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Chapter

Cover The Politics of International Law

14. The politics of international law  

Continuity and change

This chapter draws together the key themes of this book, using contemporary debates over the nature and future of international order, and explores likely sources of continuity and change in the politics of international law. It begins by expanding on the concept of international order and, more specifically, the so-called liberal international order that has framed international politics in the postwar period. The chapter asks whether and why the liberal international order is in crisis and how it is likely to evolve. It then turns to the rise of non-Western powers, a phenomenon that many observers have argued is contributing to the crisis of the current order. The focus is on what the changing balance of material power may reveal about the present and future of international law. Finally, the chapter offers some tentative conclusions about the politics of international law two decades into the twenty-first century.

Chapter

Cover International Relations of the Middle East

1. International Relations Theory and the Middle East  

Fred H. Lawson

This chapter offers a detailed survey of international relations (IR) approaches, including the particular difficulties that IR in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region shares with other parts of the Global South. It highlights the creation of the modern states system in the Middle East that closely coincided with the development of international relations as an independent discipline. This discussion constitutes both an essential starting point and a useful set of tools for understanding the Middle East’s international relations and the relevant theoretical underpinnings. The chapter looks at vital and enduring points of entry into understanding the international politics of the Middle East via its twentieth-century history. It highlights the unending dialogue with the past that was underlined by the unanticipated course of events surrounding the Arab uprisings and their consequences.

Book

Cover Politics in the European Union

Simon Bulmer, Owen Parker, Ian Bache, Stephen George, and Charlotte Burns

Politics in the European Union examines the theory, history, institutions, and policies of the European Union (EU). The EU is a unique, complex, and ever-changing political entity, which continues to shape both international politics and the politics of its individual member states. The text provides a clear analysis of the organization and presents a well-rounded introduction to the subject. Complete and detailed in its coverage, including coverage of the eurozone, refugee crises, and Brexit, along with the latest theoretical developments, the text provides a comprehensive assessment of EU politics and policy at the start of the 2020s. The book is divided into four parts: Part One provides the student with a strong foundation in political theory and analysis; Part Two charts European integration from 1995 through to the 2010s; Part Three addresses the distinctive character of the EU institutions; and in Part Four, key EU policy areas, both internal and external, are covered.

Book

Cover The Politics of International Law
This book is an introduction to international law for politics and international relations students. It provides a deep understanding of the possibilities and limits of international law as a tool for structuring relations in the world. The case study-driven approach helps students understand the complexities of international law, and illustrates the inextricable interaction between law and politics in the world today. In addition, it encourages students to question assumptions, such as whether international law is fit for purpose, and what that purpose is or ought to be. The book also discusses the potential of rising powers to shift the international system.

Chapter

Cover International Relations Theories

8. Constructivism And International Relations  

This chapter focuses on constructivism relates it to international relations (IR). The core argument of the constructivist perspective revolves around the idea that the world people find themselves in is socially constructed rather than simply given. Moreover, constructivism underscores the ideational aspects of international politics. The chapter compares this to the predominantly materialist explanations offered by mainstream IR theory. The chapter examines the application of constructivism to the analysis of international politics. It then highlights the importance of identity and norms, which are emphasized within constructivism and international politics, before considering the nuclear weapons debate as related to the perspective of constructivism.

Chapter

Cover Foreign Policy

1. The history and evolution of foreign-policy analysis  

Valerie M. Hudson

This chapter traces the evolution of foreign policy analysis (FPA) as a subfield of international relations (IR) from its beginnings in the 1950s through its classical period until 1993; it then sketches the research agenda of contemporary FPA, which is represented by the other chapters in this volume. Three paradigmatic works, by Richard Snyder and colleagues, James Rosenau, and Harold and Margaret Sprout, laid the foundation of this subfield. In turn, these works created three main threads of research in FPA: focusing on the decision making of small/large groups, comparative foreign policy, and psychological/sociological explanations of foreign policy. These three primary areas of research have waxed and waned in importance to the subfield over the years. Current FPA scholarship explores linkages between these literatures, seeking both greater cross-level integration of explanation and new methodologies more appropriate to cross-level analysis.

Chapter

Cover International Relations and the European Union

19. Principles in EU Foreign Policy: How Distinctive?  

Helene Sjursen

Examination of the European Union’s (EU’s) foreign policies seems to rest on a dichotomy between interests and power on the one hand, and norms and values on the other. Based on this dichotomy, the EU is often portrayed as a unique international actor and as a voice of global values. But principles, values, and norms are key elements of any foreign policy, as they are in international politics in general, and different normative principles might induce the EU to exercise power in different ways. Looking at a difference between the principles of sovereignty, human rights, and a common good, this chapter challenges the conventional wisdom of the EU as a distinctive foreign policy actor. It suggests that while holding on to the importance of a transformation of international politics, of binding and constraining states, EU foreign policy mainly seeks to ensure the present system is sustained and improved. It does this via an emphasis on the principle of external sovereignty and its corollary norms. The unresolved tensions in the EU’s internal constitution, between its cosmopolitan vocation and the ambition of (EU) nation building, are thus reflected also in the EU’s foreign policy.

