MEĐUNARODNI PROBLEMI

Abstract ▼

The outbreak of Russo-Ukrainian War has sharpened already ongoing confrontation between Russia and the United States to the level of undoubtedly new cold war, which compared to the previous one has even greater potential of escalation towards the direct military conflict between the two powers. After the Biden administration’s failure to “structure” this confrontation during the phase one of the new Ukrainian crisis in 2021, Washington replaced this approach towards Russia with a new one – “containment 2.0.”, resembling the one from the Cold War. From neoclassical realist point of view, the author analyzes why the U.S. and Russia have come to this point, and are there prospects of taming their confrontation in the future. The conclusion is that responsibility for this new situation can be found on both sides (in their dominant revisionist foreign policy ideas), as well as in systemic factors’ (power distribution and geopolitical posture) impacts, but also in Ukraine’s role. In the longer run, the described state will continue even after the war in Ukraine is over, yet the appropriate changes in both systemic and unit level factors could tame the confrontation.

Abstract ▼

The ongoing crisis of the international order has opened up a series of serious questions about its far-reaching consequences, development perspectives, and possibilities of overcoming, as well as the trend of (re)positioning regional actors. Amid the Ukrainian conflict, special attention was drawn to Turkey’s attempts of diplomatic mediation. To better understand the strategic direction and current position of Turkey, the main intention of this article is aimed at clarifying the features, dimensions, and function of diplomatic mediation within its foreign policy. The first part of the article discusses the broader theoretical framework which analyses the features, dimensions, phases, and preconditions of diplomatic mediation. Thereafter, a concise presentation of the basic features of the complex state-national orientation of mediation is presented. Based on the initiated and accomplished mediation processes observed over a long period of time, in a wide area from the Balkans, the Middle East, to the Caucasus and Central Asia, the central part of the article discusses the essential characteristics, motives, goals, and function of diplomatic mediation within the framework of Turkey’s foreign policy. Based on the above, it can be concluded that diplomatic mediation is an important tactical and foreign policy tool for positioning Turkey in contemporary and emerging international circumstances.

Abstract ▼

Climate change adaptation in the Arctic is a powerful notion based on a challenging and impermanent reality of continuous complex interactions between the natural and social structures. The geophysical and geopolitical aspects of the Arctic system and the global context are naturally interlinked, and the human aspects of societal existence are even more integrated resulting in a range of collective opportunities, risks, and responsibilities as a civilization, as Arctic citizens, and as global citizens. Our analysis indicated that there are at least three key factors that stand in the way of the implementation of the Arctic climate agenda: 1) unresolved territorial and other disputes among Arctic coastal states, 2) the intensive (re)militarisation of the region (with Russia as a central player), and 3) noticeable economic dynamism, accompanied by strategic competition between key stakeholders – including non-Arctic states, such as China. The priorities for the region are still set by old-fashioned, mechanistic, political agendas, combined with unsustainable natural resources management strategies. Overall, our research indicates that the threat of climate change is not enough to mobilise the Artic nations under a sense of regional citizenship or to raise awareness on the need for a coordinated and inclusive climate change adaptation policy, based on Arctic cooperation.

Abstract ▼

The study discusses how the concept of evil is positioned in the current theoretical discussion in international relations and how it is discursively misapplied in the imperial practice of preserving and advancing liberal peace in the early twenty-first century. The authors first present the fundamental assumptions embedded in the notion and typology of evil, and then delve into how Rousseau’s and Kant’s conception of the origin of moral evil has indirectly affected the differentiation of epistemological approaches in the study of the dark side of international relations. In terms of the situational legitimization of evil actions, the significance of a group acting evil, the relativization of empathic reactions, and the imperial tactics of utilizing ethical arguments against the so-called illiberal states, the analysis focuses on the contradictions that arise in the process of evaluating evil in the whirlwind of world politics. The authors also present some viewpoints that are to explain the ways and encourage the overcoming of Otherness in world politics through self-transformation and the transformation of relations with Others. The authors conclude that the idea of evil, as interpreted in the optics of the prevailing positivist epistemology in the International Relations discipline, equally in (neo)realism and liberal institutionalism, still provides a (pseudo)legitimation basis for the politics of liberal interventionism of post-industrial democracies against the “rogue” countries from the global periphery.

Abstract ▼

United States foreign policy has been the subject of numerous debates, articles, books, and policy research. This is a consequence of the overwhelming presence and dominance of the United States over the past decades on the international stage. One particularly interesting aspect of the US foreign policy is its relation with the United Nations. As one of the founders and most influential members of the United Nations, the United States’ position is under a lot of scrutiny as it represents one of the main drivers of the UN policy. In this article, the author will investigate how the first year and a half of the Biden administration influenced US-UN relations. A special place will be given to the Trump administration’s approach to the UN-US relation, but a historical context will also be given. The methodology used for data collection focused on US and UN documents and resolutions, as well as the most relevant and current international and national authors, that focused on particular elements relevant to the research. This kind of analysis requires a historical approach to legal research, which was utilized for comparative analysis in this article. One of the conclusions was that regardless of how unconventional and destructive the Trump administration was towards the UN, it did not disrupt the constant of the US-UN relations.