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AbstractResearch has shown that policymaking in numerous domestic policies, across a multitude of polities, systematically produces a pattern of change that matches Punctuated Equilibrium Theory (PET), characterized by many incremental and occasional dramatic changes. The field of International Relations (IR), however, has paid surprisingly little attention to PET, even though the same pattern of change is also found in international politics. This study attempts to fill this gap and explains stability and change in international politics based on PET. Specifically, we detail the dynamics behind this pattern of behavior, both at the domestic and the international level, as well as their interplay. The empirical section shows that different indicators of international politics, including troop deployments, foreign aid and international trade, follow a leptokurtic pattern of change, which characterizes Punctuated Equilibrium, and whereby changes in countries' behavior are generally incremental, representing periods of relative stability, and punctuated by large changes that dramatically overthrow existing policies. Moreover, our results indicate that policy outputs where greater friction is at play are more punctuated than those policies that cannot as easily or directly be managed. This study urges future research to further explore the dynamics of stability and change at the aggregate, international level.

AbstractRecent studies demonstrate that turnover in domestic political leadership is associated with change in states' foreign policies. While domestic changes matter even after controlling for international factors, many argue that international factors should overwhelm the effects of domestic turnover on foreign policy change. Yet existing studies tend to focus on other domestic-level variables (e.g., regime type) as constraints on domestic turnover. We consider how three sets of international factors that scholars have argued might outweigh the influence of domestic changes—security environment, socialization, and economic dependence—moderate the effects of domestic coalition changes on variance in voting patterns in the United Nations. To do this, we interact a measure of domestic coalition turnover with various proxies for international context in a statistical model of voting consistency. We find that many international factors are associated with greater consistency in voting behavior. Yet the effects of domestic change on foreign policy are remarkably resilient. We find only limited evidence that the effect of domestic change attenuates as states face more international constraints. The results reinforce the importance of understanding the role of both domestic political factors and international context in shaping foreign policy.

English Food security is increasingly affected by global economic and environmental phenomena. Food price increases and food scarcity cause social and political instability, and can escalate to humanitarian crises. As women are particularly likely to be affected by threats to food security, this paper argues for feminist analyses in social work responses and research. French La sécurité alimentaire est de plus en plus affectée par l'économie mondiale et par les phénomènes environnementaux. Les prix des aliments augmentent et la raréfaction de la nourriture est cause d'instabilité sociale et politique, et peut dégénérer en crises humanitaires. Dans la mesure où les femmes sont susceptibles d'être particulièrement affectées par les menaces sur la sécurité alimentaire, cet article argumente en faveur des analyses féministes dans la recherche et les réponses apportées par le travail social. Spanish Los fenómenos del medioambiente y la globalización afectan cada vez más a la seguridad alimenticia. El precio de los alimentos y su escasez causan inestabilidad social y política que pueden abocar a crisis humanitarias. Ya que la seguridad alimenticia tiende a afectar a las mujeres de una forma particular, este artículo arguye a favor de un análisis feminista por parte del trabajo social y la investigación.