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The Russian war against Ukraine in February 2022, unleashed an unprecedented wave of non-governmental, external resistance directed against Russia. In many ways, previous literature on war and resistance does not capture the characteristics of this phenomenon. Besides noting the presence of civilian war protests outside of the warzone, most research has focused on internal resistance during war. In this article, we draw on a wider array of resistance literature and present an analytical framework that allows us to capture the broad elements of non-governmental, external resistance during war – including the power-resistance nexus at work. The analytical framework sorts the various kinds of resisters, it categorises the form of resistance and the targets pursued. The usefulness of the analytical framework is demonstrated through an exploration of empirical examples and illustrations drawn from media reports gathered during the first 10 days of the war in Ukraine. It is concluded that new analytical tools are necessary in order to capture non-governmental, external resistance during war as it is waged in Europe in the 2020s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last decade, Graham Allison's 'Thucydides trap' has become a predominant framework for analysing the prospect of great power conflict between the United States and China. The controversy surrounding this rise to prominence has reinvigorated a tradition of thinking about the effects of power parity on global order that previously flourished during the Cold War. This renewed attention has nevertheless come at a significant cost. By reconstructing the tradition from which the Thucydides trap emerges, a tradition that we call rise-and-fall theory, this article demonstrates how the ascendance of the Thucydides trap as a framework of analysis has obscured critical debates about the relationship between the rise and fall of competing powers and the onset of conflict. These debates problematize fundamental questions concerning how to conceptualize power, what types of interstate relations are to be analysed, and which causal mechanism(s) matter most in explaining revisionism and conflict. This article demonstrates how the Thucydides trap largely overlooks these debates, thereby providing analysts with less precise heuristics for thinking about the prospect of global conflict than they might otherwise have. We develop a more pluralistic approach to the application of rise-and-fall theory that makes use of its diverse perspectives and substantive divergences to provide more nuanced and holistic analyses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This Essay examines the impact of foreign policy collaborations, leading up to the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection, signed by twenty Western Hemisphere governments in 2022, on peoples' possibilities for migration and residence. Engaging Critical Legal Rhetoric and Rhetorical Historiography methodologies, this Essay examines the long history of foreign policy and interstate partnerships in the Americas to manage human migration in the region. We argue that foreign policy collaborations are yet another method to augment US power and influence in the region, limit possibilities for human migration northward, and completely remake the regional landscape of borders and nation-state sovereignty in the Americas. After outlining our methodology, our analysis begins with the collaborative response to the Central American civil wars of the 1980s and 1990s and the rhetoric deployed to warrant the political arrangements. In Part II.B., we examine discourse and political arrangements from the period between 2014-2021 when more Central Americans, especially families and minors, began presenting at the USMexico border than Mexican migrants. Our final section considers the regional collaborations implemented since 2021 to manage and regulate movement from South America to North America. Reading the moments together, we see the development of a regional migration management infrastructure through foreign policy collaborations to shift human migration south, farther away from the US southern border, and to prevent individuals from reaching territories where they may be able to seek asylum and other forms of humanitarian immigration relief. To conclude, we discuss the implications of a regional migration management system and suggest a need to rethink what nation-state borders are, how they function, and how collaborating countries serve each other's goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditionally used within the context of hard military power in interstate relations, the concept of deterrence has been progressively extended to non-state actors and new issue areas. While scholarship on the social aspects of deterrence has expanded our understanding of this core international security practice, the focus of existing research has largely remained on physical security. This article argues that there is a phenomenon in international politics that can be called memory-political deterrence. Memory-political deterrence refers to the ways in which states seek to dissuade other political actors from taking actions that threaten the collective memory narratives that underpin the ontological security of the deterring actor. Memory-political deterrence works, for example, through political rhetoric, declarations, diplomatic insults, commemorative practices, and punitive memory laws. We illustrate the article's arguments through empirical examples from Russia's and China's recent memory-political deterrence efforts toward Ukraine and Japan, respectively. In doing so, we elucidate the ways in which memory politics is intertwined with geopolitics, underpinning wider world-ordering aspirations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reminiscing during foreign state visits serves as a discursive means for building interstate relationships. When political leaders strategically narrate their states' historical legacies, they construct a collective memory that serves as a resource for creating and sustaining amicable relations between states. Studying evocations of past events in 455 speeches delivered during foreign state visits between 2010 and 2020, we demonstrate the prevalence and significance of the practice of reminiscing in interstate politics. We suggest bonding narratives as a device through which a connection is generated between two collectives to create and sustain positive relations. Despite the unique nature of bonding narratives, the constructed collective memory mostly relies on shared memories of wars, once again underlining the link between nations and violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why do some states allocate more resources to their military than others? Governments are likely to perceive acute threats to their authority and legitimacy when they face insurgencies in which rebel groups earn significant revenues from the exploitation of natural resources. In response, governments allocate greater amounts to their military budgets. Using data on the exploitation of natural resources by rebel groups and defense spending for states around the world, I find that states where rebel groups profit from natural resources allocate more to their defense budgets than other states. This finding holds even after controlling for the presence of civil conflict itself. The study suggests that rebel exploitation of resources may have an indirect impact on interstate relations: If states indeed face a security dilemma, then increased spending resulting from these