Analyzing change in international politics: The new institutionalism and the interpretative approach

This paper argues that realism misinterprets change in the international system. Realism conceives of states as actors and international regimes as variables that affect national strategies. Alternatively, we can think of states as structures and regimes as part of the overall context in which interests are defined. States conceived as structures offer rich insights into the causes and consequences of international politics. And regimes conceived as a context in which interests are defined offer a broad perspective of the interaction between norms and interests in international politics. The paper concludes by suggesting that it may be time to forego an exclusive reliance on the Eurocentric, Western state system for the derivation of analytical categories. Instead we may benefit also from studying the historical experience of Asian empires while developing analytical categories which may be useful for the analysis of current international developments. -- In diesem Aufsatz wird argumentiert, daß der realistische Ansatz außenpolitischer Theorie Wandel im internationalen System fehlinterpretiere. Dieser versteht Staaten als Akteure und internationale Regime als Variablen, die nationale Strategien beeinflussen. Alternativ kann man Staaten als Strukturen und Regime als Teile eines übergreifenden Kontextes begreifen, innerhalb dessen Interessen definiert werden. Wenn Staaten als Strukturen aufgefaßt werden, ergeben sich vielfältige Einsichten in die Ursachen und Wirkungen internationaler Politik. Und Regime, konzipiert als Kontexte, in denen sich Interessen konstituieren, eröffnen einen breiten Einblick in die Interaktion zwischen Normen und Interessen im Bereich internationaler politischer Prozesse. Das Papier schließt mit der Empfehlung, analytische Kategorien nicht mehr ausschließlich aus der Betrachtung des eurozentrischen, westlichen Staatensystems zu entwickeln. Vielmehr erscheint es fruchtbar, auch die historische Entwicklung asiatischer Reiche zu untersuchen, um Kategorien für die Analyse gegenwärtiger internationaler Entwicklungen zu gewinnen.

A World of Regions: America, Europe, and East Asia

Recent events in world politics are creating a substantial break in the history of international politics comparable in this century only to the years 1917-22 and 1947-53. With specific reference to Germany and Europe as well as to Japan and East Asia, this essay argues that these changes in world politics tend to reinforce a new political regionalism that expresses different norms, which, in the foreseeable future, are unlikely to be assimilated fully into one normative global order

U.S. Standing in the World: Causes, Consequences, and the Future

America’s global standing has become a central concern of U.S. leaders and citizens. U.S. leaders, regardless of party, pledge to “restore U.S. standing” as a central goal of America’s foreign policy agenda. Standing has been the subject of widespread public discussion and intellectual debate. Yet despite all this attention, three issues fundamental to standing have been relatively ignored: -What is standing and how has it varied?-What causes standing to rise and fall?-What impact does standing have on U.S. foreign policy?This task force answers these questions by synthesizing what we now know about U.S. standing and/or identifying what we need to know to understand better a topic of clear national and international importance

The Alternative for Germany’s radicalization in historical-comparative perspective

This article chronicles the AfD’s rightward repositioning and compares it with the programmatic development of three postwar German parties on the ideological wings. By highlighting factors that tilt the balance of power away from moderate reformers towards hardliners, this comparative analysis sheds light on the conditions that lead a relatively successful party on the ideological wings, such as the AfD, to radicalize its programme. Four variables stand out: whether party hardliners take the blame for the recent election loss; whether they offer a convincing programmatic and strategic alternative to the reformers; whether changes in party composition strengthen hardliners; and whether external factors enhance their weight within the party. The essay concludes that the AfD’s radicalization was unusual, but not exceptional. It is however too early to conclude that the Federal Republic’s distinctive institutions and political culture no longer impose significant costs on parties that shift their programmes away from the centre

Convergence towards a European strategic culture? A constructivist framework for explaining changing norms.

