Reconstructing hierarchy as the key international relations concept and its implications for the study of Japanese national identity

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 507-518
Author(s):  
Michal Kolmaš
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
International Relations ◽  
World System ◽  
State Sovereignty ◽  
The West ◽  
Sovereign State ◽  
Hierarchical Relationship ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Post War

AbstractFor the last few decades, the discipline of international relations has been littered with anarchy. Since Waltz'sTheory of International Politics, it has been assumed that states are formally equal sovereign unitary actors operating in an anarchic world system and that their identities and interests are defined by the very existence of anarchy. This article shatters this conception. It offers a ‘hierarchical worldview’ in order to illustrate that the very concepts of state, sovereignty, and anarchy are discursive creations inherently tied to the practice of hierarchy. I use a case study of Japanese national identity to illustrate this practice. The narratives of Japan as an autonomous and sovereign state were inextricably linked to Japan's hierarchical relationship toward Asia and the West (pre-war) and the USA (post-war). Japan's sovereignty and autonomy were then formulated within the practice of hierarchy.

New Rights for Old? Cosmopolitan Citizenship and the Critique of State Sovereignty

2003 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 332-349 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Chandler
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
State Sovereignty ◽  
Nation State ◽  
Focus Attention ◽  
Sovereign State ◽  
Global Citizens ◽  
Global Issues ◽  
Cosmopolitan Democracy ◽  
Cosmopolitan Citizenship ◽  
First Time

Cosmopolitan international relations theorists envisage a process of expanding cosmopolitan democracy and global governance, in which for the first time there is the possibility of global issues being addressed on the basis of new forms of democracy, derived from the universal rights of global citizens. They suggest that, rather than focus attention on the territorially limited rights of the citizen at the level of the nation-state, more emphasis should be placed on extending democracy and human rights to the international sphere. This paper raises problems with extending the concept of rights beyond the bounds of the sovereign state, without a mechanism of making these new rights accountable to their subject. The emerging gap, between holders of cosmopolitan rights and those with duties, tends to create dependency rather than to empower. So while the new rights remain tenuous, there is a danger that the cosmopolitan framework can legitimise the abrogation of the existing rights of democracy and self-government preserved in the UN Charter framework.

scholarly journals ‘Doing What is Right’: Researching Intimacy, Work and Family Life in Glasgow, 1945-1960

2006 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 66-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sue Innes ◽  
Linda McKie
Keyword(s):  
Work And Family ◽  
Family Roles ◽  
Paid Work ◽  
The West ◽  
Male Breadwinner ◽  
Low Incomes ◽  
Family Theory ◽  
Post War ◽  
The Uk

Understanding discursive shifts over the twentieth century in relation to family roles, paid work and care is essential to any critical review of contemporary family theory and policies. This paper charts aspects of these shifts. An analysis of case records of the Royal Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (RSSPCC), 1945 to 1960 is presented. Based upon these data we reflect upon the construction of the working-class family in the West of Scotland and draw upon one case study to illustrate issues further. This post-war period was one of rapid social and technological change. It is commonly perceived as a period of segregated gender roles, and in the UK a predominant male-breadwinner family model. The RSSPCC case records suggest that family lives and forms, particularly for those on low incomes, were diverse throughout this period. Although prosecutions for cruelty and neglect are dominant in perceptions of the society, most of its work was in material assistance, advice and surveillance. This latter aspect is considered in this paper.

scholarly journals Religion and International Relations: What Do We Know and How Do We Know It?

