CIAO DATE: 11/2011
Volume: 2, Issue: 2
July 2011
(Dis) Integration and the Emergence of the State System in the Middle East (PDF)
Imad El-Anis
The fall of the Ottoman Empire during World War One and the emergence of the modern state system in the Middle East have received significant attention in academic literature. However, the impacts that the proliferation of state borders in the 19th and 20th centuries have had on political and economic integration within the Middle East is often ignored. This study argues that between the mid-19th and mid- 20th centuries the region underwent significant structural changes. Furthermore, these changes were driven by external intervention and internal decline. A number of theoretical assumptions are posited concerning the importance on integration and cooperation of the following: the increase in borders and claims to sovereignty and the separation of peoples/markets. The conclusions drawn are that the change from a system characterised by large political actors and integrated markets to one which is characterised by smaller states and separated markets led to the disintegration of the region’s internal relations.
Dr. Jean-Paul Gagnon
This work will try to analyse China’s naval policy off the Somali coast. The main contribution this work will attempt to make is to offer evidence concerning whether China’s anti-pirating policies in the Gulf of Aden are more for the benefit of the international community, China’s own strategic interest (a political economy outlook), or diplomatic growth. This work may be important as it could contribute to our understanding of China’s current foreign policy to a slightly better degree. This will be attempted in the first instance by analysing the literature concerning China’s humanitarian policies in Africa to establish a sense of the literature on this subject. In the second instance, we will examine the official foreign policy stance provided to the international community by the current administration in China. And finally, in the third instance, we will comparatively analyse if the policy statement is logically compatible with the extant literature. The analytical structure used to do so is Charmaz’s (2006) grounded theory methodology. This study shows that China’s foreign naval policy off the coast of Somalia is probably a mix of humanitarian, economic, and international diplomatic goals.
Export Trade Performance of Indian Economy during and Following the Global Financial Crisis (PDF)
Dr. Sumanjeet Singh
Towards the end of 2008 the effects of global recession started getting reflected in international trade. The fall in global demand and the slowing-down in economic growth translated into a substantial reduction in international trade. It affected the cross-border trade of virtually all countries and economic sectors. Indian exports trade could not remain unaffected in a situation where external demand was dwindling globally. The present paper reviews India’s export performance during and following the global financial crisis. Indian exports started to decline in July 2008. It declined from US$ 17,095 million in July 2008 to US$ 11,516 million in March 2009, which accounts for almost 33 per cent decline. This growth contraction has come after a robust 25 per cent-plus average export growth since 2003. But, as a result of government policy measures and recovery in global economy, India’s exports growth turned positive and exports grew by a whopping 54.1 per cent in March 2010 and recorded the highest growth rate among the world’s top 70 economies in merchandise exports. India’s merchandise exports during April 2010 at US$ 16.9 billion recorded a growth of 36.3 per cent as compared with a decline of 32.8 per cent registered in April 2009. Exports witnessed huge annualized growth of 56.9 per cent to $25.9 billion in May 2011 in a bright spot for the Indian economy, which is battling high inflation amid signs of a slowdown.
Animal Spirits: How Human Psychology Drives the Economy, and Why It Matters for Global Capitalism (PDF)
Stan C. Weeber
This book appeared against the backdrop of a near meltdown in the U.S. economy and the election of Barack Obama as President of the United States. Because candidate Obama championed stimulus spending to repair the economy, there was anticipation that the release of Animal Spirits would coincide with a renewed enthusiasm for the economics of John Maynard Keynes inside 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. More important than the timeliness of the book was the legacy that it leaves behind. This book helps us to understand as never before how macroeconomics really works. The authors suggest that Keynes’ animal spirits drive the economy, especially the troublesome fluctuations that free market economists have never been able to adequately explain. By “animal spirits” Keynes meant the restless and inconsistent elements in the economy, particularly how we relate to uncertainty or ambiguity. These are mental phenomena that are often irrational or non-logical, and beyond the interest of most economists. For this reason, animal spirits remained an unarticulated portion of Keynes’ classic General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money. As 2009 began, it was obvious that thirty years of a virtually unregulated free market economy had not resulted in great prosperity but had brought the U.S. and the world to the brink of financial disaster. Thus, some economists looked to an old hero in Keynes to right the ship. Social science, meanwhile, accumulated 75 years of knowledge since Keynes’ General Theory to help us better interpret the animal spirits and how they guide the economy. First and foremost among the animal spirits, according to the authors, is confidence in the economy. As they rightly note, such confidence is not gained through a highly rational process of feeding data into computers and assessing the results. More likely it is a gut check, a feeling, an instinct of some kind that the economy will go well. More than that, it is a deeply intuitive trust that the economy will prosper. These feelings, as the authors point out, are non-logical processes.
