Accidental paradiplomats? The curious case of Ontario school board budgets and Canadian soft power projection.

From the earliest studies of soft power in International Relations, the importance of educational exchanges has been well-established. Studies of international education in the context of Canadian soft power often draw on cases from the higher education sector. This article argues that greater attention should be paid to the K-12 level, especially as budgetary pressures in Ontario's education system are leading school boards to rapidly expand their international student recruitment efforts. Although this is not an example of intentional soft power projection, it nevertheless represents an important reminder that subnational actors may accidentally become paradiplomats whose actions have consequences on the international level. Further, this case reveals the importance of paying attention to actors typically overlooked by IR scholarship. Drawing on Joseph Nye's theory of soft power and in conversation with prior research on international education as a mechanism of soft power projection, this article traces the thread between budgetary pressures in Ontario school boards and the broader context of soft power projection.

Rethinking marine plastics pollution: Science diplomacy and multi-level governance.

Although science diplomacy has been gaining relevance in foreign policy to solve environmental challenges, critical questions concerning what different instruments mean under the term 'science diplomacy' and whether science diplomacy does contribute to the progress in solving environmental issues remain unanswered. We explore those questions by linking science diplomacy salient features through documentary analysis of international instruments addressing the plastics pollution in the ocean. We find that from a science diplomacy and multi-level governance perspective, the responsibilities and capabilities of emergent actors of cross-level governance are also important, leading to more attention being paid to changes in the role of national authorities, away from passive leadership to cross-cutting coalitions supported by the salient features of science diplomacy, and redefining dominant discursive approaches that have framed plastics waste. Points for practitioners: As a result of the cost and limitations of the current international mechanisms, there is currently no incentive for individual countries to take action against marine plastic pollution.Science diplomacy and multi-level governance can contribute to international cooperation, foreign policy and national strategies.Leading efforts to engage countries with fewer scientific and technological capabilities could benefit countries' foreign policy.

Social theory and science diplomacy.

This essay discusses the relationship between social theory and science diplomacy for both academic and policy application. This discussion is based on workpackage 2 Power with Science Diplomacy of H2020 Inventing a shared Science Diplomacy for Europe (InsSciDE) and consortium-wide discussions. The outcome of the discussions on theory of science diplomacy is that it is unfeasible to develop one theory of science diplomacy. Science diplomacy practice is rich and wide-ranging. Science diplomacy as a concept continues to be contested and there is no consensus on a definition, which makes for dynamic research and debate. The conceptual instability of science diplomacy complicates defining it. After defining science diplomacy, it remains unclear what about science diplomacy to theorize. Ideal types of science diplomacy practices address the definitional challenge for the time being and allow theorizing which brings order to rich empirical material and links science diplomacy practices to diplomacy analytically rather than normatively. Looking at science diplomacy as an independent, intermediary, or dependent variable contributes to theorizing it.

The "UFO Taboo" Is What IR Theorists Make of It: "Sovereignty and the UFO" in Citational Perspective.

In 2008, Alexander Wendt and Raymond Duvall published an article titled "Sovereignty and the UFO," which demonstrated how a UFO taboo in international relations theory upheld an anthropocentric model of sovereignty. At a distance of a decade and a half, this review evaluates the validity of the claim that a UFO taboo exists in international relations, and explores the citational practices that influence the prestige economy of the field. The article employs a methodology of interpretive scientometrics informed by methodological debates in political science and international, as well as theoretical debates in actor-network theory. After testing the claim of the UFO taboo in a comparative perspective, the article investigates the strategies of association (weak and strong) present in the citations of "Sovereignty and the UFO." In addition to a revaluation of core claims in an often-read but less-often-cited article in international relations theory, this article provides important insights into how citation works in the discipline of international relations.

Un diálogo teórico de la diplomacia cultural y la comunicación promovido por la escuela de verano alaic xviii en pandemia

Se plantea como antecedente y ámbito de referencia para este artículo de reflexión desarrollar un haz de observación predominantemente bibliográfico, acerca de la tangencia entre los campos de las relaciones internacionales y los estudios de comunicación. Para develar en esta intersección diálogos teóricos sobre la diplomacia cultural y aplicarlos como óptica en el desempeño de la Escuela de Verano ALAIC. Exponer e interpretar a esta última como una institución académica internacional de investigación. Este abordaje parte de un recorte bibliográfico teórico sobre los principales diálogos sobre el concepto de diplomacia cultural, para luego plantear como estudio de caso, el desarrollo y desempeño como curso documental de la escuela de Verano ALAIC, sus propósitos, objetivos y prácticas. Desde este prisma de observación se pretende buscar asociaciones entre los temas, y así verificar si es adecuado interpretar la iniciativa como un movimiento catalizador de espacios y encuentros de alteridad para la diplomacia cultural.