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 328
Author(s):  
Jeffrey Haynes
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
Ir Theory ◽  
The West ◽  
Time Period ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Islamist Terrorism ◽  
Clash Of Civilisations ◽  
First Time ◽  
Second Period

The article surveys the recent scholarly study of religion and international relations/International Relations (ir/IR). The focus of the article is on two discrete periods: pre-9 September 2001 (‘9/11’) and post-9/11. During the first time period, Iran’s Islamic revolution (1979), the civil war in former Yugoslavia and Huntington’s ‘clash of civilisations’ (1993) were major foci of attention. The second period saw a large number of scholarly accounts following the 9/11 attacks on the USA, with a sustained focus on the international securitisation of Islam. The article also briefly surveys the position of religion in IR theory. The article concludes that following the recent diminution of the threat to the West of Islamist terrorism—subsequent to the apparent demise of Islamic State and the fragmentation and dissipation of al Qaeda—the study of religion in IR theory needs to take better account of changing circumstances to arrive at a better understanding of how religion impacts on international relations/International Relations.

Yugoslavia—a Peripheral Tragedy

1992 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 281-293
Author(s):  
David A. Dyker
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Economic Performance ◽  
Financial Support ◽  
The West ◽  
The Past ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Decisive Action ◽  
Post War ◽  
Domestic Instability ◽  
The Given

The post-war political economy of Yugoslavia is analysed in terms of an interaction between patterns of international relations which have tended to peripheralise Yugoslavia and stubborn internal problems of centre-periphery relations. It is argued that the tendency for the West to give open-ended financial support to Yugoslavia for political reasons has in the past made it regrettably easy for Yugoslav governments to postpone decisive action on these internal problems. The present civil war situation in Yugoslavia, and the likely dissolution of the Yugoslav state, are explained in terms of a combination of unresolved centre-periphery problems and very poor economic performance over the past two decades or so. The analysis underlines the danger that economic aid may in the long run further destabilise countries suffering from this kind of domestic instability, and that processes of democratisation, highly desirable in themselves, may have similar results in the given circumstances.

scholarly journals LAOS NATIONAL IDENTITY CHANGE IN PERSPECTIVE OF RE-ORIENTALISM: A CASE STUDY OF THE 2020 LAOS NATIONAL TOURISM VIDEO

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lee YeonKyung
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
The United States ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Major Influence ◽  
Identity Change ◽  
Asian Countries ◽  
The West ◽  
Economic Dimension ◽  
Study Case

The formation of national identity by the Lao government has been unsuccessful due to globalization since 2000. The Lao government realized this and decided to shift its focus to the economic dimension as a means to unite the Lao people. In the 2000s, the West had a major influence on Laos representation, but after the 2008 economic crisis in the United States, Laos prioritize the trade with China and South Korea. As the global economic environment changed, Laos needed to attract the attention of Asian tourists. In this situation, re-orientalism becomes a cultural strategy exclusive to Asian countries. Simultaneously, re-orientalism shows a shift in the nature of Laos' national identity; from essentialism to pragmatism. As the study case, the 2020 Laos national tourism video shows that re-orientalism emphasizes primitive images and simple pleasures to reproduce a common representation of Laos as a spiritual and asexual Beautiful Buddha country. Each of these re-orientalism tools, directly and indirectly, affects the economic benefits of Laos.

scholarly journals Dignity Promotion and the Revenge of Honour

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 198-226
Author(s):  
Jardar Nuland
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Former Soviet Union ◽  
Individual Freedom ◽  
The West ◽  
The World ◽  
Anthropological Research ◽  
Russian Politics ◽  
Neoliberal Restructuring

This article argues that the West’s neoliberal ‘dignity promotion’ in other parts of the world is counter-productive and leads to the resurgence of a primordial culture of honour, a concept too often an ignored in international relations research. The author shows how the West has hijacked and neoliberalized the concept of dignity to include abstract notions of individual freedom and, above all, property rights and free trade. The concept of dignity is thus deprived of any social content. The strategy of dignity promotion, i.e. the effort to spread the idea of every individual’s inherent, inalienable worth, is based on the conviction that this will lead to a more secure world. However, sociological and anthropological research on moral cultures and honour has shown that security shapes moral cultures, not the other way round. The rise of dignity culture in the modern West was possible only when security, including social security, was provided. Conversely, honour dominates in insecure environments and resurfaces quickly when security disappears. The case study is Russia, where radical neoliberal restructuring in the early 1990s led to an anarchic brutalization of society, giving rise to a widespread culture of honour in Russian politics. On another level, Western dignity promotion in the former Soviet Union, epitomized by its support for ‘colour revolutions’, is perceived as an affront threatening Russian security by damaging its reputation for resolve. Within the culture of honour, the only moral answer to this is aggressive counter-attack.

