Editors’ Introduction
| DOI | 10.1177/0020702020934668 |
| Published date | 01 June 2020 |
| Author | Greg Donaghy,Brian Bow |
| Date | 01 June 2020 |
| Subject Matter | Editorial |
Editors’ Introduction
Like so many things in today’s world, this issue begins and ends with the People’s
Republic of China. In its opening article, Christoph Zu
¨rcher offers an overview of
the transformation of China’s attitude toward United Nations (UN)’ peacekeeping
operations over the last thirty years. Once a doubter, but now a champion of the
practice, Beijing’s growing global weight almost certainly means that the future of
UN peacekeeping—still a vital component of international stability—is likely to
evolve with Chinese characteristics.
Our second article returns to a hardy perennial—jihadist violence.
Manifestations of jihadist violence in the West are down, argues Yaqub
Ibrahimi, but the “causes and conditions” that give rise to this continuing threat
remain unchanged. Resolving this challenge to global stability, he insists, requires
a fundamental understanding of its root causes. To achieve this, Ibrahimi adopts
International Relations (IR)’s time-tested level of analysis framework to explain
these causes at the individual, group, and international levels.
Our third article too returns to a familiar IR theme—economic sanctions.
Meredith Lilly and Delaram Arabi strike a cautionary note in discussing
Ottawa’s recent decision to pass legislation—a Magnitsky Act—to empower it
to impose unilateral sanctions on foreign actors for gross human rights abuses
and largescale corruption. But this, they warn on the basis of past practice, is
hardly a power that Ottawa is likely to use, and one that might be open to misuse.
A pair of contributions tackles public diplomacy: international and Canadian.
Bora Yoon and Kisuk Cho explore the nature of change within the UN’s
Department of Public Information since the Second World War. They contrast
the UN’s historic incrementalism with the innovative and transformative changes
ushered in under Kofi Annan to highlight the organization’s new commitment to
transnational dialogue.
Evan Potter takes the long view too in his study of the Canada Council for the
Arts. For more than 60 years, the arms-length, government-funded agency has
bankrolled and promoted the development of Canadian culture at home and
abroad. As Potter shows here, its growing commitment to projecting Canadian
diversity abroad may herald a new form of “bottom-up” Canadian cultural
diplomacy.
International Journal
2020, Vol. 75(2) 121–122
!The Author(s) 2020
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DOI: 10.1177/0020702020934668
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