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471. Religion, faith and global politics

Author:
Mark Beeson, Stuart Harris, Lorraine Elliott, Shahram Azbarzadeh, and Greg Fealy
Publication Date:
07-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Australian National University Department of International Relations
Abstract:
Since the end of the Cold War, a number of scholars have speculated that religious differences have come to replace the ideological differences of that earlier period, giving some resonance to Samuel Huntington's clash of civilisations and a new twist to Francis Fukuyama's end of history thesis. The empirical base for claims about a resurgence of religion-based inspiration for and justification of foreign policy actions, and the diplomatic challenges that this inspires, can be found in a number of quarters. This includes the proclaimed role of faith in the personal and public politics of a number of contemporary leaders; the growth in what seems to be faith-based non-state actors whose actions often link religion with rebellion, violence and resistance; internal politics in a number of countries in which religion or faith are increasingly tied up with matters of state and disputes over public policy (ranging from the debate over religious symbols in schools in France to electoral competition over the value of a secular versus Islamic state in Turkey); and provocations of various kinds that seem designed to demonise rather than respect religious difference, such as the recent confrontations over the so-called Muhammad cartoons first published in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten in September 2005.
Topic:
International Relations, Cold War, Government, Politics, and Religion
Political Geography:
Turkey

472. Inevitable Decline versus Predestined Stability: The Structure of Disciplinary Explanations of the Evolving Transatlantic Order

Author:
Gunther Hellmann
Publication Date:
04-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Institute of European Studies (IES), UC Berkeley
Abstract:
The future of NATO has been a hotly debated topic at the center of IR debates ever since the end of the Cold War. It has also been a very complicated one given the discipline's conceptual and theoretical difficulties in studying change. Most analysts now agree that NATO (and the transatlantic order more broadly) are going through some major changes. Yet while there is consensus that the depth as well as the pace of these changes is more far-reaching than in past decades it is unclear exactly how deep and how far these changes reach. In order to come to grips with these changes most of the chapters in this book are exploring the character as well as the sources of these changes. This chapter approaches the topic by examining how the discipline has dealt with the question of the evolution of the transatlantic order in the past. It argues that IR has not been very well equipped conceptually to deal with the phenomenon in question, ie. large-scale processes of change. In applying a typo-logical framework developed by Paul Pierson the chapter discusses what types of causal accounts have dominated in the IR literature – and what this may tell us about particular strengths, biases and potential blind spots in coming to grips with the evolution of this order. In essence it argues that the structure of the most prominent explanations is often quite similar irrespective of paradigmatic descent. Inspite of major differences – inspite, even, of mutually exclusive predictions – as to the expected path of the order ́s evolution realist, liberal and constructivist accounts heavily rely in equal fashion on causal arguments which emphasize large-scale causal processes which are almost always framed in rather statist structural terms even though they essentially entail slow moving causal processes. This temporal dimension of the causal processes presumably shaping the future of the transatlantic order is seldom spelled out in detail, however. Thus, if one examines the debate as a whole one sees a picture of IR scholarship which essentially oscillates between two extremes: the position that NATO (as the core institution of the transatlantic order) was (and is) certain to survive and the position that it was (and is) certain to collapse. What is more, these extremes on a spectrum of possible positions on the transatlantic order ́s evolution between breakdown on the one hand and successful adaptation on the other are not hypothetical but mostly real. Thus, the debate does not gravitate towards the center (ie. a position which, for instance, envisages a loser but still cooperative relationship) after the usual give and take of exchanging scholarly arguments. Rather it mostly sticks with either of the two extreme positions. The chapter illustrates the problems associated with this point in some details and discusses potential remedies.
Topic:
International Relations, Security, NATO, Cold War, and Politics

473. Third-Party Intervention in International Conflicts: Peacekeeping and Peacemaking in the Post-Cold War Era

Author:
Muzaffer Ercan Yilmaz
Publication Date:
09-2006
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:
This article evaluates peacekeeping and peacemaking as two major third-party intervention strategies in international conflicts in the post Cold-War era. Peacekeeping is regarded as a needed strategy in situations of violent conflict, but its extensive use is criticized. The study suggests that peacekeeping should be complemented by peacemaking for effective international conflict resolution. By explaining the general characteristics of the two and the complementary relationship between them, a "contingency approach" is reached, stressing that in determining appropriate third-party intervention, different stages of an international conflict should be considered.
Topic:
Cold War and Peacekeeping

474. Turkey's Contribution to Peacekeeping Operations

Author:
Gökhan Koçer
Publication Date:
09-2006
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:
In the post Cold War era, a number of crises and armed conflicts threatening the international security have accrued, and most of them are needed to be intervened by international community and international organizations. International peace support operations are realizing not only by UN-led, but also in other international and regional organizations (such as NATO, OSCE etc.) or coalitions of the willing. The number of activities or operations in which Turkey has participated has significantly risen in recent years. In the post Cold War era, Turkey's contribution to international peace support operations has remarkably expanded. In this meaning, Turkey has been actively contributing to several peace support operations with different formations from Kosovo to Afghanistan, from Palestine to East Timor, from Bosnia-Herzegovina to Georgia. The aim of the first section of this paper is to trace Turkey's record in peace support operations that she has participated so far. In the second section, Turkey's contribution and role in peace support operations will be analyzed.
Topic:
Cold War, United Nations, and Peacekeeping
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Turkey, Palestine, and Georgia

