Multilateralism in the Era of Sino-US Strategic Competition : Balancing the Security-Maximization and Norm-Spreading Function of Alliances

The Great Game in West Asia examines the strategic competition between Iran and Turkey for power and influence in the South Caucasus. These neighboring Middle East powers have vied for supremacy throughout the region, while contending with ethnic heterogeneity within their own territories and across their borders. Turkey has long conceived of itself as not just a bridge between Asia and Europe but as a central player in regional and global affairs. Iran’s parallel ambitions for strategic centrality have only been masked by its own inarticulate foreign policy agendas and the repeated missteps of its revolutionary leaders. But both have sought to deepen their regional influence and power, and in the South Caucasus each has achieved a modicum of success. As much of the world’s attention has been diverted to conflicts near and far, a new ‘great game’ has been unravelling between Iran and Turkey in the South Caucasus.

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China’s response to the 2014–2016 Ebola crisis: Enhancing Africa’s soft security under Sino-US competition

China Information ◽

10.1177/0920203x20978545 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 0920203X2097854

Author(s):

Jean-Pierre Cabestan

Keyword(s):

Humanitarian Assistance ◽

Medical Sciences ◽

Health Security ◽

Public Health Emergencies ◽

Strategic Competition ◽

International Response ◽

Disaster Relief Operations ◽

Relief Operations ◽

Set Up ◽

Military Teams

The 2014–16 Ebola crisis in West Africa was China’s very first opportunity to demonstrate its willingness and ability to play a meaningful role in addressing public health emergencies of international concern. China’s decision to participate in the international response to the outbreak was part of an ambition to enhance its contribution to Africa’s security in general and health security in particular and to exert more influence on global norms. The specific role played by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), especially its Academy of Military Medical Sciences, in Sierra Leone and Liberia is part of an ongoing effort to increase China’s involvement in international humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations. It was the first time that it sent medical military teams to set up and operate infectious disease hospitals overseas. This participation also underscores the PLA’s crucial role in fighting epidemics overseas as well as at home, as the current COVID-19 pandemic illustrates. The Ebola crisis enables us to explore aspects of the PLA’s overseas missions, some of which are humanitarian and others which generally enhance China’s influence as a great power in Africa and in the world in the context of a growing Sino-US strategic competition.

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Geometrical spreading function for short-period S and coda waves recorded in southern Spain

Physics of The Earth and Planetary Interiors ◽

10.1016/0031-9201(93)90070-p ◽

1993 ◽

Vol 80 (1-2) ◽

pp. 25-36 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

J.M. Ibáñez ◽

E. Del Pezzo ◽

G. Alguacil ◽

F. De Miguel ◽

J. Morales ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Southern Spain ◽

Coda Waves ◽

Geometrical Spreading ◽

Short Period ◽

Spreading Function

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After the Critical Election: Presidential Leadership, Competition and the Consolidation of the New Deal Realignment

British Journal of Political Science ◽

10.1017/s0007123402000091 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 32 (2) ◽

pp. 221-257 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

M. STEPHEN WEATHERFORD

Keyword(s):

New Deal ◽

Quantitative Information ◽

Political Orientation ◽

The Public ◽

Strategic Competition ◽

Group Identities ◽

Consolidation Phase ◽

National Coalition ◽

Mass Opinion ◽

The New Deal

The concept of critical realignment has shaped much of the thinking of political scientists and historians about the processes and patterns of change in American politics. Research on re-alignment has, however, tended to focus on successful cases and to concentrate on the electoral breakpoints rather than the process of regime formation, with the result that little systematic thinking has been devoted to the question of why some electoral upheavals lead to party realignment while other large vote shifts do not. This article begins from the proposition that the election does not so much constitute the realignment as offer the opportunity and the momentum for the new party to build a lasting national coalition. Whether the party capitalizes on this potential depends on processes and events that follow the critical election, during what could be called the ‘consolidation phase’ of the realignment. The question is ultimately one about public opinion, but the concept of consolidation needs to take in the interaction between the public and political elites, since mass opinion is formed in the context of elite initiatives and interpretations. The model of consolidation depicts two interrelated processes. The first involves strategic competition among elites, including elected officials and organized societal interests, who frame the conflict, by prioritizing issues and cleavages, and by relating policy proposals to group identities and widely-shared values. The second focuses on the public. Their standing loyalties disrupted by the crisis and the incumbents' inability to deal with it successfully, citizens engage in a process of experiential search as they seek to re-establish the stable political orientation given by attachment to a political party. The article draws on qualitative and quantitative information from the New Deal to illustrate the model of consolidation.

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