Populism has become one of the most dynamic concepts in the social sciences literature over the past two decades. Offering a significant analytical framework for explaining crises of representation and the transformation of contemporary forms of leadership within the discipline of Political Science, populism has been intensely debated at both the theoretical and empirical levels since 2010. During this period, populism has gained an interdisciplinary scope of research in interaction with sub-disciplines such as comparative politics and discourse analysis. In this context, besides studies focusing on the political strategies, rhetorical styles and behavioral repertoires of populist actors, the International Relations literature includes theoretical and empirical studies conducted on the global diffusion of populism (Ramos and Torres 2020; Kaltwasser and Sandoval 2024), its effects on foreign policy decision-making processes (Destradi, Cadier and Plagemann 2025) and challenging stances towards international institutions (Spandler and Söderbaum 2023).
Power in the international system is becoming more diffuse. Amid intensifying great-power rivalry and the erosion of the rules and norms that underpinned much of the post-World War II global order, several countries in the Global South have become more active players on the world stage. This has extended to the realm of conflict mediation. This article explores the macro-level structural factors that may shape changes in these countries’ mediation behavior. It does so by drawing on Power Transition Theory (PTT) as a heuristic lens to assess the structural incentive environment for mediation. The two-level incentive framework developed here attempts to link the velocity of global and regional systemic changes to shifts in middle powers’ mediation behavior. It posits that incentives to mediate are weakest when hierarchies are stable globally and regionally and grow as change accelerates at either level. A quantitative operationalization of structural change and a qualitative review of Türkiye’s mediation engagement suggest that systemic turbulence may create conditions more conducive to mediation, but is not, on its own, sufficient to explain variation in mediation behavior. PTT’s structural logic helps examine how systemic shifts may reshape the risks, opportunities, and incentives for middle-power mediation.
This article examines key issues concerning China’s rise to great-power status in the 2000s and its implications for the International Relations discipline. The existing IR scholarship deals with questions concerning the nature of the Sino-US power transition, whether this rivalry constitutes a new type of Cold War, or whether it will eventually lead to open warfare between China and the US. Other points of discussion include the relevance of the China Model across different parts of the world and its potential role in authoritarian diffusion. China’s rise also requires an examination of the country’s economic impact abroad, and particularly in the Global South. While the Western world, by and large, considers China’s rise a threat, developing countries tend to view it as an opportunity. Nevertheless, China’s trade and investment ties to Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia have far more complex outcomes than the generic titles “mutual gain” or “debt trap” suggest.
Climate change is already happening, but at an accelerating pace that is surprising even the experts responsible for tracking its progress. The world is far from ready to cope with its impacts. This is particularly true of the defense and security sectors, which have not yet come to terms with the fact that climate change amplifies the risk of conflict. The academic world began to become aware of these links in the 1990s. Thomas Homer-Dixon, a pioneer in this field, points out in chapter 16 (pp. 356-364) the prescient nature of his work: environmental disruptions will not trigger conflicts directly, but will act as threat multipliers through their impact on access to key resources, the well-being of populations, and the cohesion of social groups.
While education can play an important role in fighting inequalities, it also perpetuates them, and this perpetuation feeds into social division and conflict (Dikkaya and Özyakışır 2006, 163–65). Textual analyses across 71 countries from 1966 to 2008 found that textbooks were influenced by armed conflict (p. vii). The importance of this collection, Teaching Peace and Conflict: The Multiple Roles of School Textbooks in Peacebuilding, is that it illustrates the crucial position not just of political parties, elections, and security, but also of education within conflict resolution and peacebuilding.
The article demonstrates that the expansion of energy cooperation between Russia and China following the escalation of the Ukrainian conflict in 2022 is primarily the result of agreements initiated since 2014. It claims that a combination of internal factors stemming from differences in Russia's and China's energy policies, and the corporate interests of national oil and gas companies, in the context of United States sanctions, is to blame for the difficulties in concluding new large-scale agreements since February 24, 2022. While an increase in Russia-supplied energy has contributed to China's energy security, further growth is hampered by China's policy of diversifying its energy partners to avoid over-dependence on any given state, unless the conditions are especially favorable. Additionally, Russia successfully replaced oil and coal exports to Europe with shipments to China and India. By looking into the case of negotiations over the Power of Siberia-2 gas pipeline, the article demonstrates that even in a system of centralized top-down decision-making in the energy sector, as exemplified by Russia and China, market considerations and different interests of state-owned enterprises are powerful enough to preclude the leadership from putting the decisions into practice. It explains how the prevalence of a buyer's market and China's stronger bargaining position are reflected in the Memorandum of Understanding signed in September 2025.
Since the late 2000s, following the introduction of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), regional integration or regionalism in Asia entered a new phase. However, developments became another realm for interpreting the competition between the United States and China. In this article, the author seeks to move away from the dominant frameworks of great power competition and geopolitics and to re-examine China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) from the perspective of regionalism. Following the progress of regionalism over time -with first-wave regionalism centered on functional cooperation in Europe amidst the Cold War and second-wave regionalism expanding to intra-regional cooperations outside Europe in the post-Cold War- the author positions the BRI within third-wave regionalism, or integration across multiple domains and among regions, and seeks to explain how China is reshaping international order through the BRI. This article draws on trade figures to demonstrate China's increased influence in the new century and argues that China is reshaping the international order through the BRI by promoting intercontinental integration and new narratives and discourses related to the Global South.
