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What kind of challenge did a rising Japan in the 1970s and 1980s pose to the United States, and how does that differ from the challenge that China has posed to US primacy in East Asia since the early 2000s? This article compares and contrasts US responses to these two shifts in relative power, in the process aiming to elucidate how changes that portend a power transition are understood and dealt with and how great powers manage the security order at times of disruption. In these respects, the article contributes to the empirical understanding of why some power transitions do not result in conflict given the tools available to great powers to manage relations at times of stress. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article examines China's maritime claims as of January 2017, highlighting an international arbitral tribunal ruling that invalidated China's nine-dash line and other maritime activities in the South China Sea on July 12, 2016. Topics include China's efforts to protect its maritime rights and interests, its goal of expanding maritime power, and development of maritime technology to explore natural resources. Also discussed are the factors that influenced changes in China's maritime policy since 2012.

The article explores the One Belt One Road initiative (BRI) of China which aims to stimulate economic development as of January 2017. A background of BRI is provided which was established in 2013 that would create a network of infrastructure worldwide that are linked to China. Topics include the lack of understanding of BRI's strategic motivations, its implications for the Eurasian continent, and China's motivations and purposes for BRI. Also discussed are China's efforts to secure its continental backyard, the leadership of President Xi Jinping, and Chinese exceptionalism.

