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Legislative delay has been overlooked as a signal of commitment to abide by the terms of an international agreement. Nations face varied international and domestic pressures to formalize international conventions. I argue that this struggle between competing pressures reveals the intentions of each nation to abide by the terms of the agreement. Previous studies of legislative delay neglect important variables, suffer from restrictive assumptions, and fail to frame legislative delay as part of a two stage game. This paper uses the case of the Basel Convention to support my hypotheses. I use Kaplan-Meier and Cox-proportional hazard models to estimate the proportional effects of international and domestic political pressures and resource constraints on legislative delay. After controlling for the type of ratification, legislative delay is a function of previous domestic regulations in the same policy space and the regulatory quality of the nation. These factors signal satisfaction with the convention and represent significant commitments to abiding by its terms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing rivalries between China and U.S. starting from economic issues, diffusing to political and military dimensions, reassure the rational solutions presumed by power transition theory. By examining the combined effects of international systemic structure, international context, the impact of Chinese democratization, the changing share of national capability, Chinese nationalism, and domestic politics, the paper builds an empirical model to analyze how these factors shape the patterns of Sino-American Conflict over time. The model identifies a new pattern of conflict due to the increasing interdependence of economy and specifies that comprehensive engagement enhances rather than threats to U.S. leading power. Therefore the model predicts more cooperation than confrontation in Sino-U.S. relations in the near future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the extensive public communication efforts of James Madison to move the U.S. toward war with Great Britain in the War of 1812. Madison employed various techniques, including public letters and numerous pro-war commentaries that were published in his presidential newspaper. The research findings demonstrate that Madison was a far more active leader as president than is commonly thought. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, scholars have turned to examining non-material determinants of conflict outcomes; however, their studies are limited in that these determinants are discussed only at war level, and accordingly, the importance of the art of war at battle level is overlooked. In this respect, Biddle's (2004) attempt to overcome such a lacuna in the literature is of critical importance. "Modern system force employment", he argues, affects the outcome of battles by damping the effects of numerical and technological superiority. However the empirical test of this argument was limited largely because of the unavailability of battle-level data. Thus, I compile a new battle data set, which I call BMW (Battles of Modern Warfare). Using the BMW data set, this paper finds that when an attacker using modern system force employment fights against a defender not using it, the attacker/defender loss exchange ratio (LER) decreases. On the contrary, if an attacker without employing modern system force employment assaults against a defender using it, the LER increases. (This latter finding is not statistically significant, though.) In short, using modern system force employment helps to reduce the loss of either attacker or defender. This pilot study contribute to our understanding of military effectiveness and conflict outcomes by shedding light on the importance of human factors using tactics and operational arts in battlefield outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While many scholars and analysts remain skeptical of the notion that an under-developed state like Burma could develop a nuclear weapons capability, they need only look to the success of North Korea and South Africa in developing nuclear weapons despite facing substantial economic barriers and severe international isolation. The purpose of my paper is to provide a threat assessment of a 'Burma with the Bomb' with the hopes of catalyzing further research and analysis specifically regarding nuclear proliferation in Burma and Southeast Asia. I examine Burma's likely reasoning for seeking a nuclear weapons capability as well as the potential domestic and international implications thereof. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why do certain democratic transitions succeed, while others fail? In this paper I present an explanation to this question by highlighting how the international environment is able to influence the processes of democratic transition and domestic regime change. In seeking to add to previous contributions of regime change I propose an alternative approach where the domestic and international environment interact with each other, and where domestic groups and elites retain agency in determining their preferred post-transition regimes (with both positive and negative implications for democratic transition). I then explore the potential salience of this approach in a brief analysis of post Cold War democratization in Sub-Saharan Africa, as well as prospective avenues for further research within this period of regime change on the continent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the inception of the field of international relations as a distinct subfield of political science in the aftermath of the Second World War, great strides have been made in our understanding of several key aspects of international politics. These advances, however, have largely been limited in scope in that they only attempt to explain particular aspects of interstate relations such as conflict processes and dynamics or the regularities of interstate economic exchange. Where the field has not advanced, however, is in its understanding of 'macro-level' global politics of international security at a 'system' level. Such efforts as has been made, in particular the neo-realist/neo-liberal debate, have not resulted in the creation of a Lakatosian 'progressive' research program but have, rather, stagnated into moribund research programs that offer little in the way of either rigorous explanation or prediction of how international politics works at a systemic level. This paper documents this failure of Macro-level IR security theory, attempts to understand why it occurred and the consequences of that failure, and offers a template of how the discipline may go about reconstructing a viable system-level theory of international security and global politics. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Proposes a theoretical framework that delineates the potential effects of economic sanctions on target state regimes and domestic constituencies. Relationship between internal conflict and sanctions success; causal sequences and primary explanatory factors linking the external imposition of economic sanctions to political costs; Potential responses of target state regime and its constituencies to economic sanctions.

