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This paper explores the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war on Russia's academic sector, relying on the limited evidence available. The invasion has triggered an academic exodus from Russia, with both immediate and far-reaching consequences. These consequences range from the interruption of ongoing research projects and the termination of international collaborations to the emergence of an intellectual void, raising concerns about the future of academic pursuits in Russia. Conventional models for understanding academic mobility, which primarily focus on professional and economic incentives, prove inadequate in accounting for the complexities introduced by geopolitical strife, international sanctions, and curtailed academic freedoms. This paper calls for an interdisciplinary approach incorporating perspectives from political science, sociology, and international relations for a richer understanding of academic migration in conflict-affected settings. The Russia-Ukraine war serves as an important case study, shedding light on the vulnerabilities of academic sectors, even in the aggressor country where the physical conflict is not occurring, and offering broader insights for the field of academic mobility.

This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the evolution of language policy in the Philippines, with a particular emphasis on the status, challenges, and future prospects of Chinese language education within the national framework. The study is structured into five distinct sections. Firstly, the historical development of language policies in the Philippines is explored, tracing the transitions from colonial to contemporary eras and assessing their implications for language education. Secondly, an in-depth exploration of the present landscape of Chinese language education is provided, evaluating its integration into the Philippine education system and the effectiveness of existing programs. Thirdly, a critical examination of the current state of local Chinese language teacher training is conducted, analyzing the approaches used to foster a sustainable local teaching workforce. Fourthly, strategic pathways for the next decade are outlined, focusing on the localization of Chinese language education in alignment with the plans of the Philippine Department of Education and broader educational objectives. Finally, the concluding section synthesizes insights garnered from the preceding sections, reflecting on the significance of these developments for the future of Chinese language education in the Philippines. It underscores the pivotal role of Chinese language education in promoting cultural and educational exchanges and facilitating the modernization processes in both China and the Philippines. By addressing these dimensions, the paper offers a comprehensive overview of the intersection between language policy and Chinese language education in the Philippines, providing valuable insights for policymakers, educators, and researchers engaged in language education and policy planning in multilingual and multicultural contexts.

This paper argues that the teaching of art in Higher Educational Institutions is inherently paradoxical. Informed by the transgressive and interdisciplinary qualities of contemporary artistic practices, education nevertheless is often made to fit into a reductionist, outcome-oriented and individualistic discourse. Taking a weeklong workshop at the Nida Art Colony in Lithuania as a practical axis for its reflections on the fluid nature of art education, the paper discusses possibilities of extending beyond pedagogical, political, human/nonhuman and other borders and treating 'noise' and other 'interferences' as opportunities for transgression and dialogue. This workshop with students from the Vilnius Academy of Arts took place in September 2022, at a time characterised by the Russia-Ukraine war. Nida's proximity to Russia's exclave Kaliningrad, its location on the narrow Curonian Spit, and its immediate environment characterised by woods and sand dunes provide this paper with a setting for a discussion about a variety of borders: territorial borders, border pedagogies, perceived borders between human and nonhuman entities, between land and sea, and so on. Borders are described as dominant indicators of power and distinction, while educational standards and instruments of measurement often replicate similar distinctions between the known and the unfamiliar. Yet, borders can also be shifted while new connections and dialogues across real and conceptual borders can be forged in a porous process that is predisposed towards flexible scenarios characterised by the 'not-yet'. The surrounding forest and wetlands and huge drifting sand dunes in Nida become analogies for the changing structure of the workshop, silently yet overpoweringly advocating for a mutable pedagogy. Analysed through the work of various contemporary artists, this nonhuman intrusion into a pedagogical and creative experience is both undefined and vulnerable, unlike the preordained structures of attainment targets often associated with contemporary schooling.

Higher education consists of a wide array of education programs, some of which closely involve both domestic politics and issues that transcend national boundaries. This paper explores a controversial and highly contested higher education program that is shaped by a post-conflict affected context and transnational politics. Based on the case study of a new Vietnamese language studies program in Cambodia, the paper demonstrates that when post-conflict education and transnational politics intersect with one another in many ways, post-war higher education reconstruction becomes a platform where stakeholders such as youths and national and international governments contest and negotiate influence and change. By critically examining the relations between educational phenomena and historical, national, and geopolitical dynamics in a post-conflict environment, the paper discusses key factors of higher education reconstruction in the aftermath of social upheavals and mass atrocities. It also offers a fresh perspective on the multifaceted dynamics of a higher education program which involves public protests, state intervention, transnational disputes, and inter-state relations.