European security is at a critical juncture and many have called for a more coherent and efficient response, involving both the EU and NATO. However, the primary tool for EU–NATO cooperation, “Berlin Plus”, has been stuck in a political quagmire since the mid-2000s, making a lot of scholars to conclude that this cooperation is obsolete and outdated. This article is challenging this view by analysing a range of informal but regular interaction patterns that have emerged. Using practice theory, it sheds new light on and explores how EU and NATO staff at all levels engage in informal practices on various sites in headquarters in Brussels and in field operations. A study of EU–NATO cooperation as practice focuses on the everyday, patterned production of security as well as what makes action possible, such as (tacit) practical knowledge and shared “background” knowledge (education, training, and experience). The article also discusses the extent to which shared repertoires of practice may evolve into loose communities of practice that cut across organisational and professional boundaries. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Following overland and maritime trade routes, early Muslims reached China within a century after the Prophet Muhammad (570–632) lived, when the Chinese and Islamic empires were the superpowers of their day, engaging each other in instances of both competition and collaboration: military, economic and diplomatic. Exchanges between China and the Islamic world have produced significant technological and cultural developments, and set the stage for ongoing relations between the two civilizations that helped shape world history and continue to influence global affairs today. The arrival of Islam more than 1200 years ago also resulted in a sizeable Muslim minority population in China, who play an important role between the two civilizations: sometimes as cultural intermediaries, sometimes as political pawns. The following is an overview of the history of Chinese–Islamic relations, including historical and contemporary involvement by China’s internal Muslim populations, with a survey of connections between China and several Muslim countries. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article analyses how the dynamics of civil-military relations in Pakistan have ensured policy continuity towards China. By looking at the development of the port of Gwadar, which represents the flagship project of Sino-Pakistani cooperation during the last 15 years, this article contends that the continuity in Pakistan’s policies towards China in the post 9/11 period is explained by a broad-based consensus among the Pakistani elites, in which, however, the military plays a dominant role. Civilian control over the military is a concept that was never fully absorbed in Pakistan and, as the analysis ascertains, most of the policies introduced by General Pervez Musharraf have been adopted by the subsequent civilian regimes under indirect control from the military establishment. The ultimate aim of the Pakistani leadership, civilian and military alike, has therefore been to provide a safe ground for the Chinese investments in the country because of the key role that China plays in Pakistan’s strategic posture. Organised around semi-structured interviews conducted in Pakistan in early 2015, the article is grounded in the relevant literature on civil-military relations and assesses the level of civilian control in three key decision-making areas pertaining to the port of Gwadar: economic policy, internal security and foreign policy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article argues that China's approach to Afghanistan since the end of the Cold War has been shaped by the desire both for security in Xinjiang and for geopolitical advantage in Central Asia. While Beijing's Xinjiang calculus was ascendant from 1991 to 2001, since 2001 a broader geopolitical calculus has emerged. This latter factor has been encapsulated in President Xi Jinping's 'One Belt, One Road' strategy, which, at its core, is an outgrowth of Beijing's decades-long agenda to integrate Xinjiang and utilise this region's unique geopolitical position to facilitate a Chinacentric Eurasian geo-economic system. While China's Xinjiang calculus determines that it shares an interest with the USA in combating radical Islamism in Afghanistan (and Central Asia more broadly), the geopolitical calculus of the 'One Belt, One Road' strategy points to a fundamental incompatibility between US and Chinese interests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article tracks the European Union’s efforts at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Regional Forum (ARF), from 2004 to 2008, to encourage Myanmar directly or indirectly to engage in security cooperation. It, then, explores Myanmar and ASEAN's reactions to the devastation caused by Cyclone Nargis to Myanmar’s Irrawaddy delta in 2008. It focuses on ARF as a forum whereby interactions take place. It examines whether the complementary of the analytical variables provided by the logic of consequences and appropriateness [March, J.G. and Olsen, J.P., 1998.The institutional dynamics of international political orders. Oslo, Arena Working Paper No. 5; 2004.The logic of appropriateness. Oslo, Arena Working Paper No. 9], social mechanisms [Checkel, J., 1999. Social construction and integration.Journal of European public policy, 6 (4), 545–560.] and observations derived from interviews (Southeast Asia and Brussels) can explain ASEAN and Myanmar’s reactions and, also, the EU’s behaviour in relation to the Myanmar-Nargis event. The EU’s role is explored through the co-chair’s summary reports of the meetings that the EU co-chaired with ASEAN. The article uncovers the EU’s efforts to encourage ASEAN to take up responsibilities and Myanmar to accept multilateral security options. It argues that, as the EU tried to inspire Myanmar to connect with cooperation, “Myanmar hit by Cyclone Nargis” motivated the EU Council to include the "responsibility to protect" as a new goal of the European foreign and security policy of December 2008. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study analyzes the political reasons that allowed the Islamic State to expand successfully in Syria and Iraq, by enabling to “franchise” worldwide, and the role of the regional governments in this issue. The article provides a different explanation from the classic approach of the “clash of civilizations” theorized by Samuel P. Huntington, ascribing responsibility for the growth and expansion of the Islamic State to the complex framework of geopolitical alliances within the Muslim civilization and the Arab world. The article highlights the attempt by Turkey to establish itself as a regional power and guidance of the Islamic world, by resurrecting the Caliphate, and, based on this, explains the contrast with the Islamic State, whose goal is the foundation of a globalized Caliphate. The plans of the Turkish President Erdoğan for a Great Turkey, allied with Egypt, have foundered with the coup that ousted the Muslim Brotherhood from power. The study relates the connection of Ankara with the Kurds, regarding the management of the crisis in Syria and Iraq, and the Turkish liaison with regional powers (Iran, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Israel) and other powers (Russia, China, and the United States). [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This essay examines Russian argumentation on its visa-free regime with the EU within the context of discussions about modernisation. It examines arguments within the Russian foreign policy establishment about modernisation, Russia’s modernisation partnership with the EU and visa-free travel, and how these issues are linked. First, the essay outlines two models of Russian modernisation, comprehensive and selective. Then the Russia–EU modernisation partnership is examined focusing on Russia’s view of the nature of the partnership. Finally, the essay analyses Russian argumentation on visa-free regime and liberalisation. The essay concludes that in the Russian modernisation debate, be it comprehensive or selective, inclusion into the Western community is understood as an important prerequisite for modernisation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Turkey has expanded the horizons of its foreign policy in geographical terms, as well as in terms of Ankara's involvement in global issues and in international organizations. Turkey's new foreign policy and line of geopolitical thought marks a considerable degree of discontinuity with the previous era. Turkey's ambition is to take on a central role in world politics under the guidance of the foreign policy vision of former Foreign Minister and current Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu. This paper analyses the extent to which Turkey's Foreign Ministry has been able to transform itself in accordance with the new geopolitical thinking under Davutoğlu. It focuses on the capacity building and reform of the Foreign Ministry to understand how policymakers bridge the gap between ideas and institutions to ensure that the geopolitical perspective is an enduring and long-term project. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper investigates to what extent mediation has been a relevant foreign policy tool during the Arab Spring by looking into the mediation attempts of Turkey, Qatar and Iran. To answer this question, the paper examines why and how these actors mediated, to what extent they were able to apply mediation as a tool of foreign policy, whether their mediation attempts could deliver any results and whether there was a receptive audience with respect to their mediation. Despite certain setbacks, mediation has been a relevant foreign policy tool during the Arab Spring. The uses of mediation by these actors run parallel to their foreign policy priorities. In addition, during the Arab Spring, mediation has proved more effective in small-scale conflicts, such as hostage crises, rather than large-scale ones, such as those between regimes and oppositions. Despite considerable potential for regional powers to take on mediator roles, the effectiveness of their mediation attempts depends on their commitment and reliability as mediators. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The author reflects on the history of conflicts between China and Burma and the recent incident that took place in Kokang, Burma in February 2015. He mentions that numbers of Chinese citizens living in Nansan were injured by bombs of the Burmese army and situations which led to formation of the Communist Party of Burma (CPB). He also mentions that a resolution was passed to the United Nations Security Council to impose ban on the Burmese because they had attacked ethnic minorities.

