THE EUROPEAN UNION TOWARDS DISSOLUTION?

This chapter examines a number of possible trends and developments which may influence how the law governing the use of force will be applied in the coming decades. These include both technological developments and certain political trends which are most likely to shape the way the law will be interpreted and applied in a changing environment. Attention is particularly given to the potentially destabilizing influence of new weapons technologies and a shift in the relative power and influence of major actors in international relations and the impact these developments could have on the application of the law governing the use of force in international relations.

Part 1 The Gulf War and the International Order: Reflections on the Gulf War Experience - Force and War in the UN System, Richard Falk The United Nations in the Gulf War, Robert Springborg Bush's New World Order - A Structural Analysis of Instability and Conflict in the Gulf, Yasumasa Kuroda The European Community's Middle Eastern Policy - The New Order of Europe and the Gulf Crisis, Friedemann Buettner and Martin Landgraf Regional Co-operation and Security in the Middle East - The Role of the European Community, Timothy Niblock Japan - An Economic Superpower in Search of Its Proper Political Role in the Post-Cold War Era, Yasumasa Kuroda. Part 2 The United States and the New World Order: Between Theory and Fact - Explaining US Behaviour in the Gulf Crisis, Shibley Telhami The New World Order and the Gulf War - Rhetoric, Policy, and Politics in the United States, Enid Hill The Making of the New World Order - The Role of the Media, Malcolm Hayward Defeating the Vietman Syndrome - The Military, the Media, and the Gulf War, Andrew T. Parasiliti. Part 3 The Gulf War and the Middle East Order: Iraq and the New World Order, Marion Farouk-Sluglett and Peter Sluglett Iran and the New World Order, Scheherazade Daneshkhu The Gulf War, the Palestinians, and the New World Order, Cheryl A. Rubenberg Israel and the New World Order, Meir Porat Jordan and the Gulf War, Kamel S. Abu Jaber Syria, the Kuwait War, and the New World Order, Eberhard Kienle Imagining Egypt in the New Age - Civil Society and the Leftist Critique, Raymond W. Baker Turkey, the Gulf Crisis, and the New World Order, Tozun Bahcheli. Part 4 Political Trends and Cultural Patterns: The Middle East in the New World Order - Political Trends, Louis J. Cantori Islam, Democracy, and the Arab Future - Contested Islam in the Gulf Crisis, Raymond Baker Islam at War and Communism in Retreat - What Is the Connection? by Ali A. Mazrui Global Apartheid? Race and Religion in the New World Order, Ali A. Mazrui Democracy Died at the Gulf, Richard A. Falk.

This article contributes to the literature on global governance, legitimacy, and small states through a detailed analysis of the Global Governance Group. It examines in particular the operational impact and wider conceptual implications of the 3G's collective diplomatic efforts on the Group of 20. By engaging in a reconfigured form of informal multilateralism, the article finds that the 3G has been and is capable of shaping the global agenda with respect to the G-20 in a way that is both more inclusive and connected with existing institutions, especially the United Nations. Through this initiative, this group has effectively recalibrated the existing narrative about small states, the G-20, and global governance--shifting it from the paradigm of efficiency to one of legitimacy. Keywords: 3G, G-20, global governance, informal groups, small states. Informal Global Governance As new centers of power mobilize and old institutions fall behind the curve of change, the trend in world politics has been for countries to substitute, bypass, or marginalize established institutions of global governance in favor of engagement with new forms of cooperative institutional arrangements--in short, toward informality in global governance. International relations theory has traditionally been uneasy with forms of informal global governance. (1) Realists have dismissed them as irrelevant given that powerful members can go it alone, and neoliberal institutionalists are uncertain of what to make of these forums where formal institutional structures or binding agreements are not apparent. (2) Students of rational design see the advance of centralized rather than disaggregated models of international organizations. (3) Yet this trend toward informality is not only important for extending the debate about the manner by which cooperation can be secured in the global political economy after hegemony, (4) but the manner by which small states attempt to influence bigger ones. Marked by less hierarchy and greater flexibility, informal global governance of small states is an admittedly fuzzy concept, and explaining its theoretical relevance has therefore been a challenge for dominant international relations paradigms. Moreover, the relationship between conceptualization and issue-specific international practice beyond the domain of the UN Security Council in select crisis situations has not been extensively explored. Notwithstanding Jochen Prantl's call in his 2005 International Organization article for extended studies of the dynamics between internal arrangements and formal international organizations, there has been scant research that explores the use by smaller states of informal groups to increase their leverage in the global political economy and so increase our understanding of power, legitimacy and change. (5) Thus, in functional terms, there is some considerable space for specialized and more nuanced studies. Although greater attention is devoted to multilateralism light, the focus has been to some considerable extent on the mechanisms used by bigger and stronger countries, not as tools by coalitions of the weak. (6) A major strand of literature that traces forms of informal governance does so in a mode of analysis that privileges clubs of power where informality allows for easier backroom negotiations over contested issue areas as well as the implementation of tough regulations that are monitored in the privacy of informal groups, whether on a permanent or temporary ad hoc basis. (7) Well-known groupings such as the Group of 8 (G8), the World Trade Organization Green Rooms, and the Middle East Quartet on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are reflections of these informal groups, which indeed can be effective at achieving their narrow objective of furthering global cooperation. Yet although we have become accustomed to the idea that these contracting parties should have the requisite resources to back up their influence at the table, this approach should not limit our inclination or ability to perceive of alternative arrangements. …