The Western-style internationalisation of Russian universities, which guided the evolution of the country's higher education sector for over three decades, has been challenged by Western sanctions following the 2022 Russian 'Special military operation in Ukraine'. The authors show through the prism of constructivist theory how the norm on the internationalisation of higher education characterised by the strive for Westernised world-class universities was adopted and then came to unravel in Russia. A qualitative case study based on 42 expert interviews and an analysis of political discourse and legal documents reveals how the key features of the internationalisation of Russian universities are being challenged. The authors contribute to the expert literature the notion of 'norm reversal', defined as the process whereby an institutionalised and internalised international norm is 'cancelled' in a specific country. The paper shows that the reversal in Russian higher education, which was initially 'circumstantial' is becoming 'intentional', with legal documents being drawn up to accelerate and claim ownership of it.

"Volatile States in International Politics" by Eleonora Mattiacci explores the increasing unpredictability of state behavior in world politics. The book combines statistical data and archival frames of reference to explain the concept of "volatility" in international politics, its causes, impact, and potential remedies. The author examines factors that contribute to interstate volatility, such as relative power and resource availability, and proposes novel methods for measuring volatility. The book also provides a detailed assessment of countries engaged in strategic rivalry and explores the prevalence of volatility in interactions between countries with defensive commitments. While the book emphasizes the importance of understanding volatility, it neglects the larger context of the security dilemma and the potential value of creative diplomacy in countering volatility. Overall, "Volatile States in International Politics" is a well-written and valuable introduction to the concept of volatility in international politics. [Extracted from the article]

This paper analyses faculty experiences tackling global knowledge asymmetries by examining the decolonisation of higher education in Africa in the aftermath of the 2015 'Rhodes Must Fall' student uprising. An overview of the literature reveals a rich debate on defining 'decolonisation', starting from a critique of Eurocentrism to propositions of alternate epistemologies. These debates are dominated by the Global North and South Africa and their experiences of curriculum reform. Our focus is on the experiences of political scientists in Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, and Zimbabwe. These countries share the same Anglophone political science traditions but represent different political trajectories that constitute a significant condition for the discipline. The 26 political scientists we interviewed acted toward increasing local content and perspectives in their teaching, as promoted in the official strategies of the universities. They noted that what was happening in lecture halls was most important. The academic decolonisation debate appeared overambitious or even as patronising to them in their own political context. National politics affected the thematic focus of the discipline both as far as research topics and students' employment opportunities were concerned. Although university bureaucracies were slow to respond to proposed curricula changes, new programmes were approved if there was a market-based demand for them. International programs tended to be approved fastest. Political economy of higher education plays a role: dependency on foreign funding, limited national resources to conduct research and produce publications vis-à-vis international competition, and national quality assurance standards appeared to be most critical constraints for decolonising the curriculum.

This paper pilots a method of testing the learning effects of a role-playing simulation of negotiations over the Nile basin. Players negotiate how to apply general principles from international law, such as sharing water equitably and avoiding significant harm, to specific circumstances of the river basin. Students are presented with a set of factual statements about the basin and surveyed before and after play as to which facts will be (were) most important in negotiations. Surveys of 75 participating graduate students show interesting patterns: (1) a shift from emphasis on managing risks to exploiting cooperative opportunities; (2) change in the value orientation of the statements students consider most important, with development-oriented values increasing and environment-oriented values decreasing; and (3) change in the dimensions of power students consider most salient, including an increased appreciation for the institutional and knowledge-related elements of power and a de-emphasis on the structural aspects of power. Before-and-after surveying offers an alternative to the more common methods of learning assessment, based on knowledge acquisition or student satisfaction, while discussion of the survey results with students allows for a richer, more reflective learning experience.

Active learning is an engaging way of teaching and even experienced professors may not know how to start implementing its techniques to make classes more dynamic. Teaching cases can be a very useful active method of instruction, as an opportunity to assign students roles in the case discussion, centering them as the protagonists of their own learning process. In other words, students will learn by doing, as they will be engaged in thinking and communicating on the topic. This paper presents a teaching case on the Brexit process to introduce central concepts of Putnam's Two-Level Game model, such as level of negotiations, chief negotiator, win-set, voluntary defection, involuntary defection, and ratification. We assessed learning with self-perception questionnaires before and after the activity. The results suggest the activity improved the understanding of all selected topics covered in class.

