Eisenhower,the British and the security of Hong Kong, 1953–60

This article is an examination of Hong Kong's importance within British‐American security arrangements in the Far East during the presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower. Archival evidence indicates that the Eisenhower Administration accepted a greater deal of commitment to the defence of Hong Kong during the 1950s — a period of significant hostility between the United States and the People's Republic of China. To understand this policy evolution in the broader context, this study evaluates the differences in British and American attitudes towards China during the 1950s and the effect of this on US policy towards Hong Kong.     

British Foreign Policy,the Financial Elite,and the Nationalisation of the Constantinople Quays Company, 1934–1945

The analysis examines the role of British financial institutions, namely the Bank of England and the Corporation of Foreign Bondholders [CFB], in the making of British policy towards Turkey. The nationalisation of the Constantinople Quays Company, a port operator purchased in 1907 by the British and French governments, serves as a case study through which business–state relations, the role of finance in the conduct of international relations, and the impact of perceptions on policy decisions are explored. In this case, the financial elite’s role was minimal during most of the period considered, becoming more important in the final war years in a framework of the Anglo–Turkish debt restructuring negotiations of 1944. Significantly, the CFB, rather than the Bank, represented the British government in the negotiations. There exists an abundance of evidence of the divergent views between Whitehall and the financial elite about Turkey’s trustworthiness as a debtor and a signatory to treaties. The British government’s perceptions were much more positive than those of the financial elite. This difference stemmed from the different interests involved: Whitehall sought to secure Turkey’s collaboration in the increasingly unstable global security environment while the Bank and the CFB were more concerned with investor and bondholder interests and attempted to avoid further financial losses.     

Routes of funding,roots of trust? Northern NGOs,Southern NGOs,donors, and the rise of direct funding

This paper, based on a review of SIDA's funding of NGOs in Bangladesh, explores the changing relationships between bilateral donors, Northern NGOs (NNGOs), and Southern NGOs (SNGOs). It compares direct and indirect funding routes between donors and SNGOs. Most SIDA funding of SNGOs was previously undertaken through Swedish NGOs. As SNGO competence and capacity has increased through their own efforts at professionalisation, through wider recognition and support from government and by the provision of 'capacity building' partnerships with NNGOs, these Southern organisations have taken up positions within the burgeoning 'third sectors' of aid-recipient countries alongside the governmental and business sectors. SIDA has increasingly funded SNGOs directly through its Dhaka office. The paper sets out to address two main themes in the context of Swedish aid to NGOs in Bangladesh. Firstly, as bilateral donors provide an increasing proportion of their resources to NGOs, how can sound and responsible funding relationships based on mutual trust be built between bilateral donors and NGOs? Secondly, how can NNGOs work usefully in contexts where the number and capacity of local SNGOs has expanded significantly?     

Security,profit or shadow of the past? Explaining the security strategies of microstates

Which factors determine the security strategies of microstates? Many microstates are either secluded island states or have very close political, economic and cultural ties to a larger neighbouring ‘protector state’. They have had, therefore, little use for more traditional alliance arrangements. However, the patterns of security cooperation between states have shifted as the significance of flexible ad-hoc coalition-building as a means to coordinate international interventions has increased. Consequently, the strategic security challenges and opportunities for microstates have been transformed. Focusing on the Operation Iraqi Freedom coalition, this article explores some of these challenges and opportunities. Three hypotheses regarding the decisions made by the respective microstates to join international ad-hoc coalitions are studied: (1) participation provides increased security, (2) participation provides economic gains, and (3) participation reflects the lessons of past security challenges. The explanatory powers of each hypothesis are examined using a comparative case study of 11 Pacific microstates.     