A sweeping view of the decade's impact on the U.S. and Canada Watergate, the Vietnam War, the environmental movement, the energy crisis, the women's movement, disco...The Seventies in America brings this controversial decade to life by examining these topics and many more. The Seventies in America is also a much-needed source of reliable information for today's students, all of whom were born after the decade ended. CONTENTS This illustrated three-volume encyclopedia is a companion set to The Sixties in America and The Fifties in America. It covers events, movements, people and trends in popular culture, literature, art, sports, science, technology, economics and politics in the United States and Canada. The Seventies in America features both longer overviews and shorter entries discussing people, books, films, television series, musical groups and other important topics. Every entry focuses on that topic or person during the 1970's in order to explore what made the decade unique. Topics that span several decades may provide some background and aftermath information to help place the 1970's in perspective. Written with the needs of students and general readers in mind, The Seventies in America essays present clear discussions of their topics, explaining terms and references that may be unfamiliar. Entries fall into the following categories: arts and literature, business and economics, crime and punishment, disasters, education, entertainment, environmental issues, health and medical issues, international relations, journalism, military and war, music, politics and government, popular culture, religion and spirituality, science and technology, sexuality, social issues, sports and transportation. The Seventies in America contains approximately 300 photographs of the decade's people and events and numerous graphs, charts and sidebars highlighting interesting facts and trends from the era. FORMAT Every essay begins with a concise title followed by a brief description of the person, organization, work, concept or event covered. Further headings attribute authorship, establish a date for the subject and assign a place or location. Every essay features an Impact section, which examines the subject's broader importance. Longer overviews include a section called Subsequent Events that sums up later developments. Cross-references at the end of each essay direct readers to additional entries in the encyclopedia on related subjects. Every entry, offers bibliographical notes and annotations are provided in essays of 1,000 words or more. Every essay includes an author byline.

Caribbean Cricket: The Role of Sport in Emerging Small-nation Politics

Throughout human history, the fate of languages has been closely linked to political power relationships. Political shifts in the international system continue to affect linguistic patterns, which today are still in a state of flux following the end of the Cold War. This book considers the effects of present-day trends in global politics on the relative status of languages, and the directions in which the linguistic hierarchy might develop in the future. What are the prospects for the continuing spread of English? Will other traditionally prominent languages such as French and German gain or lose influence? Will languages such as Arabic and Japanese increase in international status? Will minority languages continue to lose ground and disappear? The book assesses these prospects, looking at the major world regions, and with its interdisciplinary approach it will appeal to researchers and students of sociolinguistics and language planning as well as of international relations.

The paper addresses the following issues: the evolution of the goals and objectives of the OIC in the context of the transformation of the world order after the Cold War, the impact of temporary structures established a unipolar world the activities of trans-regional cooperation among the institutions of the Islamic world. The article traced such trends as the beginning of the formation of a polycentric world and the intensification of regional associations of small and medium-sized countries, the political trend of consolidation in the OIC against the heterogeneity of its member countries, an attempt to "modernizing" the OIC in order to enhance its effectiveness and credibility in the international arena and the ongoing process of reform. Author notes the desire of the OIC to become a center of influence in Muslim world, as well as increased contact with the individual and collective actors in international relations. The article also discussed the motives and goals of Russia's accession to the OIC in the status of observer and prospects of their interaction.