A predominantly bibliographic observation context, on the tangency between the fields of international relations and communication studies, is proposed as background and scope of reference for this article to be developed,. To reveal, in this intersection, theoretical dialogues on cultural diplomacy, and to apply them as an optic, in the performance of the ALAIC's Summer School. Thus, to expose and to interpret this association as an international academic research institution. This approach starts from a theoretical bibliographic clipping on the main dialogues on the concept of cultural diplomacy, ergo, to propose its development and performance of the ALAIC summer school of an academic course, its purposes, objectives, and practices, as a case study. From this perspective of observation, it is intended to look for associations between themes, and thereby, to verify if it is appropriate to interpret the initiative as a catalyst movement of spaces and encounters of otherness, for cultural diplomacy.

How membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization transforms public support for war.

How do military alliances affect public support for defending targets of aggression? We studied this question by fielding an experiment on 14,000 voters in 13 member countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Our experiment involved a hypothetical scenario in which Russia attacked a target country. We randomly varied the identity of the target (Bosnia, Finland, Georgia, or Sweden), and whether the target was a member of NATO at the time of the attack. We found that voters in every member country were far more willing to use military force to defend each target when the target was in NATO, than when the target was outside the alliance. The expansion of NATO could, therefore, transform European security by altering the likelihood and scale of future wars. We also uncovered important heterogeneity across targets: the benefits of joining NATO were considerably larger for Bosnia and Georgia than for Finland and Sweden, since most voters in NATO countries would defend Finland and Sweden even if they remained outside the alliance. Finally, the effect of NATO was much stronger among voters who perceived NATO as valuable for their own country. Rhetorical attacks on NATO could, therefore, undermine the alliance by eroding the public's willingness to defend other members, whereas rhetoric highlighting the benefits of NATO could bolster defense and deterrence. These findings advance knowledge about the effects of alliances, while also informing policy debates about the value and size of NATO.

Restarting Track II Diplomacy in Intractable Conflicts: How Psychoanalytic Concepts May Be Relevant.

Since the 1980s, psychiatrists, psychologists, and diplomats have proposed psychoanalytic theories to inform peacemaking in international relations through Track II negotiations, defined as unofficial meetings among influential stakeholders with access to government policymakers. These contributions have focused on initiating or maintaining Track II negotiations (Aggarwal et al., 2023). In this article, we apply psychoanalytic concepts to the problem of restarting negotiations that have previously failed. This study introduces theories based on a dialogue that a cultural psychiatrist trained in South Asian Studies moderated with the past directors of India's and Pakistan's foreign intelligence agencies to consider how both countries could recommence negotiations. The two former directors have participated together in five Track II initiatives between India and Pakistan. All three authors reviewed best practices for addressing impediments to Track II negotiations and how Track II negotiations may be reinstituted once stalled. We did this in a far-reaching discussion devoted to the psychology of peacemaking. We introduce the theories of trust as interpersonal authenticity, the normalization of conflicts, the back channel as a process to work through diplomatic resistance, and negotiator selection criteria. Our theories and method present new ways to apply psychoanalytic concepts to diplomacy.

Rethinking the nation and international relations: The space of nation states.

Efforts to move sociology beyond the nation state and international relations theory have both been plagued by several limitations and dualisms. Recent research has begun to find ways beyond the problems by turning to Pierre Bourdieu's relational conception of social structure and practice. Yet one specific relational structure forming a key part of the puzzle has been neglected or merely implicitly assumed so far: the space of nation states. After clarifying the structural-constructivist nature of this concept, we aim to specify it by constructing an empirical model of the contemporary space of nation states using a specially compiled dataset and tools of geometric data analysis. The analysis reveals the distribution of powers on the world scene, and more specifically, the uneven possession of two varieties of "meta-capital" understood as capacities to regulate the value and exchangeability of certain capitals and to decree what even defines a legitimate "state". We argue that the nation state, which is accurately understood as a contingent construct and well-founded fiction from a Bourdieusian viewpoint, should not be excluded when analyzing the expression and reproduction of contemporary global power relations.

