Vol 19, No 2 (2019): International Studies in the Global South

The author tries to define terms, concepts and categories the most frequently used by Latin America scholars and to define the directions and thematic focus of their academic activities in the foreign policy and international relations research area by applying the discourse and content analysis of relevant scientific publications, its abstracts and keywords. It was concluded that de facto, under the influence or even the dominance of the Western political science and the Western international relations theory, the particular Latin America foreign policy thinking has emerged and continues to develop. It is non-Western essentially, taking into account the belonging of the Latin America and the Caribbean countries to the periphery and/or semi-periphery of the global world. The following factors have been also important: common civilizational basis and similar institutional and political characteristics of the formation and dynamics of the Latin America countries and societies, many general development problems, common regional challenges and threats which require collective efforts for searching effective responses on them. Similarly, the significant role of external factors and global actors that influence country and international political processes in the Latin America region is noted. And also those possibilities which the trend towards polycentric world order paves the way for the leading powers in the region are taken into consideration. The author focuses on the concepts of the autonomy and dependency (or dependence development) when Latin America scholars analyzing the foreign policy of the concrete countries in the region and integration processes which construct the regional and sub-regional transnational political spaces. Attention is paid to the specificity of comparative foreign policy studies and spatial turn in the Latin America international relations studies.

The mankind has been actively using a relatively new geopolitical space: the space of information. Obviously, the economic and scientific progress opens new horizons and possibilities, still not clearly understood by people. This brings about many changes, with either good or bad consequences, depending on who uses the information and what aims are pursued. The present system of international relations is characterized by many new features; it’s becoming more “unpredictable” and “chaotic”. Information wars and “fake” news contribute in its turn to the turbulent character of international relations, pushing forward misconceptions and distorted visions of different situations, and thus provoking conflicts. At the same time, the world is badly short of new ideas, which could more adequately answer the global problems. These new ideas could hardly be produced by the “old”, traditional actors. At the same time, the BRICS countries, representing the new “ascending” civilizations of non-Western nature and not being bound in this sense by the rules of “Euro-Atlantic solidarity”, could collectively propose some new approaches to the global issues. BRICS, as a format of states with accelerated economic indices, should lay a wider conceptual platform for its further dynamics. It should provide a more active information policy and elaborate a “new” conceptual basis, founded on rather traditional and “old” principles - common respect for the international law, derived from political and juridical cultures, historic and social practices.

Integration processes in Latin America and Caribbean basin have been traditionally provoking strong research interest. Over the past decades, Latin American integration has tested plethora of institutional designs, ranging from relatively uniform subregional trade blocs - CACM, LAFTA, etc. to multifunctional partnerships with an identity-forming component, like Unasur or CELAC. This paper is an attempt to show how the Latin American academic community itself analyzes the integration in the “domestic” region. Forming the literature review, the authors, firstly, show how Latin American integrationism has transformed with the successive change of the phases of the “old”, “open” and “post-liberal” regionalism. Despite the fact that the types of integration in each of the periods differ significantly, scientists approach them in quite a similar way. They have been engineering the region socially and have been using such basic concepts as globalización , soberanía and desarrollo . The theory and practice of Latin American integration has always been closely intertwined. Secondly, the authors distinguish three today’s Latin American “big discourses” about integration - political-economic, geopolitical and state-centered. Each of these discourses takes into account the internal and external conditions that led to the post-liberal phase of integration. Third, expert forecasts about the prospects of regional associations against the background of the crisis tendencies of recent years are presented in this paper. Latin American experts agree on the fact that regional integration has entered the new phase, the most important features of which are the globalization slowing down, the complication of inter-American relations due to the “Trump factor”, the decline of left-progressist forces in the region.

