This article explores the phenomenon of culture wars in the post-Soviet space. It provides an introduction to this special issue by addressing a series of themes which deepen and more importantly complicate our understanding of culture wars in the post-Soviet space, but also more generally. The paper analyses: the multifaceted nature of culture wars, illustrating the way in which these normative-based conflicts are more complicated than the typical binary reading of the phenomenon suggest; the religious dimension to such cultural conflicts; the multiple causal explanations for culture wars and the varied levels of agency and agents involved; the perceptibly dominant role of Russia in the region's ideological and cultural conflicts; and finally, the under-conceptualisation of culture wars. Overall, the paper unpacks how the concept of culture war can be used analytically to comprehend tensions and conflict over competing interpretations of the moral ordering of the post-Soviet public space.
Young women are combatants in contemporary African wars. They also participate in a whole array of different roles. However, by and large, they remain invisible to us. In fact, our "northern" hackneyed views on women's innate non-participation in war prevent us from seeing specific needs for young women during and in the aftermath of wars. For instance, disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programmes often fail to address appropriate needs for young women and in a variety of ways "prevent" them from partaking. Issues of stigma, safe demobilisation, individual concerns for post-war marriage, health and education, need to be addresed in both a more gendered way, but also with an apposite understanding of young women's agency in both peace and war. In this Policy note it is argued that to improve policy and programming efforts it is necessary to broaden the understanding of young women's roles and participation in armed conflict in Africa historically and today.
Young women are combatants in contemporary African wars. They also participate in a whole array of different roles. However, by and large, they remain invisible to us. In fact, our "northern" hackneyed views on women's innate non-participation in war prevent us from seeing specific needs for young women during and in the aftermath of wars. For instance, disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programmes often fail to address appropriate needs for young women and in a variety of ways "prevent" them from partaking. Issues of stigma, safe demobilisation, individual concerns for post-war marriage, health and education, need to be addresed in both a more gendered way, but also with an apposite understanding of young women's agency in both peace and war. In this Policy note it is argued that to improve policy and programming efforts it is necessary to broaden the understanding of young women's roles and participation in armed conflict in Africa historically and today.
In both general humanitarian studies, as well as political studies, the concept of language has a large importance. However, considering any language could be stripped down to a (seemingly more basic) notion of code, actual studies of code as an important aspect of international political communication are scarce, despite it is rather obvious that they have much potential in terms of both practical use and theoretical dwelling. In specific case of this article (and, in wider sense, preceding research by authors) the problem to dwell upon is how such codes could be translated.Translations developed to a quite high level over thousands of years and now appear quickly and conveniently, of certain texts and in needed languages. Level of knowledge of the foreign languages among world's population is also progressing, as well. And yet, even in such conditions language barrier, whether it gets thicker or thinner at some places, diverse in its shapes and forms, remains. But there is an idea of a language which is understandable anywhere in the world: analogue of a text, in which at least some key elements would be understood by anyone, won't be lost in translation, no matter which language was it written in. As we mentioned, operating at a level of sub-text, it could be really more adequately referred to as a universal code, but within the practice of audiovisual media it is indeed often called a language.Audiovisual media, fixation of images on film or videotape and digital images as well is what we mostly talk about in this scientific work, because with civilization evolving we become more and more dependent on what was said in that language, spend more time not only searching for new ways, but developing old, as well. Audiovisual media, in that regard, is produced in almost every possible language, including fictional ones. Internet Movie Database (IMDb) divides languages which are specified as used in different listed audio-visual works into common languages and less-common languages, effectively avoiding the notion of non-common and emphasizing that regardless of how common language is, importance of it in the audiovisual media is entirely a decision of creators.Political studies are, to some point, is a glue, that bonds together different aspects of developing and classifies them accordingly to some wide-spread political doctrines. Knowing how such doctrines inspire certain concepts in the everyday life of the state, how they transform in society's conscience and eventually inspire nation-wide processes is what political studies should concentrate upon and that also might include inspiring the needed and very welcome change in what is known as technology-enhanced language learning (TELL). Studying universal code of audio-visual media in the contexts of International political communication should be taken into consideration in TELL and research thereof, as nowadays people tend to be much more politically involved with the use of Internet and social networks as instruments of political influence, discussion and education – wider then ever and yet also much more restricted then before. Correlation between audio-visual media and new media social platforms, such as Reddit seem to be overlooked and under-researched. Present-day learners are represented mostly by the members of the Facebook/YouTube generation which is more visually developed than whichever of the previous generations. For this generation, online communication via exchanging static and moving images is just as important as face-to-face interaction, often offering knowledge-exchange opportunities. Their expectations strongly influence the modern teaching style by demanding more and more visual aids (first of all films) especially in teaching foreign languages.For political studies in the international relations, audiovisual