CIAO DATE: 02/2010
Volume: 6, Issue: 23
Winter 2009
USA and The New Middle East (PDF)
Eddie J. Girdner
To cite this review: Girdner, Eddie J., "USA and The
New Middle East", Uluslararası İlişkiler, Volume 6,
No 23 (Fall 2009), p. 151-155.
Uluslararası İlişkiler Kuramında Yapan-Yapı Sorunu
Alexander E. Wendt
The Agent-Structure Problem in International Relations Theory
In this article the nature of structural analysis in each of neorealist and world-system theory are clarified and contrast. The author’s primary interest, however, is to critique the conceptions of structural theory found in each of them, and to use this critique to motivate the development of a new approach to structural theorizing about international relations adapted from the work of "structuration theorists" in sociology. In the first section, the author examines the nature of the agent-structure “problem” and briefly identifies the principal kinds of solutions to it. In the second section the author suggests that neorealism and world-system theory embody two of these solutions, the methodological individualist and structuralist ones, respectively. In the third section structurationist approach and its foundations in realist philosophy of science are being defined. In the fourth section, some general epistemological and theoretical implications of structuration theory for the explanation of state action are examined. In the conclusion, the author returns to some implications of scientific realism for social scientific research.
Uluslararası İlişkiler Teorisinde Yerel- Görüşlülük ve Doğu'nun Özneselliği (PDF)
Bahar Rumelili
International Relations Theory and The Question of
Eastern Agency
I argue that International Relations Theory has not been able to transcend its
parochialism because it continues to negate the agency of the East. By analyzing the
articles published in four leading journals of the discipline between 2002-2007, I
find that the number of studies that focus on the East have indeed increased, but
most of these studies continue to situate the cases derived from the East in the
context of West-centric theories. Even critical approaches continue to position the
West as the main subject of international relations and dismiss the mutual
constitution and interaction between the East and the West, and the local and global.
I contend that the generation of non-Western IR theories is not going to pose an
adequate challenge to West-centrism; what is necessary is the formulation of specific
propositions on East-West relations that directly counter the established
assumptions of West-centric theories.
Uluslararası Politikada Karşılıklı Bağımlılık ve Küreselleşme Üzerine Bir İnceleme (PDF)
Muharrem Gürkaynak, Serhan Yalçıner
A Study on the Interdependence and Globalization in International Politics
This study aims to evaluate the current position of the interdependence theory which existed in the literature of international relations for over thirty years. The study focuses particularly on the theory of interdependence as formulated by Keohane and Nye and its development. Keohane and Nye’s pluralist understanding of international relations got into transformation and drove through several stages with the international system itself. After its early years, the pattern of interdependence has followed up a line of evolution from complex interdependence to globalism. The study, after evaluating these stages, discusses the term of interdependence within the context of USA-Japan relations and the linkage of USA with international leadership, and arrives at the conclusion that the terms of interdependence and globalization are not equivalent, but complementary.
China-Africa Relations in the 21st Century: Engagement, Compromise and Controversy (PDF)
Keiran E. Uchehara
China’s foreign policy agenda in Africa forms a part of its thrust to foster cooperation among the developing countries and demonstrate its status as an emerging superpower. The 2000 Beijing Declaration and the Program for China-Africa Cooperation in Economic and Social Development are the basis of the renewed relations. China has developed diverse and varied relations with Africa in all spheres of interaction. However, Africa’s mineral and energy resources, required by China’s bourgeoning industry, are the major attraction of its re-engagement with Africa in the 21st century. The accelerated growth of China’s trade and investment in Africa has stirred controversy among academics and policy makers in terms of the nature of opportunities and challenges for the continent’s development, and whether a neocolonial pattern of relationship akin to the one with the West is likely to develop. The imbalance in trade and investment relations, partly due to economic asymmetries, and China’s failure to condemn the repressive African governments and poorly managed economies point to a foreign economic policy which is selfserving and influenced by immediate short-term gains.
Yusuf Aksar
The international community has been witnessing the first ever interpretation and application of the Genocide Convention through the practice of the ad hoc tribunals at the international level. The significance of the practice lies in the interpretation of the elements of the crime of genocide and in the clarification of its substantive content. In addition to the practice of the ad hoc tribunals, the International Court of Justice (the ICJ) in its judgement in the Case Concerning the Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Genocide Case) had to, amongst other issues, deal with the requirements of the crime of genocide. However, the findings of both the ad hoc tribunals and the ICJ in proving the existence of the genocidal intent and the attribution of responsibility are too different from one to other. Should such a situation be perceived as a confluence or conflict in international law?
Hacer Soykan Adaoğlu
Special Territories in European Union and North
Cyprus: A Sui Generis Relationship Under
Community Law
On May 1st, 2004, the Republic of Cyprus became a full member of the European Union (EU) on behalf of the whole island. The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), which is not recognized as a member state, is within the European Union borders but it is outside the territory of the internal market. The EU has special legal arrangements for North Cyprus which makes it a special territory within the EU. However, there are other territories within the EU with special regimes. This paper examines the relationship between North Cyprus and the EU in comparison with the legal regimes established for other territories. The paper aims to determine the differences between North Cyprus and other territories in terms of status within the EU, legal arrangements and access to the internal market.