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‘Global Transformation’: Chinese Scholars Debate the International System in the Aftermath of the War in Ukraine (2022–2024)
Issue:
Volume 19, Issue 2
Abstract
This article explores discussions among Chinese International Relations scholars on the effects of the war in Ukraine. While official Chinese foreign policy rhetoric is often vaguely centred around obscure slogans, scholarly debates can be used as a ‘proxy measure’ to gain insights on the prevailing...
Unravelling Indonesia’s Failure to Implement the ASEAN Petroleum Security Agreement (APSA)
Issue:
Volume 19, Issue 2
Abstract
In 1975, Indonesia initiated oil and gas cooperation, leading to the establishment of the ASEAN Council on Petroleum (ASCOPE) in 1976. Then, the ASEAN Petroleum Security Agreement (APSA) was created to improve petroleum security and minimise the impact of emergencies experienced by ASEAN Member...
Interwoven Resilience: Non-State Actors and Formal Institutions in Ukraine’s Urban War Effort
Issue:
Volume 19, Issue 2
Abstract
This article explores the perceptions of an interplay between formal and informal institutions in sustaining Ukraine’s defence and governance during the full-scale Russian invasion. Focusing on three cities—Vinnytsia, Mykolayiv and Sumy—it examines how civil society organisations, business...
Examining Contending Explanatory Models of Nuclear Proliferation: Theoretical and Policy Implications
Issue:
Volume 19, Issue 2
Abstract
This study examines major theoretical models that seek to explain states’ pursuit of nuclear weapons programmes and decisions to abandon them. A comparative historical analysis of multiple case studies suggests that the traditional ‘security’ model cannot be supplanted by Scott Sagan’s challenger...
Measuring Central and Eastern European Countries’ Responses to Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine
Issue:
Volume 19, Issue 1
Abstract
Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which started in February 2022, led to various (often confrontational) reactions of Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries to Russia. The article measures the variety of responsive foreign and defence policies of CEE countries in the first twelve...
The Role of the European Parliament in EU Foreign Policy: Parliamentary Diplomacy and the Development of the EuroNest Inter-Parliamentary Assembly
Issue:
Volume 19, Issue 1
Abstract
This article examines the role of the European Parliament (EP) in EU foreign policy and parliamentary diplomacy through the lens of the social theory of functionalism. By focusing on the case of the EuroNest Inter-Parliamentary Assembly, the study discusses the forms of diplomacy developed...
From New Humanitarianism to Total Defence: Conceptualising a New Dimension of Aid Organisations in Ukraine’s War Effort
Issue:
Volume 19, Issue 1
Abstract
A new wave of organisations, primarily established after February 2022 in response to the Russian military aggression against Ukraine, provide aid to civilians while also contributing to Ukraine's military defence. This hybrid set of activities challenges the humanitarian principles of humanity,...
Navigating Geopolitical Shocks: Comparative Strategies of the Visegrád 4 and Indonesia in Global Value Chains
Issue:
2024 - Volume 18, Issue 4
Abstract
This paper explores the influence of geopolitical events on global value chains, particularly focusing on the Visegrád 4 countries (Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia) and Indonesia. The objective is to analyse how these semi-peripheral nations, which are more susceptible to geopolitical...
Slovakia-Taiwan Relations: Slovakia's Pragmatic Approach as a Model of Engagement with Taiwan
Issue:
2024 - Volume 18, Issue 4
Abstract
This article examines the evolution of Slovakia-Taiwan relations, focusing on the early 2020s (specifically 2020–2023), a period marked by a shift toward closer ties. Despite adhering to the One China policy, Slovakia has strengthened its engagement with Taiwan, driven by both regional and...
The Growing Relations between India and the Baltic States in a New Geopolitical Environment
Issue:
2024 - Volume 18, Issue 4
Abstract
The Baltic states, positioned as a conduit between Eastern and Western Europe, possess considerable geopolitical importance for numerous nations globally, including India. India views the Baltic states as a strategic entry point to Western and Northern Europe, offering significant opportunities...