Chapter

Cover International Relations Theories

6. Critical International Theory  

This chapter turns to critical international theory. It clarifies that the roots of critical theory are from Marxism while also acknowledging that it departs from classical Marxism in significant ways. The emergence of a distinctive critical international theory in the early 1980s rapidly triggered a virtual explosion of different kinds of critical approaches to the study of international politics. The chapter then elaborates on the Frankfurt School's particular brand of critical theory and Jürgen Habermas' arguments in this field, which are concerned with undistorted communication. It then considers how critical international theory raises the possibility of distinguishing the barriers to and viable prospects for further human emancipation across the world.

Chapter

Cover The Politics of International Law

1. Introduction  

What is international law and why does it matter for international relations?

This introductory chapter provides an overview and a brief history of international law. Why should students of international relations be interested in international law? International politics and international law are so closely intertwined that one cannot be understood without understanding the other. The United Nations describes international law as ‘the legal responsibilities of States in their conduct with each other, and their treatment of individuals within State boundaries’. Just as domestic law frames a political community and regulates relations among its members, international law helps to frame international society, to signal its core values, and to regulate relations among states and other actors. The chapter then considers two philosophical traditions that have shaped the study and practice of international law over the past four centuries: natural law and legal positivism.

Chapter

Cover The Politics of International Law

9. States, nations, and colonies  

The law and politics of self-determination

This chapter investigates how-and how effectively-international law strikes a balance between the individual and collective rights of people, and the prerogatives of sovereign states. It begins by exploring the what, who, and where of self-determination. Self-determination is a concept that has meant different things to different people at different times. Its meaning under international law can only be understood in relation to the shifting paradigms of international politics in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The chapter discusses the Wilsonian principle of self-determination and its partial application during the interwar period. It then turns to the post-Second World War rebirth of self-determination as a right of colonized peoples to independent statehood. The chapter also considers the concept of internal self-determination, before analysing what external self-determination has come to mean in non-colonial contexts and the problem of remedial secession. Finally, it examines the law and politics of recognition of statehood.

Chapter

Cover The Politics of International Law

13. International criminal justice  

From Nuremberg to the International Criminal Court

This chapter assesses whether international politics can be conducted in the courtroom. It begins with an analysis of the post-Second World War Nuremberg tribunal. While flawed in many ways, these proceedings marked a significant change in thinking about international crimes and individual responsibility. Though the onset of the Cold War prevented the translation of the Nuremberg legacy into more permanent, treaty-based international institutions, the ideas Nuremberg incubated were to have a lasting impact on international law. As in so many other areas of international law and international politics, the end of the Cold War was a watershed. The 1990s saw the revival of ad hoc international criminal tribunals, most notably the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. The chapter then examines the International Criminal Court, which is, in many ways, the culmination of efforts to institutionalize international criminal justice.

Chapter

Cover The Politics of International Law

2. International law and international relations theory  

This chapter discusses international law (IL) and international relations (IR) theory. It studies legal theory in order to better understand what law is, and how IL compares with domestic law. The chapter then introduces the major schools of IR theory, with a focus on how they conceptualize IL and its role in enabling and constraining the conduct of international politics. The disciplinary estrangement between IR and IL began to ease at the end of the 1980s. By that time there were already important strands within IR, including the English School, that were seeking to explain the prevalence of cooperation in an anarchical international system. New generations of IR scholars began theorizing the role of IL in structuring international politics, particularly from the perspectives of liberalism and constructivism, as well as from a range of critical approaches.

Chapter

Cover International Relations Theories

11. Poststructuralism  

David Campbell and Roland Bleiker

This chapter examines how and why poststructuralism engaged International Relations (IR) from the 1980s to today. It begins by analysing the interdisciplinary context of social and political theory from which poststructuralism emerged, along with the misconceptions evident in the reception of the poststructuralist approach among mainstream theorists. It then considers what the critical attitude of poststructuralism means for social and political inquiry and draws on the work of Michel Foucault to highlight the importance of discourse, identity, subjectivity, and power to the poststructuralist approach. It also discusses the methodological features employed by poststructuralists in their readings of, and interventions in, international politics. The chapter concludes with a case study of images of famines and other kinds of humanitarian crises that illustrates the poststructural approach.

