V: International Relations/Relations Internationales
| Published date | 01 August 2016 |
| Date | 01 August 2016 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002083451606600405 |
| Subject Matter | Abstracts |
501
V
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
RELATIONS INTERNATIONALES
(a) International law, organization and administration / Droit international, organisation et administration internationales
66.4789 ABATAN, Ella ; SPIES, Yolanda — African solutions to
African problems? The AU, R2P [Responsibility to Pro-
tect] and Côte d'Ivoire. South African Journal of Internation-
al Affairs 23(1), March 2016 : 21-38.
The African continent is inextricably linked to the development of the
Responsibility to Protect (R2P) norm and the latter's ethical interpretation
of the duties associated with state sovereignty. With the African Union
(AU) having institutionalized R2P in its legal-institutional foundation of
2000, the stage seemed set for the new African Peace and Security
Architecture to demonstrate the continent's ramped-up interventionist
approach to security. One of the first cases that presented an opportunity
to do so was the humanitarian crisis that erupted after the 2010 elections
in Côte d'Ivoire. As the crisis unfolded, however, it became clear that the
AU was not only unable to operationalize its institutionalized R2P mech-
anisms, but indeed reluctant to invoke R2P explicitly. [R, abr.]
66.4790 ALBRECHT, Peter ; H AENLEIN, Cathy — Fragmented
peacekeeping: the African Union in Somalia. RUSI Jour-
nal 161(1), Feb.-March 2016 : 50-61.
From uncertain beginnings, the African Union Mission in Som alia
(AMISON) has grown, over almost ten years, into the regional organiza-
tion’s largest peace-support operation. Bolstered by a multilayered
mission architecture through which the UN and bilateral donors provide
financial, logistical and technical support, it has achieved important gains
against the jihadi Islamist organization Al-Shabaab. The apparent viabil-
ity of these partnerships has seen AMISOM hailed as a successful model
of collaboration between regional and international structures. The
authors examine a less-studied dimension of this model, namely the
intersection of these arrangements with the structural fragmentation that
has increasingly come to define the mission. [R]
66.4791 ALEXANDROVA, Petya ; RASMUSSEN, Anne ; TOSHKOV,
Dimiter — Agenda responsiveness in the European
Council: public priorities, policy problems and political
attention. West European Politics 39(4), 2016 : 605-627.
The existence of political responsiveness in multi-level systems like the
EU remains an open question despite significant recent research on the
topic. This article studies whether the European Council responds to the
shifting policy priorities of European citizens. More specifically, it ex-
plores the synchronic and diachronic associations between what people
consider to be the most important problems and the political attention
devoted to these issues from 2003 to 2014. The economic crisis after
2008 appears to have made the ranking of public concerns and the
European Council agenda more alike. However, a detailed examination
of the shifts in prioritization of single issues over time reveals little evi-
dence for dynamic issue-responsiveness. Recently the European Coun-
cil has paid more attention to the issues that the public considered the
most pressing problems. [R, abr.]
66.4792 ARGOMANIZ, Javier ; LEHR, Peter — Political resilience
and EU responses to aviation terrorism. Studies in Conflict
and Terrorism 39(4), Apr. 2016 : 363-379.
We examine how European authorities have responded to reported
threats to aviation resulting from individual terrorist tactics. We apply the
notion of political resilience and drawing on Palonen's “policy, polity,
politicking, and politicization” model as well as on Malcolm Anderson's
concept of “politics of the latest outrage”. We argue that the EU response
to aviation terrorism has created polity transformation and generated a
long list of new policies but has also in the process become politicized
and subject of politicking, with some high-profile measures being criti-
cized for having a deleterious impact on passengers' rights. [R] [See
Abstr. 66.4320]
66.4793 BACHMANN, Anna — Werte und Vorschriften: Das
Sanktionsbesteck der EU-Institutionen (Values and rules:
the array of sanctions availables to EU institutions). Os-
teuropa 66(1-2), 2016 : 209-222.
