Oct'19
The IUP Journal of International Relations
Focus
�America first�. The more the President pulls out his country from its external obligations, the more is the discomfiture of other nations at the damage being inflicted by such withdrawals. The latest example is: whirlwind exit of American forces from Syria exposing Kurds in Syria to Turkish forces. It is viewed as a betrayal of the US allies and the Syrian Kurds who have been in a way ring-fencing the Isis. It even raised questions over the trustworthiness of America.
Paradoxically, this move has aided three of the American adversaries: Syria�s President, Bashar al-Assad, his closest ally, Iran, and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Owing to the subsequent Turkish raids on Syrian cities, the Kurdish militants were forced to strike an alliance with the Russian-backed Syrian army. This has in turn helped the Syrian forces and its President to reclaim control over its large territory. With this sudden change, Russia�s gambit in the Middle East since its military intervention in 2015 has enabled it to consolidate its regional influence.
As this change is happening in Syria, Russian President was in Saudi Arabia courting the America�s most important ally in the Arab world and telling the crown Prince that �all our cooperation, Your highness, aimed at strengthening peace and security in the region...� Russia, despite being on the opposing side to Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi in Syria, could now get closer to Abu Dhabi, for �Russia is seen as the best way to counter Iranian influence in Syria and to help stabilize the situation.� The American withdrawal has thus certainly bolstered Russia�s influence in the region.
Nevertheless, this sudden emergence of Russia�s role as the pre-eminent powerbroker in the Syrian conflict also poses a challenge at Russia: it has to now work out an arrangement among Turkey, the Kurds, and Syria to head off a military clash. It is yet not certain about Russia halting the Turkish advance, which means, there is a risk of Russian forces that are fighting alongside Syria�s forces being drawn into a conflict against Turkey, directly or indirectly. Any escalation on these lines is sure to drag Russia deeper into the conflict. In the light of this sudden redrawing of alliances, it is interesting to watch how Putin, who is anxious to bring a political settlement to the conflict, maneuver through the maze of competing interests of the parties to the conflict. Despite all these ifs and buts one thing appears to be certain: Russia�s involvement in the Middle East, either militarily or diplomatically, will become permanent.
Now, turning to the US�s pullout paving the way for Turkey to attack the Kurds who had in fact fought all along to defeat one of America�s enemies, Isis, it must be said that America has once again weakened its own power in handling global affairs, besides undermining trust in its reliability. This also questions the very meaning of Trans-Atlantic link between America and Europe. Of course, ever since the fall of the Soviet Union, the strategic value of the EU has diminished for the US considerably. Trump�s hailing the Brexit and airing an opinion that �the EU is worse than China, just smaller� has further frozen the doubts of the European leaders about relying on America. This fear became quite evident when Angela Merkel said: �We Europeans must really take our destiny in our own hands�. With the current sudden pullout of the US troops from Syria that is feared to let Isis suspects to escape from the camps guarded by Kurds, who may create mayhem in western capitals, the EU leaders� frustration and anxiety has further been heightened. Against this backdrop, some analysts are viewing that this sudden pullout of the US troops from a region on Europe�s doorstep as a wake-up call for the European leaders to focus on the emerging geopolitical concerns: the competition between the US, China and Russia in the light of growing bonhomie between China and Russia vis-�-vis the trade wars and South-Pacific conflicts between the US and China and the EU�s vulnerability.
Interestingly, the first paper of the current issue, �Unfolding of the New US-Russia Hostility and Washington�s Self-Entrapment: An Analysis� by Nishtha Kaushiki and Hilal Ramzan, examines the hostilities that have recently surfaced between the US and Russia particularly in the light of Russia�s attempts to assert itself as a political power with the newfound support from China. Tracing the differences between the old and the so-called new Cold War, the paper, analyzing the reformulated Russian foreign policy and its geopolitical implications, opines that Russia�s recent moves in the Middle East have successfully side-tracked the US. In the process, America has, according to the authors of the paper, caught itself in the web of fighting against China and Russia simultaneously, a feat, its former Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger warned against.
The next paper, �Civil Liberty, Human Rights and Security vs. Counter-Terrorism Measures� by Onwuchekwe Pius Tobechukwu, Ogwueleka Francisca Nonyelum and C Tammy Ayres, examines the challenges involved in the adoption of counter-terrorism measures, for they affect national security, human rights and civil liberties against the backdrop of academic theories such as utilitarian theory, risk theory, social contract and Packer�s model of criminal justice system and suggest that human rights and civil liberties should not be scrapped, and instead may bring in amendments to rights while waging a war against terror.
Moving on to the next paper, �Nigeria�s Afro-Centric Foreign Policy in the Twenty-First Century�, we have its author, Temitope Peter Ola, arguing that Nigeria continuing with its Afro-centric foreign policy would not be in sync with political faddism, pragmatic exigencies and conceptual elegance, for Afro-centrism has become anachronistic, moribund and mundane. Hence, he opines that Nigeria�s foreign policy pursuit is today saddled with timidity, ambivalence, dissonance, indecisiveness and inertia. And hence he feels it is time for Nigeria to rejig its foreign policy.
The last two papers, namely, �Soft Power and Hard State: China on the Global Stage� by Keshab Chandra Ratha, and �China�s Silk Road Strategy and India�s Apprehension� by Ramakrushna Pradhan, analyze China as an emerging regional power and its role in the global arena.