The use of securitization strategies by European states in Africa has led to the implementation of deterrence-based awareness campaigns aimed at controlling migration. However, these campaigns have had limited success, prompting a shift towards an approach that empowers individuals to engage in safe migration practices. Nevertheless, unsafe migration practices from Nigeria to Europe persist. This study examines the “Migrants-as-Messengers” and Waka-Well (“safe migration”) awareness campaigns, which aim to reduce unsafe migration by educating potential migrants. It explores whether combining empowerment with securitization could create a more effective and sustainable model for managing migration. Through interviews with key informants and using Braun and Clarke’s six-step thematic analysis, the research examines the influence of migration awareness campaigns on migrants’ decisions. The findings reveal that, while deterrence-based awareness campaigns expose potential migrants to risk, they fail to provide safe migration options. Conversely, the empowerment approach equips potential migrants with the means to utilize safer routes. The study concludes that, although the empowerment approach is more appealing to migrants, it is more effective when combined with clear messaging about the dangers of unsafe, irregular migration. Therefore, integrating a deterrence narrative into empowerment frameworks can balance security concerns with migrants’ aspirations, fostering safer and more sustainable migration paths.
This article challenges the conventional understanding of unrecognized states as mere puppets of their patron states by examining the complex relationship between Turkey and Northern Cyprus. While de facto states are often perceived as dependent entities controlled by their patrons, the case of Northern Cyprus presents an intriguing contradiction. Despite heavy reliance on Turkey for economic and security support, it maintains a distinct political culture characterized by greater civil liberties and political freedom than its patron. Turkish Cypriots have shown a strong capacity for resistance when perceiving threats to their autonomy, secular traditions, or identity. Their unique access to Republic of Cyprus (RoC) citizenship and EU benefits creates a "loophole" enabling them to evade Turkish influence. Additionally, RoC plays a crucial role as a democratic "yardstick", creating competitive pressure that limits Turkey's ability to impose its political system. This produces a careful balance where Turkey provides essential support while tolerating greater political freedoms in Northern Cyprus than in Turkey itself. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with local actors, This case study contributes to broader discussions on de facto states by demonstrating that client states can cultivate independent political cultures despite external dependence.
This article examines the shifting power dynamics in Latin America, focusing on the decline of the United States' (US) influence and China's growing economic presence since the early 2000s. As the US shifted its geopolitical priorities, China expanded its trade and investment in the region, becoming a key partner for many Latin American economies. This article argues that China's engagement in the region has reduced the US' dominance in some areas, but it has also created new dependencies, challenging Latin American countries' pursuit of autonomy, through the lens of dependency and autonomy theories. China's economic relations with Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico from 2000 to 2022 are examined, utilizing empirical data on trade and investment flows. The article highlights how China's increasing influence reshapes autonomy, long-term development prospects, and strategic alignments. By examining the varying stances of the three largest Latin American economies in their engagement with China, this article aims to enrich the discourse on the region's autonomy and China's role in it.
Despite being physically divided in 1974, no peace agreement has been made in Cyprus since then. Amongst the issues awaiting solution, perhaps the most difficult one is the property issue. Problems related to property rights have been brought to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) on several occasions. This study focuses on the Immovable Property Commission (IPC), which was established in accordance with the jurisprudence of the ECtHR. In a frozen conflict environment, the ECtHR, although not a transitional justice mechanism for resolving human rights violations in armed conflicts, occasionally plays an effective role in pressuring national authorities to repair the destructive effects of conflict periods. This study assesses the effectiveness of the IPC's role in addressing property issues in general and within this specific context.
This article systematically reviews the current state of Foreign Policy Analysis (FPA) in Latin America, focusing on political leaders, especially presidents, highlighting the region’s significant but often overlooked contributions to the field. It analyses scholarly articles from both Western and Latin American journals to explore who is involved in the decision-making process, the elements that shape decision-making, and the types of decisions analysed in the region. Additionally, the review sheds light on where the knowledge originates and where it is published, underscoring the underrepresentation of Latin American perspectives in International Relations literature. It concludes by stressing the advancements in regional FPA research and the importance of integrating these diverse Latin American viewpoints to enhance the field, as the region offers rich empirical data that supports theory-building and comparative analysis.
In our era, where striking developments unfold rapidly and crises influence one another with unprecedented speed, challenges such as climate change (see Baysal and Karakaş 2017) and the COVID-19 pandemic (see Eminoglu, Unutulmaz, and Özerim 2020) may initially appear distinct, but they are deeply interlinked in their causes, consequences, and responses. In Simple Solutions to Complex Catastrophes: Dialectics of Peace, Climate, Finance, and Health, John Braithwaite addresses precisely this complexity and offers an optimistic perspective on how cascading crises can be brought under control. The author focuses on four crisis domains—climate change, crime–war chains, pandemics, and financial meltdowns—and especially highlights the role of nuclear weapons and weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) as existential threats intricately linked to security, environmental, and health crises. Braithwaite adopts a dialectical and interdisciplinary methodology, combining conceptual analysis with empirical insight to examine interconnected global crises. He emphasizes the role of simple yet adaptive institutions in crisis prevention, drawing on historical case studies and the Peacebuilding Compared dataset to explore hypotheses related to peace and institutional resilience.