media, while not exactly being terra incognita, is a place of only a certain level familiarity, which could and should be enriched by further research, as security of the situation pretty much depends on intricate processes of international communication witnessed in a conglomerate of social media and audiovisual media. Already, a situation of hybrid war forming within our own country dictates the need of closer filtration of information provided to us through the social networks, which nowadays, primarily, tend to use audiovisual format to stay fast and relevant. Relevancy of audiovisual media, its whole survival through the years and even decades (centuries are certainly out of question as audiovisual media is much younger then printed one) depended on being fluid, adaptive and developing a very transformative and unique system of approaching the unsuspecting audience from every corner. That resulted in supposed simple entertainment becoming not just one, but several multibillion industries, which intervene in unexpected way when it comes to presenting actual events and then distorting the accounts in latter, fictionalized attempts. ; У статті розглянуто окремий випадок аудіовізуального медіа у зростаючому сегменті політичної науки, який вивчає міжнародну політичну комунікацію. Спеціальна увага приділяється такому інструменту комунікації, як коди та їх універсальність, включно з вивченням інтерпретацій аудіовізуального медіа в контексті політичної комунікації.
In both general humanitarian studies, as well as political studies, the concept of language has a large importance. However, considering any language could be stripped down to a (seemingly more basic) notion of code, actual studies of code as an important aspect of international political communication are scarce, despite it is rather obvious that they have much potential in terms of both practical use and theoretical dwelling. In specific case of this article (and, in wider sense, preceding research by authors) the problem to dwell upon is how such codes could be translated.Translations developed to a quite high level over thousands of years and now appear quickly and conveniently, of certain texts and in needed languages. Level of knowledge of the foreign languages among world's population is also progressing, as well. And yet, even in such conditions language barrier, whether it gets thicker or thinner at some places, diverse in its shapes and forms, remains. But there is an idea of a language which is understandable anywhere in the world: analogue of a text, in which at least some key elements would be understood by anyone, won't be lost in translation, no matter which language was it written in. As we mentioned, operating at a level of sub-text, it could be really more adequately referred to as a universal code, but within the practice of audiovisual media it is indeed often called a language.Audiovisual media, fixation of images on film or videotape and digital images as well is what we mostly talk about in this scientific work, because with civilization evolving we become more and more dependent on what was said in that language, spend more time not only searching for new ways, but developing old, as well. Audiovisual media, in that regard, is produced in almost every possible language, including fictional ones. Internet Movie Database (IMDb) divides languages which are specified as used in different listed audio-visual works into common languages and less-common languages, effectively avoiding the notion of non-common and emphasizing that regardless of how common language is, importance of it in the audiovisual media is entirely a decision of creators.Political studies are, to some point, is a glue, that bonds together different aspects of developing and classifies them accordingly to some wide-spread political doctrines. Knowing how such doctrines inspire certain concepts in the everyday life of the state, how they transform in society's conscience and eventually inspire nation-wide processes is what political studies should concentrate upon and that also might include inspiring the needed and very welcome change in what is known as technology-enhanced language learning (TELL). Studying universal code of audio-visual media in the contexts of International political communication should be taken into consideration in TELL and research thereof, as nowadays people tend to be much more politically involved with the use of Internet and social networks as instruments of political influence, discussion and education – wider then ever and yet also much more restricted then before. Correlation between audio-visual media and new media social platforms, such as Reddit seem to be overlooked and under-researched. Present-day learners are represented mostly by the members of the Facebook/YouTube generation which is more visually developed than whichever of the previous generations. For this generation, online communication via exchanging static and moving images is just as important as face-to-face interaction, often offering knowledge-exchange opportunities. Their expectations strongly influence the modern teaching style by demanding more and more visual aids (first of all films) especially in teaching foreign languages.For political studies in the international relations, audiovisual media, while not exactly being terra incognita, is a place of only a certain level familiarity, which could and should be enriched by further research, as security of the situation pretty much depends on intricate processes of international communication witnessed in a conglomerate of social media and audiovisual media. Already, a situation of hybrid war forming within our own country dictates the need of closer filtration of information provided to us through the social networks, which nowadays, primarily, tend to use audiovisual format to stay fast and relevant. Relevancy of audiovisual media, its whole survival through the years and even decades (centuries are certainly out of question as audiovisual media is much younger then printed one) depended on being fluid, adaptive and developing a very transformative and unique system of approaching the unsuspecting audience from every corner. That resulted in supposed simple entertainment becoming not just one, but several multibillion industries, which intervene in unexpected way when it comes to presenting actual events and then distorting the accounts in latter, fictionalized attempts. ; У статті розглянуто окремий випадок аудіовізуального медіа у зростаючому сегменті політичної науки, який вивчає міжнародну політичну комунікацію. Спеціальна увага приділяється такому інструменту комунікації, як коди та їх універсальність, включно з вивченням інтерпретацій аудіовізуального медіа в контексті політичної комунікації.