With so much discussion of the powerful pro-Israel lobby's impacts on American foreign policy in the Middle East, little attention is paid to the pro-Arab groups in Washington, DC. While appreciating the strength of the former, this paper attempts to outline how the latter try to shape American policy on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. From research conducted with assistance from the American Political Science Association's Centennial Center, I look at pro-Arab political action in three overlapping settings. First, I contrast pro-Arab efforts with those of the pro-Israel lobby, particularly the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. I ask, why are pro-Arab groups weak compared to the pro-Israel lobby? Second, I look at pro-Palestinian efforts within the larger pro-Arab lobbying background. In particular, I am interested in contrasting similarities and differences between the pro-Palestinian and pro-Arab organizational missions. Third, I examine the interaction between the pro-Arab networks and American policy. From interviews conducted with leaders of pro-Arab organizations in Washington DC, this paper inspects the efforts to influence American foreign policy toward the two-state solution in the post-Cold War world and during the war on terrorism. I find that while pro-Arab lobbying pales in comparison to those of the pro-Israel lobby, the end of the Cold-War, the current war on terrorism, and clear American and international support for the two-state solution as manifested by public opinion polls, policymakers' statements, and United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1397 and 1515, provide the pro-Arab lobby with a crucial opportunity to realize its vision of Palestinian statehood. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the 21st century, political theorists trained in continental and analytical traditions in western thought should not be parochial. Political theorists are trying to avoid parochialism by wrestling with questions of global relevance or using methods that engage with texts and ideas that have been marginalized in the cannon of western political thought. These two approaches to intellectual isolationism might seem incompatible because the first is question-driven and the second is methodology-driven. In fact globalizing both the questions of political theory and the theoretical traditions that inform political theory are important directions for 21st century political theory, and they ought to be pursued simultaneously and in collaboration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Part I of this paper presents an analysis of Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth. There we find an explicit theory of resistance, one rooted in the dominant revolutionary paradigm of the modern era, i.e., Marxism. Fanon’s theory, and political project, is Marxist, even if “slightly stretched” to fit the conditions of colonial society. Coupled with Fanon, for better or worse, is Sartre, and his notorious “Preface” to Fanon’s work. While Sartre changes the audience he nonetheless retains the Fanonian content. In contrast is Foucault. Part II presents an analysis of Foucault’s implicit theory of resistance, extracted from The History of Sexuality Vol. I, amongst other notable essays and interviews. There we find a postmodern breed of politics that can be seen as a response to the crisis of Marxist theory, and practice, as Foucault saw it in 1968. His is a project aiming to decapitate the King, and to develop a new conception of power and so, ultimately too, of resistance to power. He offers a new leftist politics, one effectively seeking to radically broaden the scope of postmodern political resistance. But as Foucauldians â€" and aren’t we all Foucauldians nowadays? â€" we have to ask: what has been the effect of Foucauldianism as a form of knowledge(-power)? Part III, the concluding section, presents several interrelated possibilities: (1) that the Foucault effect has led to a significant narrowing of the scope of resistance; (2) that in today’s brave new world politics is on its deathbed; and (3) that resistance is surrender! ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How much variance is there in the foreign policy beliefs of our current president, George W. Bush? Extending on a methodology developed in our piece on President Clinton's worldview in Presidential Studies Quarterly's summer 1998 edition, we seek to answer the following questions:First, what is President Bush's image of the international system in his first term? Second, does his image remain stable or does it change over time? Third, if his worldview does change, what factors help to account for this change? George Bush came to the presidency in 2001 with a lack of foreign policy experience and a desire to focus on domestic as opposed to foreign policy. With the 9-11 attacks, however, this domestic politics first emphasis seems to have changed. To seek answers to our questions, we content analyze all public statements of President Bush during his first term as found in the Index to Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents. We develop a model that incorporates system characteristics, international environmental variables, domestic political factors and personality characteristics to explain the variance in President Bush's foreign policy emphasis and then estimate them using pooled time series analysis.We believe the paper addresses questions of real interest and importance to scholars of foreign policy making and the presidency including basic questions about the impact of domestic politics, system structure and personality characteristics. The questions are answered in a methodologically sophisticated and appropriate way that goes beyond case studies or anecdotal example. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the layout of the chessboard shapes the nature of the game, so too does the geography of the earth provide the most basic influence upon the behavior of states. This paper explores the extent to which geography has affected the development of IR, identifying and analyzing the three main research programs that emerged over the course of the century: classical geopolitics, geographic correlates of war, and critical geopolitics. Although the three programs differ radically in their goals, assumptions, methods, standards of evidence and intended audience, they share a common string of disappointing results. Those conclusions that were most interesting have proven to be untrue; those that seem to be true have not been very interesting. In some ways, the demise of political geography can be read as a scientific success story. The inability of the various research programs either to articulate a coherent agenda, provide empirical support for its ideas, advance our understanding of international politics, or even generate testable hypotheses has relegated the would-be subfield to the periphery. In the end, the research program may turn out to have been one of the first casualties of the evolution of the study of politics into a coherent science. Far from being destiny, in 2006 geography is merely scenery. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Do poor domestic political conditions in uence foreign policy because leaders expect a rally effect from using force abroad or because they are trying to demonstrate leadership competence? Extant research has lead to ambiguous findings regarding the relationship between domestic political problems and foreign policy outcomes. We argue that this am- biguity is caused by a failure to distinguish between the rally and competence diversionary mechanisms. These mechanisms have divergent expectations regarding both the use of mil- itary force and diplomatic negotiations. We test hypotheses derived from both mechanisms and find that the in uence of domestic problems on foreign policy is best accounted for by the competence mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most treaty studies address issues of compliance (Morrow, 2007; Kelley, 2007). This is often a fruitful research agenda when we can determine a useful definition of compliance and when there is variance in compliant behavior. However, in the case of extradition treaties, a good definition of compliance is hard to come by, and given what is probably the most intuitive definition (i.e. extraditing pursuant to a request), states over comply. Furthermore, before we can begin to understand compliance, we need to understand commitment. Accordingly, I take a step back and seek to determine those factors, which influence the decision to commit. I analyze the decision to commit by looking at whether states sign bilateral extradition treaties. I draw upon the legal and political science literature to develop a comprehensive model of states' decisions to sign. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why do some soldiers flee quickly from battle while others endure until the bitter end? Why do some soldiers wilt in combat but revel in violence against non-combatants? I identify four main explanations, each respectively asserting the influence of: material endowments; domestic politics; personnel management; and personnel attributes. First, theories of international relations, military power, military capability, and military technology imply that capabilities and performance reflect material endowments, but contradictorily imply that militaries compensate for inferior material endowments by emphasizing combat personnel. Second, some theories claim that democracies produce better commanders, superior strategies, more motivated personnel, or better-managed personnel. However, competing theories associate these things with autocracy. Third, regimental theories argue that decentralization of personnel management to the combat unit gives the unit the opportunities and incentives to condition personnel and to develop group- or unit-level attributes such as cohesion. However, critics believe that regimental systems obstruct the efficiency and quality control of centralization. Fourth, soldier capabilities and performance often are assumed to reflect intrinsic attributes - personnel attributes that the personnel brought into the military, such as prior civilian values. However, regimental theories imply that combat personnel capabilities are largely extrinsic, meaning they are acquired after personnel have joined the military through military training and other forms of conditioning. I review the literature on nine categories of combat personnel capabilities and find that, whilst some intrinsic attributes matter, extrinsic attributes matter more. I then present large-n evidence that decentralized personnel management is correlated with superior combat personnel performance. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How does public opinion influence presidential decisions to use force abroad? Taken together, studies in international relations suggest an entangled description of this relationship. I assess four disparate accounts extracted from the literature: "neglect," "responsiveness," "manipulation," and "anticipation." "Neglect" asserts that the president ignores public opinion in decisions to use force, resulting in a null relationship between opinion and military action. "Responsiveness" contends that the president follows public opinion in decisions to use force, pointing to congruence between opinion and policy. "Manipulation" argues that opinion and policy are congruent, but only because the president and other policy makers manipulate the public through the media and repeated speeches. Finally, "anticipation" posits that the president chooses whether to become involved in an international crisis on the basis of expected public opinion. To evaluate these perspectives, I compiled survey data on U.S. public attitudes toward the use of military force from 1949 to 2001 and carried out three sets of empirical analyses. To assess the "neglect" and "responsiveness" accounts, I evaluate the impact of public opinion on presidential decisions to use force. To assess the "manipulation" perspective, I estimate the influence of presidential crisis statements and media coverage on public attitudes toward the use of force. To test the "anticipation" argument, I evaluate the effect of public opinion on U.S. crisis involvement. Using a variety of units of analysis, dependent variables, and configuration of public opinion data, I find that the bulk of the evidence indicates that the interrelationships between the president and the public in decisions to use force are characterized by "anticipation." Although the results fail to support the normative ideal of democratic control of the sword (i.e., "responsiveness"), the findings suggest that the public figures prominently in presidential decisions to use force abroad. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The discourse of globalization has been a dominant subject in the field of world politics in recent years. However, there has been a resurge of interest in studies of regionalism with the proliferation of preferential trade agreement (PTAs). Why the new wave of regionalism has arisen in the era of globalization and what impacts it will make on international relations are questions that have caused considerable interest and disagreement. In this research, the question regarding the effects of the new regionalism on international conflict and peace is to be examined with regard to Deutsch's notion of integration and security communities. The new regionalism contains a considerable potential to divide the world into several regions based on which a number of security communities can be created. Will pluralistic security communities based on various regions increase conflict against each other or form the security community of security communities in the end? The future will depend on the nature of the new regionalism; that is whether or not the current wave of regionalism will be open to and compatible with worldwide interdependence, fostered under the forces of globalization. The main argument of this research is that the current trend of regionalism, though it may seem rather contradictory to the process of global liberalism, would not necessarily give rise to a world divided between different civilizations or rival powers. Instead, stable peace can be achieved if this new regionalism is conducive to neoliberal globalization which fosters a worldwide social transaction and interdependence. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]