475. Between Utopia and Practice: Conceptualization of Human Security in International Relations

Author:
Sevket Ovali
Publication Date:
06-2006
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:
The conception of human security has become one of the most crucial components of security studies in the Post Cold War period. Shifting the focus of security studies from the state to the individual, the concept symbolizes an on-going departure from the realist security conception. Even though its theoretical underpinnings can be traced back to the Enlightenment, the concept appeared in the security studies literature studies during the mid 90s. The proponents of the human security conception faced criticism for being utopist, non-scientific and non-policy oriented. However the developments in international politics and their devastating effects on human lives revealed the links article aims to explore the development and ingredients of the concept of human security, as well as its applicability in daily politics and its revelance for some theoretical issues of the discipline of International Relations.
Topic:
International Relations, Security, and Cold War

476. The Resistance of the Westphalian System: September 11 and World Politics

Author:
Gökhan Bacik
Publication Date:
06-2006
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:
This article aims to present several assumptions about world politics since the end of the Cold War. First, as the ancillary argument of this paper, what we have been experiencing since the end of the Cold War era is a sign of a newly emerging world system which bears contradictions with the Westphalian model by focusing on new developments that are inconcistent with the principles of this model. Second, as the basic arguments of this paper, since September 11, the struggle between the Westphalian structure and newly emerging forces has entered a new phase. I take the cognitive process of the current world powers to analyze the struggle between the Westphalian structure and the challenging forces.
Topic:
Cold War and Politics

477. The Rapprochement Between Turkey and the EU: The Transformation Process in the Strategic Perceptions from the 1999 Helsinki Summit to the 2003 Iraq War

Author:
Ramazan Gözen
Publication Date:
06-2006
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:
This article analyses the rapprochement process between Turkey and the EU which has been developing since the 1999 Helsinki Summit and especially in the wake of the US invasion of Iraq. As a result of differing perceptions of Turkey and the EU in the post Cold War, the Turkey-EU membership process had faced a deep "structural" crisis. However, after some important changes in the years from 1999-2003, Turkey and the EU rediscovered, and approached eachother in such a way that it is incomperable with the past. The basic character of this rapprochement is the strategic transformation in perceptions.
Topic:
Cold War
Political Geography:
Iraq, Europe, and Turkey

478. An Example of Turkey's Multilateral Initiativesin Eurasia: Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation

Author:
Emel G. Oktay
Publication Date:
06-2006
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:
This study aims at evaluating the dynamics that paved the way for the inception of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) initiative, which was lauched by Turkey taking advantage of the impact of the changes in the international system generated by the ending of the Cold War period. For the evaluation of the success and perenniality of the BSEC initiative, organizational structure and perceptions of member countries are also studied. In addition to important economic cooperation, initiatives aimed at security cooperation in the Black Sea, are also analysed by taking into account their impact upon the regional and international arena. Finally, the achievements of BSEC since its inception in 1992 are evaluated and some suggestions are provided.
Topic:
Cold War and Economics
Political Geography:
Eurasia and Turkey

479. Transatlantic Tensions and European Security

Author:
Mary Elise Sarotte
Publication Date:
05-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Institute of European Studies (IES), UC Berkeley
Abstract:
Any nuanced assessment of current transatlantic tensions requires an awareness of their historical context. An understanding of the legacy of the Cold War in particular helps to answer the following questions: (1) What are the sources of current US-European tensions? (2) Has the transatlantic connection sustained mortal damage, or can it endure? (3) What changes of attitude and of focus might help the transatlantic relationship in the future? The argument is as follows: The US-European relationship is under assault not just because of recent US military actions but also because of a longer-term shift away from a successful US Cold War grand strategy that still had much to offer the post-Cold War world. However, cause for alarm is limited, because the history of cooperation, the lack of alternative partners, and the very real nature of external threats means that neither the US nor the Europeans have any realistic alternative to cooperation with each other.
Topic:
International Relations, Security, and Cold War
Political Geography:
United States and Europe

480. What Russia sees

Author:
Dov Lynch, Dmitri V. Trenin, Dmitry A. Danilov, Sergei Karaganov, Alexey K. Pushkov, and Andrei Zagorski
Publication Date:
01-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
European Union Institute for Security Studies
Abstract:
The Cold War is finally ending in Europe and the shape of a new order is visible. Certainly, its institutional structure is different from that of the bipolar era or even the transition years of the 1990s. The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) is assuming a more global profile and less direct responsibility in Europe itself. The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has entered a deep crisis, in which major participating states are challenging its enduring utility. Meanwhile, a new organisation is emerging as the continent's security provider – the European Union (EU). With enlargement in 2004, a new Europe has been born, founded around the ambitions and values of the EU. So much is clear.
Topic:
Security, NATO, and Cold War
Political Geography:
Russia and Europe