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has had a significant impact on dermatology, but to date no bibliometric analysis of this field has been identified. Therefore, the aim of this study was to perform a bibliometric indicator analysis of the worldwide scientific production of COVID-19 in dermatology. Materials and Methods: An advanced bibliographic search was performed in the Scopus database to identify articles on COVID-19 and dermatology from 2020 to 2021. The collected information was analysed with SciVal software. Bibliometric data were described through figures and summary tables. Results: A total of 1448 documents were collected and analysed. Torello Lotti was the author with the greatest scientific production; however, Esther Freeman had the greatest impact. Harvard University was the institution with the highest number of published articles. Most papers were published in the first quartiles. The United States and Italy were the leading countries in terms of production. Articles with international collaboration had the highest impact. Conclusion: Articles related to dermatology and COVID-19 are mostly published with American and Italian affiliations. In addition, there has been an increase in the distribution of articles published in the first quartile, which would reflect a growing interest in the community. Publications with international collaboration reported the highest impact, so future authors should take this into account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The enlargement of the European Union (EU) towards the Western Balkans contains challenges. Although the EU's goal is its enlargement, some EU countries present skepticism. The Western Balkans have not yet reached the appropriate stage of economic development. The rule of law has been among the main barriers that have hindered their EU integration advancement. This paper is based on the work of Osmani et al. (2022a), Leka et al. (2022), and Qorraj and Jusufi (2018). The aim and objective of this paper are to analyze the enlargement policy of the EU towards the countries of the Western Balkans, focusing on Kosovo. Historical research methods were used to collect facts and chronological data. The main finding of this paper is that the rule of law is the main factor that positively affects the integration of the countries of the Western Balkans into the EU, as well as the increase in the level of economic development. Therefore, as a conclusion, it can be affirmed that integration in the EU is essential for the existence of this region. The relevance of this paper lies in the fact that it deals with an important topic from the field of European integration for small countries like Kosovo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United States of America (US) committed nearly $1.4 billion in foreign assistance to Tunisia in support of its democratic transition and transitional justice process between 2011 and 2020. This paper seeks to identify and assess the ideational frameworks guiding the distribution of US assistance, and influencing US foreign policy behavior, throughout the democratization and transitional justice period in Tunisia. It provides considerable evidence showcasing the existence of two prevalent schools of thought in US policymaking circles: The first school believes that the US invested in the notion of Pacted Transitions, which advocates for rapid transitions through political compromise and power-sharing mechanisms without necessarily promoting grassroots democratic reform. This can indirectly explain the US emphasis on security sector assistance and the relative marginalization of transitional justice objectives mainly in terms of institutional vetting, lustration, and reform. The second school puts forward a Democracy Reduction Critique, arguing instead that US policymakers fell for the electoral democracy fallacy and fetishized the role of civil society. This paper critically accounts for both schools and argues that they represent two sides of the same coin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars of International Relations (IR) and Global Historical Sociology alike have recently become more and more interested in Eurasian order(s). Yet, most recent works on Eurasian historical international relations approach the subject from a long durée perspective, mostly focusing on "big polities" from a "high altitude." Central Asia, or "Turkestan," and its constitutive polities such as the khanates of Bukhara, Khiva, and Khoqand and the vast array of nomadic groups surrounding them are yet terra incognita in IR, specifically with respect to the pre-Tsarist period. By relying on both primary and secondary sources, this inductive research reveals how precolonial Central Asia was an interpolity order on its own, premised on heteronomy and based on the institutions of sovereignty between the khanates and suzerainty between khanates and nomads; territoriality; Sunni Islam; trade and slavery; diplomacy; and war and aq oyluk. This paper contributes to filling this gap, and to the broader literature on Eurasian historical orders, in three respects. First, it adds granularity, detail, and specificity to current IR knowledge on Eurasia by looking at smaller polities as opposed to empires, which as noted have been the main analytical focus so far. Second, the paper adopts an emic approach to uncover local practices, institutions, and norms of precolonial Central Asia, thus adding to the recent "Global IR" debate. Third, by focusing on a case where heteronomy was the rule, this paper adds a new case to the literature on the entrenchment and durability of heteronomy in historical IR and contributes to its theory-building. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the Canadian government’s foreign and security policy responses to Russian disinformation in the context of the Russo-Ukrainian war. It asks whether, how, and why the government has securitised the “crisis of Russian disinformation.” The paper first briefly reviews literature on the Copenhagen’s School’s “securitisation” theory and how it has been used to explain responses to other crises. It then adopts the framework to contextualise the Canadian federal government’s official rhetoric, and then to categorise government policies and actions. The sources consulted include government actors’ reports and stated intentions and policies from 2022 to 2024. Adopting a securitisation framework reveals that Russian disinformation has been rhetorically securitised by government actors as an existential threat to national security and democratic integrity which requires urgent action. Within a context of cascading risks, the government has taken a range of distinct yet reinforcing policies and actions, some more comprehensive than others. The paper argues that together this “pervasive rhetorical securitisation” and “ad hoc practical securitisation” comprise the Canadian government’s ongoing process of partial securitisation. This process is legitimising different methods of governance: security and warfare communications (to address threats to national defence and security), democratic resilience (to address threats to democracy), and, most controversially, blocking and sanctioning (to signal discontent to the Russian regime). The analysis further reveals that each approach has different benefits and limits. The paper concludes that the securitisation process is incomplete compared to the government's rhetoric, with no over-arching organisation or strategy. It outlines implications for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the role of the European Parliament as an international moral tribune for the promotion of human rights through a qualitative case-study design. It focuses on the emblematic Ayotzinapa case, which involved the enforced disappearance of 43 young rural students and the killing of other six civilians in Mexico in September 2014. The paper innovatively analyses the parliamentary diplomacy activity of four Members and their respective political groups: Franziska 'Ska' Keller (Greens/EFA, Germany), Josep-Maria Terricabras i Nogueras (Greens/EFA, Spain), Estefanía Torres Martínez (GUE/NGL, Spain) and Teresa Jiménez-Becerril Barrio (EPP, Spain), during the 8th parliamentary term (2014–2019). It addresses: How does the European Parliament, acting as an international moral tribune, exercise its role in promoting human rights in practice? Importantly, how do individual members and their political groups contribute to fulfilling this role? The research findings reveal that the phenomenon of parliamentary diplomacy on human rights is highly complex, challenging the mainstream notion that the European Parliament is a monolithic player acting as a moral tribune in international relations. Results also provide important insight for understanding the (micro-)processes of parliamentary diplomacy and their relevance for human rights advocacy within the European Union's external relations and its Member States'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the impact of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) on China's political influence in international affairs, as mediated by Chinese economic integration with the BRI countries. We propose that the BRI plays a role in influencing partner countries to support China's presence in the international community, and the economic integration of the BRI positively mediates the willingness of partner countries to align with China in international affairs. This paper uses panel data from 147 BRI countries collected between 2009 and 2020, and the difference-in-differences method, to estimate the political influence of the BRI. The results suggest that the BRI motivates partner countries to support the growth of China's influence in international affairs. The results of the causal mechanism analysis indicate that a significant and positive association between the implementation of the BRI and China's influence is mediated by promoting Chinese contracts, trade overseas, and outward FDI. The examinations of heterogeneity demonstrate that BRI countries that are developing, non-landlocked, non-neighboring, having signed the memorandum of understanding or cooperation memorandum of understanding, or lacking a Chinese investment guide are more likely to support China's political presence. This paper concludes with insights into how China implements the BRI to enhance its political ascent in the global order by facilitating economic integration of the BRI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Amazonia Investiga is the property of PRIMMATE and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Economic policy uncertainty has had an important impact on trade and sustainable economic development. Especially in some specific industries, uncertainty has increased dramatically. The extant related literature mainly analyzes the nexus between uncertainty and trade across different industries and focuses less on a specific industry. Using Chinese customs data on HS 8-digit products over the period of 2000–2013, this paper first investigates the impact of both foreign economic policy uncertainty (EPU) and domestic intra-industry trade on China's mechanical and electrical product exports to 23 trading partners and applies pooled OLS regressions to conduct an empirical study. This paper finds that EPU has a significant inhibition effect on mechanical and electrical product exports; conversely, intra-industry trade can both significantly promote exports and alleviate the inhibition effect of EPU. In addition, the export impact of EPU varied with different trade patterns. It can significantly inhibit processing exports, while it has no effect on ordinary exports. The results of this paper indicate that in the context of increasing uncertainty, our findings could have far-reaching policy implications for China to build a new development pattern of domestic and international dual circulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's ascendant position in International Relations has sparked a debate over the future of the US-led liberal international order. As China's military, economic, ideological, and institutional influence continues to expand, apprehensions about its challenges to the existing global order and the evolution of China's role in international governance have intensified. This research is qualitative and consults both primary and secondary recourses. From the neo-Gramscian school of thought perspective, this research explores the core relationship between China and the global order, delving deep into the historical context. Unlike traditional international relations theories, this research presents a historical and relational interpretation to present an alternative perspective on China's rise. Elucidating this dynamic historical progression, this paper posits that China's relationship with the world order has evolved significantly, moving from animosity and refutation in the post-independence period to compliance with Western ideals and institutions, integration into the international system and, more recently, to the pursuit of independent institution-building, global governance, and promotion of alternative world order. This paper concludes that while China has adopted a predominant role in shaping the rules of the international system, it is far from being a disruptive reformist. Thus, despite its global outreach, China does not seek to build a power centre that counters explicitly the Western liberal order but signals a gradual transition towards a multipolar order. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diplomacy is traditionally associated with politeness and civility. As a fundamental element of international relations, diplomacy is rooted in professional skills and codified practices. By moving diplomacy to online platforms, diplomatic statements have been accelerated, sometimes resulting in aggressiveness. The purpose of this paper is to identify outrage in diplomatic communication. Outrage can be defined as uncivil expressions evoking emotion in the audience. This concept is examined based on the tweets produced by the Russian Foreign Ministry account between 1 December 2021, and 24 April 2022 (total: 2485 tweets). Based on the framework proposed by Berry, Jeffrey M., and Sara Sobieraj (2014. The Outrage Industry: Political Opinion Media and The New Incivility. Oxford: Oxford University Press), qualitative analysis identifies 370 outrageous tweets. Frame analysis shows how outrage acts as a narrative tool for activating (self-)representational devices. Moreover, outrage influences the diplomatic tone, international actors' characterisation, and international institutions' delegitimization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper revisits core pieces of literature on EU foreign policy studies to gauge how far the endogenous institutional quality of EU foreign policy structures has matured by assessing its growth over time. In revisiting two foundational studies, it discusses whether the EU's foreign policy capabilities are still so unequivocally below the state level. First, it will return to the "capabilities-expectations gap" [Hill, C., 1993. The capability-expectations gap, or conceptualizing Europe's international role. Journal of Common Market Studies, 31 (3), 305–328] to investigate the quality of the institutional structure in foreign policy and in how far the EU's institutions fulfil general functions of foreign policy today. Second, it will explore whether "Who Speaks for Europe?" is still a pertinent question [Allen, D., 1998. Who speaks for Europe? The search for an effective and coherent external policy. In: J. Peterson, and H. Sjursen, eds. A common foreign policy for Europe? Competing visions of the CFSP. 41–58]. The results of this assessment allow a conceptualisation of foreign policy capabilities evolving in long-term, slow processes, yet resulting in differences in institutional quality that may otherwise be overlooked. The paper contributes to the overall assessment of the EU's maturation in foreign policy by providing assessments on institutional growth and developing a scale of foreign policy capabilities to capture these slow incremental developments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ireland's policies towards US-owned global digital intermediaries (Big Tech) have emerged as an international political issue and received global media attention. So far, political and media focus has been on the impact of Ireland's tax policies on the revenue-raising ability of other European states and perceptions of light touch regulation of those corporations based in the Republic. The current paper will focus on how Ireland's switch to a focus on capital allowances for the sizeable American tech corporations has enabled the latter to sustain their dominance in the digital transition through incentivizing and subsidizing their switch to assetization as a means of deriving investment. Assetization enables investment and profits based on present and future rents from intellectual property. We argue here that the assets and intellectual property of the tech giants are emblematic of a broader process of political–economic restructuring and information monopoly building. The evidence for this resides in Ireland's bumper rise in corporate tax from 2015. Ireland's facilitation of assetization is the end process of some broader institutional transformations that structure economic power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of escalating global geopolitical concerns over the IndoPacific region, France stands out among its European counterparts for being the earliest state to recognize the region’s significance. This distinction has prompted key research questions in the following three areas: the motivation behind France’s Indo-Pacific policy, whether France’s actions deviate from its Gaullist foreign policy tradition, and the potential effectiveness of these actions. To address these questions, this paper conducted a careful qualitative examination of France’s Indo-Pacific policy development and characteristics. The findings revealed that France’s Indo-Pacific policy is motivated by three key interests, namely security, economy, and leadership. This paper also found that France’s policy actions reflected both a continuation and modification of the Gaullist tradition, evident in President Macron’s mix of cooperation and skepticism toward the United States (US) and North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Concerning policy effectiveness, France’s status as a regional and middle power implies significant constraints in its physical capabilities, which hinder its ability to alleviate tension arising from the US–China competition, the dominant forces shaping the regional political-economic dynamics. Nevertheless, France’s expanding presence and enhanced softpower influence in the Indo-Pacific region have the potential to yield increased bargaining leverage in its interaction with the US and China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates China's regional role in Southeastern Europe by examining the economic strategy of neo-mercantilism using Greece as a case study. In doing so, this paper will make use of the strategy of neo-mercantilism as part of the broader theory of regional powers pursuing broader geostrategic goals. How has the strategic partnership between China and Greece evolved in recent years, and what are China's primary objectives in Greece under the neo-mercantilism? China has intentionally sought to expand its influence in Southeastern Europe by cultivating a strategic partnership with Greece, while avoiding challenging the influence of other powers in the area. The economic turmoil in Greece over the past decade created a favorable environment for attracting Chinese FDI. China's principal focus in developing its strategic partnership with Greece is to increase FDI as a means of achieving its economic goals and