Academic literature on the topic 'International relations – Case studies – Malawi'

The exchange rate is the price of one currency against another currency or currencies of a group of countries. Real exchange rates are important because they show the external competitiveness of a country‟s economy. Thus, when the exchange rate of a country is misaligned, this will affect its trade, production and the welfare of people. This study analysed macroeconomic determinants of the real exchange rate and dynamic adjustment of the real exchange rate as a result of shocks to these determinants. The study also determined the extent of misalignment of the real exchange rate in Malawi and Zambia and identified variables that contributed to it. Such information is important to policy makers. Quarterly data were used for both countries from 1980:1-2008:4. The literature review identified those variables that determine the exchange rate and these include government consumption, foreign aid, net foreign assets, commodity prices, terms of trade, domestic credit, openness and the Balassa Samuelson effect (technological progress). To determine the long-run relationship between the exchange rate and its determinants, we employed the Johansen approach and the Vector Error Correction Model (VECM). For robustness check on the long-run and shortrun effects of determinants on the exchange rate, variance decomposition and impulse response analyses were used. Results in the study show that in Malawi for both models, an increase in LAID, LGCON and LTOT resulted in real exchange rate depreciation and increases in LDC, NFA and LNEER resulted in an appreciation. In Zambia, increases in LAID, LGCON, LOPEN and LTOT caused the real exchange rate to depreciate while increases in LDC, NFA and LCOPPER led to an appreciation. Lagged LREER and LNEER were found to have short run effects on the equilibrium exchange rate for Malawi and lagged LCOPPER and LDC for Zambia. Periods of exchange rate misalignment were found in both countries. It was also found that the coefficient of speed of adjustment in Malawi in models 1 and 2 indicate that 11% and 27% of the variation in the real exchange rate from its equilibrium adjust each quarter respectively. The speed of adjustment for Zambia in both models was 45% and 47% respectively, higher than that of Malawi. Foreign aid has proven to be important in exchange rate misalignment in both countries, though this was not really expected in the case of Zambia. Given these results, it may be of interest to policy makers to understand which variables impact most on the exchange rate and how misalignment due to these determinants can be minimised.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD<br>This study is an investigation of the informal trans-border Chewa ethnic movement of Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia and its relationship to the formal state boundaries defined by the Westphalian model. The Chewa refer themselves as belonging to a Kingdom (formerly the Maravi Kingdom) which currently cuts across the three modern African states of Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia and its paramount, King Gawa Undi, is based in Zambia. The secretariat of the kingdom is Chewa Heritage Foundation (CHEFO), which is headquartered in Malawi. The fundamental quest of this study is to investigate how the Chewa understand, experience, manage and interpret the overlap between formal states (as defined by the Westphalian model) and informal trans-border ethnic identity without raising cross-border conflicts in the process. Indeed, it is this paradoxical co-existence of contradictory features of Westphalian political boundaries and trans-border ethnic identity that initially inspired this study. The main research aim is to interrogate whether the Chewa Kingdom (of Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia) is challenging or confirming state boundaries, and to reflect on what this means for the contemporary Westphalian model. In International Relations (IR), the Westphalian model provides the assumption that states are independent actors with a political authority based on territory and autonomy. Despite a large number of criticisms of the model, it has not completely been dismissed in explaining some elements of the international system. This is evident by the underlying assumptions and perspectives that still persist in IR literature as well as the growing contemporary debates on the model, especially on its related elements of state sovereignty and citizenship. In Africa, the literature focuses on the formal structures and ignores the role of informal trans-border traditional entities - specifically, how trans-border traditional entities affect the re-definition of state and sovereignty in Africa. Such ignorance has led to a vacuum in African IR of the potentiality of the informal to complement the formal intra-regional state entities. Within a historical and socio-cultural framework, the study utilises [social] constructivism and cultural nationalism theories to critically investigate and understand the unfolding relationship between the Westphalian state and Chewa trans-border community. Another supporting debate explored is the relevance of traditional authorities under the ambit of politics of representation. In this case, the study fits in the emerging debate on the meaning, experience and relevance of state sovereignty and national identity (citizenship) in Africa. Drawing on a wide range of sources (informant interviews, focus group discussions, Afrobarometer survey data sets, newspaper articles and comparative literature surveys in Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia), the study finds that although the upsurge of Chewa transborder ethnic identity is theoretically contradictory to the Westphalian model, in practice it is actually complementary. Within the framework of [social] constructivism, the state has with some variations demonstrated flexibility and innovation to remain legitimate by co-opting the Chewa movement. In this case, the study finds that the co-existence of Westphalian model and trans-border Chewa ethnic identity is mainly due to the flexibility of the state to accommodate informal ethnic expressions in ways that ultimately reinforces the mutual dependence of the states and the ethnic group. For instance, during the Chewa Kulamba ceremony held in Zambia, the state borders are „relaxed‟ to allow unhindered crossing for the participants to the ceremony. This does not entail weakness of the state but its immediate relevance by allowing communal cultural expressions. Another finding is that the Chewa expression of ethnic identity could not be complete if it did not take a trans-border perspective. This set-up ensures that each nation-state plays a role in the expression of Chewa ethnic identity - missing one nation-state means that the historical and contemporary relevance of this identity would be lost. It is also this same set-up that limits the movement's possibility to challenge the formal state. This argument reinforces the social constructivist perspective that sovereignty is not static but dynamic because it fulfils different uses in a particular context. The overall argument of this study is that the revival of the informal Chewa trans-border traditional entity offers a new, exciting and unexplored debate on the Westphalian model that is possibly unique to the African set-up. One theoretical/methodological contribution of this study is that it buttresses some suggestions that when studying African IR, we have to move beyond the strict disciplinary boundaries that have defined the field and search for other related African state experiences. The study also strengthens one of the new approaches in understanding IR as social relations - in this approach, individuals and their activities or their social systems play a prominent role.

