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1221. A feminist approach to Australian Overseas Development Assistance?

Author:
Annabel Dulhunty
Publication Date:
09-2022
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Women's Development Agency (IWDA)
Abstract:
Over the past nine years, the Australian aid program has suffered extensive budget cuts, lost significant development expertise within the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) after the integration of AusAID, and seen significant reprioritisation of its objectives due to the emergence of Covid-19. Despite these setbacks, however, gender equality and women’s empowerment seemingly remain important to the aid program. Why then is a feminist foreign policy needed for Australia and its aid program? While DFAT must be commended for increasing funding for gender equality in the past decade, Australia is still below average compared with other Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) donors when it comes to funding for projects which aim to advance gender equality as a principal or significant objective. Also, the 80% target on gender equality is one of the only development targets which consistently has not been met. The Australian aid program largely focuses on ‘gender mainstreaming’ as a cross cutting issue. While important, gender mainstreaming can easily become a ‘tick box’ exercise and get lost within broader program objectives (Cornwall and Rivas, 2015). In 2016 DFAT created an important Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Strategy which gave greater weight to gender equality in DFAT’s programming. This is a significant achievement. While the strategy outlines three objectives, the main emphasis is given to women’s economic empowerment – whereby investment in women is portrayed as ‘smart economics’. This approach to women’s empowerment focuses on connections with businesses, public private partnerships and women’s access to credit. While these activities have some value and DFAT was arguably constrained by the Coalition government’s priorities at the time, there is scope now, with a change of government, to go beyond neoliberal framings and take a more holistic approach to empowerment. The time is right to create a feminist aid policy which should sit under a broader feminist foreign policy (FFP) approach (informing aid as well as trade, defence and other foreign policy issues).
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Development, Foreign Aid, and Feminism
Political Geography:
Australia

1222. “That’s a bridge too far!” The imperative for a feminist lens on infrastructure investment

Author:
Mia Urbano and Beth Elson
Publication Date:
10-2022
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Women's Development Agency (IWDA)
Abstract:
International development cooperation is increasingly focused on infrastructure again. However, to achieve economic and social transformation these investments must recognise that infrastructure is not gender neutral. User priorities differ, and infrastructure choices can either bridge or deepen divides. Feminist foreign policy, including a feminist interpretation of the economy, combined with human design principles, provides a framework to foreground the diversity of user patterns and needs and support infrastructure that better serves society.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Infrastructure, Economy, Feminism, Investment, and Development Assistance
Political Geography:
Australia

1223. Inter-Korean Reconciliation and the Role of the U.S.: Facilitator or Spoiler?

Author:
Gabriela Bernal
Publication Date:
04-2022
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Korea Economic Institute of America (KEI)
Abstract:
Although the Korean Peninsula has been divided for over 70 years, North and South have not been able to make lasting progress in terms of reconciliation. While there are multiple factors directly influencing the extent to which inter-Korean relations can progress, this paper focuses on the role of the United States. When it comes to inter-Korean reconciliation efforts, is the U.S. more of a facilitator or a spoiler? By looking at three case studies spanning three South Korean administrations—Roh Tae-woo, Roh Moo-hyun and Moon Jae-in—this paper attempts to find patterns and lessons related to Washington’s role in the complex inter-Korean reconciliation process. The cases reveal that the U.S. has played the role of both facilitator and spoiler in each case, and that whatever role the U.S. plays depends on its own relationship with North Korea at that time. The U.S. is most likely to play a facilitating role when the administrations in Washington and Seoul are both willing to engage diplomatically with Pyongyang, when progress is being made in denuclearization talks, when the geopolitical environment is conducive towards diplomacy and engagement with North Korea, and when the U.S. adopts a reciprocal negotiating strategy. The paper concludes by considering the conditions necessary to achieve inter-Korean reconciliation and to establish long-term peace on the peninsula. Key factors include the need for trust-building and reciprocity between the U.S. and North Korea, and adopting a more holistic approach that goes beyond the nuclear problem and aims to establish a lasting relationship between Washington and Pyongyang.
Topic:
Security, Foreign Policy, Bilateral Relations, Geopolitics, and Reconciliation
Political Geography:
Asia, South Korea, North Korea, and United States of America

1224. Brazilian Foreign Policy from Lisbon to Bandung

Author:
Marcelo Alves de Paula Lima
Publication Date:
09-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Contexto Internacional
Institution:
Institute of International Relations, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro
Abstract:
Drawing from constructivist scholarship, this article dwells on the relations between Brazil and the Afro-Asian world based on the writings of diplomat Adolpho Justo Bezerra de Menezes, who advocated a larger commitment of the Brazilian foreign policy to the Global South. The author acted both as a norm entrepreneur who problematized Brazilian belonging to the West and a practical-intuitive historian who used the past to show that the ties uniting Brazil to Asia and Africa were tighter than those uniting it to Europe.
Topic:
International Relations, Foreign Policy, History, Global South, Constructivism, and Adolpho Justo Bezerra de Menezes
Political Geography:
Africa, Asia, Brazil, South America, and Portugal

