Of River Linkage and Issue Linkage: Transboundary Conflict and Cooperation on the River Meuse

Abstract

It is a truism in mainstream International Relations that issue linkage promotes regime formation and integration. The present article applies this idea to the transboundary lower river Meuse and finds its history of integration to be a tortuous one. Contextual political factors have at times promoted integration, at times fragmentation. The path towards regional integration, then, has not been not linear, but has consisted of conflict and cooperation, of (Meuse–Scheldt) river linkage and issue linkage, but also counterlinkage and non-linkage. Clearly linkage is not necessarily positive. I will argue that this does not need to be problematic, but suggest accepting more complexity in the analysis of river integration. I propose a way to create some order in the many available concepts of linkage to map out the role of linkage in integration.     

20世纪70年代后中美关系发展模式研究

文章分析了近三十多年的中美关系发展的历程,从中归纳出中美关系的发展大约遵循着合作(大起)、对立(大落)和妥协这一互相交错和在反复循环中前进的模式,进而从中美两国外交思想方面对之进行分析,并从国际预期理论方面进行探究,从而验证了中美关系这一发展模式.     

国际货币基金组织与世界银行之比较研究

国际货币基金组织和世界银行是全球举足轻重的国际组织,两者在许多方面存在异同。本文从历史沿革、宗旨、组织机构、资金来源、业务领域和贷款程序六个层面对二者进行了比较。     

Shared learning on an international clinical placement: Promoting symbiotic midwifery practice knowledge

AimThe aim of this study was to explore the experiences of shared learning between Australian and Balinese midwifery students during a two-week clinical placement in Bali Indonesia.BackgroundCultural safety in midwifery is a key concept that is underpinned by the provision of holistic quality midwifery care to all women. Therefore, culturally safe midwifery care identifies, protects and promotes women’s individual cultures and is a key concept that is fostered in midwifery education. To educate culturally safe midwives, international placements to resource limited countries have become more common within midwifery education programs.MethodsThis study used a qualitative research design with a convenience sampling design. The participants were enrolled in midwifery courses in a University in the Northern Territory of Australia (n = 9), a Balinese private midwifery school (n = 4) and a Balinese public midwifery school (n = 4). Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data.FindingsThe findings were categorised into major themes under the headings of “Learning together despite differences”; “Cultural differences”, “Communication, Resources”, and “Recommendations for future placements”.ConclusionThis study provides a valuable insight into how shared learning increases students’ midwifery knowledge and is fundamental in understanding cultural differences that could be applied to students’ clinical midwifery practice.     

罗兴亚问题对缅-孟关系和地区秩序的影响

罗兴亚问题是一个多世纪前英殖民者在亚洲埋下的诸多“民族问题”之一,也是孟加拉国与缅甸之间难解的“痼疾”。2017年8月以来,罗兴亚问题的再次爆发给相关国家造成巨大冲击。缅甸在打击罗兴亚暴力活动的同时,反对国际干涉,试图牢牢把握该问题解决进程中的主导权,而孟加拉国在政治、安全、经济和社会等不同层面基于自己的利益考量,寻求将罗兴亚人遣返缅甸,立场的对立使两国关系陷入僵局。而美国和印度介入罗兴亚问题则使地区秩序进一步复杂化,并在舆论和安全等领域影响中国的利益。2020年1月17日至18日,中国国家主席习近平应邀对缅甸进行国事访问,标志着中缅经济走廊从概念规划转入实质建设阶段,也给“罗兴亚问题”的解决带来新契机。     

Enduring not enjoying? Emotional responses to studying abroad among Danish and Chinese students

ABSTRACT

Students’ emotions during stays abroad have mainly been treated as ”culture shock”, where difficulties are interpreted as universal ”stages” towards ”adaptation”. This paper explores how students from different cultural and educational traditions experience studying abroad differently. The study presents a qualitative study of 18 Danish and Chinese students in Chinese and Danish universities and situates itself within the literature on culture shock, student emotions and study-abroad experiences. The study exposes the students’ complex emotions throughout their studies abroad and explains how these emotions relate to processes of self-formation, professional and academic development, increase or decrease in freedom, and student agency.     

International Organisations and the Politics of Migration

The last two decades have seen major shifts in the way international organisations (IOs) address migration. While state sovereignty remains central in the politics of migration, IOs are increasingly developing their visions regarding how the cross-border movements of people should be governed (or ‘managed’) and, in some cases, they have become important actors in the design and implementation of migration policy. Research on the role and functions of IOs remains scarce, however, and there are major uncertainties, concerning not only their actual influence, but also the political context in which they operate and the outcome of their initiatives. According to their advocates, the involvement of IOs would enable greater international cooperation, which would lead to policies that pay greater attention to human rights and development imperatives. Yet, at times, interventions by IOs seem to reinforce existing imbalances, as these organisations primarily tend to align themselves with the interests and agenda of developed receiving states. In addition, the work of IOs is embedded in a complex institutional setting, characterised by sometimes-problematic institutional relations between them, as well as between IOs and other international cooperation mechanisms.     

The Politics and Discourse of Migrant Return: The Role of UNHCR and IOM in the Governance of Return

This article proposes that there is added value in moving beyond isolated studies of return-related migration policies in order to consider both deportations and so-called assisted voluntary returns under the common heading of ‘state-induced returns’. Based on official documents and interviews with staff members of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Organisation for Migration, it argues that international actors working in the field of migrant return engage in a type of task-sharing that goes beyond functional complementariness. With regard to the return of rejected asylum seekers, for instance, they legitimise each other's engagement as well as the overarching return objectives of governments, and are, therefore, involved in norm-building regarding the acceptability of state-induced returns. In addition to setting certain minimum standards regarding states' treatment of their immigrant population, international actors assist states in upholding control over them. Rather than merely replacing state-led regulation, international actors thus support domestic governments in reaching their migration control objectives, and thereby contribute to a stabilisation of state sovereignty in the governance of migration.     

中国文化对外传播效果研究——对5国16所孔子学院的调查

本文通过对美国、日本、俄罗斯、泰国、黎巴嫩5个国家16所孔子学院的调查发现:当前孔子学院在全球范围内取得了一定的传播效果;但不同层次的中国文化传播效果存在较大差异;中国文化在不同文化圈层,尤其是儒家文化圈层和非儒家文化圈层中的传播效果有很大不同;国与国之间也存在较大差异.本文提出,针对非儒家文化国家,要让中国的物质文化先走出去,行为文化、精神文化可暂时缓行.     

Apps4Africa: A new State Department public diplomacy initiative

In 2010 the U.S. State Department funded an “Apps4Africa” contest to encourage development of socially conscious mobile applications for Africa. The initiative marked a significant departure from traditional public diplomacy efforts to expand diplomatic outreach beyond traditional government-to-government relationships. This case study analyses Apps4Africa to reveal its appropriateness as a model for future efforts and concludes Apps4Africa succeeded primarily because it responded to the changing dynamics of the 21st Century.