Do state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and state capitalism create unfair competition in international markets? Empirical evidence surveyed in this brief suggests that from the turn of the century, state-owned enterprises (SOEs) indeed started competing increasingly with private firms, trading across borders and establishing themselves abroad through foreign direct investment. Some SOEs benefited from government-granted advantages unavailable to their private peers. International legal disputes involving SOEs have multiplied, and discussions of new trade and investment policy initiatives aiming to discipline SOEs have emerged. However, opinions differ as to what are the best policy approaches. The OECD Guidelines on SOEs would go a long way towards maintaining an international level playing field, but these are not mandatory and therefore unevenly implemented. WTO law gives countries freedom in managing their SOEs and focuses instead on disciplining government actions which may distort competition in international markets, irrespective of their ownership status. Some recent preferential trading agreements (PTAs) have included new SOE-specific disciplines that may influence future policy developments. On-going concerns about the allegedly unfair trade practices in emerging market economies with large state sectors, most notably China, are likely to strengthen the pressure for a closer scrutiny of SOEs and a development of new national and international disciplines. Improved transparency and disclosure are likely to be a common denominator of these new initiatives. ; State-owned Enterprises and the Trade Wars ; publishedVersion
We develop a spatial resource model in continuous time in which two agents strategically exploit a mobile resource in a two-location setup. In order to contrast the overexploitation of the resource (the tragedy of commons) that occurs when the player are free to choose where to fish/hunt/extract/harvest, the regulator can establish a series of spatially structured policies. We compare the three situations in which the regulator: (a) leaves the player free to choose where to harvest; (b) establishes a natural reserve where nobody is allowed to harvest; (c) assigns to each player a specific exclusive location to hunt. We show that when preference parameters dictate a low harvesting intensity, the policies cannot mitigate the overexploitation and in addition they worsen the utilities of the players. Conversely, in a context of harsher harvesting intensity, the intervention can help to safeguard the resource, preventing the extinction and also improving the welfare of both players.
We develop a spatial resource model in continuous time in which two agents strategically exploit a mobile resource in a two-locations setup. In order to contrast the overexploitation of the resource (the tragedy of commons) that occurs when the player are free to choose where to fish/hunt/extract/harvest, the regulator can establish a series of spatially structured policies. We compare the three situations in which the regulator: (a) leaves the player free to choose where to harvest; (b) establishes a natural reserve where nobody is allowed to harvest; (c) assigns to each player a specific exclusive location to hunt. We show that when preference parameters dictate a low harvesting intensity, the policies cannot mitigate the overexploitation and in addition they worsen the utilities of the players. Conversely, in a context of harsher harvesting intensity, the intervention can help to safeguard the resource, preventing the extinction and also improving the welfare of both players.
We develop a spatial resource model in continuous time in which two agents strategically exploit a mobile resource in a two-locations setup. In order to contrast the overexploitation of the resource (the tragedy of commons) that occurs when the player are free to choose where to fish/hunt/extract/harvest, the regulator can establish a series of spatially structured policies. We compare the three situations in which the regulator: (a) leaves the player free to choose where to harvest; (b) establishes a natural reserve where nobody is allowed to harvest; (c) assigns to each player a specific exclusive location to hunt. We show that when preference parameters dictate a low harvesting intensity, the policies cannot mitigate the overexploitation and in addition they worsen the utilities of the players. Conversely, in a context of harsher harvesting intensity, the intervention can help to safeguard the resource, preventing the extinction and also improving the welfare of both players.