The positive role that external powers can play in the creation and maintenance of security in regions has long been ignored; external interference is generally perceived as detrimental to the ability of a group of states to function as a community. However, this paper argues that in the case of ASEAN, the presence of external actors allows the group to function as a community that also provides and ensures security. This paper furthers the debate regarding ASEAN's security functions. With international attention focused on the Asia-Pacific, there is a need to understand the context in which security is maintained in Southeast Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Pivot towards the Asia Pacific has been a key component of the grand strategy of the Obama administration. Militarily, the main challenge is represented by the Chinese capacity to erode the American ‘command of the commons’. The United States have been developing a new operational concept, labelled ‘Air-Sea Battle’ (ASB) aimed at maintaining the capacity to project military power even if adversaries are able to deploy a sophisticated anti-access area denial strategy. The implementation of ASB is likely induce Beijing to respond with a further acceleration of the process ofmodernisation of its armed forces. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Despite tight budgetary constraints, the number of military interventions in which Belgium participated is substantial. The Belgian air force and navy were able to retain their basic war fighting capabilities after the Cold War. The land forces lost and are losing capabilities because of a lack of strategic anchoring. The most important Belgian contribution to international and European defence thinking has to be found in the innovative approach with respect to Belgian–Dutch naval cooperation. The latter could be an example for Europeanizing and generating the use of military capabilities in order to make the EU a strategic actor in the multipolar world. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article analyses Turkey’s responses to the Arab uprisings in the context of its larger foreign policy transformation and regional aspirations. The AKP government seized the uprisings as an opportunity to increase its influence in the region by assigning itself a central role in the transition processes in various countries. In the process, however, Turkey faced a number of setbacks and reversals. Comparing the cases of Libya, Syria, and Egypt, the paper argues that Turkey’s efforts to advance regime change in these sites were marked by inconsistency and incoherence. Furthermore, the paper argues that this trajectory of reactions can be explained only by taking both ideational and domestic factors into account. Despite the shortcomings of Turkey’s actions, however, the article concludes that Turkey has consolidated itself as a regional actor, albeit a controversial one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on a seeming contradiction between ‘Islamophobic’ and ‘Islamophilic’ approaches in contemporary Western policies and discourses on the Middle East. While Islamophobia continues to shape some domestic policies of Western states and provide ideological justification for the wars they wage abroad, ‘Islamophilic’ tendencies in foreign policy have also emerged, especially in responses to the ‘Arab Spring’. Not clearly noted in Western public discourse, this represents a historical continuation of Western support for Islamism common during the Cold War, but is also a shift from the Islamophobic discourse of the post-cold war period, especially since 9/11. While Islamophobic and Islamophilic discourses may appear to be opposites, the paper argues that they represent two sides of the Orientalist logic, continuing to reduce understanding of Middle Eastern societies and politics to a culturalist dimension. Unlike traditional Orientalism, they treat Middle Eastern people as political subjects, but approach them as defined by their culture and religion. They define ‘moderate’ Islamism as the typical (and preferred) politics of the people of the region. Focusing on specific recent developments, the paper suggests that, rather than paving the way to more peaceful relations with the region or to internal peace and stability there, the Islamophilic shift in Western policy may rather lead to new waves of catastrophes by further destabilising and fragmenting the region, threatening to evoke new waves of Islamophobia in the West. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses the impact that the 2014 election of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has on U.S. relations with India, referencing Modi's relationship with the U.S. as the chief minister of Gujarat, India from the early 2000s through the early 2010s. The role that China's increasing power during the 21st century plays in the United States and India's relationship is discussed. An overview of India's economic relationship with China, including in regard to the former's desire to integrate into the Asian region, is provided. India's relationship with Japan, including in regard to Japanese investment in Gujarat, is also discussed.

The article presents several news-related items regarding the Middle East during from February through May 2014, with a particular focus on Palestine and the Middle East's international relations. Topics, including international investment to Palestine known as the Initiative for the Palestinian Economy (IPE), the history of Palestinian refugees, the Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmud Abbas and peace negotiations in the Palestinian Israeli conflict, are discussed.

