International Relations

Question 1: Explanation of Zewei’s Article

            Zewei’s article discusses about the recurrence of the worldviews that were based on the Chinese Imperial system in the contemporary debates of China’s international relations. A theoretical focus is applied in order to determine on how the world outlook and China’s International positioning have changed the international thinking of China in the 19^th century (Zewei, 2011). The initial review of China’s international outlook coined in the tributary system and the Confucianism theory have changed the connected to the regional hierarchy as well as the International relations theory, which contains the Chinese features.

Zewei concludes by emphasizing the importance of implementing an open-minded method to the emerging international theories of China. In addition, Zewei concludes that the Confucian theories centered on the Celestial Empire ended, making the Chinese leaders to implement the international rule.

Question 2: Main ideas in Steinberg’s Article

            Steinberg’s article discusses the roles of NGO’s. Most NGO’s are aimed at handling issues related to the civil rights and the humanitarian support. Moreover, the main influence of these NGO’s is the application of soft power through which they use attraction rather than use of payments. Nonetheless, operate by cooperating on provisional advocacy connections through their nature of advocating for human rights and humanitarian help, on systems such as the UN.

The council of Human Rights and political leaders from governments having similar goals also create a platform for operation of the NGOs.  The policy provided by Israel is the epitome of the soft power of the NGOs created through the Goldstone Commission on the war on Gaza. The major focus of the article is the impact that NGOs have towards political instabilities and on Israel’s overseas policy (Steinberg, 2011). Moreover, domestic NGOs exceed their political governments in providing individuals with human rights. The US and other powerful western countries supported the NGOs that entered into the UN improving their budgets. In addition, the NGOs role in providing sanctions and participating in law fare should not be under-estimated. An example of the law fare where NGOs have engaged themselves involves the abuse of the international human rights by Israel’s war crimes.

Question3: When Business and Human rights become international topics

            Towards the end of the last century, the discussion for business and human rights was not discussed much. However since its reawakening, the topic has been deeply discussed and researched upon. The fight for human rights is the cause of many positive changes such as the French revolution. In the current situation merging the human rights in the international laws is a challenge due to differences in such laws.

The first debates of business and the civil rights began in the 1980s due to the setting of the UN codes. This is contrary to the last century method of handling human rights that fell under governmental laws, through which the private businesses sector were the indirect government responsibilities (Cragg, Arnold  & Muchlinski P, 2012). However, in the 1990s due to globalization the control of governments on the exchange of services and goods on an international level was a challenge to the government. This became the begging of assigning the human rights to the private sector resulting in the non-governmental organizations.

References

Cragg W., Arnold G. & Muchlinski P, (2012). Human Rights and Business: Business Ethics Quarterly. Vol. 22, pp. 1-7

Steinberg, M (2011). The Politics of NGOs, Human Rights and the Arab-Israel Conflict: IsraelStudies. Vol. 16, No.2, pp. 24-54

Zewei, Y, (2011). Western International Law and the China’s Confucianism in the 19^th Century. Collision and Integration; Journal of the History of International law.