How can we criticize international practices?

Abstract In this article, we elaborate two distinct ways of criticizing international practices: social critique and pragmatic critique. Our argument is that these two forms of critique are systematically opposed to each other: They are based on opposing epistemic premises, they are motivated by opposing political concerns, and they pursue opposing visions of social progress. Scholars of International Relations (IR) who want to work with the conceptual tools of practice theory are thus confronted with a consequential choice. Understanding the alternatives can help them to be more self-reflexive in their research practices and intervene more forcefully in contemporary political debates. We illustrate these advantages through a discussion of the scholarly debate on the practices of multilateral diplomacy through which the United Nations Security Council authorized a military intervention in Libya in 2011.

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In the name of democracy: UNSC reform at the intersection of discourse and governmentality

Discourse & Society ◽

10.1177/0957926520970382 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 095792652097038

Author(s):

Bjarke Zinck Winther ◽

Laura Bang Lindegaard

Keyword(s):

International Relations ◽

United Nations ◽

Security Council ◽

United Nations Security Council ◽

Democracy Promotion ◽

Reform Process ◽

The United Nations ◽

Reform Debate

Both scholars and practitioners are frustrated by the complexity of United Nations Security Council reform. Most research on the reform process is situated within international relations, and almost no attention is granted to the discursive dimensions of the reform. This article approaches democracy promotion as a governmental rationality within the United Nations, and it traces how this governmentality is co-constituted and negotiated discursively in the reform debate. The analysis focuses on argumentation and topoi in statements from debates about reform during 2015 to 2016 by two groups: The Group of Four and The Uniting for Consensus. The analysis demonstrates how the two groups utilise a topos of majority and a topos of equality, respectively, and how the groups thereby in different ways co-constitute and negotiate the governmental rationality of democracy. Through this, the article unravels the subtle ways in which the rigidity of the reform process is co-constituted through discourse.

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Co-Optation of Feminism: Gender, Militarism and the UNSC Resolution 1325

Feminist Critique: East European Journal of Feminist and Queer Studies ◽

10.52323/fc1-1 ◽

2017 ◽

pp. 7-18

Author(s):

Anna Nikoghosyan

Keyword(s):

International Relations ◽

United Nations ◽

Feminist Theory ◽

Security Council ◽

Full Text ◽

United Nations Security Council ◽

Security Council Resolution ◽

Discursive Practice ◽

Conceptual Apparatus ◽

The Republic

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 is often referred to as a landmark resolution. Despite its revolutionary potential, I argue that the Resolution was developed through gendered discourses that allowed its use for militarist purposes. Informed by poststructuralist international relations feminist theory, I refer to the Resolution as a discursive practice and claim that the ways in which the UN conceptual apparatus understands and interprets gender and security open up possibilities for states to co-opt the very radical meaning of the Resolution by legitimising and normalising militarist practicing and silencing anti-militarist critique. In order to show this, I examine the gendered discourses behind the creation of the Resolution and address two major ways (including the ongoing militarisation processes in the Republic of Armenia) by which the Resolution is being militarised. (The full text is available in English and in translation into Ukrainian).

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AN OVERVIEW OF INDIA-BAHRAIN TRADE RELATIONS

EPRA International Journal of Economic and Business Review ◽

10.36713/epra5538 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 71-75

Author(s):

Dr. Abdul Vajid

Keyword(s):

International Relations ◽

United Nations ◽

Security Council ◽

Foreign Relations ◽

United Nations Security Council ◽

Indian Diaspora ◽

Trade Facilitation ◽

Trade Relations ◽

Trade Relationship ◽

Made In

Indian-Bahrain relations go back centuries and both are close allies. The Monarchy, along with its GCC allies, is one of the world's most influential advocates of India's candidacy for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council, according to Indian officials. In 2019-20, trade between India and Bahrain was USD 980.59 million. The wide Indian Diaspora in Bahrain is also the focus of debate as it is the foundation of India-Bahrain relationship. An effort has been made in this paper to examine the India’s trade relationship with Bahrain between 2011-2020. The study shows that India and Bahrain both have tremendous cooperation potential and therefore need to improve their trade diplomacy in order to establish a favourable trade facilitation climate. KEY WORDS: Indo-Bahrain relations, Trade relations, Foreign Trade, International Relations, Foreign Relations, International Trade

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National Identity and New Zealand’s Actions on the United Nations Security Council: 1993-94 and 2015-16

10.26686/wgtn.17067848.v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

◽

Kate Breach

Keyword(s):