Hard Line: The Republican Party and U.S. Foreign Policy Since World War II (PDF)
Dustin Dehez
Colin Dueck’s superbly written history of Republican American presidents since the end of World War II is a fine introduction to American conservatism and American presidential politics alike. Most historians and political scientists focus their attention on a single administration and try to describe changes within a single or between two or three consecutive administrations. That is quite fine of course, but what is often missing is the evolution in a particular brand of a political party’s approach to a specific area over a prolonged period of time, a longue durée so to speak. This lack of attention to changes in the long run has contributed to the misperception that there is one Republican or Democratic angle to foreign affairs. Dueck therefore tries to complement the history by focusing on the evolution of Republican foreign policy over the past six decades and though the book’s title suggests a consistent Republican approach to foreign affairs, he excels in describing the different angles by which American Republican presidents have perceived international relations and formulated their policies. The author does not hide his general sympathy for a conservative stance on foreign policy but manages a critical evaluation where it is being called for. The book’s narrative does not necessarily add anything new to the existing body of research, but it is, nonetheless, a rather apt description of American conservative thought and Republican politics alike. Dueck brilliantly conflates the recent history of political thought, the emergence of new and powerful lobbies, party and domestic politics, and public diplomacy with the performance of Republican presidents. And wherever convenient Dueck pays sufficient attention to developments on the side of the Democratic party as well.
Unsettled Account: The Evolution of Banking in the Industrialized World Since 1800 (PDF)
Dr. Hans Dubois
People love to feel special. Unfortunately, not seldom does this mean superior, but sometimes it just means different in the broader sense; as part of a collective or as an individual. While not always eager to admit it, people tend to find their convictions superior to the beliefs of others, the countries they happen to been born in to be fundamentally different from others, and the era they live in to be a radical break from a relative stable past. Nevertheless, however unique each individual and community is, they resemble each other much more than one might wish. Countries’ perceived superiorities are quickly dismissed by the fact that one can hear the same pride in so many different countries: ‘our’ food is best, ‘our’ people are the most beautiful, hospitable, friendliest, entrepreneurial and can be found anywhere in the world, ‘our’ country has the most beautiful landscapes, ‘our’ language is the most difficult, etc. The same goes for eras. For example, during the recent boom, it was often claimed that this boom was fundamentally different from earlier ones. During the current bust, dramatic news headings claim basically the same, but from the negative side. The effects of the crisis are devastating, and important to react to. The share of households around the world suffering from –already prevalent– poverty increased during the crisis, just as it did during previous crises.
Shocked and Awed: How the War on Terror and Jihad have Changed the English Language (PDF)
Emilian Kavalski
It is always difficult to comment on the work of an author who has passed away before its publication. The pervasive sense of finitude tends to draw attention to (as well as offer a glimpse into) some of the concerns and interests that must have preoccupied the author in his final days. What is particularly challenging is that the work under review is by no other than Fred Halliday – a scholar, commentator, and insatiably curious student of international affairs, whose research has left an indelible mark on the field. At the same time, Fred Halliday has been someone who has constantly strived to escape the straitjackets of mainstream paradigms. This was evident in his 2008 Burton Valedictory Lecture at the London School of Economics and Political Science before moving to take a research professorship at the Barcelona Institute for International Studies. Fred Halliday concluded his speech to the mesmerized audience by insisting that it is music (and, in particular, dance) that can provide the creative platforms for grasping the complexity of global life (or what he called at the time ‘the suffering of passions in ideas and in life’).
