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Rooted in democracy and economic stability and propelled by President Lula's extraordinary popularity and assertive foreign policy, Brazil's recent rise has allowed the country to gain a new global pre‐eminence despite its failure to achieve the stated goals of its international strategy. Consolidation of the nation's place and influence will depend as much on its ability to tackle domestic vulnerabilities,...
The EU has developed its global role in recent years. This has taken place by developing procedures for foreign policy and in the deployment of civilian and military missions internationally. However, the EU suffers from weaknesses that limit its ability to exercise significant global influence and that are apparent in the EU's relationship with the rising powers. The article analyses these limitations...
Post‐apartheid South Africa has gone from being a good international citizen to defending a number of authoritarian regimes and obstructing various international initiatives aimed at strengthening the global human rights regime. This article presents this slide as a move from a ‘liberal’ foreign policy to a ‘liberationist’ one and emphasises the external sources of this shift, particularly the influence...
This article explores Japan's relative decline and its responses to the changing global balance of power through a case study of one symptom of this shift: the rise of the G20 as the ‘premier forum for international economic co‐operation’ at the expense of the G8. The G8 has traditionally held a significant position in Japan's international relations that appears to be undermined by the rise of the...
Perceptions of American international decline are not new. This article considers the current debate over US decline in historical context, noting that current forecasts of decline are less apocalyptic than those of the later Cold War period. The foreign policy legacy of George W. Bush is assessed. Perceptions of domestic US political paralysis are discussed, along with the need for the Obama administration...
Since the mid‐2000s it has become common, although far from universal, to characterise the world as ‘multipolar’. There has, however, been scant attention to how the key protagonists view the changing distribution of power. This article sets the stage for this special issue of POLITICS, which begins to address that lacuna. It introduces the significance of a change in the global balance of power and...
India's gradual rise as a new great power can be explained by domestic and international changes. India's economic reforms after 1991 and the end of the Cold War increased its international attractiveness and its room for manoeuvre. India became an important partner not only for the United States and the developing countries but also for China. The growing convergence of ideas and interests with the...
Russia's power resources have recovered significantly since the start of the twenty‐first century and with that recovery the Kremlin has become more assertive in pursuing its great power ambitions. To remain a great power, however, even a regional one, Russia has to recover its economy and learn to exploit its comparative advantages, such as expertise in energy and military affairs and memberships...
International institutions have developed into a site of political authority of their own as can be seen by looking at a number of authority indicators. The concept of international authority, however, is intimately bound to the concept of legitimacy. The stronger the role that international institutions play in policymaking, the stronger the demands for their legitimacy that can be expected to arise...
China has (re‐)emerged as a great power in a world not of its own making. The distribution of power in major organisations and the dominant norms of international interactions are deemed to favour unfairly the existing Western powers, and at times obstruct China's ability to meet national development goals. Nevertheless, engaging the global economy has been a key source of economic growth (thus helping...
Constitutional reform requires a cautious approach that draws heavily on the theory of institutions. Too often arguments for particular constitutional arrangements are one‐dimensional and limited in scope and imagination. This article illustrates this theme by discussing the debate over fixed‐ and variable‐term parliaments, and by offering a somewhat novel argument that focuses on the role of the...
There is a comforting consensus among political commentators that the 2007 presidential election marked the end of Jean‐Marie Le Pen as a force in French politics. The shock election of the Front National leader to the presidential run‐off in 2002, by contrast, is explained as a surge in the Le Pen vote specific to the prevailing electoral conditions. This article challenges that interpretation of...
This article examines the voting motivations of Conservative parliamentarians in the final parliamentary ballot of the Conservative party leadership election of 2001. By constructing a data set of the voting behaviour of Conservative parliamentarians in the final parliamentary party ballot, this article seeks to test a series of hypotheses relating to the ideological disposition and political characteristics...
While party research has seen a number of conceptual developments in recent years, it has not kept pace with parties becoming more territorial as a result of the increasing importance of sub‐national and supranational governance. This article lays down a framework for conceptualising and analysing multi‐level parties (MLPs). We propose a synthesis of the formal and non‐formal aspects of power; the...
Recently several thinkers have endorsed compulsion or other measures to increase turnout and revitalise democracy. This article argues that such measures are misguided, because lower turnout (even if unequal across social groups) is not necessarily undemocratic – indeed, it may serve democratic values by, for example, making it more likely that decisions really are made by the relevant constituency,...
This article questions the plausibility of the interpretation of Hobbes's liberty that Quentin Skinner articulates in Hobbes and Republican Liberty. It argues that Skinner's book fails to prove two of the three claims it must uphold: the ‘textual accuracy claim’ and his ‘methodological claim’. This article maintains that understanding Hobbes's use of liberty in Leviathan according to his definition...
This article examines the performance of the UK Independence party (UKIP) at the 2009 European Parliament election, and asks whether the party's second‐place finish indicates that it is now entering the political mainstream. It argues that while UKIP's success at these elections marks an important step in its development, the party continues to face significant barriers to further electoral progress...
This article focuses on the local governance process that occurred between the Secwepemc indigenous people and Sun Peaks Resort Corporation regarding the construction of a ski resort in the province of British Columbia in Canada. The article argues that this process was a localised manifestation of what Stephen Gill has labelled ‘new constitutionalism’ for it sought to contractualise the subsumption...
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