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| 1 |
ID:
161722
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| Summary/Abstract |
This article examines an apparent contradiction in the normative order and security culture of the African Union (AU). Many scholars and policy-makers alike have recognized a disjuncture between the norm of anti-imperialism, as expressed through the principle of ‘African solutions to African problems’, and the dependence of the AU on extraregional actors. This article shows that material constraints alone do not explain the AU's behaviour in this regard. Rather, I argue that what appears to be a contradiction in the normative order of the AU is actually a particular practice—a pragmatic and rather automatic cognitive and behavioural trait of AU officials and one that unfolds in the daily operation of the AU. It is a practice wherein AU officials uphold both the anti-imperialist norm and their pragmatic dependence as mutually congruent. This article explores this apparent contradiction, documenting its origins and illustrating its operation in practice. To do so, it provides an account of AU practices from within the AU itself, conceptualizing the AU as a community of practice, and draws on 21 interviews with member state officials from the AU and its wider African Peace and Security Architecture, as well as with European and North American diplomatic officials working alongside the AU in Addis Ababa.
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ID:
161716
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The existing liberal hegemonic order is essentially an American-led and western-centred one. Its desirability and sustainability have been called into questions due to a wide array of challenges and developments. The rise of China is both one of the drivers of change as well as a key determinant shaping the emerging order. This article discusses what China's vision for a future international order looks like, what kind of impact China is likely to have on this order and how this will happen. By examining the ideas, concepts and practices which inform China's vision for the future, it argues that China will search for a liberal partnership order composed of an open economic order, a relatively more equal political order and a cooperative security order. To advance this goal, China will aim to preserve or even expand the liberal features of the prevailing order while curtailing its hegemonic nature. Instead of attempting to overturn the current order, China would pursue selective and incremental adjustments that overtime will lead to an order transition. Given current constraints, China cannot shape the emerging order in the same way as the United States did in the post-Second World War period, and the form and tempo of the order transition will depend largely on the outcome of Sino-US bargaining.
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ID:
161721
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This article empirically deconstructs the gendered effects of sexual violence on male survivors' masculinities in northern Uganda. Throughout the growing literature on the topic, the effects of wartime gender-based violence against men are widely seen as compromising male survivors' masculine identities, commonly framed as ‘emasculation’ by way of ‘feminization’ and/or ‘homo-sexualization’. Yet exactly how such processes unfold from survivors' perspectives remains insufficiently explored, nor has existing scholarship critically engaged with the dominant analytical categories and their associated terminologies. This article seeks to engage with both of these gaps. First, I identify normative and analytical shortcomings of the ‘emasculation’/‘feminization’ paradigm. Drawing on Edström, Dolan and colleagues, I propose an alternative reading to analyse the effects of sexual violence on gender identities. Second, I argue that the impact of sexual violence on masculinities is a layered process, compounded through numerous sexual and gendered harms and perpetuated over time. In northern Uganda, this process is composed of intersecting gendered harms that subordinate male survivors along gendered hierarchies, and that signify survivors' perceived inabilities to provide, protect and procreate—as expected of them by local constructions of hegemonic masculinity. I therefore emphasize that sexual violence against men strikes at multiple levels of what it means to be a man, which is important to understanding and addressing these layered gendered harms in the aftermath of the violations.
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| 4 |
ID:
161718
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This article investigates whether and how regional international organizations created by authoritarian countries can aid the regime survival of their member states. Numerous regions of the world have witnessed a proliferation of regional organizations established by powerful authoritarian states. We argue that the external influence of these organizations can affect regime survival and reinforce non-democratic regime trajectories, but in a nuanced manner. The article argues that, in addition to examining the impact of the regional organization itself, one must examine how the existence of these regional organizations changes the strategy of autocratic leading states, which—in bilateral relations with other countries—could become more eager to support authoritarian regimes of geopolitical importance. We use the case of the Eurasian Economic Union to explore various strategies of Russia, the leading state, vis-à-vis post-Soviet Eurasian countries. These strategies, however, appear only to matter for authoritarian consolidation when countries, from the Russian point of view, are on the ‘front line’ of geopolitical competition with the EU, and which are, therefore, important in stabilizing Russian influence. The article identifies five strategic foreign policy models of leading states which are determined by the existence of regional organizations and evaluates the benefits of these strategies for both leading and targeted states.