internal dynamics is likely to exacerbate the problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Theories of international relations that explain the international system and interstate relations through the formulation of anarchy have encountered a significant challenge in recent years. The hierarchy theory, the progenitor of this challenge, posits that international relations and world politics are governed by a composite framework in which hierarchy and anarchy coexist. Prior to World War II, official hierarchical institutions in the form of colonies and empires dominated the international arena. Since the end of the war, however, informal hierarchies in which large powers indirectly control the sovereignty of minor states have become commonplace. Based on these arguments, hierarchy theory has developed the concept of relational authority in order to reveal the appearance, nature, and effects of hierarchy on world politics and political actors. It explores the fundamental arguments of the institutional hierarchy theory, outlining its three most compelling strengths and five main drawbacks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rwanda and Uganda have had strained relations, oscillating between warm, lukewarm, hostile and outright war. Since the biggest falling out during the Second Congo War (1998–2003), both governments have variously accused each other of wrongdoing, including allegations of supporting rebel activities, covert counterintelligence operations and espionage. The most recent escalation in frosty relations saw the closure of Katuna border post. Because the respective ruling parties – the Rwandan Patriotic Front and the National Resistance Movement – at a minimum have shared ideological and historical origins, we would expect relations to be strong and constructive not hostile or tenuous. Yet, it is precisely the shared history and social ties among the politico-military and intelligence elites that shape the suspicion, mistrust and hostility that feed into official policies. This article analyses how shared ideological and historical origins, social relations and kindred ties inform individual attitudes and perceptions of key elites toward each other's government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing research on the US Marshall Plan and China's OBOR Initiative has tended to focus on national interests and relations with the countries involved in the projects, assuming the state or interstate relations as the unit of analysis and focusing on the background (or causes), process, and outcomes of the Marshall Plan and Belt and Road Initiative. In contrast to these approaches, this study aims to show the transnational elements (i.e., logics of the capitalist world-economy) of the Marshall Plan and OBOR that both projects have in common. This study also presents how both projects at least partially helped to revitalize and boost global capitalism beyond their own national interests. The theoretical contribution of this study is to show that the logic of global capitalism is part of what keeps the Marshall Plan and OBORs going. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The popular interpretation holds that Mengzi was strongly critical of Mozi because the Mohist moral theory was antithetical to Confucian relational ethics. According to this interpretation, Mohism promotes the norm of "impartiality" or "impartial care", which violates the Confucian norms of "filial piety" and "graded love". Accordingly, Mengzi thought that the Confucian ideal would not be realized if Mohism continued to prevail. Scholars have tried to nuance and revise this dominant interpretation. For example, some have pointed out the importance of family-oriented values in Mohist ethical theory, arguing that Mengzi likely misunderstood or purposefully mispresented Mohism. This article is an initial attempt to modify the popular interpretation by arguing that the debate between Mengzi and Mohist regarding relational ethics is predominantly about the relations between states rather than individuals. This interpretation sheds light on a core difference between Confucian and Mohist ethical theories and can help make better sense of some later Mohist passages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the article I develop some components of a new theory of World Society, rooted in a non-Eurocentric history of the planet, which broadly takes into account the social transformations of the last centuries. This proposal builds on the guiding principles of the "World Paradigm" that I have been developing. Among other issues, here I propose to move from the idea of national society to the notion of "Intersociety". I then present the systems that make up contemporary World Society and that were created through a long historical succession: the Natural system, the Patriarchal system, the Interracial system, the Interstate system, the Intercapital system and the Intercommunication system. I then discuss, on an abstract level, the question of the social determination of all of them. Finally, I concentrate on the conceptual development and analysis of the "Intercapital system", in order to offer a new interpretation of the history of capitalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes Turkey's complex relationship with the Straits Commission in the interwar period. The Convention Relating to the Regime of the Straits that was signed in Lausanne in 1923 stipulated the formation of an international commission under the auspices of the League of Nations. This institution became a locus that Turkey, the other members of the Commission and the League of Nations negotiated the sovereignty of the Straits and discussed the authority over its administration. This article shows that Turkey perceived the Commission detrimental to its sovereignty. However, this article also portrays an interesting case study that Turkey conducted diplomacy with this intergovernmental organization in which it actually played a leading role. The vague relationship of the Commission with the League of Nations that Turkey was not a member of until 1932 further complicates the narrative which emphasizes the multiple layers that diplomacy was formed and performed, thereby necessitating new approaches to the study of foreign policy. In this regard, this study aims to transcend the traditional accounts on interwar Turkish diplomacy, which have been dominated by the interstate bilateral relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to examine the military security threats Türkiye has encountered, within the frame of NATO relations and to discuss it ethically. Pluralism in the International Society Theory (The English School) which suggests that sovereign states can build a community/society by gathering around common interests and values, constitutes the ethical basis of the argument. This approach, asserting that common interests and values bring a kind of order and stability into interstate relations, attributes coexistence of states to equal sovereignty and independency rights. Here, this norm, called "recognition" is taken as meeting the practical requirements of sovereignty rights and respect for independency, but not just by law. The commitment to recognition norm, which is for the benefit of each state, is the key for a peaceful international order. In the article, NATO is dealt with as a pluralistic community/society in the stricter sense, which is devoted to defence and security mission, and Türkiye's military security issues are considered as a strong factor determining the relations. Accordingly, the place of the recognition norm of pluralism in Türkiye's