Introduction: The Role of Ideas and the End of the Cold War

2005 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 3-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nina Tannenwald ◽  
William C. Wohlforth

The end of the Cold War helped to prompt new interest in the study of ideas in international politics. Once the province of a few dedicated researchers on the fringes of the discipline, scholarship on the role of ideas now occupies an important place in the mainstream of North American and especially European international relations research. The five articles in this special issue of the journal are intended to move the research agenda on ideas and the end of the Cold War to a new level of rigor. They develop new models of how ideas affected the outcome and, in so doing, take stock of this event to refine our understanding of how ideas work in international politics. Although we seek a deeper understanding of the end of the Cold War itself, we also use this seminal case to clarify and advance the debate over the role of ideas in international politics more generally.

2005 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 165-173 ◽  
Author(s):  
William C. Wohlforth

The articles in this special issue of the journal succeeded in meeting the core objective set out in the introduction: to refine, deepen, and extend previous studies of the role of ideas in the end of the Cold War. In particular, they confront more forthrightly than past studies a major challenge of studying ideas in this case; namely, that ideas, material incentives, and policy all covaried. Two other important problems for those seeking to establish an independent role for ideas remain to be addressed in future studies. Facing those problems as squarely as the contributors to this issue have faced the covariation problem will yield major benefits for the study of ideas in this case and in international relations more generally.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 434-456
Author(s):  
Liliane Klein Garcia

Ao observar o sistema unipolar que emergiu do final da Guerra Fria, é marcante o sentimento de insegurança geopolítica gerada pela existência de apenas uma superpotência global e as dúvidas da atuação do Estado soberano nessa conjuntura. Nesse paradigma, Capitão América: Guerra Civil é lançado com uma simbologia contestadora do papel do hegemon no sistema internacional. Com isso, inicialmente é exposto o enredo do filme, seguido das teorias liberal e realista das Relações Internacionais e da semiótica greimasiana. Com isso em vista, é feita a análise dos símbolos do longa-metragem e, por fim, se conclui que os autores do texto tinham como objetivo disseminar uma mensagem de união política entre os americanos.     Abstract: Observing the unipolar system emerging from the closure of the Cold War, is remarkable the sentiment of geopolitical insecurity generated by the existence of only one global superpower and the doubts about the role of the sovereign State in such system. In this paradigm, Captain America: Civil War is released with a contesting symbology about the role of the hegemon in the international system. Therefore, first it is exposed the movie plot, followed by the liberal and realist theories of international relations and the French semiotics. With this in mind, the symbols in the feature are analised and, in conclusion, it is stated that the authors wish to convey a message in bipartisan union amongst the American people. Keywords: International Relations Theory, Semiotics, Captain America.     Recebido em: setembro/2019. Aprovado em: maio/2020.


2020 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-57
Author(s):  
Davide Barile ◽  

For a long time, the sections of the Philosophy of Right dedicated to the relations among states have been neglected by contemporary International Relations theories. However, especially since the end of the Cold War, this discipline has finally reconsidered Hegel’s theory, in particular by stressing two aspects: the thesis of an ”end of history” implied in it; and, more generally, the primacy of the state in international politics. This paper suggests a different interpretation. It argues that, in order to really understand Hegel’s theory of international relations, it is necessary to consider how it is related to the momentous changes that occurred in the wake of the French Revolution and to previous philosophical developments in the Age of Enlightenment. Indeed, the convergence of these two aspects in his own philosophy of history should suggest that, according to Hegel, by the early nineteenth century international politics had finally entered a new era in which states would still interact as the foremost actors, but would be bound nonetheless by an unprecedented awareness of their historical character.


1990 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hugh Smith

The student of international relations seeks from Clausewitz not a theory of politics but an analysis of war. For some 150 years those who have sought to understand war have turned to Clausewitz—to find inspiration or to condemn him, to borrow or to steal from him, to quote or to misquote him. He has been called upon to support particular wars and strategies, to take sides in the Cold War and to throw light on nuclear deterrence. He has been both venerated and vilified, and frequently misunderstood. Few have ignored him altogether.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luerdi

This paper aims to describe the Cold War with its implications to the system of international politics in high politics contexts. High politics, which has been the realists’ interest, is one of the issues much discussed especially regarding the Cold War as the period of which has provided many examples to international relations scholars. This paper applies the historical approach, relying on the information referring to recorded past events to describe the focus of what is presented. This paper shows that the Cold War was brought by the two superpowers to many geographical areas in many forms of crisis, that then enabled to affect the international political system in term of politics, security and sovereignty.