other political goals with tangible results related to China's support in issues mainly concerning the country's applied foreign policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the position of the United States of America regarding Ukraine’s cooperation with the North Atlantic Alliance during both administrations of the 42nd US President William Jefferson Clinton. The reflection of Ukraine’s relations with NATO from the standpoint of the American establishment in such important foreign policy documents as «The National Security Strategy of the United States for 1994, 1995, 1997 year» (L.T.), as well as in the official sources of the Presidents of the United States - «Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States of America». [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Bulletin of Ablai Khan KazUIRandWL: Series 'International Relations & Regional Studies' is the property of Kazakh Ablai Khan University of International Relations & World Languages and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Concept of Mission Command is not new, however, dynamics of present and requirements of future battle fields have further enhanced the relevance and importance of its right adaptation and execution. With mixed results of low intensity battles and stabilizing operations as a result of Armed conflicts during last two decades or so, this paper explores aspects in addition to the debate of mere centralized and decentralized control normally linked with Mission Command concept. Previous researches have correctly identified training aspects required in a Military set up during peace time to bleed less during operations under Mission Command environment. This paper inquires whether we are ready to accept our vulnerabilities and preparing towards a directional training while keeping in view various myths as a case in point. Through results of recent conflicts and experience of officers involved in such operations, this paper identifies a gap in previous researches pertaining to importance of International Relations knowledge and aspects of Psychological domain for officers, especially during low intensity battles and stabilizing operations in the twenty first century Battlefield environment. This paper concludes by identifying that transformation of Commanders at Strategic, Operational and Tactical level coupled with threat spectrum at Strategic/Operational level if identified correctly will have a trickle down effect for Tactical level commanders being good students of International Relations. This will increase the Morale and Motivation level of subordinates enabling them to assess Political sensitivities, understand and address the complexities involved in low intensity and stabilizing operations and value the conflict in today's environment of continous chaos. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to identify the patterns of populists' tactics in foreign policy and to propose actionable recommendations to minimize the impacts of populism in Pakistan's foreign policy. International politics witnessed a surge in the rise of populist leaders all across the globe. The rise of populism is a new phenomenon with profound implications for state relations, and Pakistan is not an exception. This is non-experimental exploratory research employing qualitative data collection and analysis techniques. In line with Michael Zurn's analysis, this article assesses Pakistan's Foreign Policy in populist leaders' tenures. This paper delves into exploring the populism of Bhutto and Khan, and its impacts on Pakistan's foreign policy. The paper finds that Bhutto and Khan follow centralized foreign policy decision-making, employ populist Islamic and anti-west rhetoric, and poised foreign policy with their notorious political agendas. The paper recommends increasing public awareness and strengthening foreign policy-making institutions to minimize populist elements in foreign policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The EU's foreign policy makers are committed to backing the rule-based international order and the creation of international law treaties to tackle global issues. The importance of world framework policies as the foundation of the current world order system that was created after the Second World War is overlooked by the rules-based concept of world order. Based on the High Representative's strategy papers, this article assesses the views of EU foreign policy makers on world order, multipolarity, and multilateralism to understand the EU's position in the current transition phase of the world order system. The article also addresses the significance of strategic autonomy as it appears as the core concept of the EU policy towards order transition. The analysis is based on International Relations (IR) scholarship and Complex Systems Theory (CST), which reveals gaps and inconsistencies in current EU views on the changing world order and the necessity to improve our understanding of how the world order transition is evolving. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing decentralised international cooperation is not easy. Managing active and beneficial decentralised international cooperation amidst many inactive regional-international partnerships will be much more difficult. Geographical factors of distant regions, language differences, and lack of planning and coordination are often the leading causes of constrained and inactive regional international cooperation. This paper will map the factors that influence the success of the Yogyakarta (Indonesia)--Gyeongsangbukdo (South Korea) international collaboration so that it provides tangible and sustainable benefits. The paper is qualitative-analytical, which aims to explore the background of the success of regional-international cooperation amid the criticism of many inactive decentralised-international cooperation. Interviews with interviewees from BPPM (Women and Community Empowerment Agency) of Yogyakarta, the Directorate of Law and International Agreements at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia, and YGSI (Global Saemaul Indonesia Foundation) provide the primary data sources. Secondary data sources are derived from reports, articles, and documents regarding Yogyakarta -- Gyeongsangbukdo international cooperation. Based on research findings, two variables determine the success of Yogyakarta - Gyeongsangbukdo international cooperation: first, the two local governments' readiness to carry out all stages of international collaboration, and second, active public participation in executing and managing activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Historia i Polityka is the