Mohammed Ayoob

Inequality and Theorizing in International Relations: The Case for Subaltern Realism

I argue that the dominant paradigms in IR fail to explain adequately two of the central issues in the international system: the origins of the majority of conflicts and the behavior of the majority of states. These paradigms fail because they formulate generalizations from data drawn from a restricted universe and because they lack historical depth. Both these flaws are related to inequality in the arena of the production of knowledge in IR, which in turn is a function of the inequality in material capabilities in the international system. A supplementary, if not alternative, perspective is needed to correct this situation and fill this gap. We can fashion such a perspective by drawing upon classical realist thought, the historical sociology of state formation, and the normative perspicacity of the English School. Combining their insights and applying them to the analysis of Third World conflict patterns and the external and domestic behavior of Third World states is likely to provide more satisfactory explanations for the origins of the majority of contemporary conflicts. Such an exercise will also shed light on the crucial variables that determine the behavior of the majority of states in the Third World. Moving postcolonial states into the mainstream of theorizing in IR will also help reduce the impact of inequality on the field and open new vistas for theoretically informed scholarly research. I also call for pluralism in international relations theorizing rather than a search for universally applicable law–like generalizations divorced from historical and social contexts.

The Security Problematic of the Third World

This article reviews some recently published volumes on the subject of Third World security and, in the light of the analyses presented in these books, attempts to discuss a series of major issues in the field of Third World security studies. These include (1) the applicability of the concept of security as traditionally defined in the Western literature on international relations to Third World contexts; (2) the domestic variables affecting the security of Third World states; (3) the impact of international systemic factors on Third World security; (4) the effect of late-twentieth-century weapons technology on the security of Third World states; and (5) the relationship between the security and developmental concerns of Third World states. The author concludes that while international and technological factors have important effects on the security of Third World states, the major variables determining the degree of security enjoyed by such states at both the intrastate and interstate levels are related to the twin processes of state making and nation building that are at work simultaneously within Third World polities.

India and Southeast Asia : Indian perceptions and policies

Preface 1. Indias Foreign Policy Framework and Strategic Perspective 2. Southeast Asias Importance in Indian Foreign Policy: the Background 3. Southeast Asia in Indian Foreign Policy: Moving into the 1980s 4. India, China and Southeast Asia 4. India, China, and Southeast Asia 5. India, Indonesia, and Vietnam: Coincidence of Interests? 6. India, and the Kampuchean Issue 7. India, the Superpowers, and Southeast Asia 8. India and Southeast Asia: Concluding Remarks Index

Regional security in the Third World : case studies from Southeast Asia and the Middle East

Part I: Regional Security, the Third World and World Order 1. Regional Security and the Third World 2. Regional Security and World Order in the 1980s Part II: Intra-state Dimensions of Regional Security 3.Internal Dimensions of Regional Security in Southeast Asia 4. Internal Cleavages and Regional Conflict: the Case of Lebanon Part III: Inter-state Dimensions of Regional Security 5. The Kampuchean Conflict and Regional Security 6. The Arab-Israeli Conflict: A View from Cairo 7. The Iran-Iraq War: Regime Security and Regional Security Part IV: Global Dimensions of Regional Security 8. Superpowers and Regional Security in Southeast Asia 9. The Superpowers and Regional Security in the Middle East Part V: Regional Organisation and Regional Security 10. ASEAN and Regional Security 11. The Gulf Co-operation Council and Regional Security 12. The Arab League: Between Regime Security and National Liberation

Making Sense of Global Tensions: Dominant and Subaltern Conceptions of Order and Justice in the International System

The tension between the hegemonic and subaltern perspectives of international order can be summarized in the following fashion: While the former emphasizes order among states and justice within them, the latter stresses order within states and justice among them. This tension has manifested itself, although not always very neatly, in such diverse arenas of international politics as humanitarian intervention, nuclear proliferation and residual colonialism. While the tension between the dominant and subaltern views of world order is a global phenomenon, it finds manifestation in its most acute form in the broader Middle East, comprising West, Southwest and Central Asia. This is because issues such as Iran’s nuclear aspirations, Israel’s occupation of Palestine, and the rise of political Islam as the anti-hegemonic ideology par excellence highlight this tension most clearly.

Book Reviews : William J. Barnds. India, Pakistan, and the Great Powers. London: Pall Mall Press, 1972. Pp. 338. Price £ 4.25

made it clear to the Indians in Kenya that they should not look for help from their country in resolving their disputes with the Europeans. &dquo;Our bewildered countrymen&dquo;, he wrote in Young India on 28 August 1924, &dquo;make a pathetic appeal to the nation for help. Little do they know that we are powerless to give them real assistance. Sympathy they have. Newspaper articles they will have, but I fear that beyond that they are likely to get very little.... The ultimate remedy lies with our countrymen themselves.&dquo; If the Congress and its leaders adopted this attitude towards overseas Indians, it

Book Reviews : SOUTH ASIA Talukder Maniruzzaman. The Politics of Development: The Case of Pakistan, 1947-1958. Dacca: Green Book House, 1971. Pp.191. Price not indicated

The monograph contains an excellent analysis of recent attempts by Soviet and East European economists to develop a Socialist theory of international trade. It is well written and makes very interesting reading. The book also includes a useful bibliography on the subject. Therefore, it is bound to be Qf interest not only to students of Soviet and East European affairs but also to economists generally working on planning and international trade. It is a welcome addition to the growing literature on the subject. JAYASHEKAR

Book Reviews : GUSTAV F. PAPANEK. Pakistan's Development: Social Goals and Private Incentives. Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 1967. Pp. 354. Price

During the years 1936-1938, the personality cult of Stalin, the gruesome trials, and the liquidation of the Bolshevik leadership shook Leftist the leaders of Ceylon. So did Stalin’s &dquo;zigzagging&dquo; foreign policy. The Leftist leaders in Ceylon felt that the &dquo;opportunistic popular front tactics&dquo; used in China, Spain, and France were dictated not so much by the needs of popular revolution in those countries as by those of the national interest of the Soviet Union. These actions of Stalin, which

8.95

* Dr Ayoob, till recently Lecturer in Pakistani Studies at the School, is now Research Associate at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi. ECONOMIC transactions, principally in the form of trade, between two countries can be considered to be one of the most reliable forms of hard data by which the state of relations between them can be judged. In other words, trade figures can be considered good indices of &dquo;international integration&dquo;.’ More often than not, the state of political relations between Two countries can be judged by means of a study of the pattern of the trade between them. Economic transactions in general, and trade in particular, add to the capabilities of responsive-