Tempering the EU? NGO advocacy in the Area of Freedom,Security, and Justice

The European Union's (EU) area of Freedom, Security and Justice (AFSJ) portfolio comprises policy areas such as immigration and asylum, and police and judicial cooperation. Steps were taken to bring this field into the mandate of the EU first by the Maastricht Treaty, followed by changes implemented by the Amsterdam and Lisbon Treaties, the last one ‘normalizing’ the EU's erstwhile Third Pillar. As the emergent EU regime continues to consolidate in this field, NGOs of various kinds continue to seek to influence policy-making and implementation, with varying success. This article seeks to establish the context in which NGOs carry out their work and argues that the EU-NGO interface is impacted both by the institutional realities of the European Union and the capacities of EU-oriented NGOs to seize and expand opportunities for access and input into the policy cycle. Using EU instruments representing three different policy bundles in AFSJ (immigration, asylum and judicial cooperation in criminal matters), the article seeks to map out NGO strategies in engaging and oftentimes resisting European Union policy instruments.     

Jiang Zhenghua, Vice-Chairman of the Standing Committee of NPC Visit Finland

mutualunderstandingandpromotedthedevelopmentoftherelationshipbetweenChinaandFinland.Duringthemeeting,JiangZhenghuagaveparticularaccountofChina'scurrentpoliticalandeconomicsituation,scientificconceptofdevelopmentaswellastheconstitutionalamendment.Thevisithasdeep-enedthefriendlycooperativetiesbetweenCAFIUandSITRAandlaidthesolidfoundationformoreextensiveanddeeperexchangesbetweentheminthefuture.Mr.RaimoSailas,PermanentSecretaryofState,MinistryofFinanceandChairmanoftheBoardofSITRAsaidtha…     

Graceful Bearing of the Pearl of the Orient

ＧｒａｃｅｆｕｌＢｅａｒｉｎｇｏｆｔｈｅＰｅａｒｌｏｆｔｈｅＯｒｉｅｎｔｂｙＺｈｏｕＺｈｉｑｉｎＨｏｎｇｋｏｎｇ，ｗｈｏｓｅｎａｍｅｈａｓｂｅｅｎｉｎｔｈｅｍｉｎｄｏｆｓｏｍａｎｙＣｈｉｎｅｓｅｐｅｏｐｌｅｄａｙａｎｄｎｉｇｈｔ，ｉｓｆｉｎａｌｌｙｃ...     

Features of the International Situation at the Turn of the Century

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Multi,polarization and the ＂Strategic Partnership＂ of the Big Powers

The international financial crisis has brought about major turbulence in the political arena of the world. The world is in a transition period. The trend of multi-polarization is dynamic and moves along the changes in the balance of international forces. An apparent feature in the recent ten years is that the strength and international influence of the sole super power--the US is comparatively decreasing. The international pattern that is developing in depth has led to contradictions and frictions of various kinds, especially the political and economic problems among the big powers and between the existing powers and the emerging powers. However,     

Exploit the exchanges among NGOs,Tamp the basis of China Africa Relationship

In order to further strengthen the people to people friendship between China and Africa, and to promote the exchanges among NGOs, a group from China NGO Network for International Exchanges visited Uganda and South Africa from March 29 to April 10, 2008.The group extensively contacted with the representatives and officials from the two countries＇NGOs. The Group also had broad discussions with and learnt a lot from the African side and enhanced mutual understanding.     

A Review of: “Mikel Dunham. Buddha's Warriors: The Story of the CIA-Backed Tibetan Freedom Fighters,the Chinese Invasion,and the Ultimate Fall of Tibet”

Brenda K. Uekert, Rivers of Blood: A Comparative Study of Government Massacres. Westport, CT and London: Praeger Publishers, 1995. Pp.256, biblio, appendix of data sources. $55. ISBN 0–275–95165–0.

Maria Tatar, Lustmord: Sexual Murder in Weimar Germany. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1995. Pp. 213.

James E. Jacob, Hills of Conflict: Basque Nationalism in France. Reno, Las Vegas and London: University of Nevada Press, 1994. Pp.568.

Mark S. Hamm, Hate Crime: International Perspectives on Causes and Control. Cincinnati, OH: Anderson Publishing, 1994. Pp.199, index. ISBN 0–87084–350–8.

David A. Korn, Assassination in Khartoum. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press (An Institute for the Study of Diplomacy Book), 1993. Pp.262, biblio, index. $24.95. ISBN 0–253–33202–8.     