<p> The effectiveness of a state's natural resource management is rendered meaningless if the particular resource migrates into another state's jurisdiction. In the case of marine mammals, inadequate management of the species anywhere along their annual migration could make food insecure for the regional human populations. My research evaluates to what extent International Environmental Agreements have been able to manage transboundary challenges to food security. Two case studies, the <i>Polar Bear Agreement</i> (2000) and the <i>International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling</i> (1946), are analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively using Ronald Mitchell's four factors for describing variation of International Environmental Agreements' effectiveness: incentives, capacities, information, and norms. To ensure food security in the Bering Strait, this thesis stresses the importance of local concerns, norms and stakeholders. Transboundary management includes stakeholders at various scales to address a local challenge that is intersected by an international political boundary. The higher values of the Bowhead whale International Environmental Agreement's four factors, in the quantitative analysis, account for the higher level of food security for Bowhead whale. The qualitative analysis makes three recommendations for future International Environmental Agreements, in this case the draft U.S.-Russia agreement on Pacific walrus: 1) conservation of the Pacific walrus, 2) maintenance of Native self-determination and, 3) encouragement the flow of information between the local and federal stakeholders and between the United States and Russia. In order to ensure future food security in the Bering Strait Region, the management of the Pacific walrus depends on an effective International Environmental Agreement.</p>

<p> The popular coined term "state failure," has been used in a variety of ways to explain states that may have not lived up to the Western model of statehood. Many theorists have concluded a variety of reasons for this occurrence, but have usually looked at it through one lens and failed to acknowledge others. This paper proposes that one lens is sufficient in analyzing state failure, that of constructivism. Iraq is a country frequently considered synonymous with state failure. This paper analyzes the history of Iraq based on constructivist ideas of identity and institutions to explain state failure and determine solutions that could benefit the state.</p>

<p> This thesis analyzes the evolution of the Sino-Japanese conflict over ownership of the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands since the end of the Cold War. It argues that the 2012-2013 confrontation following the nationalization of the islands by Japan is the result of a process of conflict escalation that played out during repeated cycles of tensions over the previous two decades. Tensions reached a first peak in 1996 after Japanese activists built a lighthouse on one of the Senkaku/Diaoyu. Another confrontation would have erupted in 2004 after Chinese activists landed on one of the islands were it not for the intervention of Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi Junichiro. After both events, nothing was done to prevent future confrontations, which allowed the conflict to fester and enter a downward spiral. This process resulted in worsening mutual perceptions and more assertive domestic audiences on both sides, which pushed Chinese and Japanese leaders towards increasingly confrontational attitudes, eventually resulting in two serious incidents in 2010 and 2012 that brought bilateral tensions to a new post-WWII high.</p>

