Suchergebnisse

Examines the paradox inherent in international relations whereby international law & diplomacy favor state autonomy in domestic affairs while multilateral treaties & international institutions allow for collective action against governments violating generally accepted norms of behavior. It is contended that this paradox is based on the character of sovereignty, which specifies that "individual states are independent, but not autonomous, from the collectivity of states." At issue is establishing the conditions under which the international community has assumed the right & responsibility to intercede to protect individuals & groups in sovereign states. The manner in which the principle of sovereignty limits & empowers state collectivities to enforce international norms is explored, highlighting the dialectic of sovereignty arising from the Westphalian system in which sovereignty is both a constitutive principle & derivate. Attention turns to scrutinizing international communities as conceptually independent of the states that constitute them, arguing that only with general consensus can a broad-based community of states legitimately intervene in the affairs of a sovereign. Because international norms change over time, how & why some rules & practices emerge during certain historical periods must be considered to explain the conditions necessary for legitimate multilateral intervention without violating sovereignty. Three conditions are seen as prerequisite for the existence of the kind of pluralistic international communities necessary to account for the relative consensus needed to legitimate intervention: (1) There must be a least a modicum of consensus among major powers of the fundamentals of international politics. (2) The consensus principles must enjoy broad support from smaller states & their key domestic groups. (3) There must be a universal membership organization with the authority to create & enforce norms of behavior. Those specific norms & principles on which the community is based are looked at. The principles of legitimate post Cold War multilateral intervention are next assessed, delineating four generally accepted principles, eg, in cases where governments commit a consistent pattern of gross human rights violations deemed "shocking to the conscience of mankind." Some policy & theoretical implications are touched on in conclusion. J. Zendejas

Corruption is a complex activity. It is widely recognized as prevalent, despite the lack of empirical data. It goes beyond economic & political areas to affect people's lives & fundamental human rights. Governments that tolerate corruption are breaching human rights, so international human rights mechanisms have recently come into play to fight corruption & provide an alternative to domestic approaches. The human rights potentially affected by corruption are specifically those rights to affiliation, life, bodily health & integrity, political participation, nondiscrimination, & social & economic development. The Covenants supporting these rights, the International Covenant on Civil & Political Rights & the International Covenant on Economic, Social & Cultural Rights, are examined in relation to corruption. More solid empirical cases for the link between corruption & breaches of human rights are needed, & the human rights discourse needs to be integrated into international discussion on corruption & anticorruption activity. 1 Table. M. Pflum

The utility of the notion of multi-level governance for International Relations studies is explored. An overview of the concepts of "good governance" & multi-level governance is presented. In addition, a comparison of conventional understandings of government & governance is performed, demonstrating an ambiguous relationship between the two notions; specifically, it is stated that in certain circumstances, governance opposes the distribution of authority enacted by state governments. Therefore, the distribution of authority within five international contexts -- international civic norms, international civil society, supranational organizations, the international system, & transnational threats -- is studied to determine the extent of insight provided by the adoption of a multi-level governance perspective to examining international relations. Several conclusions are reached, eg, particular supranational organizations exhibit hierarchical systems characteristic of central states, & recommendations for future research are offered. J. W. Parker

The chapter defines & distinguishes foreign policy analysis & international politics, & discusses their origins & development as subfields. Next, the impact of constructivism on the areas, while not always acknowledged as such, is examined. Constructivism contributes to theoretical dimensions of structure, agency, rationality, institutions, & identity. Tables illustrate the application of key concepts. The chapter also summarizes important literature & debates concerning constructivism & international relations. 1 Table, 3 Figures, 50 References. K. Coddon

The author takes up the question of the usefulness of theory to the practice of feminist scholarship & at least as importantly to the practice of feminism & to the lives of women -- especially poor women living in societies in which women have even fewer rights than do their sisters elsewhere. Still, despite the limitations of theory, she argues that feminist philosophers should take up Kant's practical postulate. Women continue to suffer throughout the world from pervasive discrimination vis-a-vis all major human capabilities, including life itself, but this does not mean that the large-scale practical task of wedding history to theory should not be attempted. Such an attempt remains morally valuable to help us sustain hope about the human condition. D. Knaff