Book

Cover US Foreign Policy

Edited by Michael Cox and Doug Stokes

US Foreign Policy provides a perspective on US foreign policy that is critical and connected. This text aims to help with the critically assessment of US foreign policy, presenting the reader with diverse political perspectives and giving them the tools to come to their own conclusions. Carefully developed ‘major debates’ and ‘controversies’ features help readers to connect theory with the real-world politics. As policy continues to change before our eyes, the text provides an overview of America’s ever-changing role in international politics. This new edition reflects the legacy of the Obama administration, the unfurling impacts of President Donald Trump, and the American role in world affairs. It includes new chapters on gender, religion, East Asia, and the Liberal International Order.

Chapter

Cover The Globalization of World Politics

23. Regionalism in international affairs  

Edward Best and Thomas Christiansen

This chapter examines the different regional arrangements that have emerged around the globe. It considers whether there has been a uniform process of regional cooperation and integration across all continents, the driving forces in the establishment of various forms of regional cooperation, and the extent to which cooperation at the regional level changes the nature of international politics. After clarifying the various concepts and definitions associated with regionalism, the chapter discusses relevant developments in the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Europe. In particular, it looks at regional arrangements in Eurasia and the post-Soviet states. It also explores the process of European integration as well as the similarities and the differences among the various regional arrangements, with particular emphasis on the unique circumstances that shaped the emergence of the European Union. Case studies look at Mercosur, which was the Common Market of the South, created for Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay, and regionalism in Southeast Asia.

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Cover Foreign Policy

20. Australia and global climate change  

Matt McDonald

This chapter examines Australia’s engagement with the international politics of global climate change. It first provides an overview of the problem of global climate change and its likely effects, focusing on key complexities and dilemmas regarding climate change, and the evolution of the climate change regime through the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) process. It then considers key drivers of climate diplomacy, from the ideology and foreign policy perspectives of different governments to the role of public opinion and the ebb and flow of international cooperation. It shows that Australia’s changing approach to climate change cooperation underscores the profound challenges for the climate change regime.

Chapter

Cover International Relations Theories

13. Poststructuralism  

David Campbell and Roland Bleiker

This chapter examines how and why poststructuralism engaged International Relations (IR) from the 1980s to today. It begins by analysing the interdisciplinary context of social and political theory from which poststructuralism emerged, along with the misconceptions evident in the reception of the poststructuralist approach among mainstream theorists. It then considers what the critical attitude of poststructuralism means for social and political inquiry and draws on the work of Michel Foucault to highlight the importance of discourse, identity, subjectivity, and power to the poststructuralist approach. It also discusses the methodological features employed by poststructuralists in their readings of, and interventions in, international politics. The chapter concludes with a case study of images of famines and other kinds of humanitarian crises that illustrates the poststructural approach.

Chapter

Cover International Relations Theories

3. Classical Realism And Neorealism  

This chapter focuses on the emergence of neorealism in the late 1970s, which triggered a liberal response in the form of neoliberalism. It then details the common assumption shared by realists, such as the international system being anarchic. Realism primarily revolves around the recurring themes of international anarchy and the limited prospects for change in the international system. The chapter presents the strands of classical realism, neorealism, and neoclassical realism that are represented in contemporary realist IR scholarship. It then examines different realist interpretations of the impact of the creation of nuclear weapons on international politics, which includes Kenneth Waltz's three images of analysis in the international system.

Chapter

Cover International Relations Theories

7. Poststructuralism And International Relations  

This chapter looks at the origin of poststructuralism and its correlation with international relations (IR). It references the works of poststructuralist scholars, Jacques Derrida and Michel Foucault, exploring the key themes of deconstruction and discourse in poststructuralist scholarship and its historical and theoretical contexts. Poststructuralist IR scholarship represents and interprets international and global politics while challenging the practices of international politics, especially those concerned with sovereign statehood. The chapter also mentions the criticisms surrounding poststructuralist IR, such as nihilism and the idea that poststructuralist IR has little value in the world of international policy-making. It explains the counterargument that argues for change through critiquing existing exclusionary theories and practices, which opened up the exploration into alternative ways of being.

Chapter

Cover International Relations of the Middle East

14. The International Politics of the Gulf  

Matteo Legrenzi

This chapter focuses on the international politics of the Gulf region, which are defined by the interplay of the local states and outside powers. The domestic framework and its interactions with transnational influences and external actors are crucial to understanding the environment within which local states operate — whether revolutionary Iran, Saddam Hussein's Iraq, or the Gulf monarchies themselves. Given that regime security drives states in their foreign policies, the need to cope with both internal and external threats is compelling. Outside actors are important in as much as they supply or help to combat such threats. The withdrawal of US forces from Iraq and the relative immunity of the Gulf monarchies from the effects of the Arab Spring have afforded these states greater regional influence and autonomy, but events since 2015 also reveal deep divides among them over issues like IS, Iranian foreign policy, and the war in Yemen.