As two past presidents of ISA who originally came from the Global South, and who maintain substantial teaching and research links there, we have witnessed the association’s progress in inclusivity. The intellectual perspective on ‘Global IR’ that Acharya has promoted, is increasingly accepted as an approach of significance as evident in scholarship and course inclusions. It was during Paul’s presidency that the Global South Task Force was established. It came out with a number of recommendations which were adopted by the Governing Council at its meeting in San Francisco in March 2018 and its report contains many ideas for racial inclusivity. The next step should be a similar effort to improve the status of Blacks and indigenous scholars who are not yet playing a significant role in the discipline. A presidential task force is urgently needed in this area.
Michael Brecher: Pioneering scholar of Indian foreign policy
Abstract
Brecher, who retired as a distinguished professor at McGill University’s political science department last year after a nearly seven-decade-long stellar career, passed away at the age of 96 on January 16. He had made enormous scholarly contributions on topics such as Indian and Israeli foreign policies, Asia’s new states and, later, large-scale studies on crises in world politics. In his long career, he wrote more than 30 books, scores of articles, and book chapters.
What will become of liberal order as “deglobalizing” pressures continue to mount? And what happens to globalization as liberal order comes under increasing pressure? Indicators of economic interdependence show signs of plateauing. Even as NATO and Russia square off against one another, the alliance faces significant internal challenges. From decreasing global direct investment to Brexit, it looks like the trends of the 1990s are reversing.
The Corona Virus Crisis: The Latest of Many Challenges to the Liberal International Order
Abstract
The current corona virus crisis is the latest of a series of challenges that the liberal international order has faced during the past several decades. A number of illiberal, populist leaders have emerged in the US, Brazil, India, Turkey, and Hungary in particular who represent the ideological challenge from within. As globalization’s appeal wanes, liberalism is likely to confront new challenges all across the world in the coming years. (PDF)
If confidence building measures and the adoption of an arms control regime in the South China Sea, China and the US risk stumbling into a catastrophic war.
Future of International Institutions and Soft Balancing
Institutions have long been used as a means for soft balancing, including by the US. However, the US and its allies cannot ignore the norms of the rules based international order, for to do so risks undermining the shared norms soft balancing depends on.
Finding themselves caught between the giants of the United States and China, small states of the Asia-Pacific are not destined to become pawns in the midst of great power competition; instead they can resurrect the ‘Bandung spirit’ and adopt a policy of non’alignment through the use of soft-balancing.
How India will React to the Rise of China: the Soft-Balancing Strategy Reconsidered
To restrain China India is likely to form both a soft-balancing coalition and limited hard balancing coalition, but the formation of a traditional hard-balancing coalition with the United States is very unlikely.
