Jan Ludert – författare

This book considers the past and present legacies, continuities and change of the United Nations Trusteeship System by assessing consequences and legacies of decolonization in contemporary society, international organizations and international politics. International contributors address the UN Trusteeship System as a venue for multiple state and non- state actors and its effect on the international system. Rather than viewing UN trusteeship as a bygone phenomenon, the volume underscores its current relevance, particularly in view of the recent resurgence of trusteeship models such as in Kosovo and East Timor. Offering a novel and robust, yet simple and intuitive analytical framework through which to understand a broad range of cases related to the Trusteeship System and its impact on the international system, the book places emphasis on the agency of states in the Global South and highlights the importance of multiple actors in global governance. It will be of interest to scholars of international relations theory and history in a variety of fields, ranging from African Politics to Intergovernmental Organizations and Comparative Politics.

This book considers the past and present legacies, continuities and change of the United Nations Trusteeship System by assessing consequences and legacies of decolonization in contemporary society, international organizations and international politics. International contributors address the UN Trusteeship System as a venue for multiple state and non- state actors and its effect on the international system. Rather than viewing UN trusteeship as a bygone phenomenon, the volume underscores its current relevance, particularly in view of the recent resurgence of trusteeship models such as in Kosovo and East Timor. Offering a novel and robust, yet simple and intuitive analytical framework through which to understand a broad range of cases related to the Trusteeship System and its impact on the international system, the book places emphasis on the agency of states in the Global South and highlights the importance of multiple actors in global governance. It will be of interest to scholars of international relations theory and history in a variety of fields, ranging from African Politics to Intergovernmental Organizations and Comparative Politics.

This book explores the role and relevance of non-state actors (NSAs) in the international system by analyzing the ways these actors gain influence in the United Nations (UN). Offering a systematic, theoretical, and empirical account of how NSAs contest and potentially change state sovereignty through the UN the author considers the successes and failures of national liberation movements and indigenous peoples and examines how and under what conditions such a challenge is possible. This book will be of great interest to scholars and graduate students in the fields of international law, politics, history, human rights, and governance. It will be especially useful to those with an interest in the proliferation of non-state actors in the international system and the role and relevance of Intergovernmental Organizations.

This book explores the role and relevance of non-state actors (NSAs) in the international system by analyzing the ways these actors gain influence in the United Nations (UN). Offering a systematic, theoretical, and empirical account of how NSAs contest and potentially change state sovereignty through the UN the author considers the successes and failures of national liberation movements and indigenous peoples and examines how and under what conditions such a challenge is possible. This book will be of great interest to scholars and graduate students in the fields of international law, politics, history, human rights, and governance. It will be especially useful to those with an interest in the proliferation of non-state actors in the international system and the role and relevance of Intergovernmental Organizations.

This open access handbook redefines science diplomacy in an era of geopolitical rivalry, rapid technological change, and fragmented global governance. Moving beyond state-centric models, it advances a polycentric framework where authority and expertise are distributed across diverse actors. Combining conceptual insights with empirical case studies, it examines securitization, emerging diplomatic players, and technology as a site of power—offering a rigorous guide for navigating cooperation under conditions of uncertainty, asymmetry, and disruption.

Seminar paper from the year 2007 in the subject Politics - Political Theory and the History of Ideas Journal, grade: 1.0, The Australian National University, language: English, abstract: When looking at a 'black and white picture' one rarely realizes, without closer inspection, that hardly any pure black or white can be found on the emulsion. Rathervaried degrees of grey give the picture its contours on a two-dimensional medium. The conventional term is as Aristotle s manifested in the law of contradiction,widerspruchlich. The idea of a global civil society (GCS) does not differ from theobservable contradiction between concept and fact of B/W photography. The widelyaccepted conceptualisation of GCS as the following argument will show, might be useful as an analytical tool; it does however obscure implicit contradictions of the idea itself. Its terminology, it is argued, can be a reductio ad absurdum if not cautiously used and reflected upon in any given context. As a neologism, Keane observers, GCS is becoming fashionable continuing to justify its conceptual usage as an ideal type, for heuristic purposes . Whilst dismissing its western origins and the possibility that it imposes alien values as irrelevant consideration. Keane not alone in his reduction and in his benign outlook of the ideal type, treads on a swampy path when he goes on to see invisible governance as an example of civil society outside its western original in the Batswanan kgotla system of chieftain domination. Without aiming to dismiss the recent achievements of actors in GCS, the aforementioned example of the kgotla highlights how actors of civil societies function within inherited structures of power that they may modify or alter but seldom transform .5 Thus as this paper will illustrate the fallacy of contemporary thinking , which as Chandhokes shows gives us a picture of a global civil society that seems to be supremely uncontaminated by either the state or that of markets .6 In other words the grey notion of GCS cannot be conceptualized without the black of the market and the white of the state [or vice versa].[...]