In the social sciences, there is a trend towards normative, identity based and activist understanding of science. This trend is particularly evident in the rise of postcolonial theory. This paper critically engages with its impact in International Relations. Postcolonial theory aims to challenge established methodologies and arguments in all social science disciplines but shows little interest in rigorous research and the production of scientific knowledge. This paper highlights the most fundamental flaws of postcolonial theory, such as ideological bias, the application of blurred and one-sided concepts, the preference for anecdotal evidence over empirical evidence and ignorance of the major social and political trends of our time. Subsequently, it is argued that postcolonial theory contributes to a distorted perception of reality. Perhaps, this article can stimulate a debate about the function and scientific nature of social sciences at a time when feelings and emotions, not facts, increasingly dominate academia.

The article deals with political, social and economic trends in the Middle East, with a special emphasis on the issue of uncertainty. This uncertainty which is not new for the international relations has been a permanent feature of the region for decades. Certain regional trends tend to acquire a global dimension. The traditional domination of a foreign policy agenda over domestic one in the Middle East countries can be easily discerned in the global powers’ policies nowadays. A number of global trends either do not work in the Middle East, or turn into their opposite. Thus, the regionalism does not manifest itself in enhanced cooperation or integration. Paradoxically, the integrity of the region is accentuated by conflicts; the latter are getting easily and quickly internationalized with regional states and non-state actors becoming active players and beneficiaries. The revival of ideology is another example of regional trends that can contradict or precede global developments. While the role of ideologies has been downgrading at the global level, the issues of civilizational and political choice have been in the center of public discourse in the Middle East since the Arab Spring. A global renaissance of ideology inspired by the world crisis cannot be ruled out. Political developments in the Middle East are currently even less predictable than they were in the past. Regional states are facing traditional economic challenges, such as low growth rates, high external debt, budget deficits and a single-commodity export dependence, and at the same time new systemic factors, e.g. global warming and increasing water scarcity, along with such “black swans” as coronavirus and energy market meltdown. Currently, the problems that were prevalent mostly in the Middle East are spreading all over the world shaping global trends. Elements of de-regionalization, deepening inter-state rivalries, conflicts, poor governance, protests that have been characteristic for the Middle East scene can be found all over the world which is now also suffering from the growing uncertainty.

International trade agreements are major avenues for facilitating global economic growth, ensuring smooth supply chain management across the globe, and coordination of international relations among other social and economic activities among nations. However, such agreements and activities thereof are inevitably prone to disagreements and violations of the guiding principles. Multilateral trade agreements, Bilateral Investment Treaties, and even Regional Trade Agreements often involve countries with economic, political, and legal backgrounds or trends that predisposes them to occasional disharmony with the provisions. It is the inevitability of the disharmony and disputes in the international trade agreements that moved commercial regulators like the World Trade Organization to come up with legal and alternative mechanisms for resolving the disputes. Nevertheless, the trade agreements are equally unique in terms of their provisions with potential impacts on arbitration as an established alternative mechanism for solving international investment disputes. This study sought to examine the possible economic and legal implications of international trade agreements, including bilateral investment treaties and regional trade agreements on arbitration of international investment disputes. It was informed by three specific objectives namely, analysis of the provisions and mechanisms of international trade agreements, assessing the effects of the international trade agreements on the legal framework governing investment dispute resolution, and examination of the economic consequences of investment dispute resolution under international trade agreements. Systematic review of relevant literature alongside case analysis were used as the research methods for the realization of the aforementioned objectives. Both bilateral investment treaties and regional trade agreements were establish to contain substantial and binding provisions most of which recognize and support arbitration in the resolution of their investment disputes. Multiple cases emanating from various trade agreements were established to have been settled through arbitral tribunals. Therefore, the study concludes by noting that different provisions of the international trade agreements have worked towards strengthening the position of arbitration as a mechanism of solving international investment disputes.

The article is devoted to ideological and conceptual aspects of political management,strategymanagement,developmental management, and trends in socio-economic systems that are also relevant for Russia. This topic is one of the key subjects both for theoretical constructions in the social sciences and for developing practical recommendations to the authorities of specific countries. Russia is no exception, where incentives for finding optimal management decisions in the political sphere are set not only by global trends of a managerial and technocratic nature, but also by the need to quickly adapt to external stresses such as large-scale sanctions, proxy conflicts using power tools and rethinking their place in the system of international relations. The concepts of a state-civilization, a turn to the global east and south, technological and socio-psychological sovereignization, which have turned out to be in demand alone, require large-scale intellectual and political-organizational efforts to transform the approaches to political governance that already exist within the country, taking into account the entire acuteness of the moment.