"This book combines legal and philosophical perspectives to address the question of whether states are bound by human rights when they act with effects on people abroad - states' extraterritorial human rights obligations (EHRO). Taking an innovative approach, it begins with a profound legal analysis of the issue at national, supranational, and international levels and then engages in depth with counterarguments against extraterritorially applying human rights, on the basis of which it develops its own ethical justificatory theory of EHRO. The book closes the circle by showing what the practical implications of this theory for the interpretation (and possible evolvement) of human rights law would be. In a world where critiques of, and resistance to, the general idea of universal human rights are on rise, the book contributes to closing the gap between judicial and normative perspectives on EHRO by inquiring into the ethical underpinnings of this topical legal challenge. This book will be of key interest to scholars and students in human rights, international law, and more broadly in political philosophy, philosophy of law, and international relations"--
Leaving the EU is one of the major political decisions made in the UK over the past half-century. Brexit brought about a virtual political earthquake not only in EU-UK relations but also in terms of UK future place and role on the international scene. Immediately after the decision of UK citizens to leave the EU at a referendum held on 23 June 2016, the question arose as to whether the UK will lose some of its international influence, whether Scotland will remain part of the Union, whether the UK will retain its privileged relations and special status with the USA, and what its future relations with the EU will be. The purpose of this article is to point to the basic priorities of the contemporary British foreign policy as well as to place and role of the UK on the contemporary international scene particularly in view of its decision to leave the EU. We shall first try to define the status of present-day Britain in international relations. Second, we shall address the traditional dilemma of the UK foreign policy - what should be given priority - relations with the USA, Europe or the Commonwealth? After that, we shall discuss in more detail the phases the UK foreign policy went through following the end of the cold war. In the third phase, we shall analyze the British contemporary foreign and economic policy towards Gulf countries and China. In the fourth part of the article, we shall discuss relations with the USA. It should be pointed out that the article does not seek to analyze all aspects of British foreign policy, even if we wanted to, due to a shortage of time. Of course, the topic of Brexit will be present in all chapters and especially in the last one and conclusion remarks. By its decision to leave the EU, the UK appears to have given priority to its relations with the USA, China, Gulf countries as well as Commonwealth countries instead of the EU which has been economically and politically dominant over the past few decades. This decision taken by UK citizens will no doubt have a great impact not only on their personal lives and standard of living but on the UK role in international relations. Despite its military, political, economic and cultural capacities, it is highly unlikely that the UK will manage to overcome the consequences of an exit from the single market, currently generating 18 trillion dollars on an annual basis as well as the loss of a privileged partner role with the USA within the Union. We are, therefore, more likely to believe that in the foreseeable future, the role of the UK on the international scene will continue to decline and be increasingly focused on its economic and financial interests. Project of the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Grant no. III 47010: Drustvene transformacije u procesu evropskih integracija - multidisciplinarni pristup]
Is there a valid argument for international cooperation, and some form of international governance structure, in the international monetary realm? On the purely economic front, the argument is not strong. Yet a broader political economy approach concludes that national currency policy can in fact impose non-pecuniary externalities on partner nations. This is especially the case with major policy-driven misalignments, which cannot easily be countered by other governments. For example, one country's substantially depreciated currency can provoke powerful protectionist pressures in its trading partners, so that exchange rate policy spills over into trade policy in potentially damaging ways. Inasmuch as one government's policies create these sorts of costs for other countries, and for the world economy as a whole, there is a case for global governance. This might include some institutionalized mechanism to monitor and publicize substantial currency misalignments. While there appears to be little global political attention to such a mechanism now, there have been initiatives along these lines at the regional level, and there are some early stirrings of interest more generally.
This special issue brings together leading experts from Asia, Europe and North America to examine the international institutions, national governance mechanisms and financing systems that together will determine the future of the energy sector. The enormous environmental externalities imposed by fossil fuel extraction and consumption, the devastating corruption and human rights abuses that have accompanied this energy system, and the geopolitical vulnerabilities that have arisen because of the uneven natural distribution of these resources, have occasioned enormous handwringing - but not, yet, a shift to a more rational system of providing energy services. Although national governments play the dominant role in energy governance, these challenges are beyond the scope of any single national government to manage, making energy policy a key component of global governance and international relations.