Intermediate Examination Paper from the year 2007 in the subject Politics - General and Theories of International Politics, grade: 1.5, The Australian National University, language: English, abstract: Contemplating ethics, culture and furthermore their interplay in world politics might be aperpetual impasse devoid of a teleological clarity. Disregarding the two concepts on the otherhand, as irrelevant to the study of International Relations (IR), as it is best carried out byRealpolitik and studied with scientific sterility ala Kenneth Waltz, would be myopic on anumber of levels. Before framing the meaning of ethics and culture, and discussing theirpossible interplay in world politics, the following question is proposed to perhaps establish aconceptual link between the two: Can we find a fruitful starting point by perceiving moralityas a connector of ethics and culture to world politics?Of all the areas of philosophy, ethics is the one that seems most significant to people, and it isno overstatement to say that everyone is engaged in ethical deliberation at every turn in life. Ethics, as a major philosophical branch, is derived from the ancient Greek term ethikos, or themeaning of living. Its primary focus is to discern between right and wrong ergo it aims tounderstand the nature of morality . Or put differently, the social quality of ethics forceseach of us to feel that our identity is also defined by our relations to others . In a worldwhich is transformed by a growing interconnectedness and intensification of relations,among states and societies summarized in the buzzword of globalization, the social qualityof ethics calls for refinement. The veil of ignorance has been vigorously lifted from our eyesby the effects of global transformation, and it becomes an imperative to avoid limiting ethicsto kin relationship or confined to territorial bounded Westphalian sovereignty. In short ethicsis about humanizing the experience of the other , which is in its logical extension anindividual moral choice to be righteous in a global as well as national and even local context. Thus sound moral values raise tough choices; and tough choices are never straightforwardespecially in the prevailing anarchical system of world politics. Just like ethics culture is not a singular thing , but rather a loose collection of [assumed]characteristics of a community.

Seminar paper from the year 2006 in the subject Politics - Topic: Globalization, Political Economics, grade: 1.5, The Australian National University, language: English, abstract: The east African country of Tanzania, once praised for its "e;Open Door Policy"e; and its committedsupport for refugees fleeing turmoil in their respective home countries, has shifted dramaticallywithin the last two decades. This paper will investigate the changed policy of the Tanzaniangovernment towards continuous refugee influx after its independence in 1964. It is apparent thatperceptions of refugees have also shifted in local, regional and international arenas and due to theconfines of this paper, developments on these fronts will only be mentioned peripherally. The refugee situation in the Great Lake Region of Tanzania is of exceptional importance for aselected number of reasons:1) Tanzania has been host to the highest number of refugees on the African continent thereforeputting a uncontested burden on the nation2) The country acts as case for an increasing awareness of sovereignty, especially in terms ofnational security in post colonial Africa3) The historical implications of ethnic separation questions the notion of territoriality in aregion still struggling to create stability4) Government leadership and ideology influence the perception of refugees and therefore theformulation of policyThis paper will investigate the above, firstly outlining the refugee arrivals in western Tanzania sinceindependence; secondly investigating the perception of refugees under the presidency of the PanAfricanist, Julius Nyerere until 1985; thirdly it will account for refugee policy adjustmentsimplemented by the government post Nyerereism; and lastly by concluding the above notionsutilising the findings of the preceding paragraphs. Tanzania has been a safe haven for refugees from its western neighbours, namely Burundi, Congo(former Zaire), Uganda and Rwanda for several decades and the country has continuously hostedrefugees from these countries. Estimates on the number of refugees vary greatly, and no exactnumber can be drawn from existing figures post Tanzanian independence, but it is reasonable toassume refugee volumes of several hundred thousand up to a million from 1959 until 1993. Refugees arriving in the biggest wave between 1993 and 1998 from Rwanda, Burundi and theDemocratic Republic of Congo are thought to have reached close to 1.3 million people.