The EU can respond by various means to violations of the law on the
part of mem ber states. Violations of individual provisions can lead to
treaty infringement proceedings, which can end with substantial fines. If
a state violates the fundamental values of the EU, proceeding in accord-
ance with Art. 7 of the Treaties of the EU come into consideration. That
can lead to a state losing some of its membership rights within the EU.
The hurdles to setting proceedings in motion are corresponding high. In
addition, the European Commission has developed preliminary proceed-
ings, which are to address grievances through dialogue with the state
concerned. Such preliminary proceedings were used for the first time in
the case of Poland. However, it is legally controversial. [R, abr.] [See
Abstr. 66.4698]
66.4794 BEAZER, Quintin H. ; WOO Byungwon — IMF conditionali-
ty, government partisanship, and the progress of eco-
nomic reforms. American Journal of Political Science 60(2),
Apr. 2016 : 304-321.
The IMF often seeks to influence countries' domestic public policy via
varying levels of conditionality — linking financial support to borrowing
governments' commitment to policy reforms. When does extensive
conditionality encourage domestic econom ic reforms and when does it
impede them? We argue that, rather than universally benefiting or harm-
ing reforms, the effects of stricter IMF conditionality depend on domestic
partisan politics. More IMF conditions can pressure left-wing govern-
ments into undertaking more ambitious reforms with little resistance from
partisan rivals on the right; under right governments, however, more
conditions hinder reform implementation by heightening resistance from
the left while simu ltaneously reducing leaders' ability to win their support
through concessions or compromise. Using data on post-communist IMF
programs for the period 1994-2010, we find robust evidence supporting
these claims. [R]
66.4795 BIRKENKÖTTER, Hannah — Die Menschenrechtauss-
chüsse der Vereinten Nationen (The UN’s human rights
program). Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte 66(10-11), 7 March
2016 : 10-16.
In the UN system, the implementation of the different agreements on
human rights and their additional protocols is supervised by nine UN
human rights treaty bodies (or committees), each responsible for over-
seeing the implementation of a particular treaty. These committees are of
a hybrid nature, since their functions’ nature can be considered as
political and quasi-jurisdictional. They receive reports from the states’
compliance with the agreements and issue recommendations, but their
opinions are not legally binding. The outlook of their situation is bleak:
they are overloaded with work and are underfunded. There have thus
been several proposals for their reform. [See Abstr. 66.4800]
66.4796 BOND, Patrick — BRICS banking and the debate over
sub-imperialism. Third World Quarterly 37(4), 2016 : 611-
629.
Funded at $100 billion each, the BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrange-
ment (CRA) and New Development Bank (NDB) represent “sub-imperial”
finance, insofar as, by all indications, they fit into — instead of providing
alternatives to — the prevailing world systems of sovereign debt and
project credits. Balance of payments constraints for BR ICS members will
not be relieved by the CRA, which requires an IMF intervention after just
30% of the quota is borrowed. In this context the NDB would appear
close to the Bretton Woods Institution model, promoting frenetic extrac-
tivist calculations based on US dollar financing and hence more pressure
to export. [R] [See Abstr. 66.4847]
66.4797 BOOGAERTS, Andreas ; PORTELA, Clara ; DRIESKENS,
Edith — One swallow does not make spring: a critical
juncture perspective on the EU sanctions in response to
the Arab Spring. Mediterranean Politics 21(2), July 2016 :
205-225.
This article examines to what extent the Arab Spring constitutes a critical
juncture — a major turning point — for the EU’s sanctions policy towards
Egypt, Libya, Syria and Tunisia. Based on a multidimensional critical
International relations
502
juncture operationalization, we find that the Arab Spring only constitutes
such a turning point for the EU’s sanctions policy towards Syria. Both the
level and nature of measures differ substantially from previous years. By
contrast, the EU’s sanctions practice towards Libya, Egypt and Tunisia
shows more resilience. More generally, changes in the nature of the
measures are prominent, whereas changes in the level of the policy
instruments and in underlying norms and goals are limited. [R]
66.4798 BOSSONG, Raphael ; HEGEMANN, Hendrik — EU internal
security governance and national risk assessments: to-
wards a common technocratic model? European Politics
and Society 17(2), June 2016 : 226-241.
