Journal of international affairs最新文献

{"title":"China-led BRI and its Impact on India with Specific Reference to CPEC","authors":"Soumya Awasthi","doi":"10.3126/JOIA.V2I1.22592","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3126/JOIA.V2I1.22592","url":null,"abstract":"Given China’s proactive international diplomacy today, it continues to make its presence felt in the region. The ambitious project of Belt and Road Initiatives (BRI) stands among the widest reaching of all other initiatives. It not only represents a renewed, stronger and better co-ordinated push to expand China’s influence overseas but is also coupled with a domestic investment drive, in which nearly every Chinese province has a stake. BRI is a set of two outward-facing models introduced by the Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013 to promote economic engagement and investment along two main routes: the New Silk Road and the Maritime Silk Route. The proposed countries under the BRI framework are close to 68 countries, with up to 40 per cent of the Global GDP (Griffiths, 2017). This article looks at four major issues. First, what comprises BRI and what it has for the partners in the project? Second, what does it mean for India with specific reference to China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CEPC)? Third, major concerns in BRI and CEPC. Finally, the article also discusses the available options for India reluctant to join BRI.","PeriodicalId":81668,"journal":{"name":"Journal of international affairs","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-07-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.3126/JOIA.V2I1.22592","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42837766","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":"Countering Iraq's Anti-Shelter Policy in the Islamic State Era","authors":"L. Davis","doi":"10.2139/SSRN.3185731","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/SSRN.3185731","url":null,"abstract":"Moments of catastrophe that destroy communities often provide opportunities to rebuild them to be more resilient to preexisting harms. The challenge lies in spotting and seizing those opportunities. With the re-takeover of Mosul and other cities formerly controlled by the Islamic State, the rapidly growing demand for shelter in Iraq continues unabated. Yet the dearth of supportive services in many affected communities continues. One obstacle is an Iraqi policy that effectively forbids local organizations from providing shelter. The potential solution lies in international allies partnering with local organizations in a new way: by supporting their policy initiatives. In Iraq, local activists know that changing the anti-shelter policy in a time of massive humanitarian crisis would broaden the safety net for women fleeing all forms of violence while also helping to dismantle long-term structural violence. This is the paradox of crisis. One local organization, the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq (OWFI), is stepping up to meet the needs of survivors of gender-based violence by providing much-needed shelter, albeit clandestinely. Together with international partners, OWFI is challenging Iraq’s anti-shelter policy and creating the conditions for structural change.","PeriodicalId":81668,"journal":{"name":"Journal of international affairs","volume":"70 1","pages":"125"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-06-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45990937","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 South China Sea Issue: Its Implications on South East Asian Security","authors":"K. C. Khadga","doi":"10.3126/JOIA.V1I1.22640","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3126/JOIA.V1I1.22640","url":null,"abstract":"Although the Chinese government has a strong preference for bilateral diplomatic negotiations to resolve disputes, its status as a party to UNCLOS and its continuing failure to reach a settlement with the Philippines has exposed it to the risk of litigation. Additionally, if the arbitration goes forward, China may be at a disadvantage because several Chinese assertions about their South China Sea rights are not well supported in international law. China’s leaders may also have concerns about avoid nationalists who are sensitive to any perception that the government lost control of a high profile issue to a small Southeast Asian state and a Japanese judge. Nonetheless, now that the Chinese have rejected the process, the panel will proceed without them, providing a small “victory” for Manila and potentially swinging international public opinion toward the Philippines. China being an established regional power and aspiring global power would better show her generosity to take the countries in neighborhood in confidence. For this, resolving South China Sea issue by win-win strategy will be of great benifit for regional stability and security in South East Asian region. Background The South China Sea covers an area of sea of some 3.5 million square kilometers, semi-enclosed by Brunei, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam. These six countries have overlapping claims to various maritime zones in this area and five of them (China, both the mainland and Taiwan; Vietnam; the Philippines; Malaysia and Brunei) claim territorial sovereignty over land features in the South China Sea. Early in the twentieth century, the geographical scope of the Chinese state’s dominion increasingly came to attract the attention of both cartographers and the government itself. In June 1933, Chinese government appointed a commission that was tasked with reviewing maps and atlases produced by private sources in China. This Review Commission of Maps for lands and water published in January 1935 