Ripe for Resolution

2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 388-409
Author(s):  
Kristina Hinz ◽  
Monica Herz ◽  
Maira Siman
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
International Politics ◽  
Epistemic Community ◽  
Third Party ◽  
International Mediation ◽  
Common Practices ◽  
Core Concepts ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Circulation Of Knowledge

Abstract This article discusses how the institutionalization of international mediation practices and its growing relevance since the end of the Cold War coincided with the formation of an epistemic community that shares common practices for a third party. This community focuses on core concepts that structure mediation practices such as efficiency, rationality, and the management of time and information. The article analyzes the consolidation of this community through the circulation of knowledge among scholars and practitioners. In particular, it highlights the place of the concept of ripeness, developed by Ira William Zartman, in stabilizing a division between a moment of conflict and a moment of nonconflict; and it discusses the place of the UN system in its dissemination among mediation practitioners. The article argues that the project-oriented understanding of mediation practices that arises from these shared conceptions contributes to an insulation of these practices from broader views of conflict within international politics.

Brokering Peace in Nuclear Environments

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moeed Yusuf
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Bargaining Theory ◽  
The Third ◽  
China And India ◽  
International Setting ◽  
Multiple Audiences ◽  
Crisis Behavior ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Shed Light

This book is the first to theorize third party mediation in crises between regional nuclear powers. Its relevance flows from two of the most significant international developments since the end of the Cold War: the emergence of regional nuclear rivalries; and the shift from the Cold War’s bipolar context to today’s unipolar international setting. Moving away from the traditional bilateral deterrence models, the book conceptualizes crisis behavior as “brokered bargaining”: a three-way bargaining framework where the regional rivals and the ‘third party’ seek to influence each other to behave in line with their crisis objectives and in so doing, affect each other’s crisis behavior. The book tests brokered bargaining theory by examining U.S.-led crisis management in South Asia, analyzing three major crises between India and Pakistan: the Kargil conflict, 1999; the 2001-02 nuclear standoff; and the Mumbai crisis, 2008. The case studies find strong evidence of behavior predicted by the brokered bargaining framework. They also shed light on several risks of misperceptions and inadvertence due to the challenges inherent in signaling to multiple audiences simultaneously. Traditional explanations rooted in bilateral deterrence models do not account for these, leaving a void with serious practical consequences, which the introduction of brokered bargaining seeks to fill. The book’s findings also offer lessons for crises on the Korean peninsula, between China and India, and between potential nuclear rivals in the Middle East.

Foreign Policy after 1990

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Raja Mohan
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Cold War ◽  
South Asian ◽  
Economic Resources ◽  
Reform Era ◽  
Absolute Increase ◽  
Core Concepts ◽  
Strategic Influence ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Strategic Autonomy

Four broad themes in India’s foreign policy since 1990 are analysed in this chapter: restructuring of great power relations, reconnecting to the extended neighbourhood, recasting the South Asian policy, and rethinking some of the core concepts like non-alignment. Liberated from the Cold War constraints and in search of capital, technology, and markets in the reform era, India intensified the engagement with the West without abandoning its traditional Russian partnership. It began to rebuild its economic and political ties to the extended neighbourhood, injected greater flexibility into its engagement with the smaller neighbours in the subcontinent, and sought, unsuccessfully, to normalize relations with Pakistan. The absolute increase in its military and economic resources began to compel India to think less like a developing, non-aligned country and more like an emerging and responsible power. India is also struggling to address the tension between the concepts of ‘strategic autonomy’ and ‘strategic influence’.

Secretary‐General

2008 ◽  
pp. 174-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward Newman
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
International Politics ◽  
Secretary General ◽  
New Era ◽  
The Cold War

This article discusses the intricacies of trying to be a Secretary-General. It describes the evolution of the roles of the Office of Secretary-General in the context of international politics. The article also provides an outline of the articles of the Charter that relate to the Secretary-General, the evolution of the office during the Cold War, and how the office has encountered challenges in the ‘new era’.

The International Politics of East Africa. By Robert Pinkney. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2001. 242p. $74.95 cloth, $24.95 paper.

2002 ◽  
Vol 96 (4) ◽  
pp. 890-891
Author(s):  
Claude Welch
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
East Africa ◽  
International Politics ◽  
Mutual Influence ◽  
International Community ◽  
The Cold War

Robert Pinkney, a respected British Africanist, takes on an ambitious task: examining the interaction of three Anglophone states (Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania) with the international community since independence, but primarily since the end of the Cold War opened up new avenues for mutual influence.

Understanding Nuclear Crisis Behavior

2018 ◽  
pp. 13-26
Author(s):  
Moeed Yusuf
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
War Literature ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Post Cold War ◽  
Crisis Behavior ◽  
Nuclear Crisis ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Cold War Literature ◽  
Insufficient Knowledge

This chapter surveys the literature on nuclear crises. It begins by summarizing the Cold War treatment of these episodes, highlighting the centrality of bilateral deterrence and models such as “brinkmanship” in creating expectations for nuclear crisis behavior. Even though third-party actors remained important as superpower allies during the Cold War, literature during this period suffered from a two-actor bias flowing from the global hegemony of the superpowers. Post–Cold War literature tends to account for regional nuclearization and unipolarity but in summarizing this body of work, the chapter identifies that there is still insufficient knowledge of the various factors at play in regional nuclear crises.

War and strong states, peace and weak states?

1996 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 237-268 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael C. Desch
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Cold War ◽  
International Security ◽  
International Politics ◽  
The State ◽  
Weak States ◽  
The Cold War

For most of the twentieth century, international politics were dominated by World Wars I and II and by the cold war. This period of intense international security competition clearly strengthened states, increasing their scope and cohesion. However, the end of the cold war may represent a “threat trough”—a period of significantly reduced international security competition. If so, the scope and cohesion of many states may likewise change. Although this change will not be so great as to end the state or the states system, the state as we know it surely will change. Some states will disintegrate, many will cease growing in scope and may even shrink a little, and few will remain unaffected.

Just Say No: Explaining the Lack of International Mediation in Kashmir

2017 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 499-520
Author(s):  
Bidisha Biswas
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Archival Research ◽  
Strict Adherence ◽  
Post Cold War ◽  
Third Party Intervention ◽  
International Mediation ◽  
The Government ◽  
Strategic Autonomy ◽  
External Intervention

AbstractThe dispute between India and Pakistan over Kashmir is one of the world’s most protracted and potentially dangerous conflicts. While the international community has strong interest in limiting violent conflagration between the two states, third party action aimed at amelioration has been very limited. This contrasts with overall global mediation efforts, which have increased in the post-Cold War period. Using archival research, this study explores the reasons for the Government of India’s implacable opposition to any external intervention in the conflict. We argue that both strategic and ideational motivations have influenced its decisions. In particular, India’s strict adherence to the principle of strategic autonomy precludes the possibility of accepting external mediation. By exploring how and why strategic and ideational motivations intersect to become a formidable barrier to third party intervention, this article contributes to our understanding of why certain countries develop resistance to mediation.

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