Seminar paper from the year 2006 in the subject Politics - Topic: Globalization, Political Economics, grade: 1.5, The Australian National University, language: English, abstract: 1993 when Ruggie termed the 'unbundling of territoriality' was a year in whichknowledge and communication that is its accessibility and dissemination entered anew realm of space and time. On the 30th of April 1993 the World Wide Web and itsunderlying technology was made freely available to use by anyone. Today over onebillion people use the Internet, or every sixth person on the planet. A collective brainone might say is forming in front of our eyes growing with every new person enteringthree W s into a web browser. While Ruggie aimed to search for, and investigate into, a fundamental transformationof the modern system of states, he emphasized that such an analysis would find afruitful starting point in the [re]conceptualisation of territoriality. This paper willutilize Ruggie s concept, by applying its analysis to the emerging and manifestingspace-time implosion driven by the Internet and other communication technologies. Therefore, it is argued that Cyberspace provides a practical sphere to investigate intothe unbundling of territoriality in a postmodern world. In the first section the impact on territoriality resulting from the emergence of theCyberspace will be discussed. Ruggie s model of differentiation between systems ofrule and territory is applied to explain the transformation of territory in thepostmodern era of Cyberspace. It is followed by an investigation into theconsequences of Cyberspace on sovereignty. Showing that Cyberspace does indeedprovide a new stage in Ruggie s terms, facilitating an unbundling and relocation ofsovereignty away from state territory. The third section discusses the implication ofthe virtual space on the rise and acceleration of globalisation. It is argued thatglobalisation, could not be perceived as a postmodern phenomenon without theCyberspace revolution. The last part of the paper, proposes the need to rethink thenotion of movement in the age of virtual and real spaces. Cyberspace allows tourists in line with Bauman s description to choose between virtual and real movement. Thepreceding discussion will finally lead to the conclusion that the conceptualisation ofCyberspace as one aspect responsible for the unbundling of territory provides animportant explanatory insight into the transformation from modernity topostmodernity.

Seminar paper from the year 2006 in the subject Politics - General and Theories of International Politics, grade: 1.6, The Australian National University, language: English, abstract: Contemporary theory of International Relations is a continuous scholarly battleground for variousschools of thought. This paper will scrutinize two prevailing theories of neorealism andneoliberalism, namely Kenneth Waltz s concept of political structures juxtaposed with Robert O. Keohane s neoliberal institutionalism. To arrive at a critical conclusion that explains which of thetwo constructs stand a better chance of successfully explaining the most fundamental workings ofthe international system of states, a four-part sequence is proposed in this paper. Firstly, this paperwill explain how both authors define their assumed principles and how those assumptions aresummarised in relation to the international system. Secondly it will demonstrate where the author sideas intersect and/or divert from the other. Thirdly, it will examine if it is feasible to classify theideas as distinct theories or if it is perhaps more accurate to see Keohane s work as an alteration toneorealist theory. Finally, by equating the logical consequences of the findings in the precedingsections, this paper will conclude with a restrictive formulation of the more convincing idea withinthe confines of the two texts. Waltz commences his 1979 chapter on political structures in Theory of International Politics bystressing the need for a system theory of international politics, which is set apart from economic,social and other international realms. He adapts the idea of structure predominately used byeconomists and anthropologists. Waltz is particularly interested in the creation and interaction ofthe units within the system and amongst each other, as well as the forces and outcomes that theunits entail. By setting aside the characteristics of units, their behaviour, and their interactions and focusing purely on their position within the structure instead, Waltz argues that an abstract theory of the system will more precisely explain how the structure of political systems affects theagencies, its units, thereby minimising confusion between system and unit level causalities. As Waltz continues his deductive approach to political systems he constitutes structure andinteracting units.

