Coronavirus, Global Risk and The New International Crisis Management Model

This article discusses the immediate states’ responses to the COVID-19 crisis in the light of the new crisis management model in order to better understand how global leaders are facing this unprecedented international crisis.

Different shows, different stories: How German TV formats challenged the government’s framing of the Ukraine crisis

In a complex information environment, the Ukraine crisis became a litmus test for the German government’s capacity to legitimate its international crisis management in Ukraine and in confrontations with Russia. This study investigates crisis coverage in the pluralized German television system and how it is shaped by trends of infotainment and globalization. It asks how different TV formats framed the Ukraine crisis and challenged or approved governmental crisis policy. Comparing the framing of the Ukraine crisis between March 2014 and December 2015 in German government communication, public service newscast Tagesschau, Russian foreign broadcaster’s newscast Der Fehlende Part (RT Deutsch) and seven infotainment programs (talk shows and satirical shows), the findings reveal essential limitations for the indexing thesis. All TV formats substantially differed in their depiction of the crisis according to their respective format conventions. Whereas public service news mainly reflected governmental frames, the foreign and infotainment formats challenged the legitimacy of German crisis policy.

Sociomaterial relations and adaptive space in routine performance

This article examines the various processes through which sociomaterial relations constitute the performance of a routine. The study’s theoretical underpinnings are linked to sociomateriality in understanding the dynamics of routine performance. In this study, adaptive space furthers sociomaterial relations and processes, and their dynamics to constitute the routine performance. The findings are based on ethnographic research that was conducted during an international crisis management exercise. The analysis consists of three field episodes that illustrate the different processes in which the sociomaterial matters in routine performance. The article contributes to the theoretical discussion by showing, first, how adaptive space enables going beyond the sociomaterial dualism and transfers the theoretical emphasis to the fluidity and dynamism of these relations. It also draws attention to the sociomaterial processes that constitute the performance of the routine. Third, it further shows how through sociomaterial relations and processes the organizing of professional knowledge co-constitution is performed and managed.

Why Not Default?

The European debt crisis has rekindled long-standing debates about the power of finance and the fraught relationship between capitalism and democracy in a globalized world. This book unravels a striking puzzle at the heart of these debates—why, despite frequent crises and the immense costs of repayment, do so many heavily indebted countries continue to service their international debts? The book provides a sweeping investigation of the political economy of sovereign debt and international crisis management. It takes readers from the rise of public borrowing in the Italian city-states to the gunboat diplomacy of the imperialist era and the wave of sovereign defaults during the Great Depression. The book vividly describes the debt crises of developing countries in the 1980s and 1990s, and sheds new light on the recent turmoil inside the Eurozone—including the dramatic capitulation of Greece's short-lived anti-austerity government to its European creditors in 2015. Drawing on in-depth case studies of contemporary debt crises in Mexico, Argentina, and Greece, the book paints a disconcerting picture of the ascendancy of global finance. It shows how the profound transformation of the capitalist world economy over the past four decades has endowed private and official creditors with unprecedented structural power over heavily indebted borrowers, enabling them to impose painful austerity measures and enforce uninterrupted debt service during times of crisis—with devastating social consequences and far-reaching implications for democracy.

The Sovereign Debt Puzzle

This introductory chapter first sets out the book's purpose, which is to contribute to debates on the power of finance and the consequences of contemporary patterns in international crisis management for social justice and democracy. It does so by revisiting a seemingly simple question whose answer has nonetheless eluded economists for decades: why do so many heavily indebted countries continue to service their external debts even in times of acute fiscal distress? The chapter then presents a brief history of sovereign default followed by discussions of why governments repay their debts, the three enforcement mechanisms of debtor compliance, and consequences for international crisis management.

NATO's Lessons in Crisis

In crisis management operations, strategic errors can cost lives. Some international organizations (IOs) learn from these failures, whereas, others tend to repeat them. Given high rates of turnover and shorter job contracts, how do IOs such as NATO retain any knowledge about past errors? Institutional memory enhances prospects for reforms that can prevent future failures. The book provides an explanation for how and why IOs develop institutional memory in international crisis management. Evidence indicates that the design of an IO’s learning infrastructure (e.g. lessons learned offices and databases) can inadvertently disincentivize IO elites from using it to share knowledge about strategic errors. Under such conditions, IO elites - high-level civilian and military officials - view reporting to be risky. In response, they prefer to contribute to institutional memory through the creation and use of informal processes such as transnational interpersonal networks, private documentation and conversations during crisis management exercises. The result is an institutional memory that remains vulnerable to turnover since critical knowledge is highly dependent on a handful of individuals. The book draws on the author’s interviews and a survey experiment with 120 NATO elites, including assistant secretary generals, military representatives and ambassadors. Cases of NATO crisis management in Afghanistan, Libya and Ukraine serve to further illustrate the development of institutional memory. Findings challenge existing organizational learning scholarship by indicating that formal learning processes alone are insufficient to ensure learning occurs. The book also offers policymakers a set of recommendations for strengthening the learning capacity of IOs.

Part II Commentaries to Typical Sofa Rules, 21 Military Law Enforcement

This chapter explores the enforcement jurisdiction of Sending States in international military cooperation and international (crisis management) operations. It analyses enforcement jurisdiction and the limits on extraterritorial exercise of that jurisdiction under international law in general and also briefly addresses the concept of international legal assistance in criminal matters that allows States to deal with transnational aspects of crimes outside the framework of military cooperation and operations. The chapter then explores the scope of jurisdictional provisions in status-of-forces agreements (SOFAs). Since extraterritorial enforcement powers of States are limited, SOFAs generally include a basic provision ensuring mutual legal assistance of the States involved in carrying out criminal and other investigations. This chapter also discusses the scope of these provisions and turns to some specific powers, such as the right to exercise police powers for the purpose of maintaining (internal) order and discipline.