National Identity ◽

New Zealand ◽

International Relations ◽

United Nations ◽

Security Council ◽

The United States ◽

United Nations Security Council ◽

Political Elite ◽

Material Interests ◽

The United Nations

<p>To win its seat on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) in both 1993-94 and 2015-16, New Zealand campaigned using the same prime pillar; its ability to act independently on the world’s prime authority for maintenance of international peace and security. With the substantial change in New Zealand’s international relationships between the two UNSC tenures, most particularly with the United States of America and China, many commentators have questioned whether New Zealand still acts independently in international affairs. Employing analytic eclecticism, this thesis applied a combined analytical framework to assess the drive behind New Zealand’s actions during both its 1993-94 and 2015-16 UNSC tenures, allowing both traditional international relations theories of neo-realism and neo-liberalism and the constructivist lens of national identity to be combined for greater explanatory power for the state’s actions in the contemporary era of complex international interdependencies. This research determined that most of New Zealand’s actions aligned with pursuit of its interests, as a small state, as ensured through multilateralism under the lens of institutional neo-liberalism. However, a number of actions taken, and strong positions held, by New Zealand on the UNSC in both periods did not align with the state’s pursuit of material interests under traditional international relations theories. By first establishing the popularly internalised national identity characteristics (or content) during each UNSC tenure period, defined as residing in public opinion, this thesis argues that a ‘win-set’ of national identity content relative prioritisation during each period enabled, and arguably drove, New Zealand’s political elite to take actions or hold positions not aligned with those of powerful states on which the small country’s material interests depended. It is argued that New Zealand’s actions on the UNSC in 2015-16 reinforced the social construction of New Zealand’s internationally regarded national identity content as an independent advocate for the global good, which was strongly established during its 1993-94 tenure.</p>

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The Promise of Peacekeeping: Protecting Civilians in Civil Wars

International Organization ◽

10.1017/s0020818320000442 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 74 (4) ◽

pp. 810-832

Author(s):

Allison Carnegie ◽

Christoph Mikulaschek

Keyword(s):

International Relations ◽

United Nations ◽

Selection Bias ◽

Civil Wars ◽

Instrumental Variables ◽

Security Council ◽

Civil Conflict ◽

United Nations Security Council ◽

Peacekeeping Missions ◽

Identification Strategy

AbstractDo peacekeepers protect civilians in civil conflict? Securing civilian safety is a key objective of contemporary peacekeeping missions, yet whether these efforts actually make a difference on the ground is widely debated in large part because of intractable endogeneity concerns and selection bias. To overcome these issues, we use an instrumental variables design, leveraging exogenous variation in the rotation of African members of the United Nations Security Council and looking at its effects on African civil wars. We show that states that wield more power send more peacekeepers to their preferred locations, and that these peacekeepers in turn help to protect civilians. We thus demonstrate the robustness of many existing results to a plausible identification strategy and present a method that can also be applied to other diverse settings in international relations.

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Islands of Stability: new conception on the use of force regarding the implementation of protection of civilians

Brazilian Journal of International Relations ◽

10.36311/2237-7743.2016.v5n2.09.p431 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 5 (2) ◽

pp. 431-453

Author(s):

Graziene Carneiro De Souza

Keyword(s):

United Nations ◽

Key Words ◽

Security Council ◽

Military Intervention ◽

Use Of Force ◽

United Nations Security Council ◽

New Method ◽

Peace Operations ◽

Review Of Literature ◽

Stability Concept

This article proposes that the normative context of the use of force is being modified by a new way to implement the Protection of Civilians (PoC). Resolution 2098 of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) created a Force Intervention Brigade (FIB) with an unprecedented mandate to implement the use of force preemptively. In this context, the objective of this paper is to evidence that the FIB’s offensive actions resulted in the emergence of the “Islands of Stability” concept, which represents a new method to implement the PoC. In order to elaborate this method, a review of literature, news papers and official documents was undertaken, as well as interviews with MONUSCO officials. Its outcome is a significant update, adaptation and evolution on the use of force in peace operations that aims to influence the general debate regarding military intervention and PoC. Key Words: Use of force, MONUSCO, FIB, Protection of Civilians, Islands of Stability.Resumo: Este artigo propõe que o contexto normativo sobre o uso da força está sendo modificado por uma nova forma de implementação da Protecção de Civis (PoC). A Resolução 2098 do Conselho de Segurança das Nações Unidas criou uma Força de Brigada de Intervenção (FIB) com mandato sem precedentes para implementar o uso da força preventivamente. As ações ofensivas da FIB resultaram na emergência do conceito de Ilhas de Estabilidade, apresentando novo processo da operacionalização da PoC. Isso significa nova atualização, adaptação e evolução do uso da força em operações de paz; e, portanto, influencia o debate geral sobre a intervenção militar e a PoC.Palavras-Chave: Uso da força, MONUSCO, FIB, Proteção de Civis, Ilhas de Estabilidade.