Seminar paper from the year 2006 in the subject Politics - General and Theories of International Politics, grade: 1.0, The Australian National University, language: English, abstract: This text concerns itself with answering two central questions of the democratic principle in the current arena of world politics. The questions are: Is international politics ultimately all aboutpower and interest, such that democracyshouldremain of marginal importance to internationalrelations?AndIf democratic states are morally reliable , dowe need democratisation of the internationalsystem itself, or can we just rely on coalitionsof these reliable states? The study of International Relations (IR) has long been concerned with Realpolitik, a form ofpolitical realism, which puts the self-help (military power) and survival (interest) motives ofstates at the centre of its inquiry to explain the structural realities of the anarchic internationalsystem, which is seen to exist under a constant threat of war. (Waltz, 1979) [Market] liberalism,on the other hand, opposes the realist tradition and aims for the emancipation of humanity. In theliberal tradition, the authority of democratic nations and the proliferation of free-markets arebelieved to need to extend to the international system, in order to bring about peace, security(Fukuyama, 1989) and happy consumers. The Neo-conservatives within the US administrationseem to have embraced both realism and market liberalism and combined the two into a meshthat is hard to disentangle. Therefore, an obvious observation of the current era of US hegemonydoes indeed reaffirm that power and the interest of agencies in the international arena areprominent attributes of international politics. Powerful states, such as the US in Iraq, wageunilateral wars to secure their strategic interests and at the same time support market liberalism,while the biggest beneficiaries, multinational corporations (MNCs), smile broadly in thebackground. In this regard, it appears as if notions of democracy, power, and interest are not onlyjuxtaposed, but are in fact feeding on each other, perpetuating but one form of democracy thatof market liberalism.

Research Paper (postgraduate) from the year 2004 in the subject Politics - Topic: Development Politics, University of Botswana, Okawango Research Center, language: English, abstract: Applying a rather realistic perspective to Botswana leads to thequestion of sustainable development supported by governments as well asnon-governmental organizations. The Young Women ChristianAssociation of Ngamiland (YWCA) in the North West of the country willact as a case to determine the challenges of development on the grassroots level in transformation countries in general and Botswana and particular. The case study acts as a guide for development efforts in grass root level organization.

Scientific Essay from the year 2006 in the subject Politics - General and Theories of International Politics, grade: 1.7, The Australian National University, language: English, abstract: In mid March 2003 the small bush airport of Maun, Botswana, the entrance to themagnificent Okawango Delta, transformed overnight from a calm African airstrip into apossible entry point for a major health threat. Airport staff in masks handed healthwarnings of a novel and unknown disease called Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome(SARS) to passengers wearing khaki adventure clothing. Ministry of Health officialsquestioned incoming passengers predominantly from Europe and Northern America,about their latest travels and in return received anxious and concerned inquiries fromleaving passengers ready to board their flights back home. A feeling of vulnerability lay heavily in the air. Meanwhile, on the other side of town, in the local hospital Batswana children, women and men stood patiently in a long line, under the scorching sun to await their routine medical checkups. Every person in this line had tested positive for the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), and many are also latent or open carriers of the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis (TB). No questions were asked here; overworked doctors and nurses were too busy providing basic support to the never-ending line of patients. The feeling here could be best described as accepting ones fate to die, with little hope to become eligible for a place on the antiretroviral therapy (ARV) program initiated by the government, which had commenced a year earlier.1 What remained was the perception that something profoundly different happened in the same place, at the same time. But what was it?

Essay from the year 2006 in the subject Politics - General and Theories of International Politics, grade: 1.0, The Australian National University, language: English, abstract: In the midst of the turbulent political and economic transformation during 1989, Francis Fukuyamadeclared the end of history in his [in]famous article, intending to seal the coffin of communistideology once and for all, declaring the western camp as the winner of the cold war and moreimportantly of liberal capitalism over communism.1 However, a peculiar question remains forstudents of International Relations.2 Is it still worth studying Marxist theory today since the formercommunist Soviet Union and its satellites, no longer practice a [certain and often-incoherent]version of Marxist ideology?This paper does not attempt to advocate a utopian klassenlose society in conjunction with radicaland totalitarian outgrowths that had been developed during the 20th century from Stalinist gulags tothe Maoist Cultural Revolution. Despite this, this paper aims to show the merits of Marxist theory,especially the concept of historical materialism, and how, in at least three respects, it adds to thestudy of International Relations.