a list of 132 names, both in English and Chinese, for Chinese islands and other insular features in the south China Sea, which included the Xiasha 46 Journal of International Affairs Vol. 1, No. 1, 2016 (paracel) Islands, Dongsha (pratas) Islands, Zhongsha, including Huangyan Island1 (Macclesfield Bank, including Scarborough Shoal), and Nansha (Spratly) Islands.2 There was no reaction from Vietnam or any other State, and the Chinese naval contingent was sent to the islands and erected stone markers of Young Xing (Woody) Island in the Xisha (pratas) islands and Taiping (Itu Aba) Island in the Nansha(Spa) Islands. Following further inspections and surveys, the Chinese government internally circulated an atlas in 1947, drawing an eleven-dash line to indicate the geographical Scope of its authority over the South China Sea, right down to the Zengmu Ansha, or James Shoal, at 30 58’ N, 1120 17’ E.1 In January 1948, the Chinese Ministry of Interior published the Map of Location","PeriodicalId":81668,"journal":{"name":"Journal of international affairs","volume":"1 1","pages":"45-62"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-10-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.3126/JOIA.V1I1.22640","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"69306123","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":"Geopolitical Dimension of Nepal and its Impact in South Asia","authors":"Umesh K. Bhattarai","doi":"10.3126/joia.v1i1.22641","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3126/joia.v1i1.22641","url":null,"abstract":"International security and its relevancy to nation’s stability are heavily influenced by the geo-political situation of a country. By geo-politics, it is a relationship among politics, geography, demography, and economics–especially in respect to foreign policy adopted by a nation within the region. It dictates the overall governmental policies. In other words, the power relationship is dictated by the geographic location of the country. Geo-politics is the study of the political and strategic relevance of geography in a pursuit to national and international power (Khanal, 2011). So, the location and the physical environment are important factors to decide international power structure of a nation in the global as well as in regional context. Geo-strategy is a branch of geo-politics that deals with strategy. It characterizes a certain geographic area that affects the analysis of a region (Dahal, 2009). In order to understand the importance of geo-strategy of Nepal, we need to understand geographical context of the Indian subcontinent as a whole. It is a self-contained region that includes India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan. We may call the subcontinent “self-contained” because it is a region that is isolated on all sides by difficult terrain or by ocean. In geopolitical terms it is– an island (Friedman, 2008) ‘Nationalism’ within the State of Nepal The rebellion is not a new subject in the Nepali history since the integration of present Nepal by king Prithvi Narayan Shah. The conspiracy and struggle for power are common. During royal regime– the palace was the center of gravity for power politics and the elites used to revolve in and around the palace. These elites misguided the royalty and exploited the poor Nepali. The deep-rooted differences within the Nepali society surfaced at the spontaneous process of development have later transformed into the conflict. The scarcity of the resources, illiteracy, poverty and unequal distribution of opportunity have created a catastrophic effect to burn conflict. At the state level– discrimination based on tribe, language and the religion was distinct in all sectors of social life (Subedi, 2010: 72). 64 Journal of International Affairs Vol. 1, No. 1, 2016 The Maoist rebellion, in a decade time–geared-up so fast that almost 242 year’s old royal regime trembled. The very reason for this down fall was nothing other than the inability to meet the popular aspiration of the people, lack of willingness of the old structure to reform the outdated feudalistic mode of society and suffocation of normal people from elite ruling system. In addition, the inequality in access to resources and opportunities, inadequate service delivery, injustice to the identities and political ideological beliefs, ineffective governance, inept transparency and accountability, intolerant bureaucracy and technocracy as well as insipid diplomacy can be blamed for instability in Nepal. It is believed that King Prithvi Narayan Shah ","PeriodicalId":81668,"journal":{"name":"Journal of international affairs","volume":"1 1","pages":"63-72"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-10-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.3126/joia.v1i1.22641","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"69306157","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":"Contours of India - Nepal Relationship and Trans-Boundary Rivers Water Disputes","authors":"A. Ranjan","doi":"10.3126/JOIA.V1I1.22637","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3126/JOIA.V1I1.22637","url":null,"abstract":"India and Nepal share about 1800 square kilometres of porous border, inhabit the majority of their members from the same religious group and have symbiotic interdependent on each other; yet they are engaged into disputes over many issues. It is always alleged by Nepal that India does not consider it as a sovereign country rather as one of its own administrative unit. The basis of this allegation is behaviour of Indian establishment and its epistemic community towards Nepal. The political tensions between the two countries have kept on surfacing at intermittent period and have influenced the water sharing arrangements