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The Women, Peace and Security Agenda: The Unfinished Story of Feminist Revolution versus Compromise in Global Politics

Mezinárodní vztahy ◽

10.32422/mv.1646 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 54 (4) ◽

pp. 47-65

Author(s):

Míla O'Sullivan

Keyword(s):

International Relations ◽

United Nations ◽

Security Council ◽

United Nations Security Council ◽

Security Council Resolution ◽

Global Politics ◽

Global Order ◽

Security Governance ◽

Peace And Security ◽

The United Nations

The adoption of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security (WPS) in 2000 has prompted the development of an extensive WPS scholarship within the field of feminist International Relations. The dynamic scholarly debate is characterised by certain tensions between two feminist groups – the radical revolutionary one which advocates a redefinition of the global order and is more sceptical of the agenda, and the pragmatist one accentuating the compromise towards the existing peace and security governance. This article explores the two main subjects of the WPS research – the discourse and implementation, as they have been informed by the revolutionary and pragmatist approaches. The article shows that while the academic inquiries into the WPS discourse reveal disappointment with the compromises made regarding the revolutionary vision, this disappointment is also present in the literature on implementation. The latter literature nonetheless acknowledges feminist pragmatism as a way forward given the realities on the ground.

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National Identity and New Zealand’s Actions on the United Nations Security Council: 1993-94 and 2015-16

10.26686/wgtn.17067848 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

◽

Kate Breach

Keyword(s):

National Identity ◽

New Zealand ◽

International Relations ◽

United Nations ◽

Security Council ◽

The United States ◽

United Nations Security Council ◽

Political Elite ◽

Material Interests ◽

The United Nations

<p>To win its seat on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) in both 1993-94 and 2015-16, New Zealand campaigned using the same prime pillar; its ability to act independently on the world’s prime authority for maintenance of international peace and security. With the substantial change in New Zealand’s international relationships between the two UNSC tenures, most particularly with the United States of America and China, many commentators have questioned whether New Zealand still acts independently in international affairs. Employing analytic eclecticism, this thesis applied a combined analytical framework to assess the drive behind New Zealand’s actions during both its 1993-94 and 2015-16 UNSC tenures, allowing both traditional international relations theories of neo-realism and neo-liberalism and the constructivist lens of national identity to be combined for greater explanatory power for the state’s actions in the contemporary era of complex international interdependencies. This research determined that most of New Zealand’s actions aligned with pursuit of its interests, as a small state, as ensured through multilateralism under the lens of institutional neo-liberalism. However, a number of actions taken, and strong positions held, by New Zealand on the UNSC in both periods did not align with the state’s pursuit of material interests under traditional international relations theories. By first establishing the popularly internalised national identity characteristics (or content) during each UNSC tenure period, defined as residing in public opinion, this thesis argues that a ‘win-set’ of national identity content relative prioritisation during each period enabled, and arguably drove, New Zealand’s political elite to take actions or hold positions not aligned with those of powerful states on which the small country’s material interests depended. It is argued that New Zealand’s actions on the UNSC in 2015-16 reinforced the social construction of New Zealand’s internationally regarded national identity content as an independent advocate for the global good, which was strongly established during its 1993-94 tenure.</p>

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The UN Security Council and Ghosts of Iraq

Land of Blue Helmets ◽

10.1525/california/9780520286931.003.0008 ◽

2016 ◽

Author(s):

Poorvi Chitalkar ◽

David M. Malone

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Decision Making ◽

International Relations ◽

United Nations ◽

Security Council ◽

Iraq War ◽

International Security ◽

Military Intervention ◽

Un Security Council ◽

The United Nations

This chapter examines the lingering effects of the United Nations Security Council's engagement with Iraq over four decades. When Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, the Security Council responded by imposing mandatory sanctions against Iraq and later that year authorized a United States-led military intervention. The Council then mandated weapons inspections and eventually a complex humanitarian program to mitigate the deleterious effects of the sanctions imposed against Iraq. In the next round of events in 2002–2003 it proved an ultimately unsuccessful political broker. Finally, the Council resorted to a marginal peacebuilding role after 2003. This chapter first retraces the Security Council's engagement with Iraq from 1980 onwards before discussing the Bush administration's unilateralism in the Iraq War. It also considers the Council's decision making on Iraq from 2002 to 2014 and how this engagement has both reflected and defined wider patterns of international relations, and how learning from Iraq has changed the Council's approach to promoting international security.

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