Essay from the year 2006 in the subject Politics - General and Theories of International Politics, grade: 1.5, The Australian National University, language: English, abstract: It seems a peculiarity of modern capitalist civilisation, that wherever one looks one seessquares everywhere! Just as this piece of paper, the screen and keys it was typed on aresquare, so are the borders of countless states around the globe, cutting throughautochthonous communities separating cultures or forging them into a state [society]often lacking their prior consent. It is not without fateful irony that, for instance, the tableon which the fate of the African people was decided during the Berlin conference in1884-85 at which the [still prevailing] borders of colonial Africa were demarcated was:Square! Square people with square minds made square decisions. However,contemporary claims of many indigenous peoples who are as diverse and irregular as theworld they exist in continue to challenge the plane polygon geometry of the arbitrary andartificially constructed artefact of territorial sovereignty by demanding recognition oftheir, partial or full self-determination. Thus questioning the moral legitimacy ofsovereign states and the international society [of states].

Essay from the year 2006 in the subject Politics - Topic: Development Politics, grade: 1.7, The Australian National University, language: English, abstract: The gap between rich and poor has never been so wide. The income of the richest fiftymillion people (a mere one percent of world population) is at par with the combinedincome of 2.7 billion people sharing a life of extreme poverty.1 Moreover the unequaldistribution of wealth and social wellbeing measured in levels of education or literacy,life expectancy, child mortality and economic performance are geographically skewed. The people in the north of the globe are living a good life, while the people living southof the tropic of cancer often struggle for survival. Especially on the African continent, development has failed. The statistics for Sub-Saharan Africa s development areparticularly alarming. Here real per-capita incomes have dropped significantly over thelast decades leaving half of the population with less than One Dollar ($1) per day.2HIV/AIDS and other communicable diseases continue to cripple the region like nowhereelse on the planet, not only challenging ongoing development efforts, but also by fillingorphanages and cemeteries in a disturbing pace.3

Essay from the year 2006 in the subject Politics - General and Theories of International Politics, grade: 1.0, The Australian National University, language: English, abstract: The World Trade Organization (WTO) has become the guardian angel of tradeliberalisation, but its growing global power especially after the 1999 Seattle debaclehas engendered growing public scrutiny.2 A number of scholars, activists and criticsare concerned with the democratic deficit in system-level institutions, in particular theWTO, and are searching for solutions and alternatives to promote democraticlegitimacy an accountability in global institutions.3 In this modern era of globalisationand democracy, in which the forces of a globalised economy constrain and elude thecontrol of the nation state and its populus, a crucial question comes to the fore4: Candemocracy in its present form, as bounded to territorial and sovereign states, addressthe increasing transnationalisation of society or is there a need to advocate a newpillar of democratic interaction more suitable to counteract real existing globalisationand its proponents?This

Master's Thesis from the year 2007 in the subject Politics - Topic: Development Politics, grade: 1,6, The Australian National University, language: English, abstract: This thesis aims to reflect upon some of the bigger questions ofinternational development. It investigates a general relationship betweenthe World Bank vis a vis demands made by indigenous peoples, namelyquestioning of how to advance development goals in ways that uphold thejustice needs of minorities such as indigenous peoples, further how toachieve a just balance between national prosperity and minority survival,and more broadly, how to further balance the complexities of global, localand national interests. This thesis seeks a stronger middle groundbetween the Bank and indigenous peoples and focuses, on theimportance of deliberation, in general, and the principle of free priorinformed consent, in particular. The argument put forward here is normative and envisages emancipatingfrom the singularity of the modern development paradigm in opening adeliberative space that provides for diversity and difference to flourishinstead. Here specifically acknowledging indigenous peoples values andinterests as equally important in development, this thesis supports adeliberate and affirmative approach to justice. This of course does notmark the prevailing top-down, state-centric and neo-liberal developmentparadigm as malign, rather it envisages exchanging its power base forbottom-up participatory deliberation.