[LUCIR] [Spam:********] LUCIR NEWSLETTER MAY 2021
by Leiden University - Center for International Relations
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LUCIR NEWSLETTER MAY 2021
Dear LUCIR community,
Although we’ve had the coldest April in years, we hope you are managing to keep your spirits warm and high. The deluge of marking awaits, but a vaccinated-summer (or not?) hopes to push us closer to the end of what has been a dreary and tiring year.
Ever since our last newsletter, we have conducted (jointly at times) three events. On 11 March, we hosted a panel on Dutch elections, followed by a panel on Global Climate/Ecological Risk and International Security on 7 April. We launched Ian Patel’s book ‘We’re Here Because You Were There’ on 15 April. These events were well attended and we thank all the panelists and attendees.
We are very pleased to welcome Ghulam Ali Murtaza<https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/medewerkers/ali-murtaza#tab-1> on the LUCIR Team. Ali has just started on his PhD degree at the Institute for History. He is working on a diplomatic history of post-independence Pakistan. Ali did his Masters in International Politics from SOAS, University of London.
BOOK CLUB
Our first book club meeting was on 30 April in which we discussed Mahmood Mamdani’s Neither Settler Nor Native. We are now keen to turn this into a monthly event, scheduled for last Friday of every month at 4:30pm. This month’s book is Adom Getachew’s Worldmaking After Empire (28 May, 4:30 PM). We are hoping that more of you will join us in the coming months.
For this month, please register via the following zoom link:
https://universiteitleiden.zoom.us/j/65356793226?pwd=RDhGVEt0WUtiVXFyRkRW...
FORTHCOMING EVENT
LUCIR and the Centre for the Advancement of Scholarship (University of Pretoria) will jointly organise a book launch<https://www.up.ac.za/centre-for-the-advancement-of-scholarship/calendar/e...> for South Africa, Race and the Making of International Relations. The launch is scheduled for 19 May, 2:00-3:30pm. The event will feature the two authors, Vineet Thakur and Peter Vale, and a discussant, Sithembile Mbete.
You are invited to join via zoom link: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_H4tsrau2RjaOxdboBVTHMw
MEDIA
Colleagues from the LUCIR community continue to engage with broader public audiences on pressing issues.
On the recent escalation of violence in northern Mozambique,, Corinna Jentzsch was interviewed<https://www.rtlnieuws.nl/nieuws/buitenland/artikel/5223022/mozambique-pal...> by RTL Nieuws. Here she explains how although there are obvious parallels between the terrorist activities in Mozambique and the Islamic State, it is premature to suggest any direct connections or collaborations.
In his opinion piece<https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/apr/14/republicans-big-bus...> for The Guardian, Andy Gawthorpe wrote on the flight of big business from the Republican Party in the United States. He argues that the Democrats should see this as an opportunity to weaken ‘a dangerous extremist [Republican] party’ and open its doors to big business – with some conditions.
Nicolas Blarel co-wrote an article<https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/04/29/indochina-france-withdrawal-biden-af...> with Sumit Ganguly for Foreign Policy on Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw troops from Afghanistan. Nicolas and Sumit look at the French withdrawal from Indochina in 1954 and analyse whether this may serve as a useful analogy for Biden’s America to draw some lessons.
PUBLICATIONS
Several of our members have publications that came out recently:
Globalising Regionalism and International Relations<https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/globalizing-regionalism-and-internat...> is hot off the press! Edited by Beatrix Futak-Campbell, the book provides a globalizing framework to the study of regions, and is a timely and crucial addition to IR scholarship. Crucially, it has the highest density of LUCIR scholars in a book ever! In addition to Beatrix, Alanna O’Malley, Densua Mumford, Vanessa Newby, Jue Wang, Nicolas Blarel and Muge Kinacioglu have chapters in the book.
Beatrix also published a co-authored journal article, titled ‘From the ‘Open door’ policy to the EU-Turkey deal: media framings of German policy changes during the EU refugee ‘crisis’<https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0047117821999413>’. It performs a discourse analysis around two of Angela Merkel’s actions: her decision to open Germany’s borders to refugees in September 2015 and her support for the EU-Turkey statement in March 2016.
In ‘Gender sidestreaming? Analysing gender mainstreaming in national militaries and international peacekeeping’<https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/european-journal-of-international...>, Vanessa Newby and her co-author, Clotilde Sebag, demonstrate how the practice of ‘sidestreaming’ undermines efforts at gender mainstreaming in international peacekeeping. Published in the European Journal of International Security, this article shows that women remain clustered in gendered and low-status spaces in national militaries and in specialised spaces in peacekeeping operations
Santino Regilme co-authored a journal article with Obert Hodzi titled ‘Comparing US and Chinese Foreign Aid in the Era of Rising Powers'<https://scholarlypublications.universiteitleiden.nl/access/item%3A3134555...> in The International Spectator. Santino and Obert demonstrate that the US and Chinese foreign aid programs have quite similar strategic objectives. They enhance the social reputation of the donor state and attempt to shape the domestic politics of recipient countries in line with donor government’s policy preferences.
Andy Gawthorpe published 'Rural Government Advisers in South Vietnam and the U.S. War Effort , 1962-1963' <https://direct.mit.edu/jcws/article/23/1/196/100485/Rural-Government-Advi...> in Journal of Cold War Studies. The article maps the evolution of the U.S. rural advisory program in South Vietnam and discusses the causes of its failure. The program's eventual collapse, Andy argues, underscore the limits of the US nation building efforts on foreign soil.