The book A World of Enemies: America’s War at Home and Abroad from Kennedy to Biden, published by Harvard University Press in 2024, is a conceptual perspective study by Osamah F. Khalil. The work conveys the domino effect of United States (US) military interventions to the reader, starting with the Vietnam War. The author argues that America’s wars are not merely military conflicts but also part of a political and ideological construction process. The book consists of two main parts and six chapters. Part 1, titled “The Firemen”, examines the period from the Kennedy administration to the Carter era. Part 2, titled “Badlands”, covers developments until the Obama administration, while the Epilogue is dedicated to Trump’s first era.
The Eastern Mediterranean region has entered a geopolitical competition since the discovery of major gas reservoirs in 2009. The discovery of gas reservoirs fueled the ongoing maritime dispute between Turkey, Greece, and Cyprus (Çakmak 2024). The region has drawn the attention of geopolitical analysts as there is growing competition and cooperation between major actors (Turkey, Greece, Cyprus, and Israel). One is Serhat Suha Çubukçuoğlu, a geopolitical strategist and senior researcher at TRENDS Research and Advisory in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Taking Europe as a post-national and inclusive entity is not something new. It has often been taken for granted. Hans Kundnani’s book challenges this assumption by tracing the cultural, racial, and imperial dimensions underpinning the European Union (EU). The book critically explores European identity and the EU through Kundnani’s personal experiences. Raised in Britain by an Indian father and a Dutch mother, Kundnani developed multi-layered attachments to Britain, a fellow EU member state, the Netherlands, and a country once colonized, India.
Mattias Fibiger’s latest book, Suharto’s Cold War: Indonesia, Southeast Asia, and the World, offers a novel account for the international political economy of Indonesia’s New Order period (1966-1998) and a thought-provoking overview of a set of domestic, regional, and global interactions during the Cold War, drawing on a historical analysis of rich archival material. The author ambitiously departs from the conventional structuralist explanations of the political economy of the Suharto regime in Indonesia, which portray the New Order as the “mechanistic reflection of capitalist power relations” (p. 7). Instead, his analysis revolves centrally around Indonesian agency, deeply intertwined with the international capital, against the backdrop of Cold War politics.
The rivalry between the United States (US) and China, along with Russia's war against Ukraine, risks the bifurcation of the world. The expanded membership of BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is in opposition to the Group of Seven (G7) and US leadership, while small and middle powers try to find a middle ground and pursue independent foreign policies. This article analyzes Japan's foreign policy strategy vis-& agrave;-vis China under the Kishida government (2021-2024), within the broader hedgingversus-balancing debate, against the background of growing bifurcation. The study argues that, during the Kishida government, Japan continued its conventional hedging strategy, centering on a mix of internal balancing against China, as well as economic engagement of China. Most notably, Kishida's strategy added new initiatives in the Global South to Japan's hedging menu, motivated by Japan's economic, security, and diplomatic interests.
Water, essential for human and other living beings, is becoming a scarce resource due to a growing population and the effects of global climate change. This raises the risk of conflicts between states. Water resources that transcend the borders of nation-states can engender tensions among riparian states; consequently, the parties’ endeavor to address governance issues and cultivate opportunities for cooperation through mechanisms of water diplomacy. Ayşegül Kibaroğlu’s book, “Turkey’s Water Diplomacy: Analysis of its Foundations, Challenges and Prospects,” provides a thorough examination of Turkey’s water diplomacy framework through a combination of national processes and institutions, while also exploring how this framework has evolved in response to international water law from an institutionalist approach. According to the institutionalist approach, the resolution of transboundary water disputes may be possible through institutions built based on international legal sources and cooperation arrangements developed by organizations.
The aim of this study is to elucidate decision-making processes of Ukrainian forced migrants of diverse ethnic and religious backgrounds relocated in Turkey in the wake of the Russian-Ukrainian War since 2022. We examine trends in prospective plans, including return, settlement, migration to third countries, and identify key factors influencing social integration in Turkey. To this end, extensive field research was conducted in five provinces in Turkey - & Idot;stanbul, Ankara, & Idot;zmir, Eski & scedil;ehir and Antalya - between 2022 and 2024. This study employed qualitative method consisting of in-depth interviews with a wide range of stakeholders, including Ukrainian diplomatic representatives, migrant organizations, Turkish provincial migration management officials, and post-2022 Ukrainian migrants who were residing in Turkey under various statuses. The findings indicated that decisions between permanence and transience were determined by the state's migrant and asylum policies along the embrace and provision continuum. In addition, active involvement of ethnic organizations of Ukrainians in migration processes appear to act as a factor that either triggers or hinders social cohesion.
