Changing foreign policy: the Obama Administration’s decision to oust Mubarak

This paper analyses the decision of the Obama administration to redirect its foreign policy towards Egypt in the wake of the Arab Spring. It attempts to highlight the issue of how governments deal with decision-making at times of crisis, and under which circumstances they take critical decisions that lead to major shifts in their foreign policy track record. It focuses on the process that led to a reassessment of US (United States) foreign policy, shifting from decades of support to the autocratic regime of Hosni Mubarak, towards backing his ouster. Specifically, the paper attempts to assess to what extent the decision to withdraw US support from a longstanding state-leader and ally in the Middle East can be seen as a foreign policy change (FPC). A relevant research question this paper pursues is: how can the withdrawal of US support to a regime considered as an ally be considered, in itself, as a radical FPC

Between the legacy of nation-state and forces of globalisation : Turkey’s management of mixed migration flows

Turkey, at the crossroads of Europe, Middle East and Asia, has confronted with mounting pressures of mixed migration flows in recent decades. This paper aims to explore Turkey’s contemporary approach to migration management by focusing on the adoption of the country’s first comprehensive immigration law (Law on Foreigners and International Protection) and the signing of the readmission agreement with the European Union in 2013. This incorporates an analysis of both policy continuities and changes in migration management in Turkey, while also providing an understanding of the interplay between internal and external factors, namely internationalisation and Europeanisation processes and the responsiveness of domestic actors to such pressures. The paper argues that migration policies driven solely by state-centric concerns are becoming increasingly inefficient in responding to the challenges caused by interlinked pressures of globalisation and multi-layered migratory flows. As Turkey’s role as a transit and receiving country grows, issues of international migration, and irregular migration in particular, are becoming dynamic topics in defining its role in a globalised world and as well as the trajectory of its relations with the EU

Software als Institution und ihre Gestaltbarkeit

Software regelt immer mehr zwischenmenschliche Interaktionen. Üblicherweise werden die Funktionsmechanismen, Wirkungen und Gestaltungsoptionen von Regeln in der Institutionenforschung behandelt. In diesem Artikel soll beleuchtet werden, inwieweit sich Ansätze der Institutionenforschung auf Software anwenden lassen und was sich aus dieser Forschungsperspektive zu den Regelungswirkungen und Gestaltungsoptionen von Software ableiten lässt