The Invisible Hook: The Hidden Economics of Pirates (PDF)
Michael Williams
In his book The Invisible Hook: The Hidden Economics of Pirates, Peter T. Leeson uses economics to describe the seemingly bizarre and contradictory behaviour of 17th and 18th century pirates. In the epilogue, Leeson describes pirates as sadistic pacifists, womanizing homosexuals, treasure-lusting socialists and madmen who outwitted the authorities (though apparently not in the end…). The task of making all of those behaviours appear rational seems daunting, but through the skilful implementation of economic reasoning, Leeson does exactly that. Each chapter of Leeson’s book discusses a different aspect of pirate behaviour and explains why it makes sense when you assume that pirate’s primary motive for piracy is pure profit. While the book is heavily invested in economic concepts as explanations, at some points the book reads more like a history piece on pirates. The book is laced with history and information about pirates that the average person is not likely to know, which makes the book interesting on a historical level as well as economic. The interspersed historical parts help to pace the book and support Leeson’s economic points.
Emre İşeri
International Intervention in Local Conflicts: Crisis Management and Conflict Resolution since the Cold War. (London and New York: Tauris Academic Studies, 2010, ISBN: 978- 1-84885-318-8, 322 pp., £65.00) At a time of Arab ‘revolutions’, particularly the one in Libya , once again - following the impotence of international community in Bosnia, Somalia and, Rwanda in the 1990s - there have emerged a heated debate on the concept of international intervention. This poses one of the toughest tests for an international society that is built on Westphalian principles of state sovereignty, non-intervention, and the non-use of force. It is expected from sovereign states to act as protectors of their citizens’ security and well-being, but a hard question arises when states act like gangsters toward their own people and/or they are impotent to find a lasting peaceful solution to their local conflicts. Should those ‘tyrannical’ states be considered as legitimate actors of the international society and immune from international interventions? As related questions in this regard, what are the responsibilities of other states to enforce newly emerging global human rights norms against governments violating them? What are the obstacles on the way of effective international intervention? In the light of these questions, the volume is compiled of thirteen essays that were categorised into five parts examining the impact of international intervention on the resolution of local conflicts as well as the roles of local actors in determining the course.
Kurds of Modern Turkey: Migration, Neoliberalism and Exclusion in Turkish Society (PDF)
Alper Kaliber
Kurds of Modern Turkey: Migration, Neoliberalism and Exclusion in Turkish Society. (Tauris Academic Studies, 2010, ISBN: 9781848854680, 256 pp., £56.00) Being a national security issue since the establishment of Turkish Republic in 1923, the Kurdish question has several and deep rooted connotations for politics and society in Turkey. Even if it was excessively securitized and long classified as a national taboo by the Turkish state, the Kurdish question has increasingly occupied a central status in Turkish politics since the 1980s. As a consequence of excessive securitization, academic or otherwise any work problematizing the official state line was subjected to silencing, marginalization or even ban. The intellectuals, academics, civil society activists demanding recognition of a separate Kurdish identity and cultural/collective rights of the Kurds were often blamed as being traitors and prosecuted and punished in some cases. In the 1980s and 1990s researching and publishing on the Kurdish question amounted to assuming grave risks or confronting fierce public reaction for researchers. Thus, there was an acute lack of academic research concerning the most important issue of Turkish politics.
The Faces of Terrorism: Social and Psychological Dimensions (PDF)
Dylan Kissane
The Faces of Terrorism: Social and Psychological Dimensions. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2007, ISBN: 978-0-691-14935-6, 285pp., £15.95) In the decade since the 9/11 terrorist attacks there have been countless books and articles published that have sought to explain Islamist terrorism and explore policy responses to terrorism from the Muslim world. A smaller sector of the literature has sought to place Islamist terror in its international political context, drawing parallels with terrorism in the Basque country, Northern Ireland and domestic groups in the United States. A smaller sector again seeks to explore not only to describe such terrorism and explore policy responses to it but also to dig deeper and uncover the motivations that drive terrorists and those that respond to acts of terrorism to. Such works are, by necessity, interdisciplinary, drawing, of course, on political science and international relations but also sociology, psychology, economics and public policy studies, among many other fields. This sub-segment of the much broader field of terrorism studies offers the reader a chance to understand all aspects of terrorism in a variety of contexts, from what motivates a Tamil Tiger suicide bomber in Sri Lanka to what explains Irish Republican Army tactics in the mainland United Kingdom, from how military power is used to counter sub-state terrorist elements to how those terrorist actors are recruited in the first place. Broader in its conception of the notion of terrorism and wise to the complexities that terrorism should engender in policy debates, books that fall into this sub-segment of the field are both the most challenging to read and, when well executed, the most rewarding for the scholar of international politics.