between the two countries. Nepal alleges that as a powerful country, India exploits Nepal’s natural resources for its own benefit. As a result many of the transboundary river water treaties have not been activated, some have been sternly opposed by the people from the catchment areas, and a few’s future is hanging in the air. To overcome these problems and its dependency on India, many times Nepal has invited other countries to develop its hydropower sector. Amidst all existing differences the two countries share inextricable relationship because of geographical location and shared primordial identity. India and Nepal are linked by history, geography and economy. The two sovereign countries share a lot between them, still they have passed through various phases of tensed bilateral relationship. Even at the time of writing this paper the two countries are in quandary over the provisions related to Madheshis (an ethnic group) inserted in the constitution of Nepal promulgated in September 2015. Differences over the constitutional status of Madheshis have led to protests and blockade on India-Nepal border. Nepal feels that India has no right to interfere in its internal affairs, while India argues that it is pointing out constitutional injustice done to the Madhesis. A substantive number of Madhesis living in India1 are critical about the constitutional provisions for their group and engaged in building 1 As told by a few people from Nepal to whom the author met. Some of them were from Madhesh area but were very critical about the role of Indian government and fellow Madeheshis. The used the words ‘lobbyists’ ‘ traitors’ and phrases like ‘on the pay roll of Indian intelligence agencies’ for those who are supporting the causes of Madhesis from New Delhi and Kathmandu. 2 Journal of International Affairs Vol. 1, No. 1, 2016 public opinion in India over what they feel constitutional injustice. In such sort of relationship, a question emerges: How bilateral relationship between India and Nepal influences their water sharing arrangements/agreements/ treaties? This paper is an attempt to study water sharing issue between India and Nepal by taking into account their bilateral relationship. Besides introduction and conclusion, this paper examines relationship between India and Nepal; discusses the various water sharing agreements the two countrie","PeriodicalId":81668,"journal":{"name":"Journal of international affairs","volume":"1 1","pages":"1-16"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-10-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.3126/JOIA.V1I1.22637","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"69306519","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":"Environmental Security in South-Asia","authors":"C. Pandey","doi":"10.3126/JOIA.V1I1.22638","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3126/JOIA.V1I1.22638","url":null,"abstract":"The proposition that climate change will engender anxieties for international security has become profound in public discourse over two decades. This paper discusses the concerns of environmental security in South Asia. It examines different meanings of environmental security to explain how it is associated with national security of the states in the region. Three major factors of environmental security problems are considered. Firstly, how environmental change can affect human security. Secondly, how environmental change can turn into violent conflict and thirdly, how the combined impact of these two variables affect the developmental concerns and national security of the individual state in South Asia. Introduction Environmental security is one of a number of non-traditional security issues that has served to widen the concept of security. It deepens and broadens the concept of security in terms of resource conflicts and risks associated with environmental change. South Asia is becoming sensitive to a range of environmental security concerns, which have assumed considerable significance. Firstly, there is serious concern about the stripping forest cover in South Asia due to intense commercial ‘logging’ and subsistent farming. Secondly, there is emerging concern of the shrinking of the glacial cover in the Himalayas due to global warming. Thirdly, there are indications that the changing climate is significantly impacting upon the weather patterns resulting into food insecurity and water-borne diseases. These three changes threaten to disturb the ecological system of the whole region. The loss of the forest cover is drying out the resource base of the poor who depend on the forests for their livings. This has also adversely affected the cycle of the monsoons and therefore the agricultural pattern and climate change is playing the role of threat accelerator. The melting of the Himalayan ice cover appears to adversely affecting the water systems of South Asia and the availability of fresh water in the water-stressed region. Studies estimate that many of the rivers originating from the Himalayas would become dry by the first half of the twentyfifth century. The melting of the ice in the Himalayanregion will lead to a rise 18 Journal of International Affairs Vol. 1, No. 1, 2016 in the sea level potentially inundating all of the Maldives and nearly half of Bangladesh’s paddy planting area.This paper argues, albeit military security issue between India-Pakistan-China is still relevant, that environmental security is one of the most prominent concerns of security studies in South Asia, therefore, the states need to attend to environmental problems to address the problematics of environmental security. In the following sections of this paper, we revisit the critical debates of security studies to contextualize that environmental security is