Consulting Editor
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| Article | Price (₹) | ||
| Unfolding of the New US-Russia Hostility and Washington�s Self-Entrapment: An Analysis |
100
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| Civil Liberty, Human Rights and Security vs. Counter-Terrorism Measures |
100
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| Nigeria�s Afro-Centric Foreign Policy in the Twenty-First Century |
100
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| Soft Power and Hard State: China on the Global Stage |
100
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| China�s Silk Road Strategy and India�s Apprehension |
100
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Unfolding of the New US-Russia Hostility and Washington�s Self-Entrapment: An Analysis
The present study is an attempt to examine the rise of new hostilities between Washington and Moscow at a time when the latter with the help of Beijing is trying to re-assert itself as a regional power. The first part of the paper dwells on the differences between the old and the new Cold War and how Russia has reformulated its foreign and security policy. Strategies such as Gerasimov Doctrine, its own �pivot� to Asia, increased military supplies and exchanges with simultaneous political-economic agreements with the countries of the European Union have been adopted to further increase its sphere of influence. The second and the final part of the study analyzes the developments and the consequences of Russia�s new policies from a geopolitical perspective. Russian strategic maneuvering in the Middle East and elsewhere, apart from sidelining its divergences with China, has created new regional dynamics wherein the US has been considerably �distracted�. The study concludes that as a consequence, the US has fallen into the trap of challenging both China and Russia at the same time�something which both Kissinger and John Mearsheimer had warned against. This has led to its �self-entrapment� and has made it increasingly difficult to step out of the mess and concentrate on the Indo-Pacific region.
Civil Liberty, Human Rights and Security vs. Counter-Terrorism Measures
This paper critically evaluates issues involved in counter-terrorism as it affects national security, human rights and civil liberties, drawing on relevant academic theories and literatures in the field. The remarks of Theresa May after the London Bridge terrorist attack in 2017 and that of David Daves, after the Charlie Hebdo Paris terrorist attack in 2015, sparked a debate on the priority of counter-terrorism measures, national security, human rights and civil liberties. On the one hand, human rights institutions and academia believe in maximum respect to the rights and liberties of individuals and at no time should undermining these rights and liberties be considered a counter-terrorism option. Their argument is underpinned by the fact that undermining human rights fuels more acts of terrorism instead of curbing it. On the other hand, those fighting terrorism argue that the war on terror cannot be won with full protection of human rights and civil liberties. Their argument suggests that there is a need to restrict some human rights and civil liberties as terrorists utilize such freedom to attack and cause mayhem in the society. This paper critically reviews the concept of new terrorism employing Utilitarian theory, Risk theory, Social Contract and Packer�s model of Criminal Justice System (CJS). The paper advocates a careful and well-coordinated combination of Due Process and Crime Control models in the war against terrorism.
Nigeria�s Afro-Centric Foreign Policy in the Twenty-First Century
The study discusses whether Nigeria�s Afro-centric foreign policy is still sustainable in the 21st century. For a long time, since the 1960s, Africa has been the centerpiece of Nigeria�s foreign policy. Few would doubt Nigeria�s material and human resource investment in the prosecution of African diplomatic enterprise. However, at a point, Nigeria reached a crescendo, especially in the second half of the 1980s and most of the 1990s, and receded to diminuendo. Subsequently, what is seen and heard more about Nigeria is tolerance for corruption, avarice, greed, primitive capital accumulation and sheer lack of direction on how to achieve development. It seems the country�s successes have always been written on waters while it failures are cast in stone.
Soft Power and Hard State: China on the Global Stage
China�s soft power is apparent in areas of its religion, traditional culture, universities, mandarin as lingua franca, media, tourism, sports, Chinese Diaspora and China's political/cultural presence in South East Asia and Africa. The Chinese policy makers have emphasized the peaceful nature of China�s rise by offering free aid and infrastructural development to developing nations, respecting the sovereignty of others, opposition to superpower hegemony, advocacy of level playing field in interstate relations and focus on multiculturalism. China is now taking good steps for its projection of cultural power and influence beyond its borders. It is found that the movement of intense cultural and intellectual engagement between multiple actors inside and outside the country is to make others understand what China is and what the world really means to China. China insists �Harmony is most precious�. It lays stress on international cooperation while addressing the issue. The objective of this paper is to justify how China is great in the eyes of the world due to its attractive political values, cultural attractiveness and governance model. China�s participation in the UN Peace keeping activities is an important arm of public diplomacy to project China as a responsible power. China applies its heart and soul to peace keeping activities with a desire to become a responsible global player. The peaceful rise of China helps to dispel the doubts of other nations regarding its rise as a threat. The main intention of this paper is to evaluate the projection of China�s soft power on the basis of its culture, political values, and foreign policies along with formidable challenges ahead.
China�s Silk Road Strategy and India�s Apprehension
Although it was widely accepted that the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), like the ancient Silk Road, would revive the trade corridors from China linking Europe, Africa and Asia through regional energy markets, trade and transport hubs connecting business and people, thereby turning the entire region into an economic hub and evidently enhancing China�s sphere of influence across the three continents, its strategic design of encircling India both through the BRI and String of Pearls has largely been ignored. This paper, in this context, argues that the One Belt One Road (OBOR) of China is an evolving international framework to develop a regional bulwark to consolidate its land and maritime position in Asia, thereby virtually reducing India to a non-power. The paper adopts the realist perspective of international relations theory to understand China�s hidden agenda behind OBOR and to examine India�s apprehension and urges New Delhi to formulate strategies to respond to the rise of China in Asian geopolitics.