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1131. Effectiveness and Ineffectiveness of the UN Security Council in the Last Twenty Years: A US Perspective

Author:
John Van Oudenaren
Publication Date:
11-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
The origins of the UN Security Council go back to the Congress of Vienna and the peacemaking process that followed the Napoleonic wars of 1799-1815, when the distinction between the great powers and all other powers first was enshrined in the practice of international diplomacy. The great powers were said to be those powers with interests general to the European system and thus by implication a stake in the system as a whole, in contrast to lesser powers, which had merely local or regional interests. This distinction carried over into the peace-making process after World War I and was formalized in the Covenant of the League of Nations, which identified the Principal Allied and Associated Powers as the permanent members of the League Council. The distinction lived on in the United Nations Organization and the UN Charter, which assigned responsibility for the maintenance of peace to the Security Council, in which the five states defined as great powers were given a permanent veto.
Topic:
International Relations, Diplomacy, and United Nations
Political Geography:
United States

1132. Uluslararası İlişkiler Kuramında Yapan-Yapı Sorunu

Author:
Alexander E. Wendt
Publication Date:
12-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:
Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:
The Agent-Structure Problem in International Relations Theory. In this article the nature of structural analysis in each of neorealist and world-system theory are clarified and contrast. The author's primary interest, however, is to critique the conceptions of structural theory found in each of them, and to use this critique to motivate the development of a new approach to structural theorizing about international relations adapted from the work of "structuration theorists" in sociology. In the first section, the author examines the nature of the agent-structure “problem” and briefly identifies the principal kinds of solutions to it. In the second section the author suggests that neorealism and world-system theory embody two of these solutions, the methodological individualist and structuralist ones, respectively. In the third section structurationist approach and its foundations in realist philosophy of science are being defined. In the fourth section, some general epistemological and theoretical implications of structuration theory for the explanation of state action are examined. In the conclusion, the author returns to some implications of scientific realism for social scientific research.
Topic:
International Relations and Political Theory
Political Geography:
Global Focus

1133. Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva of Thailand

Author:
Abhisit Vejjajiva
Publication Date:
09-2009
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
Columbia University World Leaders Forum
Abstract:
This World Leaders Forum program features a keynote address by Abhisit Vejjajiva, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Thailand, followed by a question and answer session with the audience.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, International Relations, Security, and Armed Struggle
Political Geography:
Thailand and Southeast Asia

1134. Misselwitz and Rieniets: City of Collision: Jerusalem and the Principles of Conflict Urbanism

Author:
Craig Larkin
Publication Date:
09-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Palestine Studies
Institution:
Institute for Palestine Studies
Abstract:
City of Collision: Jerusalem and the Principles of Conflict Urbanism is an anthology of essays, maps, and photographs tackling the complexities and dynamism of Jerusalem's contested urban spaces. This ambitious but engaging edited volume offers a trilateral perspective (Israeli, Palestinian, and international) and a multidisciplinary approach (architecture, urbanism, geography, art, and anthropology) probing the city's fault lines, fissures, and urban connections. Visually impressive and graphically innovative, the thirty essays deal with relevant spatial and social themes, yet without offering the depth of critical analysis that might have been expected from its experienced contributors. The essays serve as mere snapshots, case studies, or brief theoretical outlines, which require further exploration, development, and, in some places, greater cogency. Despite well-organized chapters based on spatial dialectic themes (enclave/exclaves, barriers/links, etc.), it is the illuminating maps and diagrams that lend the book cohesion and distinction.
Topic:
International Relations and Development

1135. In Pursuit of Peace

Author:
Kent J. Kille
Publication Date:
12-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Carnegie Council
Abstract:
Traditional international relations scholarship has stressed the place of war and conflict in the world, but it has not provided deep theoretical consideration of the concept of peace. While the focus of each of the three books discussed here differs, they share a common goal: to better place "peace" into the study of international affairs. Editors Pierre Allan and Alexis Keller ask succinctly What Is a Just Peace?, stressing how the limited conceptual consideration of just peace in comparison to discussions of just war demonstrates the pressing need to address this question. David Cortright, meanwhile, through a detailed examination of both the history of peace movements and core themes connected to the study of peace, aims to provide a defense of the place of peace and the role of pacifism in global affairs. For his part, Oliver Richmond takes international relations theory to task for not providing much-needed critical evaluation and conceptual development of peace. Richmond addresses the failure of international relations theory to fully and properly address peace, arguing that instead "concepts of peace should be a cornerstone of IR interdisciplinary investigation of international politics and everyday life" (p. 7). The first part of his book reviews and critiques the main theoretical approaches in international relations and their versions of peace, with the first three chapters devoted to liberalism, realism, and structuralism. Richmond argues that the current mainstream approach, the liberal peace, represents a "hybridisation" (p. 13) of liberal-realist thinking based on a more pragmatic pacifist idealism.
Topic:
International Relations, Development, and War

1136. Ethical Competence in International Relations

Author:
Mervyn Frost
Publication Date:
06-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Carnegie Council
Abstract:
In order to participate effectively in international relations, this essay argues that international actors of all kinds, including states, international organizations, corporations, and individuals, have to acquire the skills necessary to protect freedom and diversity in the modern world.
Topic:
International Relations and International Organization

1137. "The End of the West? Crisis and Change in the Atlantic Order"

Author:
John McCormick
Publication Date:
03-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Carnegie Council
Abstract:
This edited collection takes stock of the state of the Western alliance, seeking both to improve our theoretical understanding of conflict and crisis and to examine the relevance of theories of politics and international relations.
Topic:
International Relations and Politics
Political Geography:
Iraq and Europe

1138. North Korea-South Korea Relations Chronology

Publication Date:
01-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Comparative Connections
Institution:
Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:
No abstract is available.
Topic:
International Relations and Government
Political Geography:
South Korea and North Korea

1139. China-Korea Relations

Author:
See-Won Byun
Publication Date:
01-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Comparative Connections
Institution:
Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:
High-level interaction between Presidents Hu Jintao and Lee Myung-bak continues to intensify following the upgrading of the Sino-South Korean relationship to a “strategic cooperative partnership” in August of 2008. The increase in the number of meetings between top leaders is in part a by-product of the proliferation of regional forums in which China and South Korea both have membership and in part an affirmation of the rising importance of the relationship to both sides. This quarter Hu and Lee participated in the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) in Beijing in October as well as the G20 meeting in Washington and the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Peru in November. Lee and Premier Wen Jiabao also met as part of the first trilateral meeting among Chinese, South Korean, and Japanese leaders held in Fukuoka in mid-December. In contrast, Chinese and North Korean leaders rarely meet these days, and Chinese officials confess ignorance regarding the health of Kim Jong-il despite being North Korea's closest of neighbors.
Topic:
International Relations and Foreign Policy
Political Geography:
China, Europe, Beijing, Asia, South Korea, and Korea

1140. China-Korea Relations Chronology

Publication Date:
01-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Comparative Connections
Institution:
Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:
No abstract is available.
Topic:
International Relations and Government
Political Geography:
United States, Japan, China, and Korea