Vestnik RUDN International Relations最新文献

{"title":"The Problem of the “Shiʻa Crescent” in the Middle East: A Quantitative Analysis","authors":"O. Chikrizova, N. Ivkina","doi":"10.22363/2313-0660-2023-23-1-88-104","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.22363/2313-0660-2023-23-1-88-104","url":null,"abstract":"The relevance of this research is due to the unabated interest of the international community in the struggle for regional leadership between Iran and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), which has unfolded in the Middle East for a number of years. The growing concerns of the KSA and its geopolitical allies, the United States and the small Arabian monarchies, related to the increasing influence of Iran on the military-political situation in Syria and Iraq, have raised in international discourse the question of the reality or impossibility of creating the so-called “Shiʻa crescent” under the auspices of Tehran. The idea is to unite the states of the Middle East, in which Shiʻa Muslims constitute the vast majority or a significant minority of the population, which would ensure Iran’s decisive victory in the race for dominance in the region. However, until now, the question of a quantitative assessment of the real resources of the states included in the “Shiʻa crescent” has so far remained out of researchers’ sight. In this regard, the aim of this article is to prove the absence of economic and military-political prerequisites for the formation of the “Shiʻa crescent” by using the method of quantitative indicators from databases, rankings and indices and a network analysis of conventional arms supplies within the “Sunni” and “Shiʻa” blocs. The databases of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Doing Business, Human Capital, Global Firepower, Global Terrorism, and Global Peace rankings, as well as World Bank statistical reports served as an empirical basis for the research. The theoretical and methodological basis of the study was constructive realism, which takes into account both quantitative indicators and the ideological and value attitudes of the state in the analysis of international relations. The study showed that the “Shiʻa crescent” is a purely propaganda construct, and cannot become a real interstate association.","PeriodicalId":55752,"journal":{"name":"Vestnik RUDN International Relations","volume":"21 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-03-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84292733","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Logic of International Response to Anti-Violence and Sexual Integrity Agenda in Violent Conflict: Case of MINUSCA","authors":"Svetlana A. Bokeriya, Anastasiia R. Andronova","doi":"10.22363/2313-0660-2023-23-1-20-36","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.22363/2313-0660-2023-23-1-20-36","url":null,"abstract":"A survivor-centered approach is at the heart of the international community’s humanitarian action today. In armed conflicts various forms of sexual violence are seen not only as accompanying violence, but also as a tool of pressure and warfare of the contesting parties, and important measures to prevent and counteract such acts have been included into the mandates of the UN peacekeeping missions. This research aims to identify the logic of international community’s action to counter conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) by strengthening peacekeeping initiatives, and complement ongoing research on the protection of women in armed conflict and situations of sexual violence. This goal entails an examination of all elements of the existing system: legal framework, the role of states, and the activities of the UN. The authors conducted a content analysis of the UN Security Council resolutions on the topic to trace conceptual terminological changes. At the same time, to identify the main contradictions in the rhetoric of states and, consequently, the motives of their actions, a discourse cluster analysis was used based on the statements of delegations in the UN Security Council. The resulting clusters display three unique positions of the national states that are mostly explained by different understandings of the term itself, the categories of victims of such violence, and the relevant tools for countering it. Emphasis could be placed on including sexual violence on the sanctions list, gender education in military training, increasing the number of women in peacekeeping and peacebuilding missions, or preventive measures. The authors identified the most active states pushing the anti-sexual violence agenda; they include Germany, the UK, the US, Canada, and France. The article also examines the practical implementation of UN peacekeeping mandates in terms of including measures to counteract sexual violence. The research confirms that peacekeeping missions are now more actively engaged in the international response to CRSV.","PeriodicalId":55752,"journal":{"name":"Vestnik RUDN International Relations","volume":"10 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-03-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"72988260","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"African Continental Integration - A New Step towards a Multipolar World","authors":"S. Volkov, O. Konstantinova","doi":"10.22363/2313-0660-2023-23-1-157-167","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.22363/2313-0660-2023-23-1-157-167","url":null,"abstract":"The