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One of the achievements of the reflectivist turn in international relations theory in the late 20th century was the attention given to the role of discourse and other ideational factors in international politics. In recent years, however, approaches critical of the discursive emphasis in international studies have emerged, seeking to restore the significance of non-discursive aspects of international relations such as geography, technology, and the non-human. This article offers a perspective on the development of international relations theory from the standpoint of the debate between materialism and idealism. Within this framework, it provides a brief overview of the historical evolution of international relations theory and subsequently delves into a detailed analysis of three strands of the new wave of materialist theorizing in the field - critical realism, new materialism, and neoclassical geopolitics. The article suggests considering the new materialist wave as, on the whole, a positive development, but also points out the necessity of taking into account the risk of "exiling" the human element from international relations research as such concepts proliferate. The possibility of collaboration between reflecivists and post-reflecivists, as well as between idealists and materialists in general, is underlined for the comprehensive study of contemporary international realities.

Migration; Demography - De raad maakt een onderscheid tussen beleidsvoering en beleidsvoorbereiding. Hergroepering van de beleidsvoering wordt niet bepleit. Wel wordt geconstateerd dat er van een systematische beleidsvoorbereiding geen sprake is. Aanbevolen wordt om een afdeling in te stellen bij het SCP voor analyse, onderzoek en elementen van beleidsvoorbereiding en beleidsadvisering op korte en langere termijn op het gebied van internationale migratie.

The article proposes a rationale to expand the concept of humanitarian diplomacy. Based on scientific research, the author proposes to escape from a narrow understanding of humanitarian diplomacy as providing humanitarian assistance and assistance to vulnerable groups of the population. An attempt is made to form a single umbrella concept of diplomacy, which would include all types of modern diplomacy that are aimed at protecting a person, his values of ideals.

Economics - Mondiale crises – zoals rond voedselzekerheid, de Mexicaanse grieppandemie of de recente financiële instabiliteit – zijn het gevolg van toenemende interdependenties tussen landen. Rijke en ontwikkelingslanden raken steeds meer met elkaar verbonden, wat in het ene land gebeurt kan gevolgen hebben aan de andere kant van de planeet, en veel problemen zijn niet langer binnen de grenzen van één land aan te pakken. Op de vraag hoe we in deze nieuwe context internationale problemen en vragen verder kunnen brengen, is nog nergens het definitieve antwoord gevonden, maar daar zijn de afgelopen jaren wel goede aanzetten voor gegeven met coherentiebeleid en internationale publieke goederen. Nederland deed tot voor kort niet veel met het concept internationale publieke goederen.

Dit paper schetst daarom op basis van relevante internationale literatuur een aantal karakteristieken van internationale publieke goederen.

De serie WRR-webpublicaties omvat studies die in het kader van de werkzaamheden van de WRR tot stand zijn gekomen. De verantwoordelijkheid voor de inhoud en de ingenomen standpunten berust bij de auteurs.

The given research paper presents an attempt to analyze the Caspian region from the point of view of its cross-border specifics. In contrast to the traditional understanding of the Caspian region as the region of heightened geopolitical significance the authors analyze its peculiarities and potential in the context of the cross-border cooperation dynamics. It is especially emphasized that the Caspian region may be considered as a cross-border region which, despite the substantial similarities is different from international transnational regions. The authors focus attention on a key contradiction of the Caspian region. On the one hand, national interests and foreign policy of the states-members of the Caspian region (Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan) have a national country and regional importance, since their implementation will form an effective regional security system. On the other hand, the Caspian region attracts the attention of the world powers, becoming a subject of their interest, as it is of great importance for world energy markets and has status of a transit zone between Europe and Asia. For Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia, Turkmenistan the Caspian status is combined with their most important characteristic of post-Soviet states - shared long historical stage of development within the Soviet Union. The article distinguished and analyzed four main periods of establishment of cross-border cooperation in the Caspian region. The national specificity of modernization reforms in all the countries of the Caspian region have interrelations with further development of cross-border cooperation, the priority of that performs convergence of Caspian states on a number of strategic issues, including economic cooperation and security. (author's abstract)

In recent years, the IMF has released a growing number of reports and other documents covering economic and financial developments and trends in member countries. Each report, prepared by a staff team after discussions with government officials, is published at the option of the member country