The article contributes to the debate about the emergence of a European strategic culture to underpin a European Security and Defence Policy. Noting both conceptual and empirical weaknesses in the literature, the article disaggregates the concept of strategic culture and focuses on four types of norms concerning the means and ends for the use of force. The study argues that national strategic cultures are less resistant to change than commonly thought and that they have been subject to three types of learning pressures since 1989: changing threat perceptions, institutional socialization, and mediatized crisis learning. The combined effect of these mechanisms would be a process of convergence with regard to strategic norms prevalent in current EU countries. If the outlined hypotheses can be substantiated by further research the implications for ESDP are positive, especially if the EU acts cautiously in those cases which involve norms that are not yet sufficiently shared across countries

Neutrophil count in sputum is associated with increased sputum glucose and sputum L-lactate in cystic fibrosis

BackgroundMarkers of lung inflammation measured directly in expectorated sputum have the potential of improving the timing of antibiotic treatment in cystic fibrosis (CF). L-Lactate might be a marker of inflammation, as it is produced from glucose by polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNs) in CF lungs. We aimed to investigate changes in and associations between PMNs, glucose and L-lactate in sputum during antibiotic treatment. In addition, the effect of hemoglobin A1c and plasma glucose on these biomarkers were investigated.MethodsWe sampled non-induced sputum at day 0, 7, 14 and 42 in 27 chronically infected CF patients electively treated with 14 days of intravenous antibiotic. To analyze sputum samples, we used flowcytometry to count PMNs and colorimetric assays to estimate lactate and glucose.ResultsNo changes in levels of PMNs, glucose and lactate were detected in sputum during the antibiotic treatment. Sputum PMNs were positively associated with both glucose (log coefficient = 0.20, p = 0.01) and L-lactate (log coefficient = 0.34, pConclusionsIn CF sputum PMNs, glucose and lactate were unchanged during elective antibiotic treatment. However, sputum PMNs were associated with both sputum glucose and sputum lactate. Surprisingly, hyperglycemia seemed to be associated with less PMNs infiltration and less glucose in CF sputum

Comparing the harmful effects of nontuberculous mycobacteria and Gram negative bacteria on lung function in patients with cystic fibrosis

BACKGROUND: To better understand the relative effects of infection with nontuberculous mycobacteria and Gram negative bacteria on lung function decline in cystic fibrosis, we assessed the impact of each infection in a Danish setting. METHODS: Longitudinal registry study of 432 patients with cystic fibrosis contributing 53,771 lung function measures between 1974 and 2014. We used a mixed effects model with longitudinally structured correlation, while adjusting for clinically important covariates. RESULTS: Infections with a significant impact on rate of decline in %FEV1 were Mycobacterium abscessus complex with -2.22% points per year (95% CI -3.21 to -1.23), Burkholderia cepacia complex -1.95% (95% CI -2.51 to -1.39), Achromobacterxylosoxidans -1.55% (95% CI -2.21 to -0.90), and Pseudomonas aeruginosa -0.95% (95% CI -1.24 to -0.66). Clearing M. abscessus complex was associated with a change to a slower decline, similar in magnitude to the pre-infection slope. CONCLUSIONS: In a national population we have demonstrated the impact on lung function of each chronic CF pathogen. M. abscessus complex was associated with the worst impact on lung function. Eradication of M. abscessus complex may significantly improve lung function

A View from the Top: International Politics, Norms and the Worldwide Growth of NGOs

This article provides a top-down explanation for the rapid growth of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in the postwar period, focusing on two aspects of political globalization. First, I argue that international political opportunities in the form of funding and political access have expanded enormously in the postwar period and provided a structural environment highly conducive to NGO growth. Secondly, I present a norm-based argument and trace the rise of a pro-NGO norm in the 1980s and 1990s among donor states and intergovernmental organizations (IGOs), which has actively promoted the spread of NGOs to non-Western countries. The article ends with a brief discussion of the symbiotic relationship among NGOs, IGOs, and states promoting international cooperation