one of the most significant issues of contemporary security studies. Then we present the environmental problems of ","PeriodicalId":81668,"journal":{"name":"Journal of international affairs","volume":"1 1","pages":"17-30"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-10-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.3126/JOIA.V1I1.22638","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"69306532","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":"Nepali Migrants Political Activisms in India and their Engagement with Homeland","authors":"K. Bashyal","doi":"10.3126/JOIA.V1I1.22639","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3126/JOIA.V1I1.22639","url":null,"abstract":"Dominance of research on Nepalis migration to India is consideres as ‘ for livelihood’, ‘passage of rites’, ‘taken for granted’, more importantly ’tradition’ or ‘Kamaune’ for majority of Nepalis. Nepal is an oldest nation-state of South Asia and its democracy had been, for a number of times, suspended or dismissed which forced Nepali leaders to exile in India. It still continues in different ways. Nepal’s political development is directly or indirectly influenced by political activism in India. India has been important ‘space’ for Nepal’s political change and it also has been a place for migrant’s political activism since a long time. Out of several Nepali migrants’ organizations in India, some are active in transnational political mobilizations. This study will look into the concept, evolution and contemporary discourse of the political transnationalism. It examines in the framework of transnationalism; development process of major political parties in Nepal, and situation of Nepali migrant’s political activisms in India and their associations with homeland politics. Definitions of migrant ‘transnationalism’ have flourished in the 1990s to explain the phenomena of migrants’ activities in two or more countries. The back and forth relations of their home and host countries resembles this fact. Steven Vertovec (2009) defines the broad meaning of transnationalism refers to multiple ties and intersection linking people or institutions across the borders of nation states. Migration has never been a one-way process of assimilation in multicultural field but it varies in degrees or it is embedded in the multiple sites and layers of the transnational social fields in which they live (Levitt and Jaworsky, 2007). They argue “decade ago international relations had to rethink its basic conceptual categories to capture cross-border relations between non-state actors and subnational actors.” Several aspects of social life take place across border. Most of the works on migrant transnationalism has emphasized transnationalism as a “counter-narrative to assimilation theory” (Glick Schiler et al., 1992; Guarnizo and Portes, 2001). 32 Journal of International Affairs Vol. 1, No. 1, 2016 Migrant’s multiple attachments in a political activism is a notion of ‘homeland politics’ and also sometimes described it in terms of ‘long-distance nationalism’, ‘deterritorialized nations’ or ‘globalization of domestic politics’ (Anderson, 1995, Basch et al., 1994; Koslowski 2001). Portes et al. (1999) suggest that this kind of transnationalism could be applied also in economic domain, where local level transnational business practices are relatively important. Similarly, transnational migrant communities connected with homeland politics are in a variety of forms. According to Ostergaard-Nielsen (2003), such practices are organizing return program for exiled groups, lobbying to homeland politics, extended offices of political parties, formation of migrant hometown associations, re","PeriodicalId":81668,"journal":{"name":"Journal of international affairs","volume":"1 1","pages":"31-44"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-10-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"69306083","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":"An Insider's View","authors":"C. Shrivastava","doi":"10.1111/j.1750-4910.2004.tb00540.x","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1750-4910.2004.tb00540.x","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":81668,"journal":{"name":"Journal of international affairs","volume":"69 1","pages":"211"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-03-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1111/j.1750-4910.2004.tb00540.x","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"63306458","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":"Lessons from Contemporary Resettlement in the South Pacific","authors":"Maxine Burkett","doi":"10.2139/SSRN.3304939","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/SSRN.3304939","url":null,"abstract":"Depending on the scale and distance of migration, a variety of challenges face both those moving because of climate impacts and the communities receiving these migrants. The lessons drawn from resettlements and planned relocations thus far--most notably in the Carteret Islands of Papua New Guinea--underscore the importance of adequate funding, careful planning, restoring traditional livelihoods, and ensuring voluntary community participation throughout the entire process. Critical hurdles persist, however, particularly for the most vulnerable communities within nation-states. This article explores the importance of adequate funding and identifies the dangerous and nagging impediments present, even as climate-induced migration advances in the adaptation discourse. With a focus on the Carteret Islanders' ongoing relocation and resettlement to the island of Bougainville, this article argues that communities may face economic development and political gaps. Economic development gaps inhibit communities' abilities to