International Relations (IR) is no longer considered as an academic discipline that analyzes the major powers or great powers’ activities only. From its Cold War content of emphasizing on traditional state-centric security, it has traversed a long way to expand its subject matter. Similarly, smaller nations and their imprints on international politics are also emerging as a significant area of inquiry in IR. This article seeks to contribute to this inquiry by discussing Bangladesh’s rising significance and how academic IR addresses this issue. It traces the history of IR in Bangladesh as well as its gradual expansion. It discusses the growth of IR as an academic discipline at the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh, that gradually led to the development of IR studies in other parts of the country. The article documents this growth, which is the first of its kind to trace the rise and development of IR in Bangladesh. It therefore fulfils the lacuna in understanding how and where the growth of IR took place in a non-western country. One might contend what is the relevance of studying IR in Bangladesh. The article argues that despite being physically small , academic IR has generated interest in Bangladesh due to the changing geostrategic significance of the country. The article outlines the rising geopolitical significance of Bangladesh where great powers are interested to come and be a part of Bangladesh’s development. It is in this context, the study of IR becomes more pertinent in Bangladesh.

Article describes the main priorities and objectives of foreign policy of Gaullism and neogaullism, trying to underline those elements that remain untouched during the decades and those that have been transformed due to the changes on the international arena. Besides, the authors focus on the notion of “grandeur” that was extensively used by the general de Gaulle, and estimate the direct influence of this concept on the French foreign policy. The main foreign policy priorities of Charles de Gaulle include independent foreign policy, status quo change in the bipolar world and great power status regain. Foreign policy priorities of neogaullists, Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy, haven’t been changed so far, but the ways of achieving goals are different now. Both presidents have been trying to develop the EU integration, even through strengthening the supranational institutions, and develop the integration with NATO (Sarkozy even returned France to the military structures of NATO). France, led by neogaullists, also conducted an active policy in the Mediterranean, cooperating not only with traditional partners (Arab states) but making attempts to restore relations with Israel. Sarkozy launched the idea of the Mediterranean Union that had the aim to strengthen the influence of France in the region, boost cooperation with Mediterranean countries and solve the numerous problems that all of them were facing. But this idea wasn’t realized as it was supposed to. In general, neogaullists follow the main principles of Charles de Gaulle, also responding to the current challenges. It’s worth mentioning that the authors analyze the foreign policy of French presidents holistically from the point of view of neogaullism, trying to evaluate the level of continuity during the decades and conclude whether the provisions of Gaullism are relevant for France in the 21st century.

The United Nations established after the Second World War by the winner countries was a key institution which formed the conceptual basis for international development possessed all necessary instruments and knowledge for its implementation in concrete countries. The paper explores a role of two main UN bodies - General Assembly (UN GA) and Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in forming and pushing international development from the Organization establishment and till adoption of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2000. To implement this research task the authors apply content-analysis and comparative historical analysis methods. A special database of the UN GA and ECOSOC documents dated 1946-2000 devoted to the development issues was made as well. The authors come to a conclusion that at the initial stage (1946-1959) both the UN GA and ECOSOC handled the similar tasks aimed at creating a new system of development institutions. After the adoption in 1961 the first Development Decade by the UN and till 2000 a process of division of powers of two bodies started. During this period a share of program documents in the GA discourse increased that laid a foundation for adoption by the global community the MDGs in 2000, operational and organizational issues were absorbed by the ECOSOC. The UN General Assembly was an important platform for the international dialogue on development which made it possible for the global community to adopt the Millennium Development Goals and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the 21st century. The UN GA acted as a catalyzing power for inclusion of new development issues in the agenda and creations of instruments and mechanisms for their implementation. The ECOSOC played a technical and coordinating role in a process of elaborating the international development agenda.

Formally, the Algerian-Russian partnership is labeled “strategic”. This research is providing the answer whether this relationship could be qualified as a “strategic partnership”. Firstly, through the “strategic partnership” concept analysis as a mechanism of modern international cooperation, and secondly, applying the defined elements of “strategic partnership” to the Algerian-Russian relations. The interstate strategic partnership is generally based on the following elements: long and distinguished historical relations, material factors such as strong economic and political relations in the long term, and non-material factors such as common values. By process-tracing some selected economic and political fields and issues of the Algerian-Russian relationship, this article reveals the significance of 2001 as a crucial point that has urged both Algiers and Moscow to significantly alter both their outlook on global politics and on each other. Moreover, distinguished historical lasting and steady ties are at the heart of Algeria's strategic partnership with Russia. The Algerian-Russian / Soviet relations have always been distinct and exemplary both during the War of Independence and during the Cold War or after. Algeria and Russia link a number of common values. These include commitment to democracy, pluralism, the rule of law, and respect for international law. Both countries also respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the partner states, promoting a more equitable and balanced system of international relations based on collective solution of global problems, the primacy of international law, and equal relations with the central coordinating role of the UN as the main organization governing international relations. This leads to the conclusion that cooperation between Algeria and Russia is both real and formally a “strategic partnership”.