1225. COVID-19 and Superpower Competition: An Effective American Response

Author:
Amit Gupta
Publication Date:
01-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
PRISM
Institution:
Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS), National Defense University
Abstract:
Before COVID-19 became a global pandemic, the growing consensus among analysts was that we were entering a period of deglobalization. According to the economic analyst Mohammed el-Erian deglobalization was taking place because by the 2000s the adverse economic impact of globalization had become apparent to the Western middle class. Secondly, the U.S.-China trade war saw rising tariffs and a call for rebuilding national manufacturing capabilities. The COVID-19 pandemic was the last nail in the coffin as countries adopted highly individualistic and nationalistic policies that put national interest above any global concerns.1 Coupled with the perceived drive to deglobalization is the fact that we have re-entered an era of great power competition with the 2017 National Security Strategy clearly stating that both Russia and China are revisionist powers that challenge American primacy and that, “… want to shape a world antithetical to U.S. values and interests. China seeks to displace the United States in the Indo-Pacific region, expand the reaches of its state-driven economic model, and reorder the region in its favor.”2 What this article argues is that true security in the emerging international system will require precisely those aspects of globalization that the critics decry because no single country can effectively tackle such a complex and deadly threat as the COVID-19 pandemic through strictly national measures. Further, the emerging great power competition is one not just of military and economic rivalry but, much in the same way as during the Cold War, it is a struggle between different ways to organize societies and particularly to deliver goods and services efficiently and justly. With the latter in mind, how the United States and its allies and partners lead the response to COVID-19 will have an impact on the outcome of global power relationships. If China provides better solutions on dealing with the pandemic, then it will be able to undercut the American-created liberal international order. To discuss this issue, we need to first explain what globalization is and why, in a COVID-19 world, it provides the security solutions to the challenge posed by the disease.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Globalization, Strategic Competition, COVID-19, and Superpower
Political Geography:
China, Global Focus, and United States of America

1226. Panda Power? Chinese Soft Power in the Era of COVID-19

Author:
Amit Gupta
Publication Date:
09-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
PRISM
Institution:
Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS), National Defense University
Abstract:
Much like competition between the United States and the former Soviet Union, the rivalry between the United States and China is not only one of military-strategic and economic challenges but also one of ideas. The West, particularly the United States, has had the advantage of presenting the more compelling image to the rest of the world in the form of what Joseph Nye, Jr., dubbed soft power. The argument goes that while China makes propaganda efforts, the United States enjoys soft power—the attractiveness of its culture, political ideas, and policies—and this gives America an international advantage. As the Australian security analyst Hugh White put it, “Everybody admires China, but no one wants to be China.”1 While this was true in the early years of the post–Cold War era, the Chinese have since used their newfound wealth to create a more friendly image for themselves. If they are able to successfully distribute their version of the COVID-19 vaccine around the world, we may see Beijing benefiting from a boost in its image—despite the abrasive “wolf warrior diplomacy” of the past few years, its military forays in the East and South China seas, and the fact that the Chinese government was initially less than forthcoming in sharing data on the pandemic.2 With a recent analysis suggesting that China’s economy will overtake that of the United States in 2028, China’s attempts to rebrand its image will not only have more resources but also find an increasingly eager international audience that seeks to engage the newly emerging number one global economy.3 Soft power, after all, means little without an economic and a military capability to back it up, and China has both. To discuss the Chinese challenge, this article makes its argument in three parts: first, it argues that Nye’s definition of soft power has limitations, and in fact, the Chinese can influence global public opinion with a mixture of propaganda and soft power. Second, it describes China’s attempts to influence global public opinion and the extent to which it may succeed. Finally, it examines the possible future of the Chinese soft power challenge and what the United States can do to counter it.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Media, Soft Power, Strategic Competition, COVID-19, and Rivalry
Political Geography:
China and Global Focus