Katharina Natter's article ‘Ad-hocratic immigration governance: how states secure their power over immigration through intentional ambiguity"<https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21622671.2021.1877189> was published in Territory, Politics, Governance. Analyzing the immigration policies of Tunisia and Morocco, Katharina introduces the notion of ad-hocratic immigration governance. She argues that the ambiguity and flexibility inherent in this mode of governance suits states as it gives them more control over immigration.
Katharina published another paper, a book chapter titled Beyond the dichotomy of liberal and illiberal migration governance '<https://www.elgaronline.com/view/edcoll/9781788117227/9781788117227.00015...> in Handbook on the Governance and Politics of Migration. Her chapter critically examines the scholarly debate on the relationship between the nature of political regimes and migration governance and presents a promising research agenda with a view to produce fresh perspectives on contemporary migration politics worldwide.
For those interested in Dutch politics, Tom Louwerse and Cynthia van Vonno have a new publication. 'Moving up or down : parliamentary activity and candidate selection'<https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13572334.2021.1885871> in The Journal of Legislative Studies explores how Dutch MPs parliamentary activities correlate with their selection and promotion on the candidate list. They conclude that the MPs who actively participate in parliamentary debates are more likely to reappear and improve their position on the candidate list.
However, Tom wasn’t yet finished on parliamentary debates! In another journal article, this time in West European Politics, Tom and his three co-authors analyze 'Opposition in times of crisis : COVID 19 in parliamentary debates'<https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01402382.2021.1886519>. In a content analysis of parliamentary debates of four parliamentary democracies, the authors map the changing views of the opposition parties on their respective governments’ policies of the crisis.
Alexander Slaski has a co-authored journal article titled 'Explaining deference: why and when do policymakers think FDI needs tax incentives'<https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09692290.2021.1885475?journal...> in Review of International Political Economy. The authors attribute the continuing existence of spurious belief among the policymakers that tax incentives influence the locational decisions of foreign firms largely to policymakers' limited understanding of how the private sector works.
In 'Can Elites Escape Blame by Explaining Themselves? Suspicion and Limits of Elite Explanations '<https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/british-journal-of-political-scie...>, Joshua Robinson argues that it is hard for an elected official to evade accountability for questionable official conduct in the face of counter-explanation centered on his or her ulterior motives. The article was published in British Journal of Political Science.
Staying on elite perceptions, Jan Aart Scholte’s recent co-authored EJIR (European Journal of International Relations)-publication suggests that governing elites tend to perceive international organizations as legitimate if the latter possess the following three institutional qualities to a sufficient degree: democracy, effectiveness and fairness. Go to 'Explaining elite perceptions of legitimacy in global governance'<https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1354066121994320> to find out what they have to say.
Simon Chauchard's co-authored article 'Rethinking the Study of Electoral Politics in the Developing World : Reflection on the Indian Case'<https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/perspectives-on-politics/article/...> was published in Perspective on Politics. Simon questions some of the widely held assumptions in comparative politics about the political behavior of Indian electorate and political parties, and suggests that how new insights on Indian politics can be harnessed to enrich our understanding of electoral behavior of other countries.
In his journal article for Political Research Exchange, Babak Rezaeedaryakenari asks: ‘If nonviolent methods of resistance are effective – and perhaps even more successful than violent methods – why do opposition movements ever resort to violence?’ ‘The Dilemma of Violence<https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/2474736X.2021.1910048>’ tells us that the likelihood of violence is related to the rate of change in the size of the movement.
'Travels in diplomacy : V.S. Srinivasa Sastri and G.S. Bajpai in 1921-1922<https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07075332.2021.1907438>' explores the emerging contours of Indian diplomacy in early 1920s. Published in The International History Review, Vineet Thakur follows the journeys of two eminent Indian diplomats and narrates how they set the tone for Indian diplomacy on the key questions of race and commonwealth.
ACHIEVEMENTS
Claire Vergerio was recently shortlisted for Central European University’s Excellence in Teaching Award in the Social Sciences and Humanities. Claire won the 2019 Casimir Prize and was therefore nominated by the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences. She is in the final round, and our hands are praying with their fingers crossed!
Two of our members were recently felicitated at the International Studies Association. Santino Regilme won the best conference paper award<https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/news/2020/03/one-great-nation-under-...> for the paper “One Great Nation Under Trump? Global Human Rights in Distress Amidst American Decline”. Santino won it for the paper that he presented at the ISA Asia-Pacific Conference 2019 in Singapore.
Vineet Thakur won the 2021 Francesco Guicciardini Award<https://histsectionisa.weebly.com/> with his co-author Peter Vale. The award recognizes the best book in historical international relations, and Vineet and Peter were awarded for their book South Africa, Race and the Making of International Relations.
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This is not an exhaustive list of all the activities that are happening in our community but we rely on you telling us about them. So, if you have an article – peer reviewed or popular, a policy paper, book chapter, a book or planning an event to start a new research project please send us an email.
Best wishes,
Your LUCIR team
Vineet Thakur, Ghulam Ali Murtaza, Beatrix Campbell & Corinna Jentzsch
LUCIR | Leiden University Centre for International Relations
https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/lucir | Follow us on Twitter @LUCIRLeiden<https://twitter.com/lucirleiden> or Instagram @lucir.leiden<https://www.instagram.com/lucir.leiden/>
