relationship has grown, particularly since 2014, China and Russia are partners but not allies.

Finding Faith in Foreign Policy

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregorio Bettiza
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
American Foreign Policy ◽  
International System ◽  
World Order ◽  
The United States ◽  
Development Aid ◽  
First Century ◽  
Sacred Landscapes ◽  
Muslim Politics ◽  
The Cold War

Since the end of the Cold War, religion has been systematically brought to the fore of American foreign policy. US foreign policymakers have been increasingly tasked with promoting religious freedom globally, delivering humanitarian and development aid abroad through faith-based channels, pacifying Muslim politics and reforming Islamic theologies in the context of fighting terrorism, and engaging religious actors to solve multiple conflicts and crises around the world. Across a range of different domains, religion has progressively become an explicit and organized subject and object of US foreign policy in ways that were unimaginable just a few decades ago. If God was supposed to be vanquished by the forces of modernity and secularization, why has the United States increasingly sought to understand and manage religion abroad? In what ways have the boundaries between faith and state been redefined as religion has become operationalized in American foreign policy? What kind of world order is emerging in the twenty-first century as the most powerful state in the international system has come to intervene in sustained and systematic ways in sacred landscapes around the globe? This book addresses these questions by developing an original theoretical framework and drawing upon extensive empirical research and interviews. It argues that American foreign policy and religious forces have become ever more inextricably entangled in an age witnessing a global resurgence of religion and the emergence of a postsecular world society.

The Sino–Russian Strategic Partnership

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul J. Bolt ◽  
Sharyl N. Cross
Keyword(s):  
The United States ◽  
Strategic Partnership ◽  
Relative Power ◽  
Mutual Respect ◽  
Major Power ◽  
The West ◽  
The World ◽  
Key Players ◽  
Common Interests ◽  
The Relationship

The Conclusion reviews the volume’s major themes. Russia and China have common interests that cement their partnership, and are key players in shaping the international order. Both seek better relations with the West, but on the basis of “mutual respect” and “equality.” While the relationship has grown deeper, particularly since 2014, China and Russia are partners but not allies. Thus, their relationship is marked by burgeoning cooperation, but still areas of potential competition and friction. Russia in particular must deal with China’s growing relative power at the same time that it is isolated from the West. While the Russian–Chinese relationship creates challenges for the United States and Europe and a return of major power rivalry, there is also room for cooperation in the strategic triangle comprising China, Russia, and the West. Looking ahead, the world is in a period of dramatic transition.

Historical Foundations, Strategic Visions, and World Order

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul J. Bolt ◽  
Sharyl N. Cross
Keyword(s):  
World Order ◽  
International Order ◽  
Power Relationships ◽  
State Behavior ◽  
Political Situation ◽  
Security Issues ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Relationship

Chapter 1 explores perspectives on world order, including power relationships and the rules that shape state behavior and perceptions of legitimacy. After outlining a brief history of the relationship between Russia and China that ranged from cooperation to military clashes, the chapter details Chinese and Russian perspectives on the contemporary international order as shaped by their histories and current political situation. Chinese and Russian views largely coincide on security issues, the desirability of a more multipolar order, and institutions that would enhance their standing in the world. While the Chinese–Russian partnership has accelerated considerably, particularly since the crisis in Ukraine in 2014, there are still some areas of competition that limit the extent of the relationship.

scholarly journals After Liberal Hegemony: The Advent of a Multiplex World Order

2017 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 271-285 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amitav Acharya
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Culturally Diverse ◽  
World Order ◽  
First Century ◽  
World War ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
The West ◽  
Major Powers ◽  
China And India ◽  
International Stability

While the West woke up to the threat to the liberal international order when Donald Trump was elected U.S. president, its decline was apparent even at the height of the Obama-Clinton era. What follows the end of the U.S.-dominated world order is not a return to multipolarity as many pundits assume. The twenty-first-century world—politically and culturally diverse but economically and institutionally interlinked—is vastly different from the multipolar world that existed prior to World War II. China and India are major powers now; and globalization will not end, but will take on a new form, driven more by the East than the West and more by South-South linkages than North-North ones. The system of global governance will fragment, with new actors and institutions chipping away at the old UN-based system. Liberal values and institutions will not disappear, but will have to coexist and enmesh with the ideas and institutions of others, especially those initiated by China. This “multiplex world” carries both risks and opportunities for managing international stability. Instead of bemoaning the passing of the old liberal order, the West should accept the new realities and search for new ways to ensure peace and stability in partnership with the rising powers.

scholarly journals Pakistan-French Relations in the 21st Century

2020 ◽  
pp. 137-142
Author(s):  
Ruslan Prohorov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Diplomacy ◽  
The United States ◽  
First Century ◽  
Public Organization ◽  
Economic Potential ◽  
Economic Relations ◽  
Security Issues ◽  
Traditional Area ◽  
Political Economic

The article discusses the political, economic and cultural cooperation of Pakistan with France in the twenty-first century. Attention is drawn to a peculiar bias towards France in the frequency of political and diplomatic visits by representatives of Pakistan. Due to the fact that France is a traditional donor of the Pakistani economy, attention is drawn to the desire of the parties to increase the role of public diplomacy in the development of trade and economic relations. Meanwhile, France is Pakistan’s long-standing export partner, one of the top ten countries in which Pakistan exports its goods. The importance of developing such areas of cooperation as energy and transport is emphasized. Military-technical cooperation is singled out as a traditional area of cooperation between Pakistan and France. The role of France in the creation and development of the naval forces of Pakistan is indicated. The complicated relations between countries on the issue of nuclear cooperation are shown. The article also discusses security issues, namely, current bilateral documents, joint efforts to combat terrorism, and there gime of non-proliferation of nuclear weapons are presented. Interaction in the field of culture is presented on the example of the work of the three centers of the French public organization Alliance de Frances. Separately, attention is drawn to the interaction of state structures of the two countries regarding the return of relics illegally exported from Pakistan. In conclusion, it is concluded that Pakistan’s orientation towards France is quite justified, since this European state has always been friendly to it, is powerful in its economic potential and resources, and the development of relations with this country does not conflict with the orientation towards the United States.