India’s Beckoning of Central Europe amid Shifting Geopolitics
Issue:
2024 - Volume 18, Issue 4
Abstract
For a long time, countries in Central Europe (CE) were caught in the structural rivalry of East and West, and Indian policy towards the region too remained passive. The end of the Cold War preoccupied India and the CE region alike, focusing on their economic transformation and recalibrating...
Hungary’s Relations with the BRICS in the Context of the Changing World Order
Issue:
2024 - Volume 18, Issue 4
Abstract
The paper aims to analyse Hungary’s evolving foreign policy in a changing world order since the politico-economic regime change of the early 1990s, but with the main focus on relations with the member states of the BRICS group since the initiation of Hungary’s ‘Global Opening’ policy in 2011....
The ‘Geographical Here’ and the Pursuit of Ontological Security: Spheres of Influence Narratives and Great Power Identity in Times of Threatened Status
Issue:
2024 - Volume 18, Issue 4
Abstract
This article explains why self-identified great powers seek to provide a ‘sphere of influence meaning’ to geographical space when such narratives have the potential to insult the smaller actors in the space over which such powers seek exclusive influence. The article draws and expands on the...
Can China’s Developmental Peace Be an Alternative to Liberal Peace? A Critical Feminist Interrogation
Issue:
2024 - Volume 18, Issue 4
Abstract
A growing body of literature within international relations (IR) has attempted to understand China’s approach to peacebuilding, so-called developmental peace, mostly in relation to critiques of liberal peace. The literature shares an assumption that developmental peace is distinct from liberal...
The Three Seas Initiative and Romania’s Grand Behaviour in the Black Sea Area: Change and Continuity
Issue:
2024 - Volume 18, Issue 3
Abstract
Drawing on classical realism, the article investigates whether the Three Seas Initiative (3SI), just like the other subregional projects that Romania took part in since joining NATO in 2004, has been part of Romania’s external balancing towards Russia. In contrast to the 1990s, when the Black...
The EU’s Approach to Sanctions on Russia: A Critical Analysis of the Existing Literature
Issue:
2024 - Volume 18, Issue 3
Abstract
This article focuses on the EU's sanctions against Russia, which were adopted in several rounds after Russia’s aggressive actions against Ukraine in 2014 and 2022. This article reviews and critically examines the existing academic works on this topic. In particular, it identifies, distinguishes...
Conventional Arms Control Agreements in Europe: Conditions of Success and Failure
Issue:
2024 - Volume 18, Issue 3
Abstract
Under what conditions are adversarial conventional arms control agreements (CAC) in Europe successful or unsuccessful? This study aims to identify the conjunctural causes of conventional arms control success in Europe from the end of World War One to the present based on a dataset of 22 cases....
Geopolitical Positioning of a Small State: Serbia in the Shadow of Yugoslavia’s ‘Third Way’
Issue:
2024 - Volume 18, Issue 2
Abstract
This article examines Serbia’s positioning in the East-West axis during the post-Cold War era. This is a specific example of the ‘third way’ in twenty-first century geopolitical behaviour. The small country remains non-aligned within the existing alliances of the East and the West, trying to...
Two’s Company, Three’s a Crowd: Tripolarity and War
Issue:
2024 - Volume 18, Issue 2
Abstract
International systems of three great powers, tripolar systems, remain an understudied topic. In this article, I make three claims about tripolarity. First, it is more warlike than either bipolarity or multipolarity. Second, the two weaker poles of a tripolar system usually ally against the...
EU’s External Action and Russia: How Can Institutionalisation Affect Decision Making?
Issue:
2024 - Volume 18, Issue 1
Abstract
The independent role of international institutions has been taken to be the core of the debate between institutionalists and realists. This study explores the EU’s relations with Russia in two cases as a testbed for this debate. Institutional independence, meaning restriction on the ambitions...
