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Inventing and Re-inventing Populism to Protect Europe: The Case of the Italian Partito Democratico, 2007-2022 The International Spectator (IF 1.6) Pub Date : 2024-09-19 Gianmarco Fifi
Populism has been used by its critics to support European integration. The case of the Italian Partito Democratico (PD) highlights that, as a relatively empty signifier, ‘populism’ affords parties ...
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An Ideological Divide? Political Parties’ Discourse in Italy’s Migration Cooperation with Libya and Albania The International Spectator (IF 1.6) Pub Date : 2024-09-16 Marianna Griffini, Matilde Rosina
Italy’s migration agreements with Libya in 2017 and Albania in 2023 serve as crucial cases for investigating how political parties in Europe position themselves on immigration policy. By comparing ...
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More Active, but with Limits: The Military Forces of Germany, Italy and Japan since 1989 The International Spectator (IF 1.6) Pub Date : 2024-08-07 Giuseppe Spatafora
Published in The International Spectator: Italian Journal of International Affairs (Ahead of Print, 2024)
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Governing Complexity in Complex Times: The HDP Nexus and the Role of the UN, the EU and the World Bank The International Spectator (IF 1.6) Pub Date : 2024-07-22 Eugenia Baroncelli
Based on the work conducted with a Nexus-centred network of scholars and practitioners (HDP LAB SYNEX4 Future), an overview is offered of the literature on regime complexity to analyse origins and ...
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Conceptualising a Heterarchical Regional Security Complex: The Case of the QUAD The International Spectator (IF 1.6) Pub Date : 2024-07-08 Tayyaba Jaffery, Muhammad Shoaib Pervez
The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) is one of the most prominent security arrangements to have emerged in the Indo-Pacific during the 21st century. This dialogue provides its founding member...
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It Takes Two to Tango: The Technocracy-populism Nexus in Italy and the EU from a Critical-realist Perspective The International Spectator (IF 1.6) Pub Date : 2024-06-26 Adriano Cozzolino
The nexus between technocracy and populism in Italy can be better understood from a long-term perspective. Adopting a critical-realist approach to the explanation of political change, it is possibl...
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Military Expansion in Disaster Response and Its Implications for the Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus The International Spectator (IF 1.6) Pub Date : 2024-06-21 Alessandro Tinti
Disaster response is a pathway for incorporating climate change principles into the framework of the Humanitarian-Development-Peace (HDP) nexus. However, the growing military presence in relief ope...
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Political Narratives and Global Realities: Evolution without Revolution in Turkish Foreign Policy The International Spectator (IF 1.6) Pub Date : 2024-05-31 Samuele Carlo Ayrton Abrami
Published in The International Spectator: Italian Journal of International Affairs (Ahead of Print, 2024)
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Marketing the State: Nation Branding and the Remaking of the International Order The International Spectator (IF 1.6) Pub Date : 2024-05-31 Veronica Strina
Published in The International Spectator: Italian Journal of International Affairs (Ahead of Print, 2024)
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The US and EU Response to Tunisia’s Democratic Backsliding: Promoting Democracy or Protecting Interests? The International Spectator (IF 1.6) Pub Date : 2024-05-29 Maria do Céu Pinto Arena
The European Union (EU) and the United States (US) have not responded with sufficient urgency to the democratic backsliding in Tunisia as a result of President Kaïs Saïed’s reforms since July 2021....
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Brexit Means Brexit: Understanding the Failure of the Anti-Brexit Movement The International Spectator (IF 1.6) Pub Date : 2024-05-22 Lorenzo Zamponi
Published in The International Spectator: Italian Journal of International Affairs (Ahead of Print, 2024)
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Invisible Barriers: Exposing Inequality and Discrimination in Contemporary Migration Policies The International Spectator (IF 1.6) Pub Date : 2024-05-10 Matilde Rosina
Published in The International Spectator: Italian Journal of International Affairs (Ahead of Print, 2024)
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Reshaping the Multilateral Aid Regime from the Global South? Alternative Perspectives on Humanitarianism, Development and Peacebuilding from Latin America and the Caribbean The International Spectator (IF 1.6) Pub Date : 2024-05-08 Melisa Deciancio, Agustina Garino, Delfina Vila Moret
In the context of rising contestations to the Liberal International Order (LIO), it is crucial to highlight the contribution of the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region to international instit...
