International Affairs in 2017: the highlights of Volume 93
Benjamin Horton
2017 has been a typically busy year for International Affairs. Over the course of six issues the journal has published 59 articles on a huge range of subjects. Encouragingly, considering our continued focus on the diversity of our output, these articles were written by authors based in 17 countries, with 44% female representation. In addition to this our prolific Book Reviews section provided assessments of 213 of the latest academic works.
In this post we’ve gathered together some of our highlights from the volume (all available to download for FREE), alongside some of the op-eds, blogs and reviews which accompanied the research.
From the whole editorial team at International Affairs we wish you a wonderful festive season.
January: India’s rise at 70
Volume 93 began with a special issue examining the foreign policy of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The issue marked the 70th anniversary of Indian independence and was guest-edited by Manjari Chatterjee Miller and Kate Sullivan de Estrada. Authors based both within and outside of South Asia, contributed articles discussing the trajectory of India’s rise as an emerging power from a range of different theoretical and geographical perspectives. The Editor’s Choice article from the issue was ‘Modi’s foreign policy fundamentals: a trajectory unchanged’, by Rajesh Basrur.
Read ‘Modi’s foreign policy fundamentals: a trajectory unchanged’.
In a busy week in January, several authors participated in three launch events — in Oxford, London, and Hamburg — which helped highlight the research to academics and policy-makers.
Explore the January special issue.
March: The future of NATO
The second issue of 2017 included a section on the future of NATO, in the context of uncertainty over US President Trump’s commitment to the organization. The Editor’s Choice article was Joyce Kaufman’s ‘US perspectives on NATO under Trump: lessons from the past and porespects for the future’, while elsewhere Sten Rynning assessed the potential for France or Germany to take a leading role in NATO, and Tracey German provided a new take on the enlargement debate.
Read ‘US perspectives on NATO under Trump: lessons from the past and prospects for the future’.
Other articles covered a wide range of subjects including China’s approach to foreign aid investment in Africa, sexual exploitation by peacekeeping forces, Uzbek foreign policy, and inequality in the global economy.
Explore the March issue.
May: Brazilian foreign policy and the ‘graduation dilemma’
Since Jim O’Neill coined the term ‘BRICS’ in 2001, Brazil has been seen as one of the leading emerging powers. A section in the May issue by authors based in Brazil and the UK sought to promote a new theory for understanding Brazil’s rise— the ‘graduation dilemma’. This section was guest-edited by Ana Margheritis. A notable article, by Carlos Milani, Leticia Pinheiro, and Maria Regina Soares de Lima, was titled ‘Brazil’s foreign policy and the graduation dilemma’. The authors highlight the lack of consensus within the Brazilian strategic elite about the country’s international strategy, and discuss the consequences.
Read ‘Brazil’s foreign policy and the graduation dilemma’.
The section was launched at an event in September in association with the Brazil Institute at King’s College London. Authors Ana Margheritis and Mahrukh Doctor were joined on the panel by the current Brazilian Ambassadors to the UK and Italy, and Andres Malamud. Other articles in the issue focused on how social media is shaping diplomacy, Russia’s interventions in Ukraine and Syria, and the construction of international humanitarian law.
Explore the May issue.
July: Contentious borders in the Middle East
July saw the publication of an ambitious special issue on borders and sovereignty in the Middle East. Guest-edited by Louise Fawcett, Raffaella Del Sarto, and Asli Okyay, this collection of articles assessed the durability of borders in the MENA region from a range of theoretical perspectives, including International Relations, international history, anthropology, security studies and political philosophy. The Editor’s Choice article from this special issue was Louise Fawcett’s ‘States and sovereignty in the Middle East: myths and realities’.
Read ‘States and sovereignty in the Middle East: myths and realities’.
The issue was an output of the ERC-funded Borderlands project based at the European University Institute. Contributors gathered to launch the collection at a Chatham House Members Event in July.
Explore the July special issue.
September: Donald Trump and US grand strategy
In September attention turned to the implications of the Trump presidency for wider US foreign policy. In the Editor’s Choice article, Peter Dombrowski and Simon Reich asked not only whether President Trump could develop a US grand strategy, but also whether it was possible for any US President to pursue a traditional grand strategy in the multipolar world of the 21st century. Elsewhere Doug Stokes and Kit Waterman examined US strategic concerns in east Asia, with particular focus on the relationship between military support and economic influence.
Read ‘Does Donald Trump have a grand strategy?’
In addition, a section of articles reflected on major trends in the global economy, including work on trade governance, international institutions and the fallout from banking crises.
Explore the September issue.
November: A new agenda for maritime security
The final issue of the year brought together research on a broad array of IR themes. The Editor’s Choice article, ‘From security to risk: re-framing global health threats’ was by Colin McInnes and Anne Roemer-Mahler, and looked at how the international community assesses the risks of global health crises (read here). A new agenda for maritime security studies was presented by Tim Edmunds and Christan Bueger in another notable article. The authors argue that it is time for the discipline to pay more attention to the maritime arena and move beyond ‘seablindness’.
Read ‘Beyond seablindness: a new agenda for maritime security studies’.
Elsewhere in the issue you can find analysis of the politics of sexual violence against men in Kenya, the future of the BRICS, China’s ‘New Silk Road’, and the impact of big data on national security.
Explore the November issue.
International Affairs is a leading journal of international relations edited at Chatham House, the Royal Institute of International Affairs.
The next issue, available in January 2018, is titled ‘Ordering the world: liberal internationalism in theory and practice’. It is guest-edited by G. John Ikenberry, Inderjeet Parmar and Doug Stokes.
To subscribe to International Affairs, click here.
Alternatively, sign up to our monthly newsletter via the Chatham House Preference Centre.