global economy continues to suffer the consequences of the 2020 global recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the dramatic shifts in international relations in 2022 triggered by severe sanctions imposed by Western nations against Russia. Many countries have been affected by the restrictions. African economies were no exception, experiencing a strong negative impact of these sanctions because of rising global prices on cereal crops, oil, natural gas, and mineral fertilizers, which caused a decrease in their imports felt primarily by the most vulnerable population groups. In addition, the region has seen a retreat from basic gains in living standards and social problems. This situation has once again made it clear to African countries that they should pool efforts in order to minimize damage and facilitate economic recovery. In this regard, the issues of developing economic integration, such as the transition from the subregional to regional (continental) level of economic integration, which is the subject of this paper, have become more relevant. The African Continental Free Trade Area, launched on January 1, 2021, is the largest in the world in terms of the number of participating countries with a total population of 1.3 billion USD and GDP of 3.4 trillion USD, and is expected to more than double by 2050. An important achievement of economic integration in Africa is the creation in 2018 of the African Single Market for Air Transport and plans for the introduction of a single passport, which are designed to ensure the free movement of Africans across the continent. Thus, continental integration is an extremely important and necessary tool for Africa to strengthen intra-regional ties, increase labor productivity and enhance the competitiveness of African goods. In addition, the promotion of integration helps to strengthen Africa’s economic and political positions in the world, which objectively contributes to the movement towards a multipolar world.","PeriodicalId":55752,"journal":{"name":"Vestnik RUDN International Relations","volume":"3 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-03-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83868398","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"International Negotiations in the Digital Age","authors":"M. Lebedeva, E. Zinovieva","doi":"10.22363/2313-0660-2023-23-1-144-156","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.22363/2313-0660-2023-23-1-144-156","url":null,"abstract":"The digital revolution has a significant impact on world politics, including the practice of international negotiations and diplomacy, which, being extremely conservative areas of human activity, still have to adapt to the new digital reality conditions. The practice of digital diplomacy, which involves using social networks to interact with a wide international audience, is becoming widespread. New diplomacy formats are emerging that focused on working with big data, machine learning and artificial intelligence technologies. This study explores the impact of the digital revolution on the practice of international negotiations. Methodologically, the analysis is based on the structural-functional approach, according to which international negotiations act as a structural element of diplomacy and foreign policy. At the same time, the authors single out the invariants of negotiations, which include the stages of international negotiations - preparation phase, discussions and implementation of the results of negotiations. The digital revolution is changing the nature of international negotiations, creating new opportunities for negotiation tactics, as well as new challenges, primarily related to information security and confidentiality. In addition, the development of digital technologies produces new subject areas of international negotiations that focus on Internet regulation, information security and other digital society problems, and contributes to the emergence and development of new international negotiations formats - multistakeholder negotiations and online remote negotiations. The authors conclude that the main negotiation invariants remain the same. However, digital technologies are transforming the available negotiating tools and tactics. Under these conditions, new knowledge and competencies are in demand among diplomats, in particular, in the field of data management and information security.","PeriodicalId":55752,"journal":{"name":"Vestnik RUDN International Relations","volume":"83 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-03-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83442607","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Gender Perspective in UN Police Peacekeeping","authors":"S. Tishkov, I. K. Kharichkin","doi":"10.22363/2313-0660-2023-23-1-7-19","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.22363/2313-0660-2023-23-1-7-19","url":null,"abstract":"Despite the upsurge in conflicts at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries and the increase in peacekeeping activities, women’s participation in peacekeeping operations has been the exception to the rule rather than the standard practice. However, the UN has focused on the negative and disproportional impact of internal armed conflicts on women and children. For the past two decades, the UN has been working to incorporate a gender perspective into