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Abstract This article addresses the specificities of the new multilateralism made-in-China under Xi Jinping. We argue that China has been investing in a combination of Soft Power and Multilateralism to foster a friendly worldwide environment whilst promoting China's geopolitical reemergence. Drawing on role theory, we assess whether there has been a shifting trend on China's soft power and multilateralism, to cope both with international expectations on China's new role and China's own role conception. We conclude that China's gradual turn towards multilateralism and soft power is a complementary strategy to China's longstanding use of bilateralism. It provides China with new institutions and ways to prosper as Chinese interests are no longer effectively fulfilled within the old Bretton Woods system. This article aims to deepen the existing literature on China's soft power, whilst highlighting the novel developments in China's multilateral initiatives and soft power including the impact of EU's de-risking approach toward China – not yet addressed by current studies.

Polarization has been a prevalent phenomenon in US politics, yet its foreign policy implications remain understudied. A common assumption is that polarization undermines the utilization of United States' material power via a coherent grand strategy. In this article, I argue that polarization does not make the United States incapable of enacting a foreign policy per se but instead affects US foreign policy conduct, power, and strategy toward international negotiations. The effects of domestic polarization for US foreign policy behavior in international negotiations are best understood via an advanced application of the "two-level game" model, which conceptualizes a state's domestic politics as a determinant factor for the executive branch's approach toward foreign affairs. I identify three effects polarization has on US foreign policy: (1) a sorting effect, which produces homogenous partisan coalitions with divergent foreign policy preferences and inclines the executive to pursue an obstinate international negotiation conduct; (2) a partisan conflict effect, which weakens Congress as a veto player and reduces United States' bargaining power; and, finally, (3) an institutional corrosion effect, which inclines the executive branch to manipulate domestic support and to politicize international negotiations at home. In sum, domestic polarization increases the opportunity costs for US foreign policy toward international negotiations and contributes to global instability. Anecdotal evidence from US foreign policy over the last decade offers support for these effects, but further empirical research is needed to better understand when they are most impactful and in which combination these effects appear.

Welcome/Announcements / Richard C. Ragaini -- Development of a Risk-Based Environmental Management Process for the United States Department of Energy / Rogene F. Henderson -- Advantages and Disadvantages of Risk-Based Decision Making / Frank L. Parker -- The IAEA Technical Co-operation Project on Environmental Restoration of Sites Contaminated by Uranium Mining and Milling Activities in Central and Eastern Europe / Michele Laraia -- From Dobris to Sofia and Beyond: What Can the European Environment Agency Do to Help Steer the Course? / David Stanners -- Risks and Benefits of Alternative Technologies to Destroy Hazardous Wastes and Toxic Materials / Nicolai Plate -- Environmental Assessment and Remediation of Contamination at Tokol Airbase Near Budapest, Hungary / Zsolt Horvath -- Use of Mobile Laboratories for Identification of Pollutants and Risks / Sergio Faccetti -- Chlorinated Organic Compound Removal by Catalysis and Ozone / Vittorio Ragaini.