‘Comparative Politics’: On the Way to International Citation Databases 

The theme of the article – a widely spread appealing to Thucydides and his famous “History of the Peloponnesian War” as some sort of the “sanctions” for scientific respectability of the theoretical studies of international relations. Such an attitude was formed under the influence of Thomas Hobbes and later supported by “political realism” as one of the most popular paradigms in the theory of international relations. The “interpretation of the interpretations” demonstrates, that the texts of Thucydides are often badly read and not always rightly understood, his conclusions are eradicated out of context, and they got too extended interpretation. The result many of his ideas are oversimplified or even misrepresented or distorted. From our point of view, the “classics” deserve a more cautious attitude, and the quoting of their works ought to be more weighted and thought of, at the very least nor to be automatic. 

This article examines the openly adversarial neoconservative foundation under George Bush to the supposedly more ‘engaged’diplomatic interaction under Barack Obama. What will be exposed is a fairly uninspired and non-innovative American policy that not only fails to consider Russian initiatives from Russia’s own national security perspectives, but aims to contain it within a continued Cold War box that not only sours opportunities for collaboration but guarantees the absence of partnership in areas of global security. This piece examines the consequences of imagining Russia only as nemesis. 

his paper analyzes the role of the Russian Federation as a world power in the East Asian area between 2000 and 2010, delving into its relations with major regional actors, namely: China, Japan, Taiwan, North Korea and South Korea. Russia’s policies and actions are compared to those of the United States as the arguably predominant superpower during most of the period in exam. Emphasis is put on the possible causes of escalation between the various actors within the Asian scenario, with a detailed comparison between the actions taken by Russia and the United States. 

Historical problems nowadays have become one of the major factors of international relations. It is also the case for East Asia. In China, there has been an ancient tradition of applying history for the needs of modernity, in order to resolve the objectives of domestic and foreign policy. The analysis of the PRC’s position on historical problems with its neighbors demonstrates that the Chinese leadership pragmatically uses historical problems in order to achieve China’s state interests in the region. 

The article analyses the possibility of using historical sources (and above all primary sources) in political science research. Particularly, the author provides specific examples of archive documents to prove the thesis that history is grounded in politics and governance. 

The article analyses regionalism and regionalization in modern Latin America paying special attention to political and ideological factors, which have already shifted political and economic landscape of Latin America and encouraged sub-regional differentiation, with each of the sub-regional integration association following its own (and sometimes competing) development pattern. At the same time the region witnesses the consolidation of UNASUR that assumes a leading role trying to converge the sub-regional alternative patterns and to strengthen political and economic ties, based on regional leadership of Brazil, civilizational unity and imminent security threats. The author also uses comparative method to speculate on the model of Latin American integration. 

The article addresses the influence of the energy factor on formulating China’s political and economic strategy towards Central Asia. Therefore, the article provides the profound analysis of the PRC energy strategy in the region, namely its principles, goals, objectives and mechanisms. The article also examines the key areas of energy cooperation between China and the five Central Asian states, as well as the major joint energy projects. Moreover, the article takes a close look at the Silk Road Economic Belt as one of the largest and most ambitious Chinese economic projects, for it is directly relevant to the development of energy cooperation in the region. The author also analyses the prospects as well as possible problems of further energy cooperation between China and Central Asian states. 

Due to the traditional competition between India and Pakistan, their strategic fields developing are interdependent. Nuclear power development programs are concerned as well. Pakistan falls behind India in this branch, however the specifics of the nuclear infrastructure let the potential of the states be relatively balanced. After Nuclear Suppliers Group granted a waiver to India in 2008 and Russia, France and USA, the new participants, broke into the market, India obtained an opportunity to make a breakthrough in the national nuclear program development, thus violating a status quo in fuel cycle technologies.

Such chances stimulated China to violate the NSG guidelines and non-proliferations principles to get involved in Pakistani nuclear program development.

The nuclear power Indian-Pakistani competition prospects largely depend on the Chinese position. Despite the international community suspects the Pakistani officials in nuclear black market dealing and the NSG guidelines China obviously supports the Pakistani nuclear field. This may result in preventing of escalation of tensions in the region. 

Conference Report ‘After the Ukraine Crisis: Towards a Post-hegemonic Multipolar World?’, Centre on Asia and Globalisation, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore (February, 24–26, 2015) 

Public Symposium ‘70 Years On: How to Manage Changing Power Relations in Asia?’, National University of Singapore 

ICTSD & OECD DIALOGUE, Paris

ICTSD, FAO, AND EAGC DIALOGUE, Nairobi 

Book Review: A.V. Birjukov Contemporary International Relations in the Field of Science and Technology. Moscow: RosNOU, 2014. - 488 p. 

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