Crises in World Politics

1982 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 380-417 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Brecher ◽  
Jonathan Wilkenfeld
Keyword(s):  
Crisis Management ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Economic Systems ◽  
International Crises ◽  
International Crisis ◽  
National Crisis ◽  
System Characteristics

In examining patterns in international crises, the authors offer one path to a cocerted attack on a central phenomenon in world politics. After surveying the releva literature, including competing definitions, they set forth a conceptual map of int national crisis variables: actor attributes (age, territory, regime, capability, values system characteristics (size, geography, structure, alliance configuration, stability); a the crisis dimensions they wish to explain (trigger, actor behavior, superpower activity, and the role of international organizations—that is, crisis management, of come, and consequences). From this taxonomy they have developed a research frar work on international crisis, and, as an illustration of more narrow explanatory devie a crisis management-outcome model. Three clusters of hypotheses on the substar and form of crisis outcomes, and the duration of crises, are then tested against I evidence from 185 cases for the period from 1945 to 1962. The ultimate aim is illuminate international crises over a 50-year period, 1930–1980, across all continer cultures, and political and economic systems in the contemporary era.

International Organizations and the Pursuit of Justice in the World Economy

2000 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 99-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Weber
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Labor Unions ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
World Economy ◽  
International Political Economy ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Technological Changes ◽  
Nation States ◽  
Core Set

Evaluating the role of international organizations (IOs) in promoting social justice in a globalizing international political economy, this essay presents and defends four propositions:IOs are in a different, and more vulnerable, political space vis-à-vis globalization than are nation-states, firms, nongovernmental organizations, or labor unions;Central perceptions about problems of social justice in the context of globalization common to many IOs are a product of the history and intellectual trajectory in which these organizations have evolved;As a result, there is a common theme and a core set of objectives at play, having to do with promoting and sustaining liberalization. That is obviously not the same thing as social justice, although in some intellectual frameworks there is a tight relationship; andThe ability of IOs to promote these goals has been challenged and will continue to be challenged by globalization.The essay concludes by arguing that IOs are suffering a loss of legitimacy, and that both social and technological changes associated with globalization will make it harder for IOs to recapture the power to affect the behavior of other actors in world politics.

Preventing Another Korean War: A Case Study of Crisis Management from the Perspective of Readiness Theory

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-34
Author(s):  
Amira Schiff
Keyword(s):  
Crisis Management ◽  
North Korea ◽  
Korean War ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Third Party ◽  
International Crises ◽  
Multiple Variables ◽  
The U.S

Abstract This study explores the relevance of readiness theory’s analytical framework in illuminating the fundamentals that contribute to the de-escalation process in international crises. By applying this analytical framework to the U.S.-North Korea crisis management episode of 2017–2018, this study elucidates the interplay of elements that led to the winding down of the intense crisis and to the parties’ agreement to formally embark on negotiations at the end of the Singapore Summit in June 2018. The study shows how the multiple variables underlying the movements in conflict transformation, as outlined by readiness theory, can help to explain the effect of bilateral strategies applied by the U.S. and North Korea and the role of third-party involvement by South Korea and China in managing the crisis.

Metis diplomacy: The everyday politics of becoming a sovereign state

2018 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 167-190 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gëzim Visoka
Keyword(s):  
International Organizations ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Sovereign State ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
International Recognition ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
Broad Variety ◽  
Multiple Discourses

How do emerging states obtain international recognition and secure membership of international organizations in contemporary world politics? Using the concept of ‘metis’, this article explores the role of everyday prudent and situated discourses, diplomatic performances and entanglements in the enactment of sovereign statehood and the overcoming of external contestation. To this end, it describes Kosovo’s diplomatic approach to becoming a sovereign state by obtaining international recognition and securing membership of international organizations. Drawing on institutional ethnographic research and first-hand observations, the article argues that Kosovo’s success in consolidating its sovereign statehood has been the situational assemblage of multiple discourses, practiced through a broad variety of performative actions and shaped by a complex entanglement with global assemblages of norms, actors, relations and events. Accordingly, this study contributes to the conceptualization of the everyday in diplomatic practice by offering an account of how micro-practices feed into macro-practices in world politics.

Perspectives pour la paix mondiale à une époque de turbulence : Les États-Unis et les crises internationales

2005 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-90
Author(s):  
Patrick James ◽  
Athanasios Hristoulas
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
International System ◽  
The United States ◽  
World Politics ◽  
External Factors ◽  
World War ◽  
International Crises ◽  
International Crisis ◽  
The Us ◽  
Using Data

Recent events in world politics raise Fundamental doubts about the reasons behind conflict, crisis and war. What, for example, causes a state to become involved in an international crisis ? In an attempt to answer that question, the present study focuses on the experiences of a leading member of the international System over a sustained period of time, specifically, the United States in the post-World War 11 era. Ultimately, in order to develop a more comprehensive explanation of activity by the United States in international crises, this investigation combines external factors with others from within the state. Following a brief review of the research program on conflict linkage, internal attributes with potential relevance to involvement by states in crises are identified. External influences on foreign policy, consistent with the tradition of realpolitik, also are specified. These elements then are combined in a model of conflict linkage. Using data pertaining both the US as a polity and an actor in the international System, propositions derived from the model are tested in the crisis domain. The study concludes with some recommendations for further research on the linkage of domestic and foreign conflict, with particular reference to the explanation of crises.

