“Doomed to Good Relations”

This article sheds new light on the end of the Cold War and the fate of anti-imperialism in the twentieth century by exploring how the Soviet Union and the Islamic Republic of Iran achieved a rapprochement in the late 1980s. Both the USSR and Iran had invested significant resources into presenting themselves as the leaders of the anti-imperialist movement and “the global movement of Islam,” and both the Soviet and Iranian governments sought to export their models of anti-imperialist postcolonial statehood to Afghanistan. However, by the mid-1980s both the Soviet Union and revolutionary Iran were forced to confront the limits to their anti-imperialist projects amid the increasing pull of globalization. Elites in both countries responded to these challenges by walking back their commitments from world revolution and agreeing to maintain the Najibullah regime in Afghanistan as a bulwark against Islamist forces hostile to Marxism-Leninism and Iran's brand of Islamic revolution. This joint pragmatic turn, however, contributed to a drought in anti-imperialist politics throughout the Middle East, leaving the more radical voices of transnational actors as one of the only consistent champions of anti-imperialism. Drawing on new sources from the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, as well as sources from Iran, Afghanistan, and the “Afghan Arabs,” the article sheds empirical and analytical light on discussions of the fate of anti-imperialism in the twilight of the Cold War.

Russian language in modern web space: dynamic processes and development trends

This article investigates new language trends in Internet communication. The goal was a comprehensive description of new features that appeared at every level of the language system functioning in the web space. Investigation of new systemic web phenomena has both relevance and perspectives, as the focus of literary language development has shifted from literary texts to web-based texts. The research material included Facebook posts and comments. The material was processed with stylistic methods (contextual, stylistic compatibility, interpretation, etc.). The synchronic analysis was accompanied with elements of diachronic commentary. The analysis also considered the normative aspect, yet the emphasis was made on the evolution of contemporary literary language influenced by digitalization and the growth of the Internet. The important factor in language transformation and development is realization of the creative function of the language in the user-generated content of the informal segment of the Internet. The multiple extralinguistic factors influencing Internet communication are described in details, but it is the creative function of the language and the features of new communication in the Internet space that are of primary importance for the development of the literary language in the Russian segment of the Internet. The study uses examples to prove the scientific hypothesis that new language phenomena on the Internet are not random, but on the contrary are systemic, as they are manifested at every language level. This allows drawing conclusions about the inevitability of transformation of the Russian language in the future, as the language will provide the communication of digital society that is already developing new ethic norms. Considering the trend on strengthening the legal frames for actions of state and transnational actors in the network space, the study of the Russian language and its trends in the Internet as one of the powerful means of soft power makes our study relevant for forming legislative mechanisms aimed at preserving Russian national interests in the international communication. The study is perspective, since it makes a significant contribution to preserving cultural and linguistic identity of Russian citizens in front of the growing international competition and uncertainty. In addition, being a linguistic study, this work deals with the issues of processing information with its increased speed and volume.

Terrorism and Technology

The globalization era, also known as the era of technological evolution, has changed the narrative of international, regional and national security strategy. Terrorism is an evitable word use to describe recent events in the world. the emergence of new technological devices has both negative and positive impact in the world challenged by transnational actors. The paper examines the definition and forms of acts of terrorism in connection with technology, in order to understand the continual existence of the menace despite measures adopted by states. Hence, there exist no generally accepted definition of terrorism. The paper analysis the link between terrorism and technology from two dimensions; first, exploring the impact of technology in relation to the rise of terrorist groups and as well the role of the media. The second part, examines the challenges and the advantage of technology in relation to national security.

Denial and Rejection: International Law and Donald Trump’s Foreign Policy Agenda

Since Trump’s Administration took office, this elusory question has haunted most issues in the international law. So far, the Trump Administration has been in office for a little over forty-four months, a tumultuous period that has disrupted international law and international politics. Another looming question is whether the Trump Administration’s many initiatives will permanently change the nature of America’s foreign policy? In particular, this paper will discuss Trump’s foreign policy, since his emerging philosophy seems to be a general rejection of the Obama approach: not “engage-translate-leverage,” but rather, “disengage black hole-hard power.” Wherever possible, the Trump instinct seems to be to disengage-unilateralism or, as he calls it, “America First.” The United States of America and Trump are sturdy actors in the making and unmaking of international law. But the basic idea underlying international law is that international law is no longer just for nation-states or national governments. What Jeremy Bentham once called “inter-national law”, the law between and among sovereign nations, has evolved into a hybrid body of international and domestic law developed by a large number of public and private transnational actors.

