Books by Arndt Michael
While successful processes of regional multilateralism are taking place in all corners of the wor... more While successful processes of regional multilateralism are taking place in all corners of the world South Asia and its neighbouring regions have not been able to successfully cooperate in a regional framework. At present, there are four regional organizations or initiatives: the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi Sectoral-Economic Cooperation, the Indian Ocean Rim-Association for Regional Cooperation and the Mekong Ganga Cooperation Initiative. Arndt Michael examines the genesis and evolution of these organizations by using the theoretical perspective of norm localization. The study focuses especially on India – a founding member in all four organizations – and traces the impact of India's foreign policy on the discourse, the development and the institutional designs of regional multilateralism.
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Papers by Arndt Michael
The India–Pakistan conflict, one of the oldest unresolved interstate conflicts in the world,
bega... more The India–Pakistan conflict, one of the oldest unresolved interstate conflicts in the world,
began in 1947 and has shown no signs of abating. Both realist and constructivist
interpretations have offered several differing explanations as to the roots and persistence of
this conflict. The article argues that a realist-constructivist approach as suggested by Samuel
Barkin provides a new and better angle for explaining the genesis, evolution, and persistence
of the India–Pakistan conflict, in addition to allowing prediction of future developments.
Importantly, realist-constructivism combines several different analytical dimensions: It looks
at the way in which power structures affect patterns of normative change in international
relations and, conversely, the way in which a particular set of norms affects power structures.
Both these dimensions have been overlooked as variables that can explain why it will be
difficult to come up with lasting solutions for the India–Pakistan conflict.
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Asian Security, 2017
Successful multilateral economic, political or security cooperation as best exemplified by organi... more Successful multilateral economic, political or security cooperation as best exemplified by organizations such as the EU or ASEAN invites the question why comparable organizations have never been established in South Asia and the Indian Ocean Rim, two geo-strategically important world regions. This article foregoes political-realist arguments and offers an alternative explanation for the failure of regional multilateralism in those two regions by using the social-constructivist framework of norm localization. This framework, based upon third-generation norm diffusion, provides a new analytical toolbox for analysing the general puzzle why one region may accept a particular norm while rejecting another. Arguing the case for the existence of a special South Asian regional variation of multilateralism which is termed ‘Panchsheel-multilateralism’, the article examines the process of the localization of the global norm regional multilateralism and analyses how this norm became institutionalized in the form of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA). The main argument of the article is that the global norm of regional multilateralism has been localized into a principally Indian influenced model of multilateralism, based on the latter’s cognitive prior. Consequently, there has virtually never been room for any genuine multilateral cooperation, while tangible cooperative results are found in the bilateral domain only.
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International land “acquisition” or land “grabbing” has become a global phenomenon in which India... more International land “acquisition” or land “grabbing” has become a global phenomenon in which India plays an increasingly important role. While there is a critical domestic debate regarding land deals within India — especially pertaining to the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act of 2014 — there is practically no such debate regarding international land deals by Indian companies in Sub-Saharan Africa. By applying a two-level discourse analysis, this article argues that the land discourse within India can be understood as a strategy of exclusion. By linking land issues with questions of “development,” the discursive strategies of powerful actors lead to the exclusion of the arguments of NGOs and others opposed to the land deals from the discourse within India. This strategy of exclusion is then taken to the extreme with the strategy of securitization outside India: land deals are linked to “food security,” as the example of Ethiopia highlights.
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In her position as a rising power, India has reassessed and reinvigorated the entirety of her rel... more In her position as a rising power, India has reassessed and reinvigorated the entirety of her relations with Africa in the past decade. These relations cover the economic, political and the security spheres. They are the result of India’s ideational foreign policy change, her economic growth trajectory, looming energy insecurity and India’s role as an increasingly important international stakeholder. The main argument of the article is that India has successfully worked out her own policies, institutional structures and inter-regional development schemes with unique characteristics to develop and deepen linkages with sub-Saharan Africa. The article concludes that India now has a potential of assuming the role of ‘game changer’ in the new scramble for Africa’s resources and the struggle for votes and support of African states in international institutions and fora.
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India in Transition, Aug 11, 2014
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The Hindu Business Line, Aug 12, 2014
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The political function of education in deeply divided countries, 2011
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Afrika: Partner auf gleicher Augenhöhe oder Spielball externer Akteure?, 2010
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Talk by Arndt Michael
Presentation at 17th Asian Security Conference, New Delhi, 11-13 February 2015
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Book Reviews by Arndt Michael
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Internationales Asienforum / International Quarterly for Asian Studies, 2013
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Internationales Asienforum / International Quarterly for Asian Studies, 2013
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Internationales Asienforum / International Quarterly for Asian Studies, 2011
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Books by Arndt Michael
Papers by Arndt Michael
began in 1947 and has shown no signs of abating. Both realist and constructivist
interpretations have offered several differing explanations as to the roots and persistence of
this conflict. The article argues that a realist-constructivist approach as suggested by Samuel
Barkin provides a new and better angle for explaining the genesis, evolution, and persistence
of the India–Pakistan conflict, in addition to allowing prediction of future developments.
Importantly, realist-constructivism combines several different analytical dimensions: It looks
at the way in which power structures affect patterns of normative change in international
relations and, conversely, the way in which a particular set of norms affects power structures.
Both these dimensions have been overlooked as variables that can explain why it will be
difficult to come up with lasting solutions for the India–Pakistan conflict.
Talk by Arndt Michael
Book Reviews by Arndt Michael
began in 1947 and has shown no signs of abating. Both realist and constructivist
interpretations have offered several differing explanations as to the roots and persistence of
this conflict. The article argues that a realist-constructivist approach as suggested by Samuel
Barkin provides a new and better angle for explaining the genesis, evolution, and persistence
of the India–Pakistan conflict, in addition to allowing prediction of future developments.
Importantly, realist-constructivism combines several different analytical dimensions: It looks
at the way in which power structures affect patterns of normative change in international
relations and, conversely, the way in which a particular set of norms affects power structures.
Both these dimensions have been overlooked as variables that can explain why it will be
difficult to come up with lasting solutions for the India–Pakistan conflict.