property of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Purpose: The current political situation in Europe has amplified economic sanctions as a retaliatory measure for states not directly involved in the conflict but wanting to influence the political situation. The purpose of this paper is to further understand the interplay of the neutrality principle and employment of economic sanctions. Design/methodology/approach: Through an extensive literature review, heavily based on the publications of the Swiss Confederacy, neutrality as a foreign policy serving to promote Swiss interests is explored. The room for interpretation and freedom of action in the neutrality principle is highlighted above all. Findings: Economic sanctions are compatible with the neutrality principle, but do not necessarily further the same purpose. Political pressure to participate in sanctions does not take into consideration the ways in which the credibility of neutrality can be implicated, as well as the value of protecting Switzerland's role as an international mediator. Originality/value: The consistency with which the neutrality principle is translated into the modern geopolitical context is crucial for its longevity. The novelty of the current political sanctions, still unfolding, demands a careful examination into the history of neutrality and the use of sanctions. No better insight can be offered than by the development of neutrality in the history of the titan of neutrality, Switzerland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South-South Cooperation was first conceived at the 1955 Bandung Conference, which led to the foundation of the Non-Aligned Movement in 1961 and other important initiatives within the UN system, such as creating the G77 and elaborating the Buenos Aires Plan of Action. Since the beginning of the century, this cooperation modality has re-emerged and is now considered a catalyst for sustainable development. Given this context, this paper aims to analyze its ideological and political origins, definitions, and evolution, highlighting its importance as an instrument of foreign policy and development cooperation. In addition, a comparison between South-South and North-South Cooperation is made through five dimensions: ideas, institutions/political systems, interests, organizations, and vectors/schemes. Through this comparative approach, the author seeks to present consensual aspects of what is understood as South-South Cooperation and portray the diversity of strategies implemented by countries in the Global South. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On the 24 of February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine, impacting millions of people's lives. In addition, the millions of displaced refugees have sparked a major international relations conflict. As a result, most refugees have traveled to their neighboring country, Poland. This research paper, based on a set of survey responses and interviews, outlines key policy recommendations that the Polish government should apply to best adjust to the rapid influx in population. The policies are family, religion, and language-oriented and focus on lengthening the stay of Ukrainian refugees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the intersections between various governmental tiers by concentrating on foreign policy and diplomatic players. It starts by outlining environmental foreign policy and the two primary methods used to characterize, evaluate, and clarify how it functions on many levels. This paper examines how the politics of foreign policy are evolving in light of the increasing complexity of the international system, after analyzing these two approaches. It highlights a number of foreign policy difficulties that arise when local and international concerns converge. Not unexpectedly, diplomacy is a major issue in international environmental politics and is also covered in this paper. It highlights how outcomes may be significantly influenced by the negotiating procedures that diplomats engage in, whether they are at official international conferences or private bilateral encounters. This present research provides an overview of the main themes covered in the field of environmental diplomacy, including game theory, leadership, domestic and international relations, issue linkage, non-state actors' impact, norms and language, and negotiation and argumentation techniques. It makes the case that environmental diplomacy has lost credibility in recent years due to recurrent failures to draft a climate pact. The discussion of implications for future study on environmental foreign policy and diplomacy closes this work. It also emphasizes the necessity to reevaluate the function of diplomacy in government and the definition of the "outcome" of negotiations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Almost every polity uses state awards as diplomatic tools. Their global spread, however, cannot be explained by dominant theories of International Relations (which focus on military or economic rationales) or of diplomatic practices (which lack criteria for what constitutes a functionally suitable practice). The success of such seemingly non-instrumental tools may be better explained with a combination of Modern Systems Theory with the evolutionary scheme of variation/selection/re-stabilization: the diplomatic system generates a variation of practices, enacts selection through the structural medium of peace, and stabilises the selected variant through legal formalization and global diffusion. Using this framework, this paper finds that state awards found worldwide ubiquity for two reasons: First, they satisfy the diplomatic system's societal function related to peace and power, that is, the foregrounding of peace-and-amity while invisibilizing power-and-enmity. Second, state awards exhibit a high degree of generalizability, meaning that they are so flexible that any state can use them towards any other states for any reasons at any time. This paper carries implications for understanding seemingly trivial, noninstrumental features of diplomacy, and, more generally, for the value of Modern Systems Theory and evolutionary perspectives in International Relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The quests and advocacies for co-operations, alliances, integration and unity amongst African countries are quite historical, and are ever resonating in discourses on international relations. It is such advocacies that birthed the idea for the formation of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Southern African Development Community (SADC), etc. Unfortunately, not even the rationale for the