strained relations with leading NATO members, caused by its military security issues, is questioned. It is claimed that the approaches of certain NATO members towards Türkiye's a set of problems posing military security threats, contains attitudes and behaviours at odds with the recognition norm. Also, it is advocated that the ethical basis of the relations between NATO and Türkiye can only be possible with conformity of the members to the recognition norm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International Relations emerged as a discipline in the aftermath of World War I to avert destructive events through the systemic study of interstate relations. The mainstream IR reflected Eurocentric discourse that viewed the world from the prism of the western colonial powers. This paper reviews relevant literature to examine the decolonial turn in IR and its challenges to established traditions of the discipline. It is a critical reflection of a scholar from the South trying to understand Eurocentricity in a discipline that claims to be international. The research concludes that the decolonial turn in IR is challenging the basic foundations of the discipline and underscores the need for a change in the parameters of discussion around the principles and assumptions underlying the knowledge production system of the IR discipline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) represents a microcosm of global politics that offers a valuable snapshot of interstate relations and state preferences. In this context, roll-call votes and measures of voting affinity often receive the bulk of scholarly attention. However, even though techniques such as ideal point estimation have grown more sophisticated over time when applied to voting data, they remain grounded by an original selection bias that discards 2/3 of the UNGA yield. This share of disregarded output can prove highly informative if drafting and sponsorship procedures receive a closer look instead. This research note applies ideal point estimation to UNGA sponsorship data for the first time for every member from 2009 to 2019. It advances a cutting-edge approach to better estimate state preferences over a contested policy space, while correcting for the narrow focus of previous UNGA analyses on voting data. The results detect an underlying issue space that bears external validity with the inclination of states toward multilateralism. La Asamblea General de las Naciones Unidas (AGNU) representa un microcosmos da la política global que ofrece una importante panorámica de las relaciones interestatales y las preferencias de los Estados. En este contexto, las votaciones nominales y las medidas de afinidad de voto suelen recibir la mayor parte de la atención por parte de los investigadores. Sin embargo, aunque las técnicas como la estimación de puntos ideales ("ideal point estimation") se han vuelto más sofisticadas con el tiempo cuando se aplican a los datos de las votaciones, siguen basándose en un sesgo de selección original que descarta 2/3 de lo que produce la AGNU. Esta proporción de lo producido que no se tiene en cuenta puede resultar muy informativa si, en cambio, se examinan más detenidamente los procedimientos de redacción y patrocinio. Esta nota de investigación aplica por primera vez la estimación de puntos ideales a los datos de patrocinio de la AGNU para cada miembro desde 2009 hasta 2019. El artículo emplea una de las herramientas más recientes para estimar mejor las preferencias de los Estados en un espacio de disputa política, al tiempo que corrige el enfoque limitado de análisis anteriores de la AGNU sobre los datos de las votaciones. Los resultados detectan una dimensión política subyacente que tiene validez externa con la inclinación de los Estados hacia el multilateralismo. L'Assemblée générale des Nations unies (AGNU) constitue un microcosme de la politique internationale, et offre un aperçu éloquent des relations interétatiques et des préférences des différentes nations. Dans ce contexte, les travaux de recherche se concentrent souvent sur les votes par appel nominal et l'analyse des affinités politiques lors des votes. Cependant, bien que les méthodes telles que l'estimation des points idéaux (« ideal point estimation ») aient gagné en précision avec le temps lorsqu'appliquées aux votes, elles demeurent entravées par un biais de sélection initial, qui écarte les deux tiers des données produites par l'AGNU. Or, cette quantité d'informations négligées peut se révéler riche en enseignements lorsque les procédures de rédaction et de parrainage font l'objet de davantage d'attention. Cette note de recherche applique de manière inédite la méthode de l'estimation des points idéaux aux données de parrainage de l'AGNU, pour chaque membre, de 2009 à 2019. Elle propose ainsi une approche innovante permettant de mieux évaluer les préférences des différents États dans un espace politique contesté, tout en palliant les limites des précédentes analyses des données de vote de l'AGNU. Les conclusions révèlent une dimension sous-jacente de contestation, qui démontre validité externe en ce que concerne la tendance des États au multilatéralisme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the prevalence of interstate war as a theme in African countries' national anthems and seeks to identify whether there is any correlation between themes of interstate enmity in anthems and having experienced interstate war. The article links literature on postcolonial identity-building, nation-building, interstate relations, and interstate war in Africa. Findings indicate that countries without interstate war-themed lyrics are more prevalent (35/54) compared with those with such lyrics (19/54). Proportionally, states with interstate war themes in their lyrics have seen more interstate conflict (75% compared with 54.05% for those without). Brief analyses of the three conventionally defined interstate wars in the continent's history show that those conflicts were all initiated by states with interstate war as a theme in their lyrics against states without such themes. Similarly, the majority of militarised interstate disputes (MIDs) were initiated by states with this theme in their lyrics. Importantly, however, within this group, only those with lyrics with themes that are pro-war were more likely to initiate interstate conflicts. Thus, anthems are a useful predicter of military aggression; they reflect part of the political psyche of a country and the boundary-related conditions under which it attained sovereignty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Siculo-Norman king, Roger II (1095–1154), created a courtly culture that used art, architecture, and literature to reflect the symbolic and cultural values of the states that ringed the Mediterranean. An essential vehicle for Roger's cosmopolitan dialogue was the performance of court poetry that was broadly inclusive of the poetic conventions of the Latin, Greek, and Arabic-speaking worlds. Poetic performance at Palermo created an integrative dialogue of cultural valuation that crossed political as well as linguistic boundaries. While such acts of statesmanship might seem quaint to modern eyes, the potential of Siculo-Norman cosmopolitanism becomes more intriguing when we reflect on the current reality of failed states (Northern Africa), continuous conflicts (Israel), and fissured unions (EU) that ring the Mediterranean today. Roger's diplomatic use of poetry offers a refreshing alternative to the broken dialogue that exists in contemporary interstate relations in the Mediterranean. This paper illustrates that diplomatic poetic exchange has the ability to create cross-cultural commensurability in ways that modern cosmopolitan practices rooted in international law cannot. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focuses on state–state relations for business, a phenomenon shaped by how local power elites (LPEs), in this case, in Malaysia, collaborate with transnational corporate elites (TCEs), in this case, from China, to implement infrastructure projects linked to the latter's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). These LPE-TCE links, which have led to the creation of novel forms of state–business relations (SBRs), offer interesting theoretical insights for SBR-related studies. This article builds on the conventional wisdom of homogenised SBRs as usually driven by bureaucrats by indicating that, in practice, state–business ties are extremely heterogeneous, with the capture of key institutions by influential LPEs. A conceptual framework explains theoretically how state–state relations, forged by two countries, both led by dominant parties that control their respective enterprises, have contributed to unique SBRs created to undertake BRI projects, driven by LPE-TCE links. Case studies of three BRI projects in Malaysia provide insights into how disparate forms of SBR-based institutional architecture function, not only at the federal level, but also in different states, involving enterprises from China. Diverse types of power relationships have emerged in these joint ventures, encompassing different LPEs, contributing to the creation of dissimilar SBRs. These LPEs have turned effective SBRs, fashioned to implement BRI projects, into economic endeavours that feature rent-seeking behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Cold War justifiably receives attention from scholars exploring interstate relations in the Middle East. While competition between the major nuclear powers invariably contributed to how regional politics transpired in the twentieth century, there may be much that is missing from the narrative adapting such a focus on external factors. This article provides a detailed analysis of intraregional relations that are informed by domestic, intra-Arab concerns. With special focus on the evolving relations between Iraq and Yemen over the course of the 1920–90 period, it is possible to argue for a new approach to the study of the Middle East and its relationship to the larger world during the Cold War. Domestic concerns prove as much an animating force in global affairs as those based in British, American and/or Soviet Bloc circles usually foregrounded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the nexus between international crises and civil wars. Based on the premise that not all simultaneous civil and international conflicts are related, the study aims to explore the circumstances in which civil wars affect violent escalation in international crises. The study identifies 'composite' crises – where the civil war is the core issue of the international dispute – as a unique subset of international crises. These crises are distinguished from 'unrelated-civil war' situations, in which the issues in the internal and international conflicts are separate. Using data from the ICB, COW, and UCDP/PRIO datasets, the article tests a dual-conflict argument, positing that interconnected issues and interactions between actors in composite situations inhibit moderate crisis management and aggravate interstate behavior. The findings show that while civil war in composite situations has a negative impact on crisis escalation, unrelated-civil war has an inverse impact on interstate relations in crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Being the most globally traded commodity in terms of monetary value, energy remains one of the important shapers of interstate relations. States' quest to secure exports and imports of energy resources and the resultant efforts to govern energy flows have created numerous phenomena that have been of immediate interest to international relations (IR) scholars. However, few studies have so far aimed to systematically examine how energy relations shape global politics. One important reason for this paucity relates to the lack of a dataset with wide spatiotemporal coverage that allows for such systematic analysis. The Global Energy Relations Dataset (GERD), featured in this study, aims to facilitate systematic analyses of energy relations in IR. The dataset offers yearly energy flow data for all country-pairs around the globe between 1978 and 2014. The data are compiled from major international and national agencies that offer reliable data on energy trade. Standardized over megajoules, the data are offered in directed-dyadic (exporter-importer) and monadic (country-only) format. The data are further broken down by resource (i.e., coal, oil, gas, and electricity) whenever possible. Preliminary analyses indicate energy relations exhibit considerable variance among pairs of states and over time, and that trade in some energy resources may pacify relations more than others. Correlating this variance with canonical variables used in international relations points to promising areas of research. Al ser el producto más comercializado en todo el mundo en términos de valor monetario, la energía sigue siendo uno de los principales factores que determinan las relaciones entre los estados. El afán de los estados por garantizar las exportaciones e importaciones de los recursos energéticos y las acciones resultantes para controlar los flujos de energía crearon numerosos fenómenos que generaron un interés inmediato en los especialistas en relaciones internacionales (RR. II.). Sin embargo, son pocos los estudios que, hasta ahora, analizaron de manera sistemática cómo las relaciones en materia de energía configuran la política mundial. Un motivo importante de esta escasez de estudios es la falta de un conjunto de datos con una amplia cobertura espacio-temporal que permita dicho análisis sistemático. El Conjunto de datos de las relaciones energéticas mundiales (Global Energy Relations Dataset, GERD), presentado en este estudio, tiene como objetivo facilitar el análisis sistemático de las relaciones en materia de energía en las RR. II. El conjunto de datos ofrece todos los años información sobre el flujo de energía para todos los pares de países del mundo entre 1978 y 2014. Los datos proceden de los principales organismos internacionales y nacionales que ponen a disposición información confiable sobre la comercialización de la energía. Estandarizados en megajulios (MJ), los datos se ofrecen en formato diádico (exportador-importador) y en formato monádico (país solo). Los datos se desglosan, además, por recursos (es decir, carbón, petróleo, gas y electricidad), siempre que sea posible. Los análisis preliminares indican que las relaciones energéticas presentan una considerable variación entre los estados pares y con el paso del tiempo, y que la comercialización de algunos recursos energéticos puede pacificar las relaciones más que otros. La correlación de esta variación con las variables canónicas utilizadas en las relaciones comerciales es un indicador de campos de investigación prometedores. En tant que produit de base occupant la plus grande place dans le commerce international en termes de valeur monétaire, l'énergie reste l'un des facteurs importants qui façonnent les relations interétatiques. La quête de sécurisation des exportations et des importations de ressources énergétiques des États et les efforts qui en résultent pour régir les flux énergétiques ont donné lieu à de nombreux phénomènes qui ont suscité un intérêt immédiat des chercheurs en relations internationales (RI). Cependant, seules quelques études ont jusqu'ici eu pour objectif d'examiner systématiquement la manière dont les relations énergétiques façonnaient la politique mondiale. L'une des principales raisons de cette insuffisance est l'absence d'un jeu de données à large couverture spatio-temporelle qui permettrait une telle analyse systématique. Le Jeu de données sur les relations énergétiques mondiales (GERD, Global Energy Relations Dataset) présenté dans cette étude a pour objectif de faciliter les analyses systématiques des relations énergétiques en RI. Ce jeu de données fournit des données annuelles sur les flux énergétiques de 1978 à 2014 pour toutes les paires de pays du monde entier. Les données ont été compilées après avoir été recueillies auprès des principales agences nationales et internationales consacrées à l'énergie qui offrent des données fiables sur le commerce d'énergie. Les données sont normalisées en mégajoules (MJ) et fournies au format dyadique avec direction (exportateur/importateur) et au format monadique (pays seulement). Elles sont par ailleurs réparties par ressource (c-à-d, charbon, pétrole, gaz et électricité) dès que possible. Les analyses préliminaires indiquent que les relations énergétiques présentent une variance considérable entre les paires d'États et au fil du temps et que le commerce de certaines ressources énergétiques plus que d'autres peut pacifier des relations. La corrélation de cette variance avec des variables canoniques utilisées en relations internationales met en évidence des domaines de recherche prometteurs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While most international relations (IR) scholars tend to minimize the effect of relations between statespersons on foreign policy, this article argues that interpersonal relationships have more weight than the literature suggests. On the basis of twenty-one interviews conducted with senior Israeli statespersons, we propose a two-level model-linking positive interaction between statespersons and actual consequences at the state level. At the personal level, positive interactions can create receptiveness, build trust, facilitate accessibility and availability, and advance personal commitment. Translating these outcomes into consequences at the state level is mediated either by persuasion or by commitment. If persuasion is effective or there exists a high level of personal commitment, statespersons are more likely to succeed in mobilizing international support, removing obstacles to agreements, gathering sensitive information, and diffusing interstate tension. We conclude by discussing the limitations and advantages of good personal relations between statespersons and their implications for IR practice and theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How have understandings of fundamental norms of international society changed over time? How does this relate to the decline of interstate violence since 1945? Previous explanations have focused on regime type, domestic institutions, economic interdependence, relative power, and nuclear weapons, I argue that a crucial and underexplored part of the puzzle is the change in understanding of sovereignty over the same period. In this article, I propose a novel means of examining change in these norms between 1970 and 2014 by analyzing the content of UN Security Council resolutions. This analysis is then utilized in quantitative analysis of the level of violence dispute participants resorted to in all Militarized Interstate Disputes in the period. I find that as liberal understandings of fundamental norms have increased, that the average level of violence used has decreased. This points to a crucial missing component in the existing literature: that institutions can only constrain when political actors share the right norms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the nature of the contemporary "special relationship" between Germany and Israel. Having emerged out of the ashes of the Second World War and the Holocaust, political relations between these two states are widely seen as having successfully undergone a process of reconciliation. A key feature is German support for Israel, usually understood as a constant attempt to pay off a historical debt in exchange for rehabilitation and recognition of Germany as a "good state." The article probes another interpretation by asking whether contemporary German–Israeli relations have reached the stage of friendship, a relationship structured by care rather than guilt. To this end, it presents an original conceptual framework of interstate friendship as a bond of shared memories and visions that enable a common orientation toward the past and the future both sides are committed to invest in. Applied to an interpretive analysis of the "sharedness" of the memory of the Holocaust and the vision of a secure Israel, the paper finds strong evidence for the former yet significant gaps in the latter, concluding that relations between the states of Germany and Israel still fall short of friendship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has drawn worldwide attention to the difficulties inherent in managing disasters. Scholars across disciplines have been forced to consider the impact disasters have on interstate relations, state resilience, patterns of violence and hostility, and the vulnerabilities that condition conflict. This special issue offers new insights to help disentangle the relationship between disasters, conflict, and cooperation, by adhering to a three-pronged theoretical framework. First, all pieces in this issue are underpinned by a unified understanding of disasters as endogenous social phenomena. Second, we acknowledge that disasters occur as processes rather than discrete events. Finally, we explore the possibility that disasters and conflict are co-determined by a common set of factors. The articles herein were chosen not only because they advance academic thought about the disaster–conflict nexus, but also because of their potential to advance the practical impact of this line of research on the global conflict and disaster landscape. We highlight the relevance of this special issue for further work investigating the effects of conflict on disasters and the relationship between the hazards cycle process and patterns of violence and hostility, as well as the implications of adopting this suggested framework for policymaking and data collection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article demonstrates the pre-eminent place the issue of interstate relations occupies in Carl Schmitt's political thinking between the early 1920s and early 1940s. First, I discuss how Schmitt's understanding of interstate relations develops from 1923 until the Nazi's taking power. By focusing on his critique of imperialism and universalism in international law during this period, I reveal that his engagement with the Monroe Doctrine, the Covenant of the League of Nations and the Kellogg–Briand Pact results in a change in his views in Roman Catholicism and Political Form in which he talks about the possibility of a world state in the form of a League of Nations with supra-state and supra-sovereignty powers. Second, I show to what extent the novel international circumstances created by the emergence of the Nazi rule leads him to elaborate the concepts of the Reich and the Groβraum in addition to his continuing engagement with the concepts of imperialism and universalism. By accentuating the development of his interest in the concepts of imperialism, universalism, the Reich and the Groβraum, I argue that the question of interstate relations is the sine qua non of Schmitt's political thinking. I conclude by asserting that studying Schmitt's political thinking in its connection with his interest in interstate relations provides a promising path for leftist political theorists to understand, explain and reimagine the contemporary global order. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Politburo of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), with Stalin at its head, began its intervention in Spain in September 1936. From the beginning, Stalin understood very clearly what the logic, goals and mechanisms of Soviet intervention in Spain should be. He approved the Spanish Republican Government's request for Soviet aid, but one of the Republic's autonomous regions held surprises. Catalonia proved itself an unpredictable and, at times, undesirable player with respect to the USSR. This was due to a series of idiosyncrasies of the region that were incomparable throughout the Spanish Republic or indeed throughout the rest of Europe, making it necessary to seek unorthodox solutions. The two main focuses were the internal relations of the international communist movement led from Moscow and the interstate political relations between the Republic and the USSR. The dynamics generated were unique at both the Spanish and European level, and led to various hiccups for the Soviet intervention in Spain. On the basis of primary evidence found in Russian archives, this article examines how local dynamics affected, pressurised and shaped an intervention model that was conceived from the perspective of the state, standardisation and centralisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Driver perception-reaction time and ability to sustain attention decrease as drivers become drowsy. The consequences of drowsy driving crashes are often worse on interstate highways due to the relatively high travel speeds typical on such facilities. To address the problem of driver fatigue, rest areas are often located along interstates and other long-distance highways to serve as public facilities at which motorists can take a break from driving. This paper explores the relationship between a range of crash factors and the injury severity outcomes of drowsy driving crashes on interstates in Alabama. The crash outcomes were examined in relation to interstate rest area locations. Findings from the study establish that severe injury crashes were more likely to be recorded on interstates that did not have any public rest areas. In addition, drowsy driving crashes that occurred more than 16.1 km (10 mi) away from a public rest area and those that occurred after a driver passed a rest area were more likely to record severe injuries. Other factors that were found to be associated with drowsy driving crash outcomes include unlit roadway conditions, driver gender and age, seatbelt use, location attributes of the crash site, and some temporal factors. Drowsy driving crashes involving out-of-state drivers were also found to have higher chances of recording severe injuries. Increased driver education and public campaigns are recommended as strategies to reduce drowsy driving-related crashes. While drivers should be encouraged to utilize rest areas, state officials should ensure adequate security and sanitation as well as provide amenities to make rest areas more attractive to motorists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regime type is an important variable in international relations. Numerous scholars have theorized its effects on actors' crisis behavior and outcomes. Despite regime type's importance, the literature has not focused on the role its uncertainty might play in interstate politics. This is in stark contrast to the scholarly attention given to uncertainty about other similarly important variables like actor capabilities, intentions, or fighting costs. In this paper, we aim to address this gap in the literature by providing a theory of regime uncertainty's effects on conflict and developing a novel measure of uncertainty about regime type in interstate relations to test our hypotheses. We find that regime uncertainty breeds caution rather than conflict: higher uncertainty about the opponent's regime type makes conflict initiation and escalation less likely in disputes, and dyads with more uncertainty are less likely to experience conflict onset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International Relations scholars and practitioners commonly agree that relationships in world politics are managed impersonally. Personal connections between agents of states are perceived as having only little impact on foreign policy of states. The current article challenges this impersonal ethos, suggesting that personal relationships play an important role in conducting, and thus understanding, interstate relations. Interviews conducted with 21 senior Israeli officials concerning mundane professional practices reveal three elements that are essential for successful statecraft: acknowledging the power of interpersonal relations; substantive knowledge of counterparts; and the excellent communicative competencies needed to realize the potential of personal connections. We argue that statespersons' behavior can be located on an impersonal-interpersonal continuum. Furthermore, we suggest explanations for deviations from the impersonal ethos and discuss the role of interpersonal practices in managing interstate relations. At the very least, the personal aspect should be taken into consideration when examining foreign policy. However, personal relations may have a highly significant impact on interstate interactions, thus requiring a revision of the current paradigm in IR, which marginalizes the personal aspect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on masterpiece of historical imagination, and demonstrates his exceptional ability to rethink the history and theory of the law of nations by bringing together a broad range of methodological perspectives. It mentions history of the rise and fall of the ius publicum europeaum as a particular moment in development of doctrine of the law of nations. It also mentions interstate relations and of war developed in the French Enlightenment, before reaching the revolutionary crisis.

To explore the effect of federal institutions on national political conflict, we develop a model of two-level governance with interstate preference heterogeneity and cross-state externalities. Our analysis calls into question the conventional interpretation of federalism as a conflict-minimizing institution. We show that polarization over national policy may be higher in federal than unitary systems, even holding policy demand constant. We also show that the incentives for low and high demanders to engage in costly conflict are contingent on the status quo national policy, and we identify conditions under which those incentives and the deadweight cost of political conflict are higher under federalism than unitary governance. The model helps account for a number of empirical regularities in US politics and policy making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The book interrogates why this largely peaceful but conflictual dynamic has taken hold in those regions, where Glas observes that war between illiberal states is an aberration, but "violence is not" (p. 97). Norms and practices have been staples of the constructivist approach to International Relations (IR) since the 1980s. [Extracted from the article]