the peacekeeping architecture. The starting point was UN Security Council Resolution 1325, adopted in 2000, which fully recognized the importance of the gender perspective in peace and security. The UN’s further systematic actions in this direction have changed the simplistic view of women as victims of internal armed conflicts and have recognized them as active contributors to peace and security. The purpose of the article is to comprehensively examine the current state of the international community’s commitment to women, peace and security in order to fill the existing theoretical gaps and find further ways to enhance the role of women in peace and security activities. The study is based on interdisciplinary, historical and structural-functional approaches, and uses content analysis of official UN documents and data, analytical reports of international organizations, relevant scientific materials and publications. The authors conclude that UNSCR 1325 (2000) initiated a major shift in UN peacekeeping in the context of a large-scale “Women, Peace and Security” agenda and has led to new approaches to women’s participation in all stages of peace processes. Women’s active and equal participation in peace negotiations and the implementation of political decisions has become an important factor in strengthening peace and security. Moreover, the UN’s current activities are not limited to women’s participation in peacekeeping. In addition to changes in the planning and staffing of peacekeeping operations, the UN has also taken steps to address less visible behavioral issues, including the prevention of sexual and gender-based violence, as well as the professional skills of peacekeeping personnel. At the same time, the increase in the number of women in the military and police components of UN missions has raised some international concerns about the potential masculinization of female peacekeepers.","PeriodicalId":55752,"journal":{"name":"Vestnik RUDN International Relations","volume":"14 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-03-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"77090135","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Chinese Media Representation of the SCO: A Study of People’s Daily and Global Times","authors":"S. Krivokhizh, E. Soboleva, Ekaterina S. Melnikova","doi":"10.22363/2313-0660-2023-23-1-105-115","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.22363/2313-0660-2023-23-1-105-115","url":null,"abstract":"The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is one of the first international organizations in which the PRC played a key role. However, according to some researchers, over the past 20 years the Chinese leadership’s interest in this mechanism of international cooperation has decreased. This article explores the place of the SCO in Chinese foreign policy by analyzing the representation of this organization in the PRC’s media - Chinese-language publications in the newspapers People’s Daily and Global Times , which both belong to the Chinese Communist Party. Such focus allows better understanding the value of the SCO to China and its position vis-á-vis other Chinese initiatives in Central Asia. The authors use methods of quantitative and qualitative content analysis, namely counting the frequency of single words, identifying and counting the most common frames, and discussing the ways these frames are constructed. Frame analysis demonstrates that the articles focus on the achievements of the SCO in solving regional problems, while existing difficulties are ignored. The SCO is represented as an important element of China’s foreign policy, along with the Belt and Road Initiative, while the details of their interaction are not discussed. It should also be mentioned that the SCO is framed as an association of countries opposing Western hegemonism and advocating a new system of international relations. An extremely positive representation of the SCO serves legitimation of the political regime in the PRC: the articles focus on China’s role as a leader in the SCO and its successes in addressing domestic problems, such as poverty reduction and fighting the coronavirus infection. This narrative is often created by quoting the opinions of high-level foreign politicians and average citizens.","PeriodicalId":55752,"journal":{"name":"Vestnik RUDN International Relations","volume":"18 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-03-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83043000","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Book review: Lebedeva, M. M., & Zinovieva, E. S. (2022). Technology of International Negotiations in the Digital Age: Student book. Moscow: Aspekt Press publ., 250 p. (In Russian)","authors":"Mariia Mikhaylovna Bazlutckaia","doi":"10.22363/2313-0660-2023-23-1-196-200","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.22363/2313-0660-2023-23-1-196-200","url":null,"abstract":"<jats:p>-</jats:p>","PeriodicalId":55752,"journal":{"name":"Vestnik RUDN International Relations","volume":"120 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-03-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80400956","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Book review: Abidde, S. O., & Ayoola, T. A. (Eds.). (2021). China in Africa. Between Imperialism and Partnership in Humanitarian Development. Lanham, Boulder, New York, London: Lexington Books, 397 