The aim of the work is to develop an understanding of the role of Oliver Tambo as the actual head of the foreign policy department of South Africa during the period of implementation of the policy of apartheid and the process of decolonization of the African continent. The author’s thesis is that the African National Congress (ANC) foreign policy during the period of South Africa’s activities as a state supporting racial segregation was of the nature of external representation. The development of foreign policy was identical to the formation of a new state. The uniqueness of the analyzed situation is expressed in the fact that for the first time in history, international relations were established not only by a party that does not politically agree with state ideology, but also does not show its loyalty to any political blocs. The theses presented by Oliver Tambo in the conditions of the Cold War were democratic, consistent with the principles of civil choice and were not identified as the need for armed confrontation. It is these aspects that enabled the transition of power to the radical majority to avoid prolonged civil wars or conflicts involving international armed groups. The basis of the methodology is the understanding of the international process during the liberation of Africa and the choice of allies for this process by representatives of the leading world powers. The author uses the historical method and the method of direct oppositions of the position of Oliver Tambo and a significant number of ideological proposals from the leading world powers of the time under investigation. The article shows that the activities of Oliver Tambo fully comply with the regulations and traditions in the performance of their functions by the foreign affairs ministries. The author argues that the leading role of the ANC and O. Tambo in particular is to ensure the preservation of stability in the socioeconomic development of South Africa with the transit of power in the 1990s and the preservation of the pace of development of South Africa in the 2000s. The work examines the period from the appointment of O. Tambo to the post of Secretary General of the ANC to his death. It is noted that, in addition to the revealed features of O. Tambo’s activities for South Africa for the general theory of international relations, the above facts showed how to build cooperation with non-institutional actors in world politics.

Navnita Chadha Behera is Professor of International Relations at the Department of Political Science at the University of Delhi (India) and currently a Fulbright Visiting Fellow at the Sigur Centre for Asian Studies, George Washington University (USA). Dr. Behera is also presently Vice-President, International Studies Association (ISA) and Honorary Director, the Institute for Research on India and International Studies. She is a former visiting scholar at the Brookings Institution. Dr. Behera is the author of Demystifying Kashmir [Behera 2006a], the editor of Gender, Conflict and Migration [Behera 2006b], International Relations in South Asia: Search for an Alternative Paradigm [Behera 2008] and India Engages the World [Behera, Vanaik 2013], and writes extensively on IR in South Asia. In her interview, Prof. Behera talks about studying International Relations (IR) in the Global South countries, especially in India, and compares level and quality of education and academic approaches to IR Studies in both the Global North and the Global South. Prof. Behera also analyzes the possibility of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) to become a unified structure for the Eurasian states.

Due to the Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2015, the world community is to obtain a quality education and a possibility for life-long education for everybody. Children from the families of international migrants are the most vulnerable category of the population. At the end of 2017 nearly 36 million of school age children grew in the families of international migrants. The author describes problems of the education of migrants’ children in the context of the importance of achieving Sustainable Development Goals, stated by the international community. There is an analysis of the European and Russian experience in the sphere of organizing access of migrants’ children to preschool, primary and secondary education. The author has gathered concrete statistics concerning the percentage of international migrants’ children at schools in different countries. Some approaches to teaching and creating a comfortable integration-oriented environment for such children are described. Based on analyzing Russian and foreign publications, as well as on her own research experience, the author names main problems that prevent international migrants’ children from the integration into a new educational environment. Special attention is paid to the linguistic, social and cultural adaptation of such pupils. The efficiency of several concrete integration practices and the potential to apply them in Russia is searched. The author shows that there are no approaches to diagnose processes and results of integration by means of education. There is also no legislative basis for the regulation of such processes. It is shown that it is crucial for Russia to elaborate and implement the united conceptual approach to the organization of social, cultural, linguistic and psychological adaptation of children from the families of international migrants. The author proves that the education of such children is an important strategic priority and investment into the future of the whole world.

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