Transnational Accountability And The Politics Of Shame

Since my work on world affairs is sensitive to the legal dimensions of the course of events, it is an especial pleasure to participate for the first time in a meeting of the International Law Association

Le touriste et le terroriste ou les deux extrêmes du continuum transnational

This paper proceeds from the premise that profound changes have transformed the structure of world politics and that, consequently, a new, transnational paradigm of the global system needs to be developed. All the existing paradigms are found to be incapable of handling the proliferation of actors, the declining capacities of governments, the mushrooming of subgroup loyalties, the growing demands of the Third World, and the expansion of the range of issues on the global agenda - to mention only the most salient of the transformations that have rendered world politics both more decentralized and more complex. What is needed, it is argued, is a model organized around micro units of analysis that are common to both the new and old actors, issues, and structures and that thus form the foundation of the many new macro aggregations which have come to share the world stage with governments and international organizations.After developing a conception of four types of aggregational processes through which micro parts are converted into macro wholes, the analysis focuses on two types of transnational roles as worthy of consideration as the basic micro units of the new paradigm. The two types are designated as primitive and derivative roles. The former refers to roles in macro units that would not exist if their activities did not span national boundaries (the multinational corporation is an example), while the latter refers to roles in macro aggregations that do not depend on transnational interactions for their existence even though performances in them to have transnational consequences (examples are farmers, parents, and car drivers, who are both active and inadvertent participants in, respectively, today's global food, population, and energy issues).Whatever the issue involved, and irrespective of whether they are primitive or derivative, all transnational roles can be located on a legitimacy-authority continuum and seen as varying between two extremes, one which gives exclusive priority to the citizen role in a nation-state and the other which accords exclusive loyalty to the transnational role. The tourist and the terrorist are offered as examples of roles at the two extremes of this important continuum

Le Nouvel ordre mondial : Forces sous-jacentes et résultats

Although much remains the same in world politics despite claims that a new global order has emerged out of the rubble of the Cold War, there is a level at which the emergence of a new order can be discerned. If one probes beneath the outcomes of international affairs and focuses on their underpinnings, it is possible to trace the utlines of new foundations of global politics. This new world order is depicted in terms of three basic parameters that bind the global System, each of which is posited as undergoing profound and enduring transformation. At the micro level the analytic skills of individuals everywhere are conceived to have undergone extensive expansion. At the macro level of systemic structure the transformation involves the bifurcation of world politics into a state-centric world and a multi-centric world, neither of which is predominant and both of which are responsive to the other. At the macro-micro level, which links individuals to their macro collectivities, transformation is seen to have occurred in authority relations, with the dynamics of change having moved authority structures from being in place to being in crisis. While these fundamental transformations are seen as fostering endless tensions between the centralizing and decentralizing forces at work in the world, the resulting turbulence is not viewed as amounting to disorder. Rather, the emergent global order is viewed as encouraging the institutionalization of the tensions, the outcome of which is readily discernible in present day relations among the states analyzed in this symposium

Public Opinion and Soviet Foreign Policy: Competing Belief Systems in the Policy-Making Process

Swings of American public opinion with respect to the Soviet Union and its actions are often attributed to the individual interested American\u27s lack of enduring convictions

Les constitutions dans un monde en proie aux turbulences

Dans un monde qualifié de "turbulent" confronté à des dynamiques centralisatrices et décentralisatrices qui multiplient les tensions politiques, mettent à mal toutes les formes de pouvoirs et remettent finalement en cause la cohérence du cadre étatique, de nouvelles constructions juridiques et notamment peuvent à n'en point douter jouer un rôle important. James Rosenau analyse ces dynamiques et s'interroge sur les capacités des réformes constitutionnelles à façonner la dynamiques des changements en cours pour permettre au peuples de vivre ensemble. Il souligne les intérêts mais également les limites de ces réformes.In a " turbulent " World centralising and decentralising forces confront each other creating political tensions, causing harm to all forms of power, and ultimately threatening the very foundations of the State. New legal constructions may play an important role in this respect. James Rosenau analyses the forces at work and examines the capacity of constitutional reforms to impart structure to current dynamics in order to help nations to live together. He points out to the advantages and limits of such reforms

Soaking of Pine Wood Chips with Ionic Liquids for Reduced Energy Input during Grinding

Abstract Ionic liquids are of great interest as potential solvents/catalysts for the production of fuels and chemicals from lignocellulosic biomass. Attention has focussed particularly on the pretreatment of lignocellulose to make the cellulose more accessible to enzymatic hydrolysis. Any biomass processing requires a reduction in the size of the harvested biomass by chipping and/or grinding to make it more amenable to chemical and biological treatments. This paper demonstrates that significant energy savings can be achieved in the grinding of pine wood chips when the ionic liquid is added before the grinding operation. We show that this is due to the lubricating properties of the ionic liquids and not to physico-chemical modifications of the biomass. A brief impregnation of the chipped biomass results in higher savings than a longer treatment

The Third wave in globalization theory

This essay examines a proposition made in the literature that there are three waves in globalization theory—the globalist, skeptical, and postskeptical or transformational waves—and argues that this division requires a new look. The essay is a critique of the third of these waves and its relationship with the second wave. Contributors to the third wave not only defend the idea of globalization from criticism by the skeptics but also try to construct a more complex and qualified theory of globalization than provided by first-wave accounts. The argument made here is that third-wave authors come to conclusions that try to defend globalization yet include qualifications that in practice reaffirm skeptical claims. This feature of the literature has been overlooked in debates and the aim of this essay is to revisit the literature and identify as well as discuss this problem. Such a presentation has political implications. Third wavers propose globalist cosmopolitan democracy when the substance of their arguments does more in practice to bolster the skeptical view of politics based on inequality and conflict, nation-states and regional blocs, and alliances of common interest or ideology rather than cosmopolitan global structures

The compound machinery of government: The case of seconded officials in the European commission

This article explores the compound machinery of government. Attention is directed toward decision making within the core executive of the European Union - the European Commission. The article studies seconded national civil servants (SNEs) hired on short-term contracts. The analysis benefits from an original and rich body of surveys and interview data derived from current and former SNEs. The decision-making dynamics of SNEs are shown to contain a compound mix of departmental, epistemic, and supranational dynamics. This study clearly demonstrates that the socializing power of the Commission is conditional and only partly sustained when SNEs exit the Commission. Any long-lasting effect of socialization within European Union's executive machinery of government is largely absent. The compound decision-making dynamics of SNEs are explained by (1) the organizational affiliations of SNEs, (2) the formal organization of the Commission apparatus, and (3) only partly by processes of resocialization of SNEs within the Commission

Stretching the IR theoretical spectrum on Irish neutrality: a critical social constructivist framework

In a 2006 International Political Science Review article, entitled "Choosing to Go It Alone: Irish Neutrality in Theoretical and Comparative Perspective," Neal G. Jesse argues that Irish neutrality is best understood through a neoliberal rather than a neorealist international relations theory framework. This article posits an alternative "critical social constructivist" framework for understanding Irish neutrality. The first part of the article considers the differences between neoliberalism and social constructivism and argues why critical social constructivism's emphasis on beliefs, identity, and the agency of the public in foreign policy are key factors explaining Irish neutrality today. Using public opinion data, the second part of the article tests whether national identity, independence, ethnocentrism, attitudes to Northern Ireland, and efficacy are factors driving public support for Irish neutrality. The results show that public attitudes to Irish neutrality are structured along the dimensions of independence and identity, indicating empirical support for a critical social constructivist framework of understanding of Irish neutrality