Power Politics

Scholars of international studies frequently examine the interaction of power and rules in their subject of study. Our profession also has significant power dynamics and rules that are mutually constitutive. In this forum , four scholars consider aspects of the current formal and informal rules of the profession of international studies that influence our field.

In this paper, we examine neglected dimensions of decoupling-i.e., its power and political aspects. We draw on an empirical study of the reaction of two hospital subunits and an external agency (the Regional Health Agency) to a policy implementation, to contribute to the recent renewed interest in decoupling. We first reconsider the distinction between internal and external actors by investigating how they interact in their responses to the new policy implementation. While observing different forms of decoupling, we show how power and politics allow us to understand how these forms are articulated and related. Furthermore, we highlight that contexts characterized by institutional complexity are particularly propitous for decoupling. Finally, we outline that how actors use logics to justify their claims might differ significantly from how they enact those logics. More broadly, this paper contributes by bringing back power and politics into the analysis of institutional processes.

Humanitarianism has arguably become the key frame through which multifarious actors of world evaluate each other legitimacy and determinate their roles in the current world. Moreover, this new "humanitarian paradigm" has become an essential expression of what is meant by international community and contemporary world order behind it. The book examines the patterns of co-option and collaboration between the ethical and political traditions of the humanitarianism in various world political spectacles: September 11th, Iraq and Afganistan, Darfur, SARS and Avian Flu, and U.S. transformational HIV/AIDS diplomacy.

This work is written by Steven Wright.
Bahrain has entered into a more ‘progressive’ phase of its history under King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa. Various parliamentary and legislative restructuring, in addition to discernable changes within civil society, have taken place. Yet genuine socio-economic challenges remain on the horizon, which may pose risks to the political order. The reforms were drive by a recognition that far reaching political and economic changes were needed in order to combat the risk of a return to the widespread riots that Bahrain was plagued with during the late 1990s. The focus of this study is to show that internal power politics within Bahrain’s ruling elite largely explain the manner in which the reforms have been implemented in the initial years of King Hamad’s reign. A key aspect of this was a desire by the King to enhance his autonomy vis-à-vis the Prime Minister through a populist mandate. This study also surveys key social and political developments in Bahrain and illustrates some of the important challenges which remain within the Kingdom.

The Anti-Money laundering law (AMLA) is a financial regulation enacted mainly because of external demand, as the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) called on the Philippine Government to comply with the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regime. The FATF not only summoned the Philippine Government, but also determined the shape and content of the AMLA by requiring the institutional policy actors to conform to the global standards. Thus the FATF exercised direct powers—agenda setting and decision making— in persuading the Philippine Government to enact the law. The institutional policy actors were impelled to prioritize the consideration and deliberation of the financial regulation (agenda setting) and compelled to enact and rework the content of the policy to conform to the FATF standard within a time frame (decision making). The FATF's use of direct powers was made possible and reinforced by the context-shaping power of the prevailing financial structure, specifically, the establishment of the AML regime. Context-shaping bound the institutional actors to enact the policy because of the prevailing AML regime established by the FATF. As the context-shaping power underscored the exercise of the agenda-setting and decision-making powers, the lawmaking experience that created the AMLA highlights the employment of the different dimensions of power as well as the contemporary dynamics in the global financial structure vis-à-vis the policymaking process.

In this article I develop a different interpretation of power that derives from Claude Lefort’s works and that highlights the relevance of its symbolic dimension. To this purpose, I start by examining Clifford Geertz’s analysis of the Balinese ancient political society as the most radical example of a kind of “aesthetic power”. Later, I describe and comment Lefort’s remarks on the symbolic character of power and how these reflections show that power is always in dispute; furthermore, why power should not be merely identified with coercion or violence and exclusively analyzed from a material perspective either. To this purpose, I will examine three faces of power that, according to Lefort, correspond to three different political forms: Ancien Régime, totalitarianism and democracy

The paper focuses on the APEC regional integration with an emphasis on the importance of China to APEC and vice-versa. Though there is still a dominance of US in Asia Pacific, and the question of leadership is in dispute, this region is doing pretty well in terms of economic integration. While the American dominance remains in Asia Pacific, China with its rapid growth has increasingly had its influence on regional institution building.