Post-UN Institutions Specific to the Order of Civilizations

Starting to explore the futurist concept of the “global order of civilizations” and making some notes about the new actors (“the civilizations”) playing as global gladiators and new geopolitical actors on the 21st century stage, we shall point out the institutional framework of such order, that, in our opinion, should include specific bodies and organisms such as: The High Representative of the Global Eco-Regions to the Global Council of Peace; the Global Mediator of Civilizations; the Global Council of Peace; a High Representative for Nature’s Rights; a Global Council of Protection, Preservation and Regeneration of Terrestrial Ecosystems; High Representatives of the rights of planet Earth (within the context of a global law of environment offering specifically to the planet Earth its own rights and a specific juridical global personality, as a higher level of the today Green Deal, as an exit from the traditional patrimonial–absolutist conception about nature as object, as “unlimited patrimony” submitted to all kind of abusive actions and politics of the mankind, governments, or corporations). Global environmental law will become more and more compulsory for transnational actors, in order to ensure the concrete protection of ecosystems, a protection that we are noticing not to be as effective as the state one.

Constitutionalising the Right to Water in Kenya and Slovenia: Domestic Drivers, Opportunity Structures, and Transnational Norm Entrepreneurs

The international norm development that in 2010 culminated with the UN Resolution on the Human Right to Water and Sanitation changed international law. To what extent did this influence the parallel legal developments evident in many national constitutions across the globe? This article analyses the mobilisation for a constitutional right to water and sanitation in Kenya and Slovenia, identifying the main national and transnational actors involved and assessing their significance for the processes of constitutionalising the right. By analysing two very different cases, tracing their constitutionalisation processes through analysis of archival material, the article provides multifaceted insights into processes of norm diffusion from international norm entrepreneurs to the national level and the agency of domestic actors and their opportunity structures. We find that although the outcomes of the processes in Kenya and Slovenia are similar in that both constitutions contain articles securing the right to water, the framing of the right differs. Furthermore, we conclude that while there is involvement of international actors in both cases, domestic pro-water activists and their normative and political opportunity structures are more important for understanding the successful constitutionalisation of the right to water and differences in the framing of the right.

Transnational Lawmaking Coalitions for Human Rights

Transnational Lawmaking Coalitions is the first comprehensive analysis of the role and impact of informal collaborations in the UN human rights treaty bodies. Issues as central to international human rights as the right to water, abortion, torture, and hate speech are often only clarified through the instrument of treaty interpretations. This book dives beneath the surface of the formal access, procedures, and actors of the UN treaty body system to reveal how the experts and external collaborators play a key role in the development of human rights. Nina Reiners introduces the concept of 'Transnational Lawmaking Coalitions' within a novel theoretical framework and draws on a number of detailed case studies and original data. This study makes a significant contribution to the scholarship on human rights, transnational actors, and international organizations, and contributes to broader debates in international relations and international law.

The Ethics of Exile

Using the tools of normative political theory, this book explores the political relationship between exiles and the communities from which they have fled. It makes two central claims. First, exiles have rights and responsibilities in their homelands and are morally required and permitted to play particular roles in the homeland. Second, in playing these roles, exile politics can perform two corrective functions: it can repair defective political institutions at home and it can compensate for institutional shortcomings in the global domain. In short, exiles engage in a ‘politics from below’ and ‘away’ that produces alternative sites of power and can mitigate the several failings of an international system of states in an unequal world. This normative exploration of exile politics has a few implications. It counters an overwhelming focus, in both political philosophy and public discourse, on the consequences of forced migration for receiving societies—a focus that often treats exiles as passive actors. Recognizing the political agency of exiles reveals another side of the migration story, and allows for a more fulsome exploration of what political obligation and membership mean in an increasingly transnational world. Identifying exiles as important domestic and transnational actors also points to the ways third parties ought to enable the different roles exiles play in their communities of origin and in the international domain. And recognizing exile agency highlights the shortcomings of an international system of refugee protection that focuses on exiles’ humanitarian needs but denies them their political rights and agency.

Transnational law – a new system of law?

The paper presents the emergence and evolution of the concept of transnational law, from the Philip Jessup’s 1956 novation to the latest approaches, mainly from the western legal scholarship. In the legal writings from Romania or Republic of Moldova, the phenomenon of transnational law remains unexplored or, at best, mentioned incidental as a synonym of a modern “lex mercatoria”. Likewise, in Russian scholarship, research on transnational law bears a strong private imprint and ubiquitous reluctance may be noted. This article aims to discuss, from the perspective of legal pluralism, the loss of the state monopoly in law making, the pluralization of sources of legitimacy for transnational actors, and the reconsideration of the scope of the law, by de-territorializing it. Transnational law is seen thus not just a private regime, but as a system of normative law that transcends international or national law, acts in a distinct social space and addresses specific actors, not only private, but also public or hybrid. In Romanian legal knowledge this approach is missing.