Author: Pascal Lottaz

Pascal is an Associate Professor at Kyoto University where he researches Neutrality in International Relations.

Addressing Geopolitical Power Imbalance and Victimization through Empathy, Compassion, and Information Theory

The following is a letter by an anonymous viewer of the neutrality studies youtube channel, published here for the purpose of an open discussion. To send your own letter, please contact the editor. Letters to the Editor do not reflect the opinions of neutralitystudies.com or its editors. All views are those expressed by the author….

Capitalism and War

The following is a Letter to the editor by Mrs. Verena Tobler, who wrote them in reaction to the video interview(s) of German parliamentarian Sevim Dagdelen. The english version has been machine translated. The german original follows below. English Version (1) First, let’s address the problem inherent to capitalism – simplified and focused only on…

Civil Society Group Requests Arrest Warrants For EU Leadership Over Gaza Genocide
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Civil Society Group Requests Arrest Warrants For EU Leadership Over Gaza Genocide

Press release by the Geneva International Peace Research Institute (GIPRI). On May 22, 2024, the Geneva International Peace Research Institute (GIPRI), the Collectif de Juristes pour le Respect des Engagements Internationaux de la France (CJRF) and a group of international concerned citizens, submitted a legal brief to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC)…

Eyeless on Gaza

Eyeless on Gaza

Denial of civil liberties, accompanied by punishment for anybody who exposes those violations, has become commonplace in contemporary America. Yet, nothing that the nation has experienced – and that the more discerning protest – prepared us for the grotesque spectacle on display in the brutal suppression of free speech on university campuses.

A New Functional Human Rights Paradigm

A New Functional Human Rights Paradigm

All rights derive from human dignity. Codification of human rights is never definitive and never exhaustive, but constitutes an evolutionary mode d’emploi for the exercise of civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights. Alas, the interpretation and application of human rights is hindered by wrong priorities, sterile positivism and a regrettable tendency to focus only on individual rights while forgetting collective rights.

The West VS The Rest

The West VS The Rest

Is the West launching an all-out war against the Global South, against BRICS—that is against “the other”? Are we in the first stages of a civilizational struggle initiated by the U.S.-led assemblage we call the “collective West”? That would have seemed an absurd idea until very recently. How can one reconcile such a dire proposition in the age of globalization, of inter-dependence? Where is the threat of a magnitude and immediacy that might stir that kind of thinking? Yet, there are remarkable developments on the world scene that suggest that dramatic alterations indeed are in the offing. Let us examine them; then interpolate what systemic meaning they might auger.

Neutrality, Neutralism, and Nonalignment in the Early Cold War
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Neutrality, Neutralism, and Nonalignment in the Early Cold War

The following pages will pull together different strains of the fragmented neutrality debate, attempting to structure the terminology and offer a narrative understanding of conceptual developments. That is not to claim neutrality was perceived at the time in a coherent manner or that there was an agreement about the way the different terms were used. The framing this chapter proposes should help to understand how neutrality was embedded in the early Cold War and how it related to its politics.

Russo-African Relations

Russo-African Relations

On December 12, 2023, Turkmenistan celebrated the 28th anniversary of its neutrality. Since the UN General Assembly adopted a special resolution on Turkmenistan’s Permanent Neutrality in 1995, the principle has become a key feature of Ashgabat’s foreign policy, squaring several geopolitical circles for the young state. A geopolitically difficult position.

The West’s Reckoning?

The West’s Reckoning?

Western leaders are experiencing two stunning events: defeat in Ukraine, and genocide in Palestine. The first is humiliating, the other shameful. Yet, they feel no humiliation or shame. Their actions show vividly that those sentiments are alien to them – unable to penetrate the entrenched barriers of dogma, arrogance, and deep-seated insecurities.