Searching for Themes in a Chamber full of Noise? How Language Affects United Nations’ Actions and Decisions

Against a scholarly mountain of literature on the United Nations, it is astounding how profoundly little we know about the decision-making processes of its most powerful and secretive body, the UN Security Council. In particular, no study has systematically investigated the rhetoric in the Council and assessed its impact on actions and decisions in authorized resolutions. Since diplomats, lawyers, and policymakers held almost 80,000 speeches in public debates between 1995 and 2018 alone, one has to wonder, do these speeches matter? Do they affect intergovernmental decision-making procedures? Do they amount to anything in world politics? And if so, what is their effect? The lack of answers to these questions shows the need for a theory-driven systematic, and rigorous empirical investigation of Council rhetoric

A Source-Based Test-Bed for Fast-Neutron Irradiation

The "3He crisis" has resulted in a major effort worldwide to develop replacement neutron-detector technologies. Such technologies are in their infancy and need to be thoroughly tested before becoming mainstream. Neutron sources for controlled irradiation include accelerators, nuclear reactors and radioactive sources. Neutrons produced in nuclear reactors and at accelerators have a very high cost per neutron. In contrast, radioactive sources produce neutrons at a significantly lower cost per neu- tron and with a substantially lower cost of entry. A drawback associated with radioac- tive sources is the associated isotropic mixed neutron/gamma-ray field. This work in- troduces a cost-efficient test-bed for the production of 2-7 MeV neutrons based on an 241Am/9Be source, with the aim of lowering the barrier for precision neutron testing of detector technologies. Well-understood nuclear physics coincidence and time-of- flight measurement techniques are applied to unfold the mixed neutron/gamma-ray field and unambiguously identify the energies of the neutrons on an event-by-event basis

'Acting under Chapter 7': rhetorical entrapment, rhetorical hollowing, and the authorization of force in the UN security council, 1995-2017

After more than 25 years of scholarship, the deliberative turn in international relations (IR) theory is ready to be revisited with a fresh perspective. Using new methods from automated text analyses, this explorative article investigates how rhetoric may bind action. It does so by building upon Schimmelfennig's original account of rhetorical entrapment. To begin, I theorize the opposite of entrapment, which I call rhetorical hollowing. Rhetorical hollowing describes a situation in which actors use normative rhetoric, but instead of advancing their interests, such rhetoric fails to increase their chances of obtaining the desired outcome because the normative force of their rhetoric has eroded over time. To provide plausibility to both entrapment and hollowing, I present two mechanisms by which language is connected with action in the United Nations Security Council. Finally, I run a series of time-series-cross-section models on selected dictionary terms conducive to entrapment or hollowing on all speeches and an original Security Council resolution corpus from 1995 to 2017. The research shows that while mentioning 'human rights' is consistently associated with increased odds of authorization of force; the word 'terrorism' is associated with a decrease of odds for intervention. This finding suggests that some terms may not only entrap or hollow but also normatively backfire

Caricature and Mrs Rooth’s shawl in the tragic muse

Abstract: Please refer to full text to view abstrac

Unbowed, unbent, unbroken? Examining the validity of the responsibility to protect

How has the sentiment around the “responsibility to protect” (R2P) changed over time? Scholars have debated far and wide whether the political norm enjoys widespread discursive acceptance or is on the brink of decline. This article contends that we can use sentiment analysis as an important indicator for norm validity. My analysis provides three crucial insights. First, despite the well-known fear of some scholars, R2P is still frequently invoked in Security Council deliberations on issues of international peace and security. Second, overall levels of affirmative language have remained remarkably stable over time. This finding indicates that R2P is far from being obliterated. Out of 130 states, 4 international organizations (IOs), and 2 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) invoking the norm, 65% maintain a positive net-sentiment. Third, zooming into Libya as a case illustration of a critical juncture, we see some minor tonal shifts from some pivotal member states. Adding the fact that interest constellations within the Permanent Five are heterogeneous concerning the third pillar of R2P, future military interventions, sanctioned under the norm, seem unlikely