In the context of the EU's expanding role as internal security actor, all
member states [must] generate similar integrated national risk-
assessments by 2014. At first sight, this could be welcomed as a depar-
ture from the ad hoc or crisis-driven policy-making dynamics that have
long been criticized. In particular, the evolution of risk assessments
relates to wider efforts to forge an evidence-based approach to internal
security and to advance broader concepts of risk-prevention and resili-
ence as guiding principles for its future role in internal security. This
article elucidates the functional and political limits for the implementation
of standardized risk-assessments, but also shows how the adoption of
common guidelines still serves as a political tool for the legitimization of
further policy initiatives in EU internal security. [R, abr.] [See Abstr.
66.4838]
66.4799 BOWERSOX, Zack — Naming, shaming, and international
sporting events: does the host nation play fair? Political
Research Quarterly 69(2), June 2016 : 258-269.
Large-scale international sporting competitions provide a ready-made
platform for naming and shaming states that may have dubious human
rights records. The question remains as to whether or not the shaming of
these host states by international groups effectively changes a state’s
behavior. This paper argues that states facing increased global media
attention while hosting an event are likely to substitute repression of
physical integrity rights with repression of civil and political rights in an
effort to maintain favorable appearances internationally. [R, abr.]
66.4800 BROCK, Lothar — Wozu brauchen wir heute die Vereinten
Nationen? (For what do we need the UN?). Aus Politik und
Zeitgeschichte 66(10-11), 7 March 2016 : 3-10.
The UN was created to overcome war and poverty and to protect human
rights, but the organization largely suffers from significant shortcomings
and the need for its reform is indisputable. For example, General As-
sembly resolutions are generally non-binding towards member states
and the UN lacks an effective system for the protection of human rights.
It is also seen as a vehicle of Western values and the conceptual frame-
work of the responsibility to protect is controversial. However, the UN
remains a very necessary instrument for international society. It pro-
motes international cooperation and provides a space for negotiation and
understanding between its different members. [First article of a thematic
issue on “The UN and human rights”. See also Abstr. 66.4076, 4106,
4795, 4837, 4859, 4871]
66.4801 CAMPELLO, Daniela ; ZUCCO, Cesar, Jr. — Presidential
success and the world economy. Journal of Politics 78(2),
Apr. 2016 : 589-602.
Economic voting is a widely accepted regularity in the political science
literature, yet most work on the subject either assumes that economic
performance is a direct result of policy-making or, more recently, argues
that voters are able to identify when this is not the case. Our artic le
challenges these claims by showing that, in a large subset of Latin
American countries, both presidential popularity and prospects of re-
election strongly depend on factors unambiguously exogenous to presi-
dents’ policy choices. These findings advance the literature on assign-
ment of responsibility for economic performance and pose important
implications for democratic accountability. [R]
66.4802 CANDEL, Jeroen J. L. ; BREEMAN, Gerard E. ; TERMEER,
Catrien J.A.M. — The European Commission's ability to
deal with wicked problems: an in-depth case study of the
governance of food security. Journal of European Public
Policy 23(6), 2016 : 789-813.
We analyzed conditions that enable or constrain the Commission in
dealing with wicked problems. To do so, we applied a framework consist-
ing of five governance capabilities required to deal with wicked problems
(reflexivity, responsiveness, resilience, revitalization and rescaling) to a
case study of how the Commission deals with the wicked problem of
food security. Although our results confirm some of the earlier critiques,
we have also identified various enabling conditions, most notably inter-
service and inter-institutional procedures and structures, boundary
arrangements and a widespread tolerance of frame conflicts, uncertainty
and cross-scale dynamics. However, the Commission lacks a mecha-
nism to continuously monitor and adjust its capabilities, thereby running
the risk of challenges remaining unforeseen and unanticipated. [R]
66.4803 CHAUDOIN, Stephen — How contestation moderates the
effects of international institutions: the International
Criminal Court and Kenya. Journal of Politics 78(2), Apr.