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ID:
161719
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Ethiopian foreign policy is based on ambitious domestic objectives, including aiming to become a middle-income country by 2025. Economic interdependence and integration are portrayed as the methods necessary to stabilize the region and fulfil those objectives. Why, then, is Ethiopian power challenged by regional actors when it claims to be acting as a security provider? This article interrogates the nature of one of Africa's powerful states in a region of conflict and examines the idea of hegemony. It proposes that Ethiopia sees itself as the regional hegemon while acting differently, and we analyse this notion by focusing on the concepts of hegemony. We conclude that Ethiopia is an imperfect hegemon, espousing a foreign policy characterized by a relationship of dominance over and assumption of allegiance from its neighbours, which could paradoxically lead to destabilizing policies. This policy was given momentum by former Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, and must now be studied in a new light in the absence of this charismatic leader.
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| 6 |
ID:
161717
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In recent years, some Chinese elites have started to rethink the strategies and tactics of China's rise on the global stage. Some scholars see the problems in the West as strategic opportunities for China. However, others worry that Beijing might have taken steps too bold and too soon. This article aims to provide an updated analysis of the Chinese scholarly debate of strategic overstretch. Similar to the economics of cost–benefit analysis, strategic overstretch occurs if the cost of maintaining the existing system exceeds the benefits. Most Chinese scholars agree that China's policy community should pay more attention to the topic of strategic overstretch, while they disagree on the extent to which China already has such a problem. Designing and implementing a prudent grand strategy is an enduring challenge for Great Powers and Chinese scholars have taken different positions on the goals, means and time horizon of China's grand strategy. While we cannot claim that the Chinese scholarly debate has fundamentally changed China's foreign policy, there is a clear correlation between the emergence of a cautious voice in the academic world and the moderation of Chinese foreign policy—even as China continues to implement an ambitious foreign policy in a new era.
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| 7 |
ID:
161723
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There are four areas in which soft power is open to critical scrutiny. First, research has centred on large and/or developed nations, notably in North America, Europe, east Asia and the BRICs. Second, scholars have called for greater clarity of the concept, noting that it lacks clear explanation of how instances of attraction equate to various power outcomes. Third, others suggest Joseph Nye developed an Americanized-centric understanding of soft power, and hence a narrow account of what constitutes ‘attraction’. Finally, research has failed to examine how states' soft power attempts can backfire, leading to what we call ‘soft disempowerment’. Drawing on the case of Qatar—with a particular focus on the state's acquisition of the 2022 FIFA World Cup finals—we seek to offer responses to these criticisms. We do this by refining the concept of soft power to take account of variegated power outcomes, and by focusing on a small state and a non-American context, in order to explore the intersections of soft power and soft disempowerment. In doing so, we introduce the ‘soft power–soft disempowerment nexus’ which, we go on to argue, affords an analytical framework for examining how soft power works and how it may be hampered through negative international scrutiny.
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| 8 |
ID:
161715
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This article explores the dynamics of digital (dis)information in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. International Relations scholars have presented the online debate in terms of ‘information warfare’—that is, a number of strategic campaigns to win over local and global public opinion, largely orchestrated by the Kremlin and pro-western authorities. However, this way of describing the online debate reduces civil society to a mere target for manipulation. This article presents a different understanding of the debate. By examining the social media engagement generated by one of the conflict's most important events—the downing of the Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 (MH17) over Ukraine—we explore how competing claims about the cause of the plane crash are disseminated by the state, media and civil society. By analysing approximately 950,000 tweets, the article demonstrates how individual citizens are more than purveyors of government messages; they are the most active drivers of both disinformation and attempts to counter such information. These citizen curators actively shape competing narratives about why MH17 crashed and citizens, as a group, are four times more likely to be retweeted than any other type of user. Our findings challenge conceptualizations of a state-orchestrated information war over Ukraine, and point to the importance of citizen activity in the struggle over truths during international conflicts.
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| 9 |
ID:
161720
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| Summary/Abstract |
In the last decade, there has been a major growth in the illegal ivory trade. Although this trade has been analysed from a variety of angles, one perspective is missing in the literature, namely the individual ivory trader. Based on in-depth research among illegal ivory traders in Uganda—which is a major transit point of ivory—this article aims to fill this gap. In doing so, and by linking their activities with the literature on the informal economy and the criminalization of the state, the article shows how various structural circumstances—such as war, globalization and the presence of foreign buyers—had a profound impact on the ways in which the illegal ivory trade was conducted. Initially, these circumstances created an increased market, both in supply and demand, which led many traders to engage in this trade. However, an increased crackdown on the illegal ivory trade has made the conditions much more difficult. By analysing how ivory traders navigate these structural circumstances, the article shows a gradual criminalization of the trade. In other words, the more ivory became criminalized, the more criminal linkages were needed to remain active in the trade, and the more significant power differences became.
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