Resumo: Maquiavel propõe-se a analisar as condições de possibilidade
da ação política. Em relação a isso sua tese é: nada predetermina
a priori a ação e, por isso, o resultado depende unicamente da
capacidade do ator. No entanto, ainda que o homem seja responsável
por seu destino, Maquiavel reconhece a intervenção de forças que
fogem ao seu controle: a fortuna e a corrupção. A reflexão sobre estes
elementos evidencia que a ação política, embora sofra limitações de
fatores que escapam ao controle humano, não é impossível, o que
remete à idéia de virtù entendida como o complexo de aptidões que
permite aos homens destacar-se e impor às coisas o rumo por eles decidido.
É, assim, a principal qualidade requerida para o êxito na ação
política. Como Maquiavel a compreende? Ela está orientada, antes de
tudo, para o estabelecimento de um vivere politico, sua manutenção,
reforma ou transformação e salvaguarda.

Abstract: Machiavelli aimed to analyze the conditions of possibility
of the political action. With regard to such intention his thesis was:
nothing could aprioristically predetermine action, and, by this reason,
results depend entirely on the agent’s capability. Nonetheless,
even tough the human being was responsible for her fate, Machiavelli
recognized the intervention of forces beyond her control, as fortune
and corruption. Reflection on those elements give evidence for him
that the political action, in spite of limitations imposed by factors
beyond human control, it is not impossible after all, which lead us
to the idea of virtù, understood as the complex of capabilities which
allow human beings to stand out and to come to impose things the
way decided by them. This is the main required quality to the success
in political action. How does Machiavelli understand it? It is oriented,
before anything else, to the establishment of a vivere politico, its maintenance,
reform or transformation, as well as a safeguard.

El derretimiento del hielo polar y los altos precios de los energéticos han abierto una oportunidad para Rusia, deseosa de adjudicarse una amplia porción de territorio ártico para aumentar su poder nacional en las esferas geopolítica, económica y estratégica. Estas ambiciones se reflejan claramente en la misión rusa Arktika 2007, lanzada para probar la validez de las exigencias de Moscú. Si dichas ambiciones se ven realizadas, ello pudiera ayudar significativamente a Rusia a recobrar su estatus de gran potencia. Sin embargo, Estados Unidos y Canadá de ninguna manera desean ver cumplidas las aspiraciones rusas, debido al poder que este país adquiriría. No obstante, aún es demasiado pronto para predecir qué tan lejos están dispuestos a ir.

The article examines the probability of achieving the self-imposed criteria for Turkey to become a macro-regional power by 2023. The author analyses components of variables in Davutoğluʼs equation of power and the results of the " zero problems with neighbours " policy as an essential prerequisite for Turkey becoming one of the poles of power at the global level. Presenting the state of progress in military industries, in the development of technological infrastructure and in the economy, the author assesses the limited progress and failure to materialise the country's expected goals. After years of progress in various fields, the leading AKP party is now troubled by conflicts inside and outside the country. The author concludes that Turkey will not be able to realise its 2023 strategy due to combination of failures in internal, foreign and economic policies.

The non-violent removal of Ferdinand Marcos in February 1986 through a mass uprising that had started in 1983 was a landmark event both in the Philippines and internationally. It introduced  the term ‘people power’ into academic and journalistic discourse and was used as a model for subsequent civil disobedience movements in Asia and the Soviet bloc. It raises many questions regarding the relationship between civil resistance and other forms of power, and the diVerence between short-term and long-term success.

Analysis of non-violent resistance in the Philippines is still incomplete. This chapter attempts to fill this gap by offering reflections on the use of non-violent methods in the Philippine context. The first section offers a historical overview of the uneven democratization process from the early 1970s to the flawed election of 2004. The second section, which is in several parts, addresses questions relating to the role of civil resistance in political change. It considers the reasons for the adoption  of non-violent  strategies, and the ways in which the coexistence of armed  struggles in the Philippines influenced  the adoption  and  effectiveness of non-violent methods. It shows how particular circumstances, especially the regime’s shameless electoral fraud, contributed  to the movement’s success. It looks briefly at the role of international power balances generally and the US in particular. Various criteria are suggested for the evaluation of the success and failure of the civil resistance movement during the Marcos and immediate post- Marcos years. The concluding section draws out the links between the practice of civil resistance and democratization, and suggests some lessons which can be learnt from the Philippine example. In particular the conclusion asks what post- authoritarian  governance in the Philippines since 1986 shows about a possible connection between the practice of civil resistance and liberal outcomes.

Universities are called to play a vital role in Maghreb countries. In a relatively short time, the countries will be fully opened through the Free Trade Agreement with Europe and will face tough competition. This article looks at the challenge they face in contributing to build an efficient national innovation system. It examines in depth the power game internally and the race to political positions, which put scientific work and academic achievements in a secondary position. Rent seeking gradually becomes the dominant activity and consumes the largest share of valuable research time contributed. Unless these issues are properly addressed, successive university reforms can only have limited results.