Suchergebnisse

Abstract
This article re-defines evidence-based policing as 'a decision-making process which integrates the best available evidence, professional judgement and community values, preferences and circumstances'. The article argues that this definition serves to position evidence-based policing more clearly as a research-informed, practitioner-centred, and community-oriented approach to policing practice. It moreover advances links between evidence-based policing and related concepts—such as evidence-based medicine—which, in turn, promises to address misunderstandings in (and streamline) debates about evidence-based practice across disciplinary lines. The article provides an in-depth discussion of each key element of its proposed three-pronged definition—best available evidence, professional judgement, and community values, preferences, and circumstances—through a review of ongoing discussions about evidence-based policing in the field of criminology and evolving discussions (and conceptualizations) of evidence-based practice across other disciplines. Finally, the article outlines how its proposed definition—and its three integral elements—can guide the future development of an evidence-based policing agenda.

AbstractThis article seeks to explore the relevance of the concept of international friendship for the study of EU foreign policy. Drawing on a nascent friendship literature developing in the field of IR, this article argues that the EU's friendships – relations with significant others based on shared narratives and projects – play an important part in the EU's construction of its international identity. To illustrate this argument, the article provides an analysis of the EU's relations with Japan. The analysis suggests that EU‐Japan relations can usefully be described as an emergent international friendship which – revolving around the narrative of a Free and Open Indo‐Pacific and shared projects such as the EU‐Japan Partnership on Sustainable Connectivity and Quality Infrastructure – shapes and solidifies the EU's self‐image as an actor in international affairs.

This article argues that interactionist role theory holds much potential for complementing the ontological security literature in the field of International Relations. Concretely, the article argues that an interactionist role theory perspective promises to supplement the ontological security literature in at least two significant respects. First, it allows for a better understanding of how an international actor's (capacity to provide) ontological security is tied to its ability to realize its 'self' in society through the making and playing of roles (and the subsequent casting of others). Second, it emphasizes how reflective intelligence enables an international actor to address destabilizing disconnects between its 'self'-image and societal role-play, and to develop a measure of ontological resilience (a capacity to constructively engage with – and to recover from – ontological security challenges). To illustrate this argument, the article provides a case study, which explores, from an interactionist role theory perspective, how the European Union's ontological security has been strengthened, challenged and restored in its interaction with its Southern and Eastern Neighbourhood.

This article argues that interactionist role theory holds much potential for complementing the ontological security literature in the field of International Relations. Concretely, the article argues that an interactionist role theory perspective promises to supplement the ontological security literature in at least two significant respects. First, it allows for a better understanding of how an international actor's (capacity to provide) ontological security is tied to its ability to realize its 'self' in society through the making and playing of roles (and the subsequent casting of others). Second, it emphasizes how reflective intelligence enables an international actor to address destabilizing disconnects between its 'self'-image and societal role-play, and to develop a measure of ontological resilience (a capacity to constructively engage with – and to recover from – ontological security challenges). To illustrate this argument, the article provides a case study, which explores, from an interactionist role theory perspective, how the European Union's ontological security has been strengthened, challenged and restored in its interaction with its Southern and Eastern Neighbourhood.

The regional roles external actors play, such as 'China's role in Africa' or 'the US role in East Asia', have long been popular subjects of analysis in the international relations literature. Yet, the emergence and evolution of these roles remains remarkably under-theorized. While some 'new regionalist' scholars have discussed the dynamics of an external actor's regional involvement by referring to the concepts of 'penetration' and 'socialization', neither concept, this article argues, is sufficiently equipped to capture how external actors come to aspire and realize their regional roles. To address this shortcoming, the article employs an interactionist role theory perspective, which draws on the work of social psychologist George Herbert Mead. In following this perspective, the article argues that external actors develop regional role aspirations as they draw on their creativity and reflexivity to overcome experienced uncertainties. To realize these aspirations, the article suggests, external actors seek to cast significant others into corresponding roles. Alter-casting, the article argues in this context, is critical for understanding the (re)constitution of an external actor's regional role, and thus a region's social structure.

The regional roles external actors play, such as 'China's role in Africa' or 'the US role in East Asia', have long been popular subjects of analysis in the international relations literature. Yet, the emergence and evolution of these roles remains remarkably under-theorized. While some 'new regionalist' scholars have discussed the dynamics of an external actor's regional involvement by referring to the concepts of 'penetration' and 'socialization', neither concept, this article argues, is sufficiently equipped to capture how external actors come to aspire and realize their regional roles. To address this shortcoming, the article employs an interactionist role theory perspective, which draws on the work of social psychologist George Herbert Mead. In following this perspective, the article argues that external actors develop regional role aspirations as they draw on their creativity and reflexivity to overcome experienced uncertainties. To realize these aspirations, the article suggests, external actors seek to cast significant others into corresponding roles. Alter-casting, the article argues in this context, is critical for understanding the (re)constitution of an external actor's regional role, and thus a region's social structure.

AbstractFor decades, actorness has been a much‐debated concept central to the theorization and analysis of the EU's evolution as an international actor. While this concept is often presented as a set of factors, which together shape the EU's capacity to act internationally, the literature displays a surprisingly deficient understanding of how these factors interact in the emergence of actorness. To address this gap, this article theorizes about actorness from an interactionist role theory perspective, which draws on the works of social psychologist George Herbert Mead. In building on this perspective, the article conceptualizes actorness as an entity's capacity to (re)‐imagine and realize roles for its 'self' in (specific contexts of) international affairs. This capacity, the approach suggests, emerges in the interplay of (social and material) resources, creative action and (domestic and external) role expectations.

AbstractThe concept of differentiated integration (DI) has spawned a wide‐ranging research agenda that has significantly advanced scholarly understanding of the complex and often uneven process of European integration. Discussions about DI have suffered, however, from conceptual stretching as DI has been applied to an increasing number of EU policy areas, including those that function on the basis of intergovernmental co‐operation rather than supranational integration. To address this problem, we propose to distinguish between DI and differentiated co‐operation (DC) as two subtypes of differentiation, depending on whether such a phenomenon occurs in a policy area that operates along the lines of integration or co‐operation respectively. We illustrate the usefulness of this conceptualization by applying it to the cases of the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) and the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (AFSJ). We conclude by highlighting avenues for further research that the distinction between DI and DC suggests.