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The apparent capacity of Uzbek authorities to ignore their own international human rights commitments has led to a diplomatic fallout which might significantly alter the configuration of great power politics in the region. Uzbek authorities have suggested the disturbances were the result of a conspiracy by outside linked to international Islamist terror networks.

This article assesses China-Pakistan-Afghanistan relations in the period 2014-2018 and asks whether China has exercised distinct pressure on Pakistan to be a more constructive partner for Afghanistan. A central argument is that even as China has failed to alter Pakistan's policies significantly in the short term it is still continuing to successfully build power and trust in Pakistan and Afghanistan, as well as with their neighbours to the north and west. This bodes well for China's exercise of regional leadership in a long-term perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the role of the United Nations in the development of the concept of human security since the 1998 Lysøen Declaration. The UN's role in the evolution of understandings of human security in international society is examined, emphasizing conceptual development, the incubation of ideas, consensus building, legitimation and codification, and practice. It also considers the limitations on the organization in promoting human security, given its state-centric character and substantial contestation of the idea of sovereignty in international society. The analysis suggests that the organization has played a significant role in the effort to define, promote, legitimize and implement elements of human security, but faces serious constraints given its state-centric nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses connections between state formation and state failure, focusing on the often conflict-ridden historical relationship between Russia and the nation of Georgia. The relationship between state-building and national security is discussed with a specific focus on the 2008 South Ossetia War between Russia and Georgia. The international regional aspects of state formation are addressed. Emphasis is given to aspects of the countries' state-building projects such as restoration of sovereignty, positive economic development, and national identity.

The concept of emerging powers presupposes several features shared by the states in question including regional preponderance, aspiration to a global role and the contesting of US unipolarity. This article assesses the role of Russia as an emerging power. It asks how Russians interpret the international system, what kind of system they would prefer, what they are trying to do in the current system and why, and how these considerations affect their relations with the US hegemony, other centres of power such as the EU, and other emerging powers. The author discusses the structural, liberal and regional interpretations of state behaviour and how they relate to the Russian model, arguing that Russia's policy is strongly affected by its domestic economic and political context. Russia is highly responsive to trends in the former Soviet Union and regions it perceives to be in its own space (e.g. EU and NATO Europe and north-east Asia). In the larger international system, Russia's approach is a mix of partnership or acquiescence on matters of vital interest to the hegemonic power, and more competitive behaviour on issues deemed central to Russian but peripheral to US interests. The article concludes that Russia is not an emerging power in the conventional sense. Its foreign policy is dominated by efforts to reverse the decline of the 1980s and 1990s. This entails fostering international conditions conducive to allowing reconsolidation without external hindrance. Its second major priority is regional: to restore Russian influence over the former Soviet states. In essence, Russian policy aims to limit further losses and promote conditions that will allow it to re-emerge as a great power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the record of American policy towards regional cooperation in Central Asia. It begins with the determinants of regionalism and the role of external states therein. It then considers the nature of American interests in Central Asia. This is followed by a historical account of the three stages of American policy towards the region. The article argues that regional cooperation has not been a significant aspect of US policy. Instead US policy-makers have preferred bilateral relations or multilateral structures (e.g. the Partnership for Peace, the GUUAM [Georgia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and Moldova] group) which draw the region's states beyond its boundaries. US policy tends to reduce incentives for regional actors to develop multilateral cooperation. It may also encourage competitive regionalist agendas on the part of other interested major powers (Russia and China). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses a study of the sources of articles published 'Global Governance,' a journal focusing on the role of international institutions in world politics. Primary aims and objectives; Contributions to the periodical; Author profiles; Article profiles; Comparison with similar periodicals; Changes in the journal.

The article examines the unprecedented role of humanitarian issues in foreign policy. Such shortcomings reflect the gap between an ideal in which politics and humanitarian action proceed in detached and autonomous spheres and the reality in which they are generally entwined. Discussion of the disparity between principle and performance usually revolves around the problem of political will. States are unwilling to deploy resources rapidly and in quantities commensurate with the problem. The lack of political will is itself generally explained by the absence of national interests of the major states in an armed conflict.

Presents an article about the trends in superpower competition between the U.S. and the Soviet Union in terms of influence and position in developing countries in the 1990s. Objectives of the superpowers in developing countries; Superpower assessments of third world politics; Background of U.S. and Soviet foreign policies towards developing countries.

Differences between East and West on issues of regional security in the Third World stem in part from fundamentally different ways of looking at the sources and significance of Third World conflict, the roles of outside actors in that conflict, and the relationship between such conflict and East-West relations. Examination of Soviet views on these topics suggests that conceptual dissonance is a considerable obstacle to substantial durable East-West cooperation on Third World security issues. Despite basic differences in doctrine and in objectives, the Soviet Union's concern about escalation, desire for equal status, concrete security interests in the Third World, and sensitivity to Third World opinion, along with the vulnerability of its established positions, create a Soviet interest in limiting superpower competition in Third World areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the insights drawn from the evolution in Russian perspectives of Europe. It mentions that the paradigm of new thinking has been abandoned specially for Europe, as per this analysis. Reversion to state-centric realism from new thinking has been discussed. An overview of the state-realist conceptualization of Russian foreign policy, being an effort for mixing the multilateral and cooperative in the unilateral is offered. It concludes moderation of Russian objectives in the process of bargaining. It considers the alternative of isolating Russia and efforts to contain it, as less appealing due to potential domestic political consequences and their impact on Russian foreign policy.