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HDP Nexus Outcomes and the Integration of Peace Elements: The Case of Iraq after the ISIL Conflict The International Spectator (IF 1.6) Pub Date : 2024-05-03 Nadia Siddiqui, Roger Guiu
Although new policy frameworks such as the humanitarian-development-peace (HDP) nexus are emerging to better respond to increasingly complex and protracted conflicts and humanitarian crises, analys...
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Promoting Social Solidarity Economy in Tunisia: Neoliberal Assumptions and Missed Opportunities Within the Triple Nexus Discourse The International Spectator (IF 1.6) Pub Date : 2024-05-03 Ester Sigillò
Formally launched by the United Nations (UN) in 2016, the so-called Triple Nexus has been adopted by several international donors that have intervened in Tunisia since the fall of its authoritarian...
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Zeitenwende, Europe and Germany’s Culture of Restraint The International Spectator (IF 1.6) Pub Date : 2024-04-12 Molly O’Neal
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, German foreign and security policy has been under intense pressure to adapt to a much more threatening geopolitical setting. Notwithstanding the leade...
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Criminalisation Does Not Deter Irregular Migration: Evidence from Italy and France The International Spectator (IF 1.6) Pub Date : 2024-04-03 Daniela Movileanu
Published in The International Spectator: Italian Journal of International Affairs (Ahead of Print, 2024)
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Refugees as Entrepreneurs? A Challenge to HDP Programmes The International Spectator (IF 1.6) Pub Date : 2024-03-25 Daniela Nascimento, José Manuel Pureza
Protracted refugee situations in territories of war or natural hazards challenge the logic of the humanitarian-development-peace (HDP) nexus that inspires liberal humanitarianism. The organised exp...
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Bringing Order to ‘Disorder'? Applying Complexity Theory to UN Statebuilding Interventions in the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan The International Spectator (IF 1.6) Pub Date : 2024-03-15 Laura Salich Di Francesca
Published in The International Spectator: Italian Journal of International Affairs (Ahead of Print, 2024)
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State’s Legitimisation of Violence through Strategic Narration: How the Kremlin Justified the Russian Invasion of Ukraine The International Spectator (IF 1.6) Pub Date : 2024-03-13 Polina Zavershinskaia
The use of violence by state actors in political conflicts is often legitimised through the development of strategic narratives. The social construction of such narratives arguably relies on polari...
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Ukraine and the Debacle of Russian Soft Power The International Spectator (IF 1.6) Pub Date : 2024-03-04 Paolo Pizzolo
The war in Ukraine has demonstrated Russia’s incapacity to implement a foreign policy strategy without resorting to hard power means, exposing the limits in its soft power capacity to ‘attract’ and...
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EU Policy towards the Israel-Palestine Conflict: The Limitations of Mitigation Strategies The International Spectator (IF 1.6) Pub Date : 2024-02-23 Sinem Akgül-Açıkmeşe, Soli Özel
Over the decades, the EU has aimed at resolving the Israel-Palestine conflict through its Foreign and Security Policy (EUFSP) tools, with the ‘two-state solution’ as the over-arching principle for ...
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Re-imagining EU Foreign and Security Policy in a Complex and Contested World The International Spectator (IF 1.6) Pub Date : 2024-02-23 Riccardo Alcaro, Hylke Dijkstra
The European Union (EU) increasingly formulates and implements foreign and security policy under the constraints of internal contestation, regional fragmentation and multipolar competition. While s...
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The Arab Uprisings and Colonialism’s Long Shadow: Conceptualising Citizenship and the State in the Middle East The International Spectator (IF 1.6) Pub Date : 2024-01-31 Andrea Teti
Published in The International Spectator: Italian Journal of International Affairs (Ahead of Print, 2024)
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EU Policy towards Ethiopia amidst the Tigray War: The Limits of Mitigating Fragmentation The International Spectator (IF 1.6) Pub Date : 2024-01-17 Francesca Caruso, Jesutimilehin O. Akamo
The Tigray war illustrates how the European Union (EU) often fails to act effectively and consistently in a highly fragmented context. During the 2020-22 conflict, the EU failed to address a number...
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Engagement against All Odds? Navigating Member States’ Contestation of EU Policy on Kosovo The International Spectator (IF 1.6) Pub Date : 2024-01-12 Pol Bargués, Assem Dandashly, Hylke Dijkstra, Gergana Noutcheva
Disagreements between European Union (EU) member states constrain the Union’s capacity to manage conflicts such as Kosovo-Serbia. While Kosovo has long received EU support, five EU member states do...