Anhaltende Kritik westlicher Industrienationen am aufstrebenden Reich der Mitte verleitet zu einem einseitig negativen Bild Chinas. Dabei ist die Kritik oft undifferenziert, obwohl die komplexen Zusammenhänge einer eingehenden Betrachtung bedürften. Diese Studie geht der China-Kritik auf den Grund, indem sie einen Teilaspekt der vielschichtigen internationalen Wirtschaftsbeziehungen Chinas untersucht: Im Zentrum stehen die deutsch-chinesischen Handelsbeziehungen, deren Analyse auf fundierten und detaillierten statistischen Daten fußt. Sie umfasst einen historischen Rückblick sowie eine genaue Betrachtung der aktuellen Verhältnisse auf breiter Quellenlage. Das Resultat ist interessant, weil Chinas Handelseinfluss auf Europa und Deutschland überraschend anders dargestellt werden kann, als der Westen allgemein vermittelt. Damit verändert sich das übliche Chinabild. Zu Beginn der Studie wird zum besseren Verständnis der zentralen Kapitel ein umfassender Überblick zur vergangenen und aktuellen Entwicklung innerhalb Chinas sowie seiner internationalen Beziehungen gegeben (USA, Afrika, EU, WTO). Im Verlauf der Studie werden weitere brisante Themen wie Direktinvestitionen, der Schutz geistigen Eigentums, Wissenstransfer, Hochtechnologie, Umwelt und Konsum beleuchtet. Anhand konkreter Beispiele, auch der deutschen Wirtschaft, werden die Themen veranschaulicht. Die Studie erlaubt dem Leser einen neutralen, gut recherchierten, facettenreichen und hoch-informativen Blick auf top-aktuelle wirtschaftspolitische Fragen Chinas.
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The development of the International Relations (IR) field & the appropriate identity for an IR scholar in contemporary social science is examined. Disciplinary autonomy in the social sciences had its origin in the belief that scientific study means a precise definition of its object. However, the social is complex & abstract, & cannot necessarily be divided precisely into specialties. When the late coming IR entered the social sciences in the early 1900s, it took on the role of a super-specialty that was intrinsically multidisciplinary while the social sciences were moving towards greater specialization. As science has since moved to recognize the complexity & interconnectedness of reality, there is a unifying tendency among the disciplines. IR needs to exist as a discipline studying the international order without simplistic reductions of essential components. M. Pflum
This paper section assesses the relative importance of the arguments about the challenges to the welfare state coming from the international political economy (global trade competition, the internationalisation of finance) and from the domestic political economy (rapid technoloical change, the shift from industrial production to services, the transformation of the world of work, demographic change and changing household and family patterns) and the interaction between these external and domestic pressures. As the nature of this interaction manifests itself differently in different types of welfare states, there are different predicament of adjustment challenges facing the national welfare states of the European Union. The final section concerns the prospects for the European social policy integration against the background of the regime-specific problems and domestic and international challenges.
In the shadow of the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East it is challenging to imagine a farewell to wars. Hans Blix's latest book surveys modern international relations, and with the critical mind of a lawyer and diplomatic practitioner, demonstrates how, over the last two centuries, the international system has accepted growing constraints on interstate use of force.
"Die Zahl der Binnenvertriebenen - also von Personen, die zwar ihre Heimat, nicht aber ihr Heimatland verlassen haben - ist seit dem Ende der 1990er Jahre um rund 17 Millionen auf nunmehr 27 Millionen gestiegen. Auf internationaler Ebene stand Binnenvertriebenen bislang kein spezielles Vertragswerk zur Seite. Da sie sich im Souveränitätsbereich des eigenen Landes aufhalten, verwundert dies wenig. Umso überraschender ist es, dass afrikanische Staaten im Oktober 2009 eine Konvention zum Schutz von Binnenvertriebenen verabschiedet haben. Folglich verfügt der von Binnenvertreibung am stärksten betroffene Kontinent über das weltweit erste Vertragswerk zu diesem Problem. Nachdem der Beitrag auf die Ursachen und Auswirkungen von Binnenvertreibung in Afrika eingeht und den gegenwärtigen internationalen Umgang damit beleuchtet, werden einzelne Aspekte der neuen Konvention diskutiert. Obschon sie Normen von besonderer Relevanz für Vertriebene enthält, werden die Erfolgsaussichten der Konvention eher verhalten eingeschätzt." (Autorenreferat)
Ein nukleares Tabu wird als normatives Erklärungselement herangezogen, weshalb die USA seit 1945 keine Nuklearwaffen eingesetzt haben. Realistische Vertreter der Theorie Internationaler Beziehungen lehnen hingegen die Existenz bzw. den unabhängigen Einfluß einer solchen normativen Variable auf allgemeine Verhaltensmuster hinsichtlich eines Nicht-Einsatzes von Nuklearwaffen ab. Die Gegenthese des Artikels lautet: Erklärungen, die die normative Regel berücksichtigen, sind aussagefähiger als rein materialistische Begründungen eines Nicht-Einsatzes von Nuklear-Waffen. Als Folge von Normen werden regulierende, konstituierende und permissive Wirkungen aufgezeigt und beispielhafte Fälle für den Einfluß des "nuclear taboo" auf die außenpolitischen Entscheidungsprozesse der Vereinigten Staaten genannt (Japan 1945, Korea-Krieg 1950-53, Vietam-Krieg der 60er Jahre, Golfkrieg 1991). Schlußfolgerung: Normen beeinflussen das militärische Potential und damit die Praxis der Selbsthilfe im Internationalen System. (SWP-Ebg)