1227. Learning From Each Other: The Belt and Road Initiative and the Infrastructure Policy in Africa

Author:
Mamoudou Gazibo
Publication Date:
07-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Brazilian Journal of African Studies
Institution:
Brazilian Journal of African Studies
Abstract:
My hypotheses here are that in many respects, especially regarding infrastructure, the BRI and Africa's continental initiatives on infrastructure are the product of a co-constructed learning process between Africa and China throughout their interactions since the early 2000s. Furthermore, as a projection of China's initiatives in Africa on a global scale, the BRI is consistent with Africa's continental development policies and even probably inspired by them given the anteriority of the latter. In contrast to what most authors think (Gaye 2006; Taylor 2006), this argument stresses Africa's agency, which changes China as much as China changes Africa (Kuo 2018; Ayers 2013). To defend this argument, the paper examines the congruence between the BRI and Africa's infrastructure policies by cross-tracing the ideational pro- cess in the two contexts. This is carried out by looking for cross-references in Africa's main documents (namely the NEPAD, the FOCAC, and the Agenda 2063), on the one hand, and the BRI, on the other. The paper then illustrates this by briefly examining some of the BRI and AU bilateral projects.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Infrastructure, Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and African Union
Political Geography:
Africa and China

1228. China-Africa in the Context of BRI-B3W

Author:
Li Anshan
Publication Date:
07-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Brazilian Journal of African Studies
Institution:
Brazilian Journal of African Studies
Abstract:
In 1992, Professor Lester Thurow, a famous American economist of MIT, published a book entitled Head to Head: The coming economic bat- tle among Japan, Europe, and America, to analyze the coming competition between economic powers in the 21st century (Thurow 1992). It seems that the author was quite confident in economic giants Japan, Europe and the US in the future and believed that the rich club accepted only one country – Japan in the 20th century –, and it would not be surprising if no country would enter the club in the 21st century. Once published, the book aroused great reper- cussions in Japan, Europe and the US and became one of the non-literary bestsellers. No matter how brilliant Lester Thurow's academic achievements are, his prediction was not fulfilled this time. He never thought that Europe and the US would experience a financial crisis in the new century and China would become the second world economy in 2010. Nor did he expect that Gallup's survey report on Rating World Leaders (2018) found that people in 134 countries and regions around the world recognized China's leadership by 34%, higher than 31% for the US. This is the second time since 2008 that China's global recognition of leadership has surpassed that of the US, setting a record for China in 10 years (Ray 2019).
Topic:
International Relations, Foreign Policy, Infrastructure, Leadership, and Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)
Political Geography:
Africa and China

1229. Fall 2022 edition of Contemporary Eurasia

Author:
Levon Hovsepyan
Publication Date:
07-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Contemporary Eurasia
Institution:
Institute of Oriental Studies, National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia
Abstract:
CONTENTS LEVON HOVSEPYAN, TATEVIK MANUKYAN TURKISH DOMESTIC DETERMINANTS AND ANKARA’S MILITARY OPERATIONS IN SYRIA: KURDISH THREAT AND EXPANSIONIST AMBITIONS.......................................................................................................... 5 NELLI MINASYAN TURKISH INITIATIVES IN THE DIRECTION OF TURKIC INTEGRATION: PREREQUISITES AND TENDENCIES............................................................. 22 ARAKS PASHAYAN, NAZELI NAVASARDYAN SOCIO-POLITICAL PERCEPTION OF SHĪʿA ISLAM IN AZERBAIJAN: THE INFLUENCE OF EXTERNAL FACTORS ................................................ 40 GUIHUA NI TECHNOLOGY DIFFUSION AND POWER TRANSITION: THE CASE OF THE SEMICONDUCTOR INDUSTRY IN EAST ASIA ................................... 55 ARAM GASPARYAN THE “CIVIL CONCORD”: ATTEMPT FOR PEACE IN ALGERIA ................ 76
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Islam, Science and Technology, Syrian War, Kurds, Integration, Regional Power, Semiconductors, and Shiism
Political Geography:
Central Asia, Turkey, Middle East, East Asia, Algeria, Azerbaijan, and Syria

1230. International Higher Education as Foreign Policy: Comparing the Strategies of the EU, China, and Russia Towards Central Asia

Author:
Kerry Anne Longhurst, Agnieszka Nitza-Makowska, and Katarzyna Skiert-Andrzejuk
Publication Date:
12-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Polish Political Science Yearbook
Institution:
Polish Political Science Association (PPSA)
Abstract:
The article sheds light on the nexus between higher education and foreign policy. International higher education has become an increasingly prominent element of some states’ policies towards other countries as a flank to traditional foreign policy. It has occurred in Central Asia, where the European Union, China and Russia are all supporting teaching, research and capacity-building activities in the tertiary sectors of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. Although they employ similar tools and instruments, the assumptions and visions underpinning their respective strategies diverge. Russia’s strategy is shaped by historically informed identity factors and the impulse to entrench predominance in the post-Soviet space, whilst China uses its support for higher education as a soft infrastructure for its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Meanwhile, the EU has integrated higher education into its strategy for the region, which aims at drawing Central Asia closer to its orbit through democratisation and the rule of law.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, European Union, Soft Power, and Higher Education
Political Geography:
Russia, China, and Central Asia