p.","authors":"T. Deych","doi":"10.22363/2313-0660-2022-22-4-805-808","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.22363/2313-0660-2022-22-4-805-808","url":null,"abstract":"<jats:p>-</jats:p>","PeriodicalId":55752,"journal":{"name":"Vestnik RUDN International Relations","volume":"11 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75621294","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Russia’s Soft Power in Africa: Potential and Challenges of Russian-speaking Women’s Communities","authors":"N. Krylova, O. Kulkova","doi":"10.22363/2313-0660-2022-22-4-728-740","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.22363/2313-0660-2022-22-4-728-740","url":null,"abstract":"The article refers to one of the integral parts of the of Russian soft power foreign policy, which lies in its interaction with the Russian-speaking women’s communities on the African continent. This topic has not previously been given an appropriate consideration in the domestic scientific discourse. The processes of current social and political transformations in the African countries require the significant increase in soft power, which could become the instrument of developing and consolidating relations between Russia and new African elites and African people. The Russian-speaking communities in Africa and organizations they create are largely composed of women and are developing thanks to their own initiatives. The potential of Russian-speaking women’s communities in Africa, as well as of associations of African graduates of Soviet/Russian educational institutions as prospective soft power providers is quite significant, yet seriously underestimated and untapped properly. Today a variety of associations, clubs, fraternities, unions comprised of Russian-speaking women is widely occurring in the majority of African countries. There are such associations in Zambia, Cameroon, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Nigeria, Uganda, Togo, Angola, Mauritius, Madagascar, Senegal, Nigeria, Rwanda, Mali, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Mozambique, and other countries. Russian-African mixed families are considered as the most probable potential mediators in Russian and African societies, cultures and markets. At the same time, the development of ties with the Russian-speaking diaspora in Africa would contribute not only to supporting the foreign policy activities of the Russian Federation on the continent, but also to the implementation of such important national priorities of our country as supporting compatriots abroad and promoting the “Russian world.” This acquires particular importance on the threshold of the second Russia - Africa summit in 2023.","PeriodicalId":55752,"journal":{"name":"Vestnik RUDN International Relations","volume":"118 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"72970060","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Postcolonial Epistemology: African “Registers”","authors":"Tatyana M. Gavristova, N. Khokholkova","doi":"10.22363/2313-0660-2022-22-4-688-699","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.22363/2313-0660-2022-22-4-688-699","url":null,"abstract":"With global digitalization and the resulting intensification of communication processes, the accumulation and retransmission of ideas and their connotations have accelerated. The academic environment has changed in the course of updating the research field and building up a new picture of the world, complex and diversified. The accumulation of “critical mass” of talented intellectual scholars based both in Africa and within the African Diaspora, focused on “breakthrough” in philosophy and epistemology, was reflected in an attack on the theoretical principles of postmodernism and Postcolonialism and a dynamic transformation of the conceptual principles and content of African studies. Contrary to Eurocentrism, Africa has become an epistemological laboratory, where the developing theories claiming to become metanarratives, within which new metalexemes and metagenres are emerging. Postcolonial discourse contains elements of metascience, a universal system of knowledge production. The interrelation of facts and methodology in their framework fully corresponds to the trends of the time in the era of algorithms, and their choice both forms the mechanisms of scientific knowledge, but also ensures success in the fight against stereotypes, not only racial and ethnic. The theoretical and methodological significance of postcolonial studies refers to the actualization of the “crossroad” problems in the history of Africa and the Diaspora, such as colonialism and decolonization, ethnicity and identity, hybridity and otherness, essentialism and transcendence, exodus and exile. In the present article the authors focus on the results of the interaction of researchers of African descent with postcolonial theory, as well as on the ideas of postcoloniality and decoloniality, which to a certain extent oppose each other. Particular attention is paid to the development of an updated epistemology of knowledge in the process of the formation of the “postcolonial library,” which includes the works of many scholars from Franz Fanon and Leopold Senghor to Kwame Anthony Appiah and Achille Mbembe.","PeriodicalId":55752,"journal":{"name":"Vestnik RUDN International Relations","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"76522505","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}