Ethnic discrimination in Scandinavia: evidence from a field experiment in women's amateur soccer.

In this paper, we examine ethnic discrimination using sport as a laboratory. Applying a field experiment in the three Scandinavian countries-Sweden, Norway, and Denmark-we test whether foreign female minority groups experience greater rejection rates when seeking inclusion in amateur soccer clubs. Soccer coaches were contacted by e-mail using native and foreign-sounding names from selected groups, requesting to participate in trial practice. Previous findings show persistent discrimination of foreign minority groups in the labour market, and recent work suggests that discrimination also occurs in the context of soccer. Our findings from Scandinavia show that Sweden is the only country that shows statistically significant signs of discriminatory patterns, and the probability of experiencing discrimination increases with cultural distance. However, cultural distance appears to have no influence in Norway and Denmark. We further investigate whether male or female coaches demonstrate different discriminatory behaviour when being contacted, but our analysis shows almost no gender differences. Findings suggest that how men and women differ in their discriminatory behaviour is context specific. The differences identified across nations and previous studies are discussed to better understand the mechanisms of discrimination.

Risk entanglement and the social relationality of risk.

Relational accounts of risk explain variation in risk perception through situated cognitions defining risk as a relationship between "risk objects" and "objects at risk". We extend this approach to include not only the relational constitution of cognitive risk objects, but also of the different actors assessing risk. Risk in this perspective is relational because it establishes a link between two different cognitive objects and between two (or more) actors. We argue that this is the case when at least two actors refer to a common risk object while retaining distinct objects at risk. We call this a constellation of risk entanglement across actors. We illustrate our theoretical arguments using data from 68 qualitative interviews and ethnographic fieldwork in the German finance-state nexus. Our analyses indicate how risk entanglement affects and transforms the fundamental logics according to which both of these fields operate.

Free trade as domestic, economic, and strategic issues: a big data analytics approach.

This article examines the engagement of domestic actors in public conversation surrounding free trade negotiations with a focus on the framing of these negotiations as economic, strategic or domestic issues. To analyse this topic, this article utilises the use of Twitter as a barometer of public sentiment toward the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). We employ topic classification and sentiment analysis to understand how RCEP is discussed in 345,015 tweets. Our findings show that the overall sentiment score towards RCEP is neutral. However, we find that when RCEP is discussed as a strategic issue, the sentiment is slightly more negative than when discussed as a domestic or economic issue. This article further suggests that discussion of RCEP is driven by the fear of China's geopolitical ambitions, domestic protectionist agendas, and impact of RCEP on the domestic economy. This article contributes to the growing use of big data in understanding trade negotiations. Furthermore, it contributes to the study of free trade negotiation by examining how domestic political actors frame free trade negotiations.

The transformative potential of a Global Urban Agenda and its lessons in a time of crisis.

2015 was a seismic moment for urban stakeholders around the world. A coalition of policymakers, academics and practitioners came together to successfully advocate for an urban goal to be included in the UN Sustainable Development Goal framework. Although the value of a place-based approach to development has been demonstrated by a number of cities and countries worldwide, it was 2020-2022 (three years of cataclysmic global events) that highlighted the necessity for a universal place-based approach to planning in order to foster resilience and sustainability. In this article, three academic-practitioners reflect upon the transformative potential of the 2015-16 urban agendas.

On the history of neuroscience research in the Max Planck Society, 1948-2002-German, European, and transatlantic perspectives: Introduction.

