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11. The West: a securitising community?

Author:
Gunther Hellmann, Gabi Schlag, Benjamin Herborth, and Christian Weber
Publication Date:
07-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of International Relations and Development
Institution:
Central and East European International Studies Association
Abstract:
The primary objective of this article is to theorise transformations of Western order in a manner that does not presuppose a fixed understanding of 'the West' as a pre-constituted political space, ready-made and waiting for social scientific enquiry. We argue that the Copenhagen School's understanding of securitisation dynamics provides an adequate methodological starting point for such an endeavour. Rather than taking for granted the existence of a Western 'security community', we thus focus on the performative effects of a security semantics in which 'the West' figures as the threatened, yet notoriously vague referent object that has to be defended against alleged challenges. The empirical part of the article reconstructs such securitisation dynamics in three different fields: the implications of representing China's rise as a challenge to Western order, the effects of the transformation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) towards a global security actor, and the consequences of extraordinary renditions and practices of torture for the normative infrastructure of 'the West'. We conclude that Western securitisation dynamics can be understood as a discursive shift away from a legally enshrined culture of restraint and towards more assertive forms of self-authorisation.
Topic:
Security, Foreign Policy, Political Theory, and Bilateral Relations
Political Geography:
Europe

12. 'Moral power' as objectification of the 'civilian'/'normative' 'EUlogy': the European Union as a conflict-dealer in the South Caucasus

Author:
Syuzanna Vasilyan
Publication Date:
07-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of International Relations and Development
Institution:
Central and East European International Studies Association
Abstract:
This article develops a new conceptual framework of 'moral power' by arguing that the 'civilian'/'normative' power Europe paradigms are insufficient for understanding the essence of the conflict resolution policy of the European Union (EU) in the South Caucasus. Analysing the conflicts of Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Nagorno-Karabakh, the study reveals that until the August 2008 war, the EU was an incoherent actor in terms of the interplay among its institutions and member-states. The EU's policy has been devoid of a long-term peace-focused strategy, making it inconsequential; as a result, the EU has merely dealt with, rather than managed, the conflicts. Its rhetoric has been inconsistent with practice. Often the EU has subordinated its values to material and power-related interests. Moreover, the EU has hardly been normatively stable in its approach to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Bypassing inclusiveness until the launch of the Geneva talks pertaining to the Abkhazian and South Ossetian conflicts, the EU has not enjoyed much legitimacy by the de facto states. Whereas the EU has largely failed to resolve the South Caucasian conflicts, it has achieved partial success by putting a halt to the 2008 hostilities between Russia and Georgia. Overall, having faltered as a 'civilian'/'normative' power it still has to fare as a 'moral power'.
Topic:
Security, Foreign Policy, Political Theory, and Bilateral Relations
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, Georgia, South Caucasus, South Ossetia, and Abkhazia

13. Looking back: communist melancholia and post-socialist pains

Author:
Anca Pusca
Publication Date:
07-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of International Relations and Development
Institution:
Central and East European International Studies Association
Abstract:
Remembering communism in Central and Eastern Europe is a tricky business, as memories are increasingly put on display through practices of museumisation, collective and personal biographies and official investigations. Everything — from former factories to architecture, monuments and statues, to secret service files and other material reminders — is carefully reshaped into politically convenient, or in some cases inconvenient, discourses.
Topic:
Security, Foreign Policy, Political Theory, and Bilateral Relations
Political Geography:
Europe

14. DIIS WORKING PAPER 2013:20 1 Power and Change: Locating Institutional Change Theories in a Power Context

Author:
Lily Salloum Lindegaard
Publication Date:
12-2013
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
This working paper aims to better understand the drivers of institutional change. To do this, it locates diverse institutional change theories, specifically path dependency, gradu¬al institutional change and institutional bricolage, in a power context and reflects on the power-related aspects of each theory. It then develops a novel approach of a power analysis of institutional change, which allows for the combined use of institutional change theories despite their diverse theoretical underpinnings and thus offers a thorough, highly complex consideration of institutional change.
Topic:
International Affairs, Political Theory, Power Politics, and Reform
Political Geography:
Europe

15. Walking a Thin Line: The Role of Think Tanks in Arab Transitions and Foreign Support

Author:
Pol Morillas
Publication Date:
02-2013
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
IEMed/EuroMeSCo
Abstract:
This policy brief reflects upon the results of the workshop “Rethinking the Role of Think Tanks and Research Institutes and EU Policies towards the Mediterranean”, held in Madrid on 14th December 2012 and organised in collaboration with Real Instituto Elcano and FRIDE. It argues that Arab think tanks can shape political transformations in the region by informing, convening and advocating democratic reform. It also presents a set of recommendations for external powers such as the European Union in support of Arab think tanks.
Topic:
Civil Society, Democratization, Education, and Political Theory
Political Geography:
Europe, Middle East, and Arab Countries