Der Beitrag beschäftigt sich mit der Harmonisierung des International Social Survey Programme (ISSP). Er stellt das ISSP mit seinem Harmonisierungskonzept vor, fragt nach der Harmonisierung der Hintergrundvariablen und greift dann exemplarisch eine zentrale Hintergrundvariable und deren Konstruktion heraus. Der Beitrag schließt mit Anmerkungen zur künftigen Entwicklung der Hintergrundvariablen des ISSP. (ICEÜbers)

The contributions that national & international civil society can make to nations' realization of transitional justice are pondered. An overview of the challenges posed by transitional justice emphasizes three things that any transitional justice movement must consider, eg, the contextual specificity of each nation's transition to democracy. Eight objectives to be accomplished in achieving transitional justice are identified, including the ascription of past wrongdoing to proper groups & the promotion of public deliberation about past collective misconduct. After reviewing competing models of civil society, several things that civil society can do to encourage transitional justice are discussed, eg, the use of civil society groups to evaluate historical violations of people's human rights & to substantiate state wrongdoing; nevertheless, several caveats against using national civil society to promote transitional justice are offered. In addition, the role played by international civil society in facilitating the achievement of transitional justice is studied; specifically, it is claimed that global civil society can bolster national civil society groups & temporarily replace certain social & political institutions. J. W. Parker

"The author surveys international reactions to the turmoil in Kyrgyzstan in March 2005 and the Andijan massacre in Uzbekistan in May 2005. While she discusses the behaviour of the neighbouring Central Asian states in the first part of the article, in the second part she analyses the responses of China, Russia and the United States, which are competing for influence in Central Asia, especially in the energy sector. In the third part the author examines the development of a post-Soviet multilateralism into a multi-vector one and the co-operation and integration of it into the framework of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the Shanghai Co-Operation Organization (SCO) and the OSCE. She also reflects on the mostly Western international organizations such as the European Union (EU) and international financial institutions such as the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). Finally she discusses the reactions of international human rights organizations." (author's abstract)

"One of the key questions on international migration concerns its benefits and costs for the receiving economies. Assessing the overall net gain or loss to the economy from immigration is a challenging task both from a theoretical and an empirical point of view. Immigration can affect the receiving economy through several channels: wages or employment effects on native workers, changes in output structure, fiscal effects, effects on house prices, and so on. In this chapter, we concentrate on one of the most important channel: the impact on wage and employment of natives. We consider the impact of immigration on a subgroup of the population that could particularly benefits from it, the female population. Since international migration may change the prevailing wage rates in the sectors where a large number of migrants looks for a job, we focus on immigrants working in the household service sector. The underlying idea is that migrants could increase the availability of services to households, like childcare, housekeeping, or caring for elderly, reducing their market prices. This effect could induce women to change their decision on participation to the labour market. In the empirical analysis, we use data of countries with quite different institutions (Australia, Germany, Switzerland, the UK, and the US). This gives us the opportunity to understand whether the effect of migrants on female labour supply is relevant in countries where policies are more or less supportive to families." (Text excerpt, IAB-Doku) ((en))

An overview of international migration examines who migrates, why they leave, & where they go. Most people migrate to improve their living conditions; however, potential income gains must be viewed against such costs as differences in the cost of living between the country of origin & the destination country; direct costs related to the job search; & social costs resulting from separation from one's family & society. It is noted that the migrant stock in the world's population has remained stable at 2.3 percent & demographic forecasts suggest that fears about a dramatic increase in international migration are unfounded. Most international migrants go to neighboring countries & migration flows to developed regions, especially North America, have been the most pronounced since the 1960s. Although many migrants are uneducated & low-skilled, an increasing number of highly qualified people are fleeing from war, natural disaster, persecution, or economic misery. The economic effects of migration in both the receiving country & the country of origin are discussed, along with immigration policies intended to curb unwanted immigration. J. Lindroth