Since 1960 foreign aid to countries with civil war has exceeded $300 billion in Sub-Saharan Africa alone. Using a global panel of more than 150 civil wars between 1945 and 2000, this paper evaluates the impact of diplomatic, military and economic interventions on conflict duration. Moreover, specific conditions are identified under which foreign interventions work best. The results suggest that diplomatic and military interventions can shorten civil wars, while economic interventions do not affect the duration of civil wars but may play a conditioning role. The findings are obtained by fitting a proportional hazard model for time-varying covariates. They are confirmed using a logit model, which is then expanded for additional robustness checks.
The article aims to present the issue of 'old' versus 'new' wars in relation to their specific features. It focuses on the characteristics of both phenomena, as well as providing an analysis of the causes and sources of armed conflicts and their changing dimensions. Methods of waging war have changed along with the political, economic, social and technological developments which have been observed over the years. The very philosophy of war has undergone changes in a similar way. The article aims to identify the direction of changes in the dimensions of war. It also provides an insight into the privatization of warfare and the constantly growing importance of non-state actors in shaping the international order, and therefore their role in post-modern wars.
The concept of neutrality is one of the most disputed concepts in historical research and modern politics and continues to attract the attention of political scientists. Despite continuingly growing interest in the questions of responsibilities in international conflicts and war politics, there has been little research on the historical origins of neutrality within the European context. Having been transforming throughout its history, Danish neutrality, with its specific background and ideological foundation, represents an interesting topic for analysis. This article addresses the problem of Danish neutrality in the period between the two World Wars. The objective of the study is to investigate why, after having been an important player in European politics and a militarily well-equipped country throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, during the interwar period Denmark refrained from any active participation in world politics and adopted the principle of defenceless neutrality.
History teaching and learning in schools has been the subject of history culture wars in countries such as Sweden, Australia, the US, and Canada. In a Swedish-specific context, this and similar debates should be viewed in relation to the fact that throughout the twentieth century, governments in Sweden, as well as other countries, have regarded history teaching in schools as an important builder of national consciousness. At the same time, Sweden has undergone substantial demographic changes in recent decades. This article analyzes the different perspectives put forward in a debate on the school subject of history in Swedish education as a new syllabus was being introduced. Seixas' approaches to history are used in the analysis. The debate was initiated by historians who criticized the syllabus for the absence of the period of Antiquity. Leading politicians also participated. The collective memory approach was a central perspective on history in schools in the debate.
This is the first paper using household survey data from two countries involved in an international war (Eritrea and Ethiopia) to measure the conflict's impact on children's health in both nations. The identification strategy uses event data to exploit exogenous variation in the conflict's geographic extent and timing and the exposure of different children's birth cohorts to the fighting. The paper uniquely incorporates GPS information on the distance between survey villages and conflict sites to more accurately measure a child's war exposure. War-exposed children in both countries have lower height-for-age Z-scores, with the children in the war-instigating and losing country (Eritrea) suffering more than the winning nation (Ethiopia). Negative impacts on boys and girls of being born during the conflict are comparable to impacts for children alive at the time of the war. Effects are robust to including region-specific time trends, alternative conflict exposure measures, and an instrumental variables strategy.
This paper attempts to sketch a 'rhetorical economy' of feminist opposition to the sex industry, via the case study of debates around Amnesty International's 2016 policy supporting decriminalisation as the best way to ensure sex workers' human rights and safety. Drawing on Ahmed's concept of 'affective economies' in which emotions circulate as capital, I explore an emotionally loaded discursive field which is also characterised by specific and calculated rhetorical manoeuvres for political gain. My analysis is situated in what Rentschler and Thrift call the 'discursive publics' of contemporary Western feminism, which encompass academic, activist, and public/media discussions. I argue that contemporary feminist opposition to the sex industry is shaped by a 'sex war' paradigm which relies on a binary opposition between radical feminist and 'sex positive' perspectives. In this framework, sex workers become either helpless victims or privileged promoters of the industry, which leaves little room for discussions of their diverse experiences and their labour rights. As Amnesty's policy was debated, this allowed opponents of the sex industry to construct sex workers' rights as 'men's rights', either to purchase sex or to benefit from its sale as third parties or 'pimps'. These opponents mobilised sex industry 'survivors' to dismiss sex worker activists supporting Amnesty's policy as privileged and unrepresentative, which concealed activists' experiences of violence and abuse and obscured the fact that decriminalisation is supported by sex workers across the world.