Distance, Size and Turmoil: North-South Mediterranean Interactions

Aspirations toward the economic and political integration of a Mediterranean region were and continue to be articulated by potential members, with strong emphasis on “shared prosperity.” We attempt to evaluate the degree to which the past 17 years of aspirations have led to observable economic and political integration between potential members. Has a politically relevant Mediterranean region begun to coalesce? How have levels of integration risen or fallen since the original aspirations of integration were expressed in the wake of the Cold War? Which factors are motivating observed integration? To accomplish this task, we first evaluate and discuss levels of integration through qualitative network analysis of political interactions and trading relationships. Second, we identify the contexts in which Northern Mediterranean states interact with the South, and whether those interactions are cooperative or conflictual. Northern States appear to interact with former colonies, but a general avoidance of Southern states occurs when those states experience domestic turmoil. However, overall levels of integration are limited and in decline.L’aspiration au développement d’une région méditerranéenne cohérente a été et continue à être exprimée par des membres potentiels de l’Union, avec une forte rhétorique en faveur de l’intégration dans l’espoir d’une « prospérité partagée ». Nous tentons d’évaluer dans quelle mesure les 17 dernières années de leurs aspirations ont conduit à l’intégration économique et politique effective entre membres potentiels. Une région de la Méditerranée politiquement pertinente a-t-elle commencé à se structurer ? Comment les niveaux d’intégration ont augmenté ou diminué depuis l’aspiration initiale à l’intégration suite à la guerre froide ? Quels facteurs motivent l’intégration observée ? Pour mener à bien ce projet, nous avons d’abord évalué et discuté des niveaux d’intégration à travers une analyse de réseau qualitative des interactions politiques et des relations commerciales. Puis, nous avons identifié les contextes dans lesquels les pays méditerranéens du Nord interagissent avec le Sud, et si ces interactions sont coopératives ou conflictuelles. Les États du Nord semblent interagir avec leurs anciennes colonies, mais en évitant les états du Sud qui connaissent des troubles intérieurs. Cependant, les niveaux globaux de l’intégration sont réduits et en recul

Constrained to Cooperate: Domestic Political Capacity and Regional Order

In this dissertation I develop a theory that seeks to account for the variation in order present across regions. I propose that the observed variation in regional order in the international system is rooted in the domestic politics of region members. Unlike other attempts at explaining regional order, I account for domestic politics in the political capacity of member states. Measured as the relative ability of states to extract resources from their domestic societies, political capacity provides a measure of institutional and cultural constraints upon the ability of states to engage in costly foreign policies, such as conflict. The more extensive these constraints, the more likely a state will engage in cooperative behavior, resulting in more extensive regional institutions or trade interdependence. I show that regions comprised of high capacity democracies, like Europe, are highly cooperative, while those comprised of high capacity autocracies, like the Middle East, are more conflictual. The more cooperative the region, the greater the degree of interdependence and institutional architecture that will emerge. Finally, because the presence of regional order is contingent upon the domestic characteristics of constituent states, I develop a novel means of identifying regions for the proper measurement and identification of regional variables of interest. Using an opportunity and willingness framework, I define regions as stable geographic spaces of interacting states behaving uniquely from the broader international system. The resulting empirical analysis is a new dataset that provides not only a necessary means of case selection for the regional level variables included in this dissertation, but a specification of regions broadly applicable to regionalist research.Release after 29-Apr-201

People and Places: The Contextual Side of Politics in Demography and Geography

The disciplines of political demography and geography examine the interplay between social behaviors, spatial dimensions, politics, and policy. Investigations into demographic shifts, driven by evolving social norms or domestic and international political events, can influence numerous critical dependent variables in international relations, such as trade, development, and inter- and intra-state conflict. Similarly, geography and the interconnection of space with independent variables, such as power, wealth, and culture, yield similar insights. In this article, we employ a systemist approach from the Visual International Relations Project (VIRP) to provide a brief overview of the theoretical intersection between geography, demography, and international relations focusing on using VIRP to teach these subjects. To accomplish this, we have selected two representative pieces of literature from each field. For demography, we examine Hendrik Urdal’s A Clash of Generations? Youth Bulges and Political Violence, and for geography, we review Alex Braithwaite’s The Geographic Spread of Militarized Disputes. These seminal articles in their respective fields demonstrate the clear applicability of demography and geography to international politics scholarship

The Case for Comparative Regional Analysis in International Politics

National Research University Higher School of Economics (Political Atlas of the Modern World 2.0)24 month embargo; published online: 26 July 2017This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]