The article is devoted to a relatively new pan-European phenomenon – memorial (or memory) laws, through which states exercise their politics of memory. Memorial laws pose a contradictory question about the principles and limits of the legal governance of history within democratic societies. The article concludes that the use of memorial laws with criminal sanctions to protect the 'glory of the past' and 'national dignity' is a violation of freedom of speech as there is no difference between being punished for criticising a state's current policy or its past wrongdoing. Based on concrete examples of recent memory battles, the article reveals a potential danger of memorial laws with criminal sanctions for human rights, democracy and interstate relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most intractable debates in IR revolves around the severity and frequency of the security dilemma. Offensive realists argue that states are compelled to make worst-case assumptions about each other's intentions, which yields inexorable competition and conflict even between mutually-benign actors. Yet others have argued that rational benign states should always be able to find cooperative signals that are costly enough to be credible, but not too costly to risk sending. If true, this should alleviate the security dilemma and facilitate cooperation, even under high initial distrust. However, there is little empirical work on interstate reassurance and the conditions under which mutually-benign actors can build trust. We address this gap using laboratory experiments to test Andrew Kydd's canonical model of the security dilemma. We find strong support for the directional effects of the hypothesized signaling mechanisms. However, the frequency of cooperation is significantly lower than the model predicts, and the feasibility of reassurance is highly sensitive to the degree of prior trust. This implies that although reassurance can mitigate the security dilemma, offensive realism may still capture important psychological mechanisms that impede interstate cooperation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies of China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) have focused on the strategic intentions of Beijing, with much less attention paid to its political effects. The argument that the initiative can improve political relationships with BRI countries is assumed rather than empirically grounded. This paper bridges the gap by studying countries' cooperation and conflict with China. I find that (a) the initiative appears to marginally improve BRI countries' cooperation and significantly reduce low-intensity conflict; (b) the cooperation-promoting effect is driven only by neighboring countries while the restraining effect for low-intensity conflict results primarily from non-neighboring countries; and (c) there is no systematic evidence so far that the initiative has any effect on high-intensity conflict. These results offer mixed evidence of commercial liberalism in the context of the BRI: money (or the potential thereof) can induce cooperation in the short run, but it may not be enough to fundamentally change interstate relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quantitative research into the causes of violent intrastate conflicts has recently shifted away from classical country-year-level regression analyses. When taking steps in new directions, researchers should be mindful of the extent and quality, and indeed of the limitations, of the knowledge accumulated by the scholarly endeavors in the booming period between 2000 and 2015. This article traces trends and patterns regarding the use of explanatory variables and datasets in ninety-four individual studies. It synthesizes findings with regard to 107 explanatory concepts. Drawing on the sign test, the analysis identifies a set of consensus variables likely to determine the onset and incidence of violent intrastate conflict. These factors capture robust covariations and lend themselves as elements of a "standard model specification." Turning to causal mechanisms, the article discusses why variables that turn out to be significant in statistical analyses should have any effect. This is completed by a substantial discussion of the remaining theoretical problems and of methodological prospects that promise paths for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent studies have made great strides looking at the implications that the human need for ontological security has for politics and International Relations. However, less attention has been paid to how actors might target this need. While Steele and Mattern both examine the possible manipulation of subjectivity, this article turns to the concept of information warfare (IW) to broaden the view of how, and to what end, this is pursued. Congruently, by elaborating upon how the digitalization of society has increased the potential to influence and manipulate cognition and emotion, OS strengthens current literature on IW. It argues that by covertly perverting the information landscape, IW can alter how events are connected to national narratives, influencing policy by making certain options appear more/less shameful, or it can unravel the bonds of society by polarizing domestic narrative debates, purposely sowing ontological insecurity. This provides a firmer understanding of the strategic implications interference can have generally and of Russia's interference into the 2016 U.S. election specifically. Therefore, by viewing facets of IW as part of a range of tactics employed to manipulate/undermine subjectivity, a more nuanced understanding of interstate relations subsequently emerges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Threats and force, by increasing expected costs, should reduce the target's resolve. However, they often seem to increase resolve. We label this phenomenon provocation. We review instances of apparent provocation in interstate relations and offer a theory based on the logic of reputation and honor. We also consider alternative explanations: confounding or mis-imputation of resolve; revelation of information, character, or capabilities; or generalized sunk cost reasoning. Using survey experiments, we systematically evaluate whether provocation exists and what may account for it. We employ design-based causal inference techniques—a hypothetical natural experiment, a placebo treatment, and ruling out mediators—to evaluate our key hypotheses. We find strong evidence of provocation and suggestive evidence that it arises from considerations of honor, vengeance, and reputation. Our experimental design minimizes the risk that this result arises from our alternative explanations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article criticizes the U.S. Supreme Court's approach to interstate relations. It mentions that the Court has abdicated its role in choice-of-law jurisprudence, while aggressively policing the boundaries of state sovereign immunity. It also mentions the U.S. Supreme Court case Allstate Insurance v. Hague same.