2005 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 427-449 ◽  
Author(s):  
PETER LAWLER

The end of the Cold War has seen Western internationalism migrate from the margins to the centre of International Relations theory and practice. As a consequence the modest ambitions of what we might now call ‘classical internationalism’ have come under challenge from more thoroughly cosmopolitan varieties from both the right and left of the mainstream Western political spectrum whose commonalities, moreover, are arguably becoming as prominent as their differences. This article attempts to recover the classical internationalist project and, more specifically, the understanding of statehood that underpins it. Some observations on the distinctions and tensions between varieties of contemporary internationalist and cosmopolitan thinking about international politics are followed by a critique of a pervasive scholarly disinterest in the varieties of Western internationalist states. These two exercises form the backdrop to advocacy of the idea of ‘the Good State’ as a response to dominant forms of contemporary Western cosmopolitanism and their critics.


Author(s):  
Umar Suryadi Bakry

<p>This article tries to explain some thoughts on the importance of cultural factors in the study of International Relations (IR).  The mainstream theories of international relations since the end of the World War II have ignored the role of cultural factors in world politics. But, after the Cold War era in 1990s, culture began to enter the center of research on international relations.  After the Cold War ended, cultural factors become particularly prominent and began to gain more attention from the scholars of International Relations. There are at least three prominent theories which are increasingly taking into account the role of cultural factors in international relations, that is, Huntington’s “clash of civilization” theory, Nye’s “soft power” theory, and constructivism theory. In addition, since the 1990s, many studies conducted by IR scholars have focused on the relationship between culture and the foreign policy of a country. The emergence of international culturology as a sub-field of IR studies further confirms that culture is an important variable in international relations.</p>


Res Publica ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-84
Author(s):  
Huri Türsan

The joint international action against Iraq and the search for a new security doctrine following the end of the Cold War, led, in the early '90s, to a revival of the notion of collective security embodied in several international agreements. This notion is based on the assumption of responding collectively to international aggression. However, the international guagmires of recent years and especially the case of former Yugoslavia where international organizations have played the role of alibi to agression, has once more, dealt a major blow to the illusion of the implementation of the principles of collective security. In a way similar to the 1930s and the bipolar balance of power of the Cold War, collective security seems ephemeral today. We can therefore safelypredict that in the foreseeable future, international relations wilt continue to be shaped by the balance of specific state interests and not by universally applied principles of collective security.


Asian Survey ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 51 (5) ◽  
pp. 953-970 ◽  
Author(s):  
KIM HYUNG JONG ◽  
LEE POH PING

ASEAN’s dialogue mechanism has been evolving from consensus-seeking to strategic means, to use the Habermas distinction. This consensus norm was maintained during the Cold War because of rapport among ASEAN leaders and the presence of an external threat. However, ASEAN expansion to 10 countries, the emergence of non-traditional threats to security, and democratization have weakened this norm.


2014 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 331-339
Author(s):  
CHRISTOPHE JAFFRELOT

The students of transnational flows, including James Rosenau,1have pertinently highlighted the growing assertion of ‘sovereign free actors’ at the expense of ‘sovereign bound actors’ in what they call postinternational politics.2Dealing mostly with the end of the Cold War era, they have tended to focus on the increasingly important role of not only the multinational firms but also of the financial companies on newly globalized markets, and not only law-abiding but also illicit traffickers (of drugs, arms etc.) which have prospered along with increasingly more effective means of communication.They have almost completely ignored the transnationalization of religions, except from the point of view of fundamentalisms and related terrorist networks. Sociologists have paid more attention to this development.3But these studies, which have mostly focused on the impact of migrations,4have tended to under estimate the resilience of state boundaries5and have often neglected the circulation of ideas, especially from the point of view of the learning networks—the very object of this Special Issue which concentrates on one particular creed: Islam.


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