In protracted international conflicts, truth is often sacrificed in the name of victory. Political realists see international politics as a competition to win power, retain power, and demonstrate power; misleading the enemy in the name of strategy and misleading the public in the name of security are necessary elements of the game. A less obvious condition is that those caught in the cycle of intergroup conflict also withhold truths from themselves. This denial of truth and reality--to the Other, to the public, and to the self--is especially prevalent in the communicative relationship between the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran. This study explores the communicative relationship between the United States and Iran via mass media with a particular focus on propaganda as "natural." The literature review explains how conflict-conditioned communication grows and operates within the context of intergroup conflict, including the significance of globalization and information technology. The communicative relationship between the United States and Iran is used as a case study to explore conflict-conditioned communication. A snapshot of the U.S.-Iran communicative relationship was taken from May 1, 2005 - May 1, 2008. Articles from three print and online media sources were combed and analyzed for examples and patterns of conflict-conditioned communication. The method is based on an approach to understanding conflict-conditioned communication that was developed by Dr. Harry Anastasiou, a conflict resolution professional and educator. The method additionally utilizes the work of Dr. William O. Beeman, an expert on misperceptions between the United States and Iran. The conflict-conditioned communicative relationship between the United States and Iran shows how legitimate concerns and human needs are filtered through collective psychology, history, and national identity and absorbed into misperceptions. These misperceptions are perpetuated through propaganda and lead to unyielding political positions. The dual phenomena of globalization and advanced information technology amplify these unyielding political positions by spreading propagandized misperceptions faster and farther than ever before. As the United States and Iran become more entrenched in unyielding political positions, communication reduces to competing systems of propaganda, thus making peaceful conflict resolution less likely.

This thesis aims to demonstrate that economic security is also a significant pillar of safeguarding national security. Aside from military security measures, adopting peaceful economic engagement and economic measures can be an alternative security policy choice through which a state may achieve its national security agenda. To facilitate an understanding of economic security, this thesis submits a working definition of economic security, which has been delineated as 'the protection of a core value from all forms of potential or actualised threat by using economic measures and policies'. The core value refers to national interests and security Objectives. With this framework, the current thesis takes Taiwan as a case study to assess Taiwan's effort of implementing economic security strategy to accomplish its national security agenda within the context of the complex and hostile cross-Strait relations yet growing economic integration. This research intends to answer three categories of questions. Firstly, how large is the cost to Taiwan of pursuing economic security vis-a-vis China, and what is Taiwan's capability to afford such cost? Secondly, what factors would contribute to or undermine Taiwan's efforts in practising economic security, and to what extent? Thirdly, do cross-Strait economic ties strengthen or weaken Taiwan's economic security with respect to its economic performance, and to what extent? From three perspectives, this study analyses the above questions. Firstly, it analyses how Taiwan has employed economic power to construct its national security within the international system. Secondly, it examines how Taiwan has utilised economic measures to resist China's political and economic influence. Thirdly, from an economic perspective, it examines whether Taiwan's economic security objectives, in the context of its capability of sustaining economic prosperity, have been enhanced when it has engaged in economic exchange with China.

Recent problematic military interventions, as part of the Global War on Terror, have led to widespread criticism that British policy-makers have failed to learn lessons from history. At the same time as the accusations of not learning, the British government has repeatedly claimed that lessons have been learned, particularly from the disastrous war in Iraq. This thesis investigates these contradicting claims by analysing learning from the past in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Ministry of Defence and the Intelligence Community across four case studies of British military intervention in the Middle East; 1958 in Jordan, 1961 in Kuwait, the 1990-1991 Gulf War and 2003-2009 Iraq War. It provides a fresh analysis of these highly significant events, using previously undisclosed documents, offers an assessment of learning processes and concludes by recommending practical suggestions for the improvement of learning from history in the future.

Since the beginning of the Revolutionary government in Cuba, a comprehensive foreign policy involving medical personal and equipment has been implemented worldwide. Known as medical internationalism, thousands of doctors have been sent to developed and less developed nations in the spirit of solidarity and humanitarian aid. Even more, thousands of students have been given free medical education in Cuba at its world renowned university, the Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM). Often, no monetary or direct political gain is made by Cuba and the doctors simply receive their normal government salary. While the success of Cuba's medical internationalism is well documented (Feinsilver 1993, Kirk & Erisman 2009), the reasons and guiding forces behind it are much less understood. Based on a Cultural/Political Foreign Policy model created by Marijke Breuning to study foreign policy, this study aims to show that the concept of proletarian internationalism is the guiding principle in Cuba's medical internationalism programs.