metamorphosis from OAU to the African Union (AU) has been able to entrench the much desired unity of purpose amongst African states. This paper posits that the conversations on strategies for a closer and sustainable integration in Africa should not only be centred on socio-economic and political paradigms, but should deeply reflect cultural cum educational matrixes. The paper hypothesizes that cultural transmission, which is a fundamental goal of any educational system, has to be emphatically explored in the drive for integration and unity in Africa. It therefore conceptually highlighted the link between culture and education in regional integration, with reminiscences of such linkages in Africa. The paper however observes that, beyond the affirmations and declarations arising from Treaties and Charters by some regional fora in Africa, the varied uses of education for the purposes of cultural transmission, promotion of African history and languages, in addition to the merits of intellectual exchanges, are to be further surveyed as the plausible templates that would encourage integration in Africa. Consequently, the paper suggests that socio-political institutions, governments, sub-regional blocs and other agents of diplomacy and development in Africa should carefully reconsider the multi-dimensional values of education in the realization of the dreams of African nationalists for a well-integrated and united Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relevance of this article covers historical, religious, local and diplomatic factors, which reflect the importance of research and the multifaceted nature of Isbijab. The purpose is to study the Isbijab School of fiqh law in the Middle Ages in the context of Islamic law and the history of Kazakhstan. In this work, standard historiographical methods are used: historical-systemic method, historical-comparative method, method of historical periodization and others. The main result is to clarify the role of the fiqh school of Isbijab in the context of studying the history of Islamic law on the territory of modern Kazakhstan and in the region as a whole. The authors also found that Isbijab was one of the centres of Islamic studies and law not only in Kazakhstan but also in the whole of Central Asia in the XI to XII centuries. It was the time when Isbijab developed its legal concept and school of fiqh, the Hanafi madhhab. This school of Islamic law introduced a new generation of legal scholars and their pupils, whose major works and academic degrees paved their way in the historiography. Their experience helped the researchers to study the manuscript works of medieval Isbijab jurists from a historical-legal and theological point of view. The paper shows the findings of an ongoing study of Isbijab legal practitioners in the framework of the "Mukhtasar al-Tahawi" book. Work has practical relevance not only in the context of Islamic studies and Islamic law but also in history, international relations, country knowledge and in other disciplines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This paper examines how indigenous African communities have become critical for developing epistemologies of relation and entanglement in the dominant problem of contemporary resilience understandings of adaptation in the Anthropocene imaginary. Grounded in the indigenous African epistemological philosophies, this paper explores critical alternative futural framings that directly oppose the modernist epistemological understandings of resilience imaginaries in the Anthropocene. The analysis presented here is based on understanding indigenous non-modern ways of knowing as key in the context of ecological crisis in the Anthropocene resilience. This paper argues that reductionist modernist epistemology fails to fully acknowledge how alternative futural imaginaries of indigenous non-modern ways of knowing have become central to critical Anthropocene resilience approaches in the discipline of International Relations. In contrast, this paper explores indigenous African epistemologies of relation and entanglement as alternative futural imaginaries that better capture resilience climate adaptation in the Anthropocene. The paper concludes that focusing on resilience and understandings of adaptation in the Anthropocene opens other possibilities for the development of indigenous non-modern ways of knowing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP) is one of the biggest international efforts aimed at better understanding the past, present, and future of climate changes in a multi-model context. A total of 21 model intercomparison projects (MIPs) were endorsed in its sixth phase (CMIP6), which included 190 different experiments that were used to simulate 40 000 years and produced around 40 PB of data in total. This paper presents the main findings obtained from the CPMIP (the Computational Performance Model Intercomparison Project), a collection of a common set of metrics, specifically designed for assessing climate model performance. These metrics were exclusively collected from the production runs of experiments used in CMIP6 and primarily from institutions within the IS-ENES3 consortium. The document presents the full set of CPMIP metrics per institution and experiment, including a detailed analysis and discussion of each of the measurements. During the analysis, we found a positive correlation between the core hours needed, the complexity of the models, and the resolution used. Likewise, we show that between 5 %–15 % of the execution cost is spent in the coupling between independent components, and it only gets worse by increasing the number of resources. From the data, it is clear that queue times have a great impact on the actual speed achieved and have a huge variability across different institutions, ranging from none to up to 78 % execution overhead. Furthermore, our evaluation shows that the estimated carbon footprint of running such big simulations within the IS-ENES3 consortium is 1692 t of CO 2 equivalent. As a result of the collection, we contribute to the creation of a comprehensive database for future community reference, establishing a benchmark for evaluation and facilitating the multi-model, multi-platform comparisons crucial for understanding climate modelling performance. Given the diverse range of applications, configurations, and hardware utilised, further work is required for the standardisation and formulation of general rules. The paper concludes with recommendations for future exercises aimed at addressing the encountered challenges which will facilitate more collections of a similar nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]