Russia Resurrected

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn E. Stoner
Keyword(s):  
Human Capital ◽  
The United States ◽  
Relative Strength ◽  
Great Powers ◽  
First Century ◽  
Social Stability ◽  
Policy Choices ◽  
Russian Economy ◽  
Russian State ◽  
The Military

This book refutes the idea that Russia plays a weak hand well in international politics. The book argues instead that Russia under Vladimir Putin’s regime may not be as weak as is sometimes thought in the West. It takes a multidimensional approach in assessing Russian state power in international relations, going beyond metrics of power like relative strength of the economy, human capital, and size of the military, to also include the policy weight or importance of Russian firms and industries, as well as where, geographically, Russian influence has spread globally. The book includes fresh empirical data on the Russian economy, demography and human capital, and conventional military and nuclear weaponry capacities in Russia relative to other great powers like China and the United States. The book argues that realpolitik alone does not explain Russian foreign policy choices under Putin. Rather, Putin’s patronal autocratic regime and the need for social stability play an important role in understanding when and why Russian power is projected in the twenty-first century.

The Anglo-American Worldview and the Question of World Order

2019 ◽  
pp. 175-190
Author(s):  
Andrew Gamble
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Cold War ◽  
World Order ◽  
The United States ◽  
Political Class ◽  
Distinctive Features ◽  
Anglo American ◽  
Post War ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
The Military

One of the distinctive features of the idea of an Anglosphere has been a particular view of world order, based on liberal principles of free movement of goods, capital and people, representative government, and the rule of law, which requires a powerful state or coalition of states to uphold and enforce them. This chapter charts the roots as well as the limits of this conception in the period of British ascendancy in the nineteenth century, and how significant elements of the political class in both Britain and the United States in the twentieth century came to see the desirability of cooperation between the English-speaking nations to preserve that order against challengers. This cooperation was most clearly realised in the Second World War. The post-war construction of a new liberal world order was achieved under the leadership of the United States, with Britain playing a largely supportive but secondary role. Cooperation between Britain and the US flourished during the Cold War, particularly in the military and intelligence fields, and this became the institutional core of the ‘special relationship’. The period since the end of the Cold War has seen new challenges emerge both externally and internally to the Anglo-American worldview.

Epilogue

2021 ◽  
pp. 1249-1278
Author(s):  
Frederick Cooper
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
World Order ◽  
Break Point ◽  
The United States ◽  
Political Movements ◽  
Territorial State ◽  
Late Twentieth ◽  
Ancient Times ◽  
The Relationship

“Beyond Empire” asks what studying empires from ancient times to the twentieth century tells us about the world today. Crises in the Middle East and the configuration of Europe, China, Africa, the United States, and elsewhere bear the imprint of trajectories into, through, and out of empire. Instead of assuming the “empire-to-nation-state” narrative, it explores the articulations of empire and nation and makes clear that the relationship was uncertain and contested, even in the mid- and late twentieth century. New empires (USSR, Japan, Nazi Germany) arose even as others collapsed, but World War II constituted a break point for winning as well as defeated empires, creating openings to anti-colonial movements but also enabling Western European powers to imagine a future without needing imperial resources in their rivalry with each other. The independent territorial state was not the only objective of political movements in colonial empires, but in the end national independence was what they could get. The juridical equivalence of post-imperial states has not brought about a stable, equitable, or even predictable world order.

Superpower Symbolic Osama Bin Laden and Millennial Discontent

2019 ◽  
pp. 131-160
Author(s):  
Jeremy Prestholdt
Keyword(s):  
World Order ◽  
The United States ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
First Century ◽  
Terrorist Attacks ◽  
Military Interventions ◽  
Minority Communities ◽  
Us Military ◽  
Osama Bin Laden ◽  
Iconic Figure

This chapter charts the uses of Osama bin Laden's image in the first decade of the twenty-first century, a period marked by the 9/11 terrorist attacks, US military interventions, and growing resistance to global inequalities. More than any other iconic figure to emerge in the new millennium, Osama bin Laden provided a symbol for popular frustrations with the neoliberal world order in the global South. In the early 2000s people in multiple world regions used bin Laden iconography to articulate a sense of marginalization and demands for systemic change. However, few of those who wore bin Laden T-shirts subscribed to his beliefs or endorsed his tactics. Many simply perceived bin Laden as a figurative "superpower" that symbolically approximated the United States. To account for this interpretation, this chapter concentrates on the urban environments of coastal Kenya, where some young people represented various grievances through bin Laden iconography. In an effort to explain why they did so, this chapter highlights acute feelings of alienation within religious and ethnic minority communities along Kenya's Indian Ocean coast. It shows how some Kenyans perceived their experiences of marginality as part of a larger system of repression that bin Laden's actions appeared to address..

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