2016 : 557-571.
A broad class of theories, applied to a wide array of substantive issues,
argues that international institutions facilitate com pliance by mobilizing
pro-compliance domestic groups. I develop a general model of political
contestation over compliance policy in which institutions mobilize both
pro- and anti-compliance groups. T he model predicts that institutions
have the greatest ability to induce compliance when the groups have
similar values to winning a compliance contest or costs to effort, ex ante.
Institutions have a weaker marginal effect when groups are imbalanced. I
demonstrate features of the model using the Kenyan experience with the
International Criminal Court. The ICC cemen ted the political alliance of
two anti-compliance candidates. The ICC’s indictments had the greatest
effect on support for the most prominent indicted candidate in regions of
Kenya where pro- and anti-indictment forces were balanced. [R, abr.]
66.4804 CHOPIN, Thierry ; LEQUESNE, Christian — Differentiation
as a double-edged sword: member states’ practices and
Brexit. International Affairs 92(3), May 2016 : 531-545.
Differentiation has played an important role in the EU integration process
since the 1950s. Facing the benefits and costs of differentiation, the
member states have developed their own practices. Three idiosyncratic
groups of member states can be identified in this regard: first, a group of
Anglo-Scandinavian member states which refuse centralization of the
EU; a Franco-German group which considers the integration through the
promotion of a “core Europe”; and, third, a group of central and east
European member states who fear that differentiation would set their
interests aside and relegate them to second-class status within the EU.
Finally, Brexit is not only about the status of the UK in the EU, but casts
deeper questions on how to clarify the nature of relations between the
Eurozone and the EU as a whole. [R, abr.]
66.4805 CHU, Ming-chin Monique — No need to beg China? Tai-
wan's membership of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooper-
ation as a contested state. China Quarterly 225, March
2016 : 169-189.
This article examines the process, causes and repercussions of the
accession of Taiwan, as a contested state, together with China, to the
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation in 1991, the first intergovernmental
organization that Taipei has joined since 1971. Based on an analysis of
elite interviews, primary and secondary data, the paper traces the under-
explored diplomatic history of the accession. It argues that changes in
Taiwan's domestic and external environments, as well as changes in the
diplomatic process, account for Taipei's admission, rather than the China
factor alone. The paper examines four positive effects of accession on
Taiwan's international space and the implications for Taiwan's continu-
ous survival as a contested state. [R, abr.]
66.4806 COPELOVITCH, Mark ; FRIEDEN, Jeffry ; WALTER, Stefan-
ie — The political economy of the Euro crisis. Compara-
tive Political Studies 49(7), June 2016 : 811-840.
This article introduces the special issue on the political economy of the
Euro crisis, which aims to improve our understanding of the causes,
consequences, and implications of the highly unusual nature of this
crisis: a financial crisis among developed countries within a supranation-
al monetary union. The article provides a brief chronology of the crisis,
discusses its underlying causes, and reviews the ways in which compar-
ative and international political economy can help us understand the
crisis. It then discusses the individual and collective contributions of the
articles and discusses possible future research paths on the political
economy of the Euro crisis. We conclude with a brief discussion of how a
political economy perspective informs our understanding of the long-term
prospects for the Eurozone and European integration. [R] [Introduction to
a thematic issue of the same title, edited by the authors. See Abstr.
66.4280, 4288, 4331, 4337, 4363, 4461]
66.4807 CRÉPEAU, François — Europe can stop human deaths
and suffering, and regain control of its borders.
Uluslararasi Hukuk ve Politika (Review of International Law
and Politics) 12(1), 2016 : 33-39.
The EU should take a whole-system view of migration and review how its
related policies and underlying concepts could be shifted to develop a
human rights-based approach. Applying the EU’s core values to policies
that are based on fact rather than fiction, would lead to migration policies
that facilitate mobility and celebrate diversity. [R]
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