address redevelopment needs that elude appropriate classification for funding because they are neither strictly \"climate\" nor \"development\" categories. Additionally, political gaps exacerbate the challenges of accessing existing funding for local communities that are at odds with the national governments that purportedly represent their interests. These gaps compound the general lack of adequate funding for climate change mitigation and adaptation. Considering models for a new framework, this article explores the applicability of existing community-oriented funding regimes to address the political and economic development challenges that climate migrants face. ********** A politically contentious issue, climate change-related migration suffers from ambivalent recognition in many forums, including in legal, political, and international negotiations. The existence of the climate change migration phenomenon, however, at least for the kinds of relocation typical of small island atoll communities in the Pacific, is credible and verifiable. (1) Indeed, a number of communities are already well into the process of relocation--and for each, durable solutions are critical. (2) This article focuses on the relocation difficulties facing communities that are currently moving as a result of climate forces, specifically in Papua New Guinea (PNG). A review of their plight reveals that two important gaps in assistance compound the inherent challenges of relocation and cause the nagging lack of funding for climate change action, generally, and adaptation, specifically. These gaps are either economic development gaps--in which communities cannot address redevelopment needs that, because they are neither strictly \"climate\" nor \"development,\" elude appropriate classification for funding--and political gaps--in which existing funding is inaccessible for local communities that are at odds with the national governments charged with representing their interests. ","PeriodicalId":81668,"journal":{"name":"Journal of international affairs","volume":"68 1","pages":"75"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-03-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"68583817","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":"Democratization and Women's Political Leadership in North Africa","authors":"V. Moghadam","doi":"10.32380/ALRJ.V0I0.1724","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.32380/ALRJ.V0I0.1724","url":null,"abstract":"In the spring of 2011 when citizens in Arab countries rose up against their regimes, it appeared that the \"third wave\" of democratization had begun in the Middle East and the Maghreb, and that countries would embark on successful democratic transitions. Issues such as the gendered nature of the uprisings, how gender relations and women's mobilizations have shaped trajectories, as well as how women and their rights have been affected, have been under-researched. In this article, I put the spotlight on North Africa--Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia--which saw different protest dynamics and political outcomes subsequently. Drawing from mainstream literature on determinants of democratization and feminist literature on women and democratic transitions, I examine how women's preexisting legal status and social positions, as well as the broad structural, institutional, and cultural contexts, shaped the course and immediate outcomes of the Arab Spring in the countries examined. I argue that those countries that saw advances in women's participation and rights prior to the Arab Spring are the ones most likely to transition successfully to democracy, and indeed, to establish a more women-friendly democracy; and that women's growing political leadership will influence the quality of ongoing democratizations in the Maghreb countries of Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia. ********** In the spring of 2011 citizens in one Arab country after another rose in defiance of authoritarian regimes to demand political change. It appeared that the region had caught up with the \"third wave\" of democratization--perhaps ushering in a fourth one--and would embark on successful democratic transitions. After all, polls since 2000 had shown strong support for democracy in almost all Arab countries. (1) The road since then, however, has been rocky, with quite different trajectories that a burgeoning body of literature has analyzed. (2) Less researched has been the gendered nature of the uprisings, that is, how gender relations and women's mobilizations have shaped the trajectories, as well as how women and their rights have been affected. The focus here is on North Africa--Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia--which experienced different protest dynamics and political outcomes subsequently. I offer three propositions: 1) women's preexisting legal status and social positions (including political participation and involvement in decisionmaking)--as well as the broader structural, institutional, and normative contexts--have helped to shape the course and immediate outcomes of the Arab Spring in Egypt, Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia; 2) women's growing political leadership will influence the quality of ongoing democratizations in the Maghreb countries of Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia; and 3) those countries that saw advances in women's participation and rights prior to the Arab Spring are the ones most likely to transition successfully beyond mere democracies to more wome","PeriodicalId":81668,"journal":{"name":"Journal of international affairs","volume":"68 1","pages":"59"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"69582244","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}