To further our understanding of the transformations of the modern, globalized world, historical research concerning the twentieth century must acknowledge the tremendous impact that science and technology exerted and continue to exert on political, economic, military, and social developments. To better comprehend a global history of science, it is also crucial to include Germany's most prominent research organization: The Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science (MPG). Despite the existence of numerous institute chronicles and selected anniversary editions, the overall development of the MPG-historically situated in more than 80 institutes with more than 250 research service departments (of which approximately 50 have reached into the wider field of neuroscience, behavioral science, and cognitive science)-it remains largely terra incognita from a scholarly perspective. From June 2014 to December 2022, the Research Program on the History of the Max Planck Society (GMPG) opened previously neglected vistas on contemporary history, academic politics, and economic developments of the Federal Republic of Germany and its international relations by raising questions such as these: Who were the key scientific actors? In what networks did they work? In what fields had the MPG paved the way for cutting-edge innovations? What were its successes and where did it fail? In what ways were its institutional structures connected to its scientific achievements and its historical legacies? What is specific about the MPG in comparison to other national institutions in and outside of Germany? These questions relate to the emerging interdisciplinary field of the neurosciences. They refer in part to the MPG's founding years-from the late 1940s to the mid-1960s-which faced significant challenges for a "normalization process" in biomedical research and the burgeoning field of neuroscience. This special issue of the Journal of the History of the Neurosciences is composed of an introduction, five articles, and two neuroscience history interviews. It reflects on the multifold dimensions of behavioral psychology, brain research, and cognitive science developments at the MPG since its beginning through the reopening of several former Kaiser Wilhelm Institutes. After World War II, the extra-university research society-named in honor of physicist Max Planck (1858-1947)-was eventually established in the British Occupation Zone in 1946, in the American Zone in 1948, and in 1949 in the French Zone, unifying the MPG as the successor umbrella organization of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institutes (KWIs), now transformed into Max Planck Institutes. Chronologically, the research period covered in this special issue ranges from 1948 to 2002.

[The modern role of the resort medicine in medical diplomacy and national humanitarian policy]. / Sovremennaya rol' kurortnoi meditsiny v meditsinskoi diplomatii i natsional'noi gumanitarnoi politike.

Health care in general and medicine in particular play an important role in the geopolitical landscape and the political positioning of the state in the modern world. The health of the citizens of the country is the most important resource of national security. This article, based on a SWOT-analysis, highlights the strengths and weaknesses of the foreign and national resort industry as a part of medical diplomacy, with decomposition to its individual participants. The undoubted advantage of our country in terms of humanitarian policy, on the world stage is shown, specifically in the context of national key success factors, including the technological capabilities of domestic medical science and practice, regarding the availability of trained staff, specialized variable climatic sanatorium and resort institutions network with unique technologies and natural healing resources, coupled with international experience in humanitarian cooperation, developed healthcare system and sanitary and epidemiological supervision of the country. Medical diplomacy and national resort medicine as an active participant of the branch, are strategically important areas in public diplomacy, having the ability to play an important role in achieving national goals in geopolitics.

How Psychoanalytic Theory and Track II Diplomacy Can Inform Each Other: A Dialogue with the Former Heads of India and Pakistan's Foreign Intelligence Agencies.

Starting with Sigmund Freud, psychoanalysts have considered the psychological dimensions of peacemaking in international relations. In the 1980s, psychiatrists, psychologists, and diplomats began developing theories on Track II negotiations, defined as unofficial meetings among influential stakeholders with access to government policymakers. In recent years, psychoanalytic theory building has waned with the decline of interdisciplinary collaborations among mental health professionals and practitioners of international relations. This study seeks to revive such collaborations by analyzing the reflections of an ongoing dialogue between a cultural psychiatrist trained in South Asian studies, the former head of India's foreign intelligence agency, and the former head of Pakistan's foreign intelligence agency on applications of psychoanalytic theory to Track II initiatives. Both former heads have participated in Track II initiatives to build peace between India and Pakistan and agreed to react on the record to a systematic review of psychoanalytic theories on Track II. This article describes how our dialogue can offer new directions for theory building and the practical conduct of negotiations.

Household behavior and vulnerability to acute malnutrition in Kenya.

Anticipating those most at-risk of being acutely malnourished significantly shapes decisions that pertain to resource allocation and intervention in times of food crises. Yet, the assumption that household behavior in times of crisis is homogeneous-that households share the same capacity to adapt to external shocks-ostensibly prevails. This assumption fails to explain why, in a given geographical context, some households remain more vulnerable to acute malnutrition relative to others, and why a given risk factor may have a differential effect across households? In an effort to explore how variation in household behavior influences vulnerability to malnutrition, we use a unique household dataset that spans 23 Kenyan counties from 2016 to 2020 to seed, calibrate, and validate an evidence-driven computational model. We use the model to conduct a series of counterfactual experiments on the relationship between household adaptive capacity and vulnerability to acute malnutrition. Our findings suggest that households are differently impacted by given risk factors, with the most vulnerable households typically being the least adaptive. These findings further underscore the salience of household adaptive capacity, in particular, that adaption is less effective for economic vis-à-vis climate shocks. By making explicit the link between patterns of household behavior and vulnerability in the short- to medium-term, we underscore the need for famine early warning to better account for variation in household-level behavior.

