Thinking the unthinkable White, Hugh
New Zealand international review,
01/2020, Letnik:
45, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Both New Zealand and Australia face the same choices in the decades ahead about defence: we both face the erosion or disruption, maybe even destruction, of the features of the international system ...that we have seen as fundamental to our security by deep strategic changes globally, especially in Asia. New Zealand does have a different set of strategic perceptions and assumptions from Australia. But the pressure of events in Asia, the pressure on the assumptions about the foundations of our security and the implications of the pressure on those assumptions for our confidence about future security will drive us closer together.
Islamist militants based in Pakistan pose a major threat to regional and international security. Although this problem has only recently received widespread attention, Pakistan has long used ...militants as strategic tools to compensate for its severe political and material weakness. This use of Islamist militancy has constituted nothing less than a central component of Pakistani grand strategy; supporting jihad has been one of the principal means by which the Pakistani state has sought to produce security for itself. Contrary to the conventional wisdom, the strategy has not been wholly disastrous. Rather, it has achieved important domestic and international successes. Recently, however, Pakistan has begun to suffer from a "jihad paradox": the very conditions that previously made Pakistan's militant policy useful now make it extremely dangerous. Thus, despite its past benefits, the strategy has outlived its utility, and Pakistan will have to abandon it to avoid catastrophe. Other weak states, which may also be tempted to use nonstate actors as strategic tools, should take the Pakistani case as a cautionary lesson.
Australia's strategic environment is most influenced by three factors: the status of the US-China relationship, America's willingness to defend the rules-based global order in Asia, and the stability ...of the Asian region. This commentary examines the 2016 Defence White Paper's analysis of these three factors and examines its overall narrative. As a public document, the White Paper is necessarily limited in its ability to frankly assess the most serious challenges in Australia's strategic environment and the threat they pose to national security. However, there is a risk that the document's optimistic narrative discourages a thoughtful consideration of the changes in Asia's regional order.
Defacing power Steele, Brent J
2010., 20101122, 2010, c2010.
eBook
Defacing Power investigates how nation-states create self-images in part through aesthetics and how these images can be manipulated to challenge those states' power. Although states have long ...employed media, such as radio, television, and film, for their own image-making purposes, counterpower agents have also seized upon new telecommunications technologies. Most recently, the Internet has emerged as contested territory where states and other actors wage a battle of words and images. Moving beyond theory, Brent Steele illustrates his provocative argument about the vulnerability of power with examples from recent history: the My Lai Massacre and the Tet Offensive, September 11 and the al-Qaeda communiqués, the atrocities at Fallujah and Abu Ghraib, and the U.S. response to the Asian tsunami of December 2004. He demonstrates how a nation-state—even one as powerful as the United States—comes to feel threatened not only by other nation-states or terrorist organizations but also by unexpected events that challenge its self-constructed image of security. At the same time, Steele shows that as each generation uses available media to create and re-create a national identity, technological innovations allow for the shifting, upheaval, and expansion of the cultural structure of a nation.
The Trump administration's high level of engagement in the Middle East and disruptive policies have left Biden's team with a transformed landscape. One element of Middle East policy holds the key: ...the Iran nuclear agreement, or Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. The Biden team likely will make it a priority. But how that plays out will determine if a "do less" approach is achievable--or even desirable--in the coming four years. Here, Kaye examines whether the nuclear deal with Iran would spark a new regional security dialogue.
Originally published in 2004, this book offers a fresh approach to understanding responsible business practice. Global protests against multinational companies often give the misleading impression ...that the interests of multinationals and of peaceful societies are at odds. By contrast, Fort and Schipani contend, not only does business benefit from a peaceful environment but it can in fact effectively foster peace through adopting responsible and open working methods. Firms that promote economic development, that allow external evaluation of their affairs and that build a sense of community both within the company and in their local areas make a great contribution to building a more harmonious culture. Relevant for academics and practitioners, the book shows how companies can encourage collaborative working across borders, discourage corruption and create citizenship and problem-solving practices which tend to reduce violence and increase social harmony.
Reports on the seminar held to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations, jointly hosted by the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs (NZIIA) National Office, the NZIIA ...Wellington branch and the UN Association of New Zealand (UNANZ), Wellington, 20 Nov 2015. Summarises the four sessions, which provided a retrospective account of key aspects of NZ's experience over the past seven decades in the multilateral environment, then introduced a 'where to from here' dimension from media and independent observer standpoints. Source: National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa, licensed by the Department of Internal Affairs for re-use under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 New Zealand Licence.
THOUGHT GAMES ABOUT CHINA Kang, David
Journal of East Asian Studies,
07/2020, Letnik:
20, Številka:
2
Book Review, Journal Article
Recenzirano
...this is an awkward review to write. Yet in extending their findings to the current era, none of these books examine Chinese interests, perceptions, goals, identity, history, religion, culture, and ...philosophy—or even capabilities, domestic politics, or its economy—in any depth. If identity, culture, and ideas, or even the domestic politics and business of a country, have even a marginal impact on the behavior and perceptions of actors in international politics—and a wide swath of the IR profession, along with MacDonald and Parent, Goddard, and Schake, clearly believes that they do—then we cannot expect the books under review to tell us much about China and power transitions. Shifrinson argues that structural reasons determine the strategy a rising power takes, such as the distribution of power, geography and political relationship, and the declining state's own military tools (p. 3).
The post-Cold War period made a new concept of security imperative: it encompasses environmental, social, economical, political and military issues. Migration as a civilizational phenomenon, albeit ...transitional, goes across this entire spectrum, particularly in a varied historical milieu as the Euro Mediterranean region is. In turn, reforms and changes need to be carried out by South Mediterranean states and societies, in order to eliminate some of the obstacles to modernization, creating conditions for economic development at home with the help of North Mediterranean countries. Another package of reforms in European countries should empower migrants to adopt a more active citizenship and become more integrated in the societies where they choose to live. For Mohamed Khachani, a demystification of the question of migratory risk is in order to foster an improved dialogue between south Europe countries and North Africa countries. Sending countries are affected by political crises, socio-economic instability and illegal migration from North Africa; receiving countries practice discrimination in labour market and social space.
This multi-disciplinary book conceptualizes, maps, and analyses ongoing standardization processes of risk issues across various sectors, processes, and practices.
Standards are not only technical ...specifications and guidelines to support efficient risk governance, but also contain social, political, economic, and organizational aspects. This book presents a variety of standardization processes and applications of standards that may influence our judgements of risk, the organizing of risk governance, and, accordingly, our behaviour. Standardization and standards can impact risk governance in different ways. The most important lessons drawn from the present volume can be summarized in three areas: (1) how standardization might impact on power relations and interests; (2) how standardization may change flexibility in decision-making, communication, and cooperation; and (3) how standardization could (re)direct attention and risk perception.
The volume’s aim is to present an analysis of standardization processes and how it affects our thinking about risk, how we organize risk governance, and how standardization may influence risk management. In so doing, it contributes to a more informed discourse regarding the use of standards and standardization in contemporary risk management.
Standardization and Risk Governance will be of great interest to students of risk, standardization, global governance, and critical security studies.
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