Social identity theory (SIT) suggests that perceived identity difference between groups predicts to intergroup conflict, including interstate conflict. Contact theory suggests that social contact between groups can help reduce intergroup conflict. Contact theory, however, has not traditionally focused on perceived identity difference, and it has not been tested much on real-world interstate conflicts. Employing an experimental design, our study tests for the effects of imagined social contact on Chinese students' generally malign perceptions of identity difference with Japanese people. We find that imagined contact reduces key perceptions of difference by reducing both perceived Japanese malignity and perceived Chinese benignity. This suggests that social contact helps produce new hybrid in-group. By employing SIT, our findings provide a new microfoundation for contact theory, suggest an important process in the creation of security communities, and provide a proof of concept for public policies aimed at large-scale cultural exchanges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After the demise of Suharto's New Order dictatorship in 1998, Indonesia has been committed to democratization process. Since then, democracy has become an integral part of Indonesia's foreign policy. As the world's third-largest democracy, Indonesia initiated the Bali Democracy Forum (BDF) in 2008 as an instrument of democracy promotion in the region and beyond. However, the nature of the forum is not to promote democracy by force as exemplified by the West. Although Indonesia perceives itself as a role model for democratic transition, it does not equate democracy with the Western-style liberal-democracy but rather with allowing every country to choose a home-grown democracy. This paper argues that the BDF represents an Indonesian approach in democracy promotion that differs from that of Western countries. Promoting a home-grown democracy represents a culture of tolerance and harmony which are inherent features of Asian interstate relations, constrained as they are by regional norms of non-interference that respect the domestic affairs of other countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Descrying all aspects of the quantum entanglement of multipartite quantum systems is an essential part when researching the quantum entanglement. Maximally multi-qubit entangled state is one of the research objects. Recently, attracted by a criterion for maximally entangled nine-qubit state and construct a nine-qubit maximally entangled state, we construct a new genuine maximally nine-qubit entangled state via the recurrence relation. Further, nine-qubit entangled state is found which can be seen as a new form maximally nine-qubit entangled state. There are 108 of purity equal to 1/16, 18 of purity equal to 1/8 in observation. We believe the result could provide a new idea for constructing more new maximally multi-qubit states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the pivotal role of finance in interstate relations as a prominent source of international power, China–US financial competition, or even confrontation, could be more intense and devastating than trade conflict. It hence merits greater policy and academic attention and communication between the two states. This article takes stock of a triumvirate of Chinese views regarding China's financial rise and potential China–US financial competition that has empirical and epistemological dimensions. Empirically, it signifies three major issue areas: Renminbi (RMB) strategies and dollar hegemony; the China–US financial imbalance and debt relations; and US dominance of global financial governance and ' Zhongguo Fangan '—Chinese Solutions. RMB strategies to break dollar hegemony include a further three areas: International Monetary System reform; RMB internationalisation; and financial opening-up. Epistemologically, the empirical analyses present a triumvirate of embedded and interweaved angles: normative and universal; technical and micro level; and power and nationalist. Based on a triumvirate of perspectives, it argues that China's financial rise is variously limited in relevant fields, and that China–US financial competition also varies according to different issue areas associated with different financial powers, and thus calls for a reductionist, field-specific, and pluralistic approach to managing China–US financial competition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transatlantic relations since World War II have been characterised by a military-power differential between the United States and Western Europe coupled with differences in foreign policy goals among the nations of the transatlantic alliance. Since the Cold War ended, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation has struggled to identify a new role for itself, although the newly-independent nations of eastern Europe have looked to it as a shield against Russian territorial ambitions. Transatlantic relations have reached a nadir under the presidency of Donald Trump and, if he is elected to a second term as United States president on 3 November 2020, may continue their downward spiral. Should, however, Joe Biden become the next United States president, transatlantic relations and international governance norms and institutions can be expected to experience a recovery, though with some caveats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, we derive analytical relations between Entanglement and Coherence as well as between Discord and Coherence, for Bell-diagonal states and for X states, evolving under the action of several noise channels: Bit Flip, Phase Damping and Depolarizing. We demonstrate that for these families, Coherence is the fundamental correlation, that is, Coherence is necessary for the presence of Entanglement and Discord. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, Turkey (Turkey by Whitley "State-dependent business system" is classified) and the International top organizations of relationships between organizations are examined. The main question in this study; Do international organizations have an impact / role on the state-dependent business system phenomenon? If there is an impact, what kind of an impact process does its reflection, scope and dimensions on the market functioning as Whitley predicts? answers to sub-questions will be sought. As a result of the research, the relations with the structures outside the EU are in the form of state-state relations; It has been concluded that the relations with the World Bank, IMF and ILO are in the form of stateinternational top organizations relationship. As a result, the structural establishment of new processes, even in different periods of power, is recognized by all stakeholders of business life, and it becomes necessary to consider it as part of global economic / political / legal developments as a standard level. Through this research, it is thought that the roles of international dynamics in national business systems will be analyzed and contributed to the literature with a different perspective, and it has important implications for politicians and managers of national organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to explain the causes (in particular, the motives and objectives of Russia's actions) of the Ukrainian conflict from a decolonization perspective and its impact on Eurasian interstate and West-Russia relations. Russia's positioning in Eurasian decolonization is identified as "defensive." This defensive position as a postimperial metropole has been constructed by combining its "semiperipheral" status within the liberal international order with the assertiveness of a "neocolonial" power challenged by "post-colonial" independent countries in Eurasia. To a certain extent, the annexation of Crimea was merely an illegitimate settlement of disputes over property rights between two countries, in that the seizure of Crimea occurred in a combination of several factors at various levels. As a result, the motives and objectives of a Russian invasion can be regarded as neither a challenge to the whole post-Cold War European order nor irredentism to reclaim the territory of the Soviet empire. Consequently, post-Crimea development could herald the closing stage of the historical period called the post-Soviet era as the period of Eurasian decolonization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]