Half-Hearted or Pragmatic? Explaining EU Strategic Autonomy and the European Defence Fund through Institutional Dynamics
Issue:
2024 - Volume 18, Issue 1
Abstract
In 2016, the EU Global Strategy introduced the ambition of strategic autonomy referring to the ability to autonomously protect the Union against external threats. To realise this ambition, the EU also launched various capability development initiatives, in particular the European Defence Fund...
Terrorism Financing Typologies: Comparison of the PKK and ISIL in Turkey
Issue:
2024 - Volume 18, Issue 1
Abstract
This comparative case study investigates the financing typologies of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Turkey. The PKK is a Marxist-Leninist organisation that pursues ethnic separationist policies in Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria. ISIL is a radical...
The Institutionalisation of Security Norms in the Context of Cyber Alignments: The Transatlantic Alignment in the Cyber Domain
Issue:
2024 - Volume 18, Issue 2
Abstract
Realists argue that security alliances are established to confront military threats posed by one state to others. In contrast, this study argues that nonmilitary cyberthreats have become a factor in establishing new security arrangements that do not necessarily take the form of an alliance,...
Western Orientalism Targeting Eastern Europe: An Emerging Research Programme
Issue:
2023 - Volume 17, Issue 4
Abstract
This article discusses pre-existing studies of Euro-Orientalism (Orientalism directed at Eastern Europe), and advocates for further study of the inequal relationship between Europe's West and East. In this sense, this article should help to overview and advance the study this phenomenon. A...
‘A Decolonising Moment of Sorts’: The Baltic States’ Vicarious Identification with Ukraine and Related Domestic and Foreign Policy Developments
Issue:
2023 - Volume 17, Issue 4
Abstract
In a recent essay on the war in Ukraine in The Journal of Genocide Research, Maria Mälksoo argues that the ongoing war in Ukraine has become a ‘decolonising moment of sorts’ as Central and Eastern European states have started taking the ‘moral and practical lead’ in supporting Ukraine and thus...
Transcending Two Percent: Toward a Prioritarian Model of NATO Burden-Sharing
Issue:
2023 - Volume 17, Issue 4
Abstract
This article argues that NATO's current burden-sharing regime, which I term the proportional model of NATO burden-sharing and which obligates each NATO member to allocate at least 2 percent of its GDP to defence, is deeply flawed from a purely ethical standpoint. This is because the proportional...
The Role of the UN Security Council in the Fight Against Piracy in the Gulf of Guinea
Issue:
2023 - Volume 17, Issue 3
Abstract
The UN Security Council continues to play a critical role in ensuring the maintenance of international peace and security. Towards this end, the Council has over the years delineated maritime piracy in the Gulf of Guinea as a threat to international peace and security. Through Resolutions 2018...
Exploring Russia’s Postponed War Against Ukraine: A Corpus-Based Analysis of Strategic Studies Institutes’ Publications from 1991 to 2014
Issue:
2023 - Volume 17, Issue 4
Abstract
The article conducts a corpus study of official reports and papers from the Strategic Studies Institutes of the United States, NATO, the European Union, Ukraine, and Russia up to and including 2014 to determine how Russia’s hybrid war against Ukraine was represented and how postponed it proved...
Progressive and Regressive Securitisation: Covid, Russian Aggression and the Ethics of Security
Abstract
This paper contributes to the debate about the normative assessment of securitisation in light of Covid-19 and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It develops the distinction of progressive and regressive securitisation. In doing so, it emphasises the processual, contextual and ambiguous nature...
Constructing Nazis on Political Demand: Agenda-Setting and Framing in Russian State-Controlled TV Coverage of the Euromaidan, Annexation of Crimea and the War in Donbas
Abstract
The central role of mass communication in the construction of crises, threats and enemies was acknowledged decades ago. In those cases when media reporting about crises, threats and enemies is studied, it is predominately done based on the media content from Western liberal democracies. The...