Entering the twenty-first century, China has demonstrated an assertive foreign policy, not only in employing various types of economic and military leverage but also in conducting the Three Warfares (三战) – psychological warfare, public opinion warfare, and legal warfare. This article attempts to identify the motives and methods of China’s Three Warfares by analyzing its history, logic, and agents. Based on this analysis, the author also presents the position of the Three Warfares in China’s foreign policy and the warfares’ impact on the international security environment involving other major powers and China’s neighbors. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Starting from 2004, China's trading partners, in particular the United States, have increasingly utilized the World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement system (DSS) to challenge China's trade-related measures. As a major player in world trade, how China responds to adverse rulings is not only important to its trading partners, but also for the future of the international trade regime. China has thus far held a relatively good compliance record when facing adverse panel and/or Appellate Body rulings, except for the recent delay in full compliance in China—Publications and Audiovisual Products. Through examining the factors affecting China's decision making when targeted in a WTO dispute, this article finds that, in general, China is highly motivated to comply with the WTO DSS due to the reputational costs of noncompliance. Nevertheless, the recent delay in compliance in China—Publications and Audiovisual Products also demonstrates that successful implementation could be impeded by certain politically influential interest groups, especially when the measure at dispute is politically sensitive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Qatar has only recently emerged as a player in the foreign policy arena. The first sign of what has become a highly distinctive role was the establishment of Al Jazeera, which has changed for ever the way that news media are seen across the Arab world. Qatar then successfully mediated in several conflicts in the region, before playing an active role in the aftermath of the Arab Spring and taking a lead on Libya. Syria poses more of a problem. But Qatar, as a small, rich country in an unpredictable region, now enjoys a high level of global recognition as an independent state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses United Nations peacekeeping missions in Abyei, Sudan and Mali as of November 2012. An overview of the United Nations' (UNs') Interim Security Force in Abyei (UNISFA), including their monitoring of the border of South Sudan and Sudan and the agreement between Sudan's People's Liberation Army (SPLM) and the Government of Sudan (GoS) to demilitarization of Abyei, is provided. An overview of the UN's resolution 2071, which assists the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the African Union (AU) in planning for an international intervention in reaction to the Islamic armed groups Ansar Dine and the Mouvement pour le unicité et le jihad en Afrique de l’Ouest's (MUJAO's) taking over territory in northern Mali.

In 2002, the African Union (AU) was established to promote peace, security and stability on the continent. Since then, it has launched military operations to help regulate conflicts in Burundi, Comoros, Sudan and Somalia. This contribution evaluates the African Mission in Burundi (AMIB). It explores the AU's nascent approach to peacekeeping and investigates the relationship between its aspiration, experience and prospect of providing ‘African solutions to African problems’ in the security realm. The AMIB case study suggests that both the intervener's capabilities and the conflict context in which it operates affect its success. How these two categories relate to each other also matters. Different actors affect both internal and external contextual conditions. More support from one actor can compensate for less support from another. During AMIB, South African commitments made up for limited resources on part of the AU, its member states and institutions as well as insufficient interest from international donors. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

From a post-colonial perspective, this article argues that the Mission des Nations Unies pour la stabilisation en Haiti (MINUSTAH) helps in our understanding of how the conventional peace operation model is, at the field-level, constantly challenged and renegotiated. Formally conceived as a francophone mission operating in a francophone country, MINUSTAH's deployment and interactions on the ground proved to be complex. Composed of a majority of Latin American troops, MINUSTAH has been exposed to symbolic and material pressures that range from the UN ‘liberal peace model’, French colonial heritage and previous US interference, to post-colonial worldviews and local demands. Benefitting from the combination of an academic approach and a practitioner's perspective this article demonstrates that although MINUSTAH was framed inside a specific UN mission pattern, grounded in a supposedly dominant francophone culture and located on the ‘outskirts’ of the United States, it has been subjected to a plurality of other pressures – such as demands from leading contributing countries – and opened to multiple re-articulations of its original mandate. This article politicizes the multiple encounters between a pre-defined peace operation model and everyday field realities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses the importance of appropriate importation and effective utilization of superior-quality foreign higher education resources for Sino-Foreign cooperation in running schools in China. The said resources are the keys to enhance the quality of international school administration cooperation of the country. An overview of the major problems that hinder the historic introduction of the foreign higher education resources are presented. It is mentioned that the Sino-foreign cooperation in higher education programs must be introduced into the foreign countries to broaden its understanding about the Chinese high-quality domestic resources. The move will enable foreign institutions to forge partnerships with Chinese schools.