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EU Policy towards Ukraine: Entering Geopolitical Competition over European Order The International Spectator (IF 1.6) Pub Date : 2024-01-10 Kristi Raik, Steven Blockmans, Anna Osypchuk, Anton Suslov
Since 2004, competition between the European Union (EU) and Russia over the European political, economic and security order intensified sporadically, with a focal point in Ukraine. The EU’s main mi...
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Constraints, Dilemmas and Challenges for EU Foreign Policy in Venezuela The International Spectator (IF 1.6) Pub Date : 2024-01-05 Anna Ayuso, Tiziano Breda, Elsa Lilja Gunnarsdottir, Marianne Riddervold
Years of increasingly authoritarian rule and economic mismanagement by President Nicolás Maduro have turned Venezuela into a source of regional instability. The European Union’s (EU) main foreign p...
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Putting the Politics Back into Conflicts: Understanding Armed Orders in Post-colonial South Asia The International Spectator (IF 1.6) Pub Date : 2023-12-13 Nazir Ahmad Mir
Published in The International Spectator: Italian Journal of International Affairs (Vol. 59, No. 1, 2024)
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Multipolar Competition and the Rules-based Order: Probing the Limits of EU Foreign and Security Policy in the South China Sea The International Spectator (IF 1.6) Pub Date : 2023-12-13 Zachary Paikin
Deepening multipolar competition has imposed constraints on European Union foreign and security policy (EUFSP). In the South China Sea (SCS), the European Union (EU) faces a complex foreign policy ...
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Nuclear Non-Proliferation and the Global South: Understanding Divergences and Commonalities The International Spectator (IF 1.6) Pub Date : 2023-11-29 Manuel Herrera, Tanvi Kulkarni, Vicente Garrido
For the first time since the end of the Cold War, the heightened risks of a nuclear catastrophe are being seriously felt around the world. Over the past decade, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty...
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Opposing Nuclear Weapons Testing in the Global South: A Comparative Perspective The International Spectator (IF 1.6) Pub Date : 2023-11-29 Exequiel Lacovsky
During the Cold War, nuclear weapon states outsourced their nuclear testing programmes to their hinterlands or overseas territories. Countries such as the United States (US), the United Kingdom (UK...
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From Conflict Management to Shielding EU Stability: How Syria’s Fragmentation Diverted the EU(FSP) from Action to Reaction The International Spectator (IF 1.6) Pub Date : 2023-11-20 Caterina Bedin, Tiffany Guendouz, Agnès Levallois
Analysing the role of the European Union (EU) in dealing with the Syrian crisis and the Assad regime exposes limitations in the development of a coherent and effective European foreign and security...
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Weathering the Geopolitical Storms: The Ever-elusive Success of EU Policy towards Iran The International Spectator (IF 1.6) Pub Date : 2023-11-06 Riccardo Alcaro
Between 2003 and 2022, European Union policy towards Iran was the result of continuous course corrections made by EU institutions and member states to dodge internal disagreements and navigate the ...
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Oops! … EU Did It Again! The EU’s Preference for Global Treaties vis-a-vis the Reality of WHO Politics The International Spectator (IF 1.6) Pub Date : 2023-10-11 Emanuela Bozzini, Daniela Sicurelli
The European Union (EU) emerged as an agenda-setter in the World Health Organization (WHO) negotiations for a Pandemic Treaty. However, rather than endorsing the EU proposal of a binding treaty, th...
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The Falklands/Malvinas as an Identity Dispute: A Constructivist Analysis of the British and Argentinian Positions The International Spectator (IF 1.6) Pub Date : 2023-09-25 Magdalena Lisińska
Why is the Falklands/Malvinas case so prominent in the Argentine political narrative? Why is it almost absent in Britain? How can Britain afford to ignore United Nations General Assembly Resolution...
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PiS’s Biopolitical Sovereignty vis-à-vis Brussels’ ‘Gender Ideology’: The LGBTIQ Issue on the Eve of the 2023 Polish General Election The International Spectator (IF 1.6) Pub Date : 2023-09-18 Alexandra Yatsyk
On the eve of the 2023 Polish general election, the conflict between the incumbent PiS (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość – Law and Justice) party and the European Union on the LGBTIQ issue can be framed as a...