UN intervention and the duration of international crises

2012 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 335-349 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyle Beardsley
Keyword(s):  
Crisis Management ◽  
Competing Risks ◽  
Third Party ◽  
International Crises ◽  
International Crisis ◽  
Military Involvement ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Over Time

This article examines the effect of UN actions on the duration of international crises. Four different types of action – assurance, diplomatic engagement, military involvement, and intimidation – and three different outcomes – compromise, victory, and stalemate – are considered. After building on the existing literature to develop expectations of how a third party like the UN shapes crisis trajectories, hypotheses are tested using the International Crisis Behavior (ICB) data and a new events dataset on UN activity. Results from competing-risks models reveal that UN military involvement does well to decrease the risk of one side achieving victory, and diplomatic engagement increases the ability of the belligerents to reach a compromise in the long run. Moreover, diplomatic engagement accompanied by military involvement substantially hastens the pace of stalemate outcomes. Both tactics, however, have some trade-offs. Military involvement can decrease the sense of urgency for compromise; diplomatic engagement can be used for insincere motives and increase the risk of one-sided victory over time. UN actions of assurance and simple intimidation have considerable shortcomings as crisis management vehicles.

Emotional Labor and the Power of International Bureaucrats

2020 ◽  
Vol 64 (3) ◽  
pp. 573-587
Author(s):  
Deepak Nair
Keyword(s):  
Social Class ◽  
International Relations ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Emotional Labor ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Principal Agent ◽  
General Phenomenon ◽  
Bureaucratic Power ◽  
Sociological Explanation

Abstract This article advances a theory on the power of international bureaucrats and bureaucracies in world politics. It argues that bureaucrats become powerful when they stage emotionally calibrated performances as “servants” before state principals and carve out space for action through “whispering,” “propagating,” cultivating patrons, and building coalitions in the backstage of official interaction. These “servant” performances involve what sociologist Arlie Hochschild calls “emotional labor”—the management of feelings in work performances. I develop a theory of emotional labor that suggests why international bureaucrats manage emotions as they perform as servants and why some bureaucrats with prized sociological profiles are empowered on the back of “confident” servant performances. In contrast to principal–agent, constructivist, and psychological accounts, this is a micro-sociological explanation for bureaucratic power. I evaluate this theory with an ethnography of the Secretariat of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)—a “least likely” case for bureaucratic power under prevailing theorizations. I also demonstrate how the ASEAN case is a sharper instance of a more general phenomenon. This article advances the study of emotions and emotional labor, the role of social class in shaping competent practice, and the debate on the power of bureaucrats and international organizations in international relations.

scholarly journals China and Global Financial Governance: Centripetalism, Elevation and Disparity

2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 90-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Falin Zhang
Keyword(s):  
International Organizations ◽  
Global Financial Crisis ◽  
Economic Systems ◽  
Network System ◽  
Governance System ◽  
Financial Governance ◽  
Governance Institutions ◽  
Governance Network ◽  
New System

Abstract In the post-2008 global financial crisis era, the global financial governance system has experienced dramatic changes and a comparatively new network system comes into the fore. Meanwhile, China’s extraordinary performance during the crisis by virtue of its unique political and economic systems urged the elevation of its role in the new system. Against this backdrop, three words are appropriate to describe the new system and China’s role in it in the post-crisis era-centripetalism (rather than centrifugalism), elevation (rather than domination) and disparity (rather than coherence). Centripetalism means that patched global financial governance network system has more force to coordinate states and related international organizations. Elevation refers to a relatively more important role of China in the new system, but, by no means, a dominant (or hegemonic) role. China is an indispensable participant rather than a leading power in global financial governance. Disparity indicates the differed strategies of China in various global financial governance institutions or toward different events.

The Role of International Organization: Limits and Possibilities

1956 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 357-372 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stanley Hoffmann
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Frame Of Reference ◽  
International Organization ◽  
International Affairs ◽  
World Community ◽  
Nation States ◽  
Foreign Policies

No field of study is more slippery than international relations. The student of government has a clear frame of reference: the state within which occur the developments which he examines. The student of international relations, unhappily, oscillates between the assumption of a world community which does not exist, except as an ideal, and the various units whose decisions and connections form the pattern of world politics—mainly, the nation-states. International organizations therefore tend to be considered either as the first institutions of a world in search of its constitution or as instruments of foreign policies. The scholar who follows the first approach usually blames, correctly enough, the nation-states for the failures of the organization; but he rarely indicates the means which could be used to bring the realities of world society into line with his ideal. The scholar who takes the second approach stresses, accurately enough, how limited the autonomy of international organizations has been and how little they have contributed to the achievement of their objectives; but because he does not discuss his fundamental assumption—the permanence of the nation-state's driving role in world politics—he reaches somewhat too easily the conclusion that the only prospect in international affairs is more of the same.

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