From SARS to COVID-19: the role of experience and experts in Hong Kong's initial policy response to an emerging pandemic.

As one of the most densely populated places in the world, Hong Kong fared relatively well in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, with a very low number of cases and fatalities per capita. This was mostly due to the Hong Kong government, healthcare workers, and the general public's institutional and individual memory after they successfully overcame the deadly severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic in 2003. However, while Hong Kong was well accustomed to measures such as wearing masks and social distancing, the cooperation of the Hong Kong public to government restrictions was highly affected by its local political context, especially after widespread anti-government protests began mid-2019. This brought the public's trust in government to an all-time low, creating a political 'new normal', which underpinned how COVID-19 policies would be proposed, accepted, and implemented, if at all. To understand how science advice was offered and how public health decisions were made, this research investigates the evolution of Hong Kong's science advisory mechanisms for public health from before SARS, after SARS, and during COVID-19 in 2020, including the roles of key organisations and departments, the establishment of new centres and committees, and the creation of workgroups and expert advisory panels. This paper compares and analyses the reasons behind these differences in science advisory mechanisms between SARS and COVID-19. The findings from this research reinforce the unquestionable need for robust science advisory structures and knowledgeable scientific experts to solve health-related crises, though more research is required to understand the ways in which science advice influences both policy decisions and public acceptance of these policies.

Populism, cyberdemocracy and disinformation: analysis of the social media strategies of the French extreme right in the 2014 and 2019 European elections.

Since the European elections in 2014, the populist formations had been increasing the shares of power that their masses finally claimed in the May 2019 elections. In the case of France, this rise of the Rassemblement National has even given rise to a new political regime: the Europeanism of Macron vs. the Euroscepticism of Le Pen. This paper aims to delve into the communication strategy of the latter formation, to see how it has been able to shift the party's fascist image towards that of a protector of national sovereignty and interests (against the European ones). To this end, the 1256 tweets posted on its official Twitter profile during the fortnight of the 2014 and 2019 European election campaigns have been qualitatively analysed. The results point to a whitening of its image, in order to present itself as a potential voting option for the majority of the French electorate while retaining a certain populist essence.

Rethinking Queer (Asian) Studies: Geopolitics, Covid-19, and Post-Covid Queer Theories and Mobilities.

This paper considers queer studies in the global geopolitical hotspot of Asia, as well as how we can reimagine queer theories through both the Covid-19 pandemic and the intensified regional and global superpower competition and geopolitical tensions. It argues for a rethinking of queer studies through today's international relations and geopolitical complications in a sociological political economy. The aim is to connect critical studies with analyses of economic and social class structures, an approach that has been substantiated by the current crises, and to present an expanded queer mobility theory with two brief case studies (mini-critiques) of the current socioeconomic conditions facing marginalized people under Covid-19 and the changing geopolitical landscape. In so doing, this paper actively explores what queer studies can do and can be through the current historical turning point of the pandemic and geopolitical rivalry toward potential post-Covid socioeconomic revival and recovery.

Neuroscience history interview with Professor Bert Sakmann, Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine (1991), Max Planck Society, Germany.

Dr. Bert Sakmann (b. 1942) studied at the Universities of Tuebingen, Freiburg, Berlin, Paris, and Munich, graduating in 1967. Much of his professional life has been spent in various institutes of the Max Planck Society. In 1971, a British Council Fellowship took him to the Department of Biophysics of University College London to work with Bernard Katz (1911-2003). In 1974, he obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Goettingen and, with Erwin Neher (b. 1944) at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, began work that would transform cellular biology and neuroscience, resulting in the 1991 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. In 2008, Dr. Sakmann returned to Munich, where he headed the research group "Cortical Columns in Silico" at the Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology in Martinsried. Here, their group discovered the cell-type specific sensory activation patterns in different layers of a column in the vibrissal area of rodents' somatosensory cortices.