Suchergebnisse

Discussions of middle powers in international relations scholarship are hampered by a lack of clarity about what the term 'middle power' actually means. This has not stopped increasing numbers of states that cannot claim great power ranking but resist being categorised as small powers imagining middle power status for themselves in regional and global affairs. In an attempt to shed light on middle power imagining, three concepts of middle power are identified. It is contended that one or more of these concepts influences the foreign policies of states ambitious for middle power recognition in regional and global affairs. Identifying which concept, or which combination of concepts, influences a state's middle power imagining may contribute to deeper understandings of the effectiveness, or otherwise, of its foreign policies. Adapted from the source document.

This essay identifies two streams of middle power imagining in Australian foreign policy. The first springs from four sources, forming a version of middle power imagining that emphasizes security challenges facing Australia, requiring alliances with "great and powerful friends". The second stream, springing from the fifth source outlined below, reflects an ambiguous idealism in the middle power imagining it produces. The essay notes that the first stream of middle power imagining is the dominant one in Australian foreign policy thinking.

In its first section, this article surveys several understandings of state failure, the doctrine of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P), and proposes a special category of states suffering under specific forms of misgovernance: ruined states -- the consequence of ruling elites' unwillingness or incapacity to guarantee human security (freedom from want and fear) for their citizens. This unwillingness and/or incapacity is described as the new cannibalism -- alluding to the devouring of state resources by corrupt and incompetent power elites, resulting in widespread suffering among the peoples they govern. Secondly, the article summarises the decline in governance in Papua New Guinea (PNG) over some three decades of independence, noting the unfolding of high levels of corruption and incapacity in politics and the civil service. This suggests that the new cannibalism is threatening to emerge in PNG today, placing the country on a ruined state trajectory. Third, given that successive governments in PNG have appeared unwilling to accept responsibility for protecting all Papua New Guineans, or have been incapable of doing so (thereby failing to honor the UN-endorsed principle of R2P), the question is asked: Should appropriate representatives of the international community be anticipating a form of intervention? The article concludes by canvassing a mentoring/collaborative engagement strategy. Adapted from the source document.

In its first section, this article surveys several understandings of state failure, the doctrine of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P), and proposes a special category of states suffering under specific forms of misgovernance: ruined states -- the consequence of ruling elites' unwillingness or incapacity to guarantee human security (freedom from want and fear) for their citizens. This unwillingness and/or incapacity is described as the new cannibalism -- alluding to the devouring of state resources by corrupt and incompetent power elites, resulting in widespread suffering among the peoples they govern. Secondly, the article summarises the decline in governance in Papua New Guinea (PNG) over some three decades of independence, noting the unfolding of high levels of corruption and incapacity in politics and the civil service. This suggests that the new cannibalism is threatening to emerge in PNG today, placing the country on a ruined state trajectory. Third, given that successive governments in PNG have appeared unwilling to accept responsibility for protecting all Papua New Guineans, or have been incapable of doing so (thereby failing to honor the UN-endorsed principle of R2P), the question is asked: Should appropriate representatives of the international community be anticipating a form of intervention? The article concludes by canvassing a mentoring/collaborative engagement strategy. Adapted from the source document.

Patience reviews 'Pathways to Asia: The Politics of Engagement' edited by Richard Robison.