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Unpacking the Kremlin’s Historical Fiction The International Spectator (IF 1.6) Pub Date : 2023-09-06 Leo Goretti
Published in The International Spectator: Italian Journal of International Affairs (Vol. 59, No. 2, 2024)
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Exploring ‘Accommodation’ to Understand the Behaviour of Rising Powers in the Global Nuclear Order: The Cases of India and Brazil The International Spectator (IF 1.6) Pub Date : 2023-09-01 Shivani Singh
First put forth by Hedley Bull in the 1970s, the notion of ‘accommodation’ is an often-neglected approach to understanding the role, rights and responsibilities of emerging nuclear powers from the ...
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The Urban Middle Class and the Milieu of Russian Democratic Cultures (1860-Present) The International Spectator (IF 1.6) Pub Date : 2023-08-14 Riccardo Mario Cucciolla
Published in The International Spectator: Italian Journal of International Affairs (Vol. 59, No. 2, 2024)
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Iran’s Troubled Relations with Afghanistan and Tajikistan: A Compound Alignment Dilemma The International Spectator (IF 1.6) Pub Date : 2023-08-07 Fred H. Lawson, Matteo Legrenzi
Afghanistan’s reversion to Taliban rule poses severe threats to the Islamic Republic of Iran. Tehran faces a dilemma over how best to respond to these dangers: it could continue to conciliate the T...
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Strongholds of Liberalism? The Reaction of Regional Integration Institutions to the Pandemic Trade Crisis The International Spectator (IF 1.6) Pub Date : 2023-07-28 Patrick Holden
Regional integration institutions play an important but ambiguous role in the liberal international system, especially when it comes to trade policy. The Covid-19 pandemic generated a trade crisis,...
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Regional Powers at the UN Security Council: More Mainstream than Upstream? The International Spectator (IF 1.6) Pub Date : 2023-07-26 Malte Brosig, Markus Lecki
The literature on regional powers and the UN Security Council (UNSC) has focused mainly on Council reform. Little research has been conducted on exploring the influence of regional powers at the Co...
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Dealing with a Nuclear Past: Revisiting the Cases of Algeria and Kazakhstan through a Decolonial Lens The International Spectator (IF 1.6) Pub Date : 2023-07-24 Leila Hennaoui, Marzhan Nurzhan
Over 2000 nuclear weapons explosions were conducted worldwide between 1945 and 1996. Most of these high-yield explosions took place at nuclear test sites in the Global South: among them, the Algeri...
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The Impact of Economic Sanctions on Nuclear Non-Proliferation: The Case of Iran (2005-15) The International Spectator (IF 1.6) Pub Date : 2023-07-24 Ferdinand Arslanian
Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal has defied the conventional wisdom over the futility of imposing economic sanctions to curtail its nuclear programme. However, the existing literature remains theoretically...
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Patriarchal Populism: The Conservative Political Action Coalition (CPAC) and the Transnational Politics of Authoritarian Anti-Feminism The International Spectator (IF 1.6) Pub Date : 2023-07-03 Rebecca Sanders, Laura Dudley Jenkins
ABSTRACT In recent years, populist movements and regimes have proliferated around the world, pledging to uphold the interests of the ‘pure people’ against corrupt ‘elites.’ Among right-wing populists, ‘globalists’ and feminists are cast in the latter role, framed as dangerous threats to the restoration of national greatness. Meanwhile, alleged ‘gender ideology’ is rebuked, while women’s reproductive
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Sanctions, Multilateralism and the Legacy of Margaret Doxey The International Spectator (IF 1.6) Pub Date : 2023-06-23 Tiziana Corda
Published in The International Spectator: Italian Journal of International Affairs (Vol. 58, No. 4, 2023)
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Negotiated Conformism: Gender Norms, Everyday Politics and Pro-government Actors in Turkey The International Spectator (IF 1.6) Pub Date : 2023-06-19 Bilge Yabanci, Erol Saglam
ABSTRACT Despite ideological alignment, right-wing populist constituencies and civic groups may openly resist and renegotiate the anti-gender and anti-feminist stances of populist parties through a process we call negotiated conformism. To analyse this phenomenon, we draw on two qualitative datasets from Turkey: one focusing on ordinary citizens who ideologically support and vote for the populist-conservative
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A Shortcut to Autonomy or a Path to Dependency? Foreign Assistance and Brazil’s Search for Nuclear Autonomy The International Spectator (IF 1.6) Pub Date : 2023-06-19 João Paulo Nicolini Gabriel
How did foreign assistance influence Brazil’s path to attaining nuclear autonomy? To answer this question, a technopolitics hypothesis centred on the role played by national scientific and technolo...