16. Young Minds Rethinking the Mediterranean

Author:
Nihan Akıncılar, Anna Alexieva, Jennifer Brindisi, Evinç Doğan, Amanda E. Rogers, and Beatrice Schimmang
Publication Date:
12-2011
Content Type:
Book
Institution:
Global Political Trends Center
Abstract:
In this paper, Europeanization of minority rights in Turkey will be explained in detail and in the conclusion part, it will be compared and contrasted with the Europeanization of minority rights in Greece. In this comparison, it is difficult to compare and contrast the mechanisms of Europeanization in Turkey and Greece because these mechanisms are suitable for the member states of the European Union (EU). For the candidate countries, the question of “how it is Europeanized” can be only answered with conditionality. Therefore, instead of trying to adapt Turkey in the case of minority rights to the mechanisms of Europeanization for the member states, in this study, it will be dealt with how the EU matters in affecting the minority rights protection in candidate and member states. Therefore, what this study implies when it is expected to explain Europeanization of mi`nority rights in Turkey is not to handle this case through the Europeanization theories, but how the EU affects the candidate countries through conditionality.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Conflict Prevention, Foreign Policy, Political Violence, Human Rights, War, and Political Theory
Political Geography:
Europe, Turkey, and Greece

17. The Concept of the Common Good in the Iberian Renaissance

Author:
Isabel de Assis Ribeiro de Oliveira
Publication Date:
02-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Kellogg Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
The Iberian legacy in political thought has been mischaracterized as a source of authoritarianism, with scant attention to the theme of legitimacy. For Golden Age writers, however, care for the common good constitutes the main reference for distinguishing legitimate from tyrannical rule, although nowhere in their writings can we find a coherent and sustained discussion of this central political concept. Its description constitutes the object of this paper. The common good takes into consideration both natural sociability and freedom as its major assumptions, finding its due place in a representation of society as a hierarchical association of equally free and unique persons who cannot live well without each other, since no one has all the abilities required to preserve his life and fulfill his own nature. What is at stake, thus, is not an authoritarian legacy but a tradition that—acknowledging asymmetries, differences, and inequalities among men and a beautiful order in the universe—tries to deduce from the latter a logic for preserving human society.
Topic:
Civil Society, Political Theory, and Sociology
Political Geography:
Europe

18. Avrupa Birliği-Türkiye İlişkilerine Postyapısalcı Yaklaşım: Almanya Örneğinde Dış Politika ve Söylem Analizi

Author:
Senem Aydın Düzgit
Publication Date:
05-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:
In line with the poststructuralist approach that theorises identity as relationally constructed through discourse, the purpose of this article is to shed light on the different visions of Europe that are constructed in debates on Turkey’s accession to the EU among German politicians. The article focuses on the political party debates on Turkish accession in Germany, a key member state in EU integration and the debate on Turkish membership to the EU, and subjects them to critical discourse analysis. In doing that, it also brings forward the importance of the concept of discourse from a poststructuralist perspective.
Topic:
International Relations, Political Theory, and European Union
Political Geography:
Europe, Turkey, and Germany

19. The Interaction between Theories of European Integration and the Literature on Turkey: Rethinking the Europeanization Research Program through the Case of Turkey

Author:
H. Tolga Bölükbasi, Ebru Ertugal, and Saime Özçürümez
Publication Date:
08-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:
This article argues that the evolution of the Europeanization research program and that of the literature on Turkey has come evolved incongruously. The article identifies the limits of this interaction, investigates the conceptual, theoretical and methodological origins of these limits, and concludes that such incongruence may be overcome by cross-utilization of the conceptual, theoretical, methodological, and research design tools offered by the Europeanization research program more effectively in studying Turkey. Doing so will allow studying the exclusive impact of the EU on the processes of transformation in Turkey by isolating its transformative role from the impact of other domestic dynamics and international factors.
Topic:
Political Theory
Political Geography:
Europe and Turkey

20. Power and the Past: Collective Memory and International Relations

Author:
Eric Langenbacher (ed) and Yossi Shain (ed)
Publication Date:
01-2010
Content Type:
Book
Institution:
Georgetown University Press
Abstract:
Collective memories have long influenced domestic politics and especially international affairs—a fact most recently exemplified by the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001. The events and the memories resulting from them became powerful motivating forces for Americans almost overnight. At home, an infrastructure of commemoration quickly arose—in films like United 93 ( 2006 ); memorials including one unveiled at the Pentagon in September 2008 and the Tribute World Trade Center Visitor Center opened in 2006; and even in political campaign discourse, as at the 2008 Republican National Convention. 1 Yet, as with other collective memories worldwide, there is no consensus as to the overall meaning and lessons of September 11 over time. Instead, the continued vehemence of discussions about 9 / 11 reveals still-unresolved struggles over the construction, content, and power of the memory. What degree of prominence should this memory have in American political culture? What historical narratives are offered as explanations? Most importantly, what values and policy implications—both domestically and abroad—ought to follow?
Topic:
International Relations, Human Rights, Politics, Political Theory, and History
Political Geography:
Europe