The Confucius Institute Initiative in Reconstruction of China’s National Identity

2015 ◽  
Vol 14 (6) ◽  
pp. 778-800
Author(s):  
Guo-Qiang Liu
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Language Policy ◽  
International Community ◽  
Policy Planning ◽  
Policy Initiative ◽  
The West ◽  
Confucius Institute ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Political Perspective

This article examines China’s Confucius Institute program, a significant language policy/planning initiative. I adopt a political perspective in looking into the birth of this language policy initiative, focusing on its role in reconstructing China’s national identity in the context of its rise and its international relations. I explore the background against which the Confucius Institute initiative was formed, and analyse how this initiative was received in the West and how China responded to it. I argue that China is undergoing a reconstruction of its national identity and the Confucius Institute initiative is a major part of this effort. I suggest that such a reconstruction of national identity is an interactive process with an outcome resulting from China’s negotiation with the international community, involving China stating a new position, listening to international responses, clarifying and elaborating upon its position until its new position is accepted by the international community.

scholarly journals Positions of leaders of FRG and France on the way to European unity (1949–1958)

2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (4) ◽  
pp. 657-663
Author(s):  
O.G. Nekrylova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Historical Experience ◽  
European Continent ◽  
Initial Stage ◽  
European Unity ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Post War ◽  
The Eu

Russian cooperation with the EU countries is currently an important factor in preserving peace on the European continent and affects the entire system of international relations. The need to study the historical experience of European integration is confirmed by the fact that in the conditions of the modern world, European states inevitably become active participants in the integration processes, both global and regional. The article is devoted to the analysis of various foreign policy concepts on European integration in the period 1949–1958. The positions of European leaders, as well as the complex and controversial process of rapprochement between Germany and France in the post-war period, has become a kind of historical prologue that helps today to form a more complete picture of the initial stage of the creation of the EU. The rejection of bloc thinking by «federalists» who tried to overcome the already accomplished division of Europe and supporters of this section by contrasting the West and the East, including the USA, defined strategic concepts in understanding of the integration process by many politicians of that time, including the leaders of Germany and France. The contradictions between them never disappeared completely, but manifested themselves in one form or another at the turning points of European integration.

scholarly journals The SFRY did not fall apart: It was intentionally broken up

Napredak ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 75-94
Author(s):  
Marko Atlagić ◽  
Aleksandar Martinović
Keyword(s):  
The West ◽  
Sovereign State ◽  
Western Countries ◽  
Historical Responsibility ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Usa

In this paper we propose that in the 1990s the SFRY did not fall apart but was broken up because, in the opinion of the US, the reasons for its existence disappeared. The Americans believed that the SFRY was created as a barrier against Soviet expansion in the West. As the bipolar world dissolved and the era of globalization began, the need for the existence of the SFRY disappeared. This was the reason why the country needed to be broken up. The authors are of the opinion that the SFRY was broken up by the USA, Germany, the Vatican, other Western countries and the secessionist Yugoslav republics, Slovenia and Croatia. For this reason, these countries bear the historical responsibility for breaking up a sovereign state, in opposition to its constitution, the UN Charter and the Helsinki Accords.

scholarly journals Victorious powers and Spain in the post-war world order

2017 ◽  
pp. 16-19
Author(s):  
Elena Kryukova
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
International Relations ◽  
World Order ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Domestic Policy ◽  
World War ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Post War ◽  
Second World ◽  
New System

The article deals with the foreign policy and domestic policy of Spain in the first years after the end of the Second World War. The author analyzes the relationships between the Francoist Spain and the USA, England, France and the USSR during the difficult period of entry of the country into the new system of the international relations.

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