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The Ukraine War, Food Trade and the Network of Global Crises The International Spectator (IF 1.6) Pub Date : 2023-06-19 Hussam Hussein, Matyas Knol
Although the Russia–Ukraine war has had only a limited impact on the agricultural production in the two belligerent states, it has triggered a number of interlocking ripple effects, which have exac...
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Missed Opportunities? The Anglo-French Entente and Post-War Europe The International Spectator (IF 1.6) Pub Date : 2023-06-14 Tommaso Milani
Published in The International Spectator: Italian Journal of International Affairs (Vol. 59, No. 1, 2024)
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Understanding the Routes of Terror in Africa: The Case of Boko Haram The International Spectator (IF 1.6) Pub Date : 2023-05-24 Edoardo Baldaro
Published in The International Spectator: Italian Journal of International Affairs (Vol. 58, No. 4, 2023)
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Parallel Universe: EU Cross-forum Coherence on Climate in International Transport Fora The International Spectator (IF 1.6) Pub Date : 2023-05-15 Joseph Earsom
Following the Paris Agreement, the European Union (EU) prioritised climate negotiations in the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the International Maritime Organization (IMO), at...
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Assessing the EU’s Evolving Position in Energy Geopolitics under Decarbonisation The International Spectator (IF 1.6) Pub Date : 2023-05-05 Marco Giuli, Sebastian Oberthür
ABSTRACT As a major importer of fossil fuels, the EU will likely see its position in the geopolitics of energy change following its commitment to carbon neutrality by 2050. This article analyses the implications of the energy transition for the EU’s role in energy geopolitics, looking at declining and emerging energy dependences by investigating the EU’s exposure to the material foundations of interdependence
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A Game of Politics? International Sport Organisations and the Role of Sport in International Politics The International Spectator (IF 1.6) Pub Date : 2023-05-03 Francesco Belcastro
ABSTRACT Recent events such as the exclusion of Russian teams from international competitions following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, as well as the debate on Qatar hosting the 2022 World Cup, have once again reignited the debate over the relationship between sport and politics. From athletes displaying political symbols to states vying to exclude their rivals from major tournaments, the strong connection
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More than a Game: Football and Soft Power in the Gulf The International Spectator (IF 1.6) Pub Date : 2023-04-19 Cinzia Bianco, Sebastian Sons
ABSTRACT By hosting spectacular international mega-events such as the 2022 World Cup and investing in the heavyweights of global football such as Paris St. Germain, Newcastle United or Manchester City, the monarchies of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) – in particular Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) – are heavily engaged in ‘football diplomacy’ to gain more leverage in terms
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The Geopolitics of Culture: Museum Proliferation in Qatar and Abu Dhabi The International Spectator (IF 1.6) Pub Date : 2023-04-12 Serena Giusti, Alessandro Giovanni Lamonica
ABSTRACT In recent years, Qatar and Abu Dhabi have experienced a proliferation of museums symbolically embedded in a trilateral dialogue between the ruling families, the population, and international audiences and partners. This proliferation brings together the local and the global, the physical and the virtual, the tangible facets of politics, economics and security, and the immaterial and ideational
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The Making of ‘Environmentalism’ as an International Norm: Global Environmental Politics from the 19th to the 21st century The International Spectator (IF 1.6) Pub Date : 2023-04-05 Lisanne Groen
Published in The International Spectator: Italian Journal of International Affairs (Ahead of Print, 2023)
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India-China Rivalry: The Contest That Is Shaping the “Asian Century” The International Spectator (IF 1.6) Pub Date : 2023-03-22 Amrita Jash
The 21st century is expected to be the dawn of the “Asian Century”, with Asia becoming the centre of gravity of great power politics. What contributes to the shaping of this century is the rise of ...
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Editorial The International Spectator (IF 1.6) Pub Date : 2023-03-10 Leo Goretti, Daniela Huber
Published in The International Spectator: Italian Journal of International Affairs (Vol. 58, No. 1, 2023)