Suchergebnisse

»Critical International Relations« versuchen positivismuskritische Theorien für das Fach Internationale Beziehungen fruchtbar zu machen. Bezugspunkte sind dabei u. a. Gendertheorien, Gramscianische Ansätze, die Kritische Theorie und der Poststrukturalismus. Vorgestellt werden die CIR-Arbeiten anhand ihrer Kritik am vorherrschenden Paradigma der Internationalen Beziehungen, dem Neorealismus.

Der Autor umreißt die Ziele, die mit der afrikanischen Renaissance erreicht werden sollen: Förderung von Menschenrechten anstelle von Herrschaftsrechten, um tödliche Konflikte zu vermeiden. Förderung eines bürgerlichen und Entmutigung eines ethnischen Nationalismus. Politische Reformen (Demokratisierung) als Voraussetzung nachhaltiger Entwicklung. Schaffung eines militärischen Potenzials, um die Renaissance-Ideale schützen zu können. Gemeinsame Aktionen, um den Herausforderungen der Globalisierung gewachsen zu sein. Förderung von internationalen Partnerschaften, aber Beendigung neo-kolonialer Beziehungen. Dies alles wird vor dem Hintergrund der Gegenwart diskutiert: Autoritäre Herrschaft, kaum Minderheitenrechte, sozio-ökonomische Ausbeutung, Ungleichheit und eine schwache institutionelle Basis, um auf politische und soziale Konflikte angemessen reagieren zu können. (DÜI-Hlb)

This article fills a gap in the literature by focusing on the growing economic links between China and Sri Lanka. Starting from the 1952 Rubber-Rice Pact, the economic relations between the two countries have grown over the years with an unprecedented growth since 2005. Chinese military assistance helped overcome three decades of conflict in North/East Sri Lanka and Chinese financial assistance to other areas of the Sri Lankan economy, in particular, infrastructure development have also strengthened. Although Sri Lanka's trade and investment links with China are not very strong, the increased Chinese financial assistance has had some spill over effects in strengthening these in recent years. Sri Lanka will sign a Free Trade Agreement with China most probably in 2014 but growing economic relations with China present both opportunities and challenges to Sri Lanka.

The last decade has witnessed a rapid development of economic relations between the Soviet Union and independent African countries. In examining certain economic and geographical aspects of this development, it should be borne in mind that Soviet–African economic relations are a quite new trend in world affairs. Before World War II the Soviet Union's foreign trade was conducted mainly with the advanced capitalist countries. Since the majority of the under-developed countries were very limited. Egypt was the only African country trading with the Soviet Union at the end of the 1920s. But Great Britain, then dominating Egypt, blocked any trade agreement between the two states. The volume of trade between them was very small, and at the beginning of World War II it ceased almost completely.

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International relations research has regarded networks as a particular mode of organization, distinguished from markets or state hierarchies. In contrast, network analysis permits the investigation and measurement of network structures—emergent properties of persistent patterns of relations among agents that can define, enable, and constrain those agents. Network analysis offers both a toolkit for identifying and measuring the structural properties of networks and a set of theories, typically drawn from contexts outside international relations, that relate structures to outcomes. Network analysis challenges conventional views of power in international relations by defining network power in three different ways: access, brokerage, and exit options. Two issues are particularly important to international relations: the ability of actors to increase their power by enhancing and exploiting their network positions, and the fungibility of network power. The value of network analysis in international relations has been demonstrated in precise description of international networks, investigation of network effects on key international outcomes, testing of existing network theory in the context of international relations, and development of new sources of data. Partial or faulty incorporation of network analysis, however, risks trivial conclusions, unproven assertions, and measures without meaning. A three-part agenda is proposed for future application of network analysis to international relations: import the toolkit to deepen research on international networks; test existing network theories in the domain of international relations; and test international relations theories using the tools of network analysis.

What tools will international relations theorists need to understand the complex relationship among China, Japan, and the United States as the three powers shape the economic and political future of this crucial region? Some of the best and most innovative scholars in international relations and Asian area studies gather here with the working premise that stability in the broader Asia-Pacific region is in large part a function of the behavior of, and relationships among, these three major powers

Der Artikel bietet einen Überblick über international vergleichende Arbeitsbeziehungen. Der einleitende Teil begründet die Notwendigkeit dieses spezifischen Forschungs- und Lehrgebiets und macht einige Anmerkungen zu Theorien, Forschungsstrategien, Methoden sowie ihren Möglichkeiten und Grenzen. Der Hauptteil rezensiert einige ausgewählte, aktuelle Publikationen zu globalen sowie zu EU-Arbeitsbeziehungen; besondere Berücksichtigung findet ihre Eignung für Lehrzwecke. Der Schlussteil besteht aus einigen Schlussfolgerungen in vergleichender Perspektive und diskutiert offene Fragen.