Whither the withering democratic deficit? The impact of the Lisbon Treaty on the Area of Freedom,Security and Justice

This article examines how the Lisbon Treaty's changes to the European Union's (EU's) Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (AFSJ) have affected its ‘democratic deficit’. How this issue is perceived depends on one's conceptual understanding of democratic legitimacy. This article reviews key scholarly perspectives on this matter and organizes these according to Schmidt's concepts of ‘inputs’, ‘throughputs’ and ‘outputs’. The article then applies this framework to specific innovations of the Lisbon Treaty, including new roles for the European Parliament and Court of Justice in the AFSJ. The article concludes that the EU's latest treaty has improved its democratic deficit in some regards, but that many issues of democratic legitimacy remain.     

Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Founding of the United Nations

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In defence of intra‐disciplinarity: ‘European studies’, the ‘New Regionalism’, and the issue of democratisation

This article argues in favour of an intra‐disciplinary rapprochement between ‘EU studies’ and those working in the ‘new regionalism’ (NR). I take the issue of democratisation as an example of how scholars of both the EU and NR could usefully learn from each other. European Union studies has recently undergone a ‘normative turn’, through which inter/intra‐disciplinarity has received a fillip; I argue that at both conceptual and empirical levels, new regionalist studies would benefit from a similar mainstreaming of democracy issues and a similarly open approach to inter/intra‐disciplinarity. Moreover, EU studies scholars would benefit both conceptually (an escape from the ‘N=1’ problem that has plagued integration theory, the adoption of a clear critical theory perspective) and empirically (further cases in which to test hypotheses and generate data) from such a rapprochement.1 I would like to thank the three anonymous referees who made such supportive and helpful comments on the first draft of this article. View all notes     

As the word turns: Drama,rhetoric, and press coverage of the Hill‐Thomas hearings

Because of the unique character of the Hill‐Thomas hearings, journalists were left without a stock political plot to render the proceedings in familiar terms. Using narrative and rhetorical analyses, the study examines how newspaper journalists turned to so‐called women's entertainment genres such as soap opera and melodrama to dramatize and ultimately depoliticize the hearings. The study identifies four recurring rhetorical themes—melodrama, eroticization, agon, and privatization—that served to frame Hill's allegations of sexual harassment against Thomas not in terms of social and political debate but in terms of drama.     

Friendly Neighbor, Strategic Partner——Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Establishing of Sino-Russian Relations

I On the occasion of the 5 0th anniversary of the founding of the People’S Re-public of China and of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the PRC andRussia,both countries have pledged to take this opportunity to further strengthenand develop bilateral relations in the coming 21st century. Looking back at the 50-year relationship between China and Russia,it is notdifficult to see that it underwent not only close cooperation,but also severe con-     

Winning the Battles,Losing the War? An Assessment of Counterterrorism in Malaysia

This work addresses the structural weaknesses that threaten to derail counterterrorism efforts by the Malaysian government. It also highlights the links between various pre-September 11 security issues in Southeast Asia and the terrorism threat facing Malaysia at present. The limitations of the current counterterrorism approach by the government are highlighted. In addition, the paper identifies structural problems such as systemic corruption, weaknesses in border security, and inadequate private sector regulation as key areas of concern. The paper concludes by highlighting the symbiotic relationship between a successful counterterrorism campaign and the rule of law.     

Tweaking the Lion's Tail: Edgar J. Tarr,the Canadian Institute of International Affairs,and the British Empire, 1931–1950

In its first 2 decades the Canadian Institute of International Affairs (CIIA), Canada's premier foreign policy think tank, never functioned merely as a neutral and apolitical research organization. Under the leadership of Edgar Tarr, president of the Monarch Life Assurance Company, and in its capacity as the Canadian Council of the transnational Institute of Pacific Relations (IPR), in the 1930s and 1940s the CIIA became an instrument that championed Canadian national autonomy and sought to expand Canada's international role, while challenging British imperialism, racism, and Anglo–Saxon dominance. Prominent Canadian diplomats and other officials were complicit in this enterprise, which reached its apogee at the IPR conference held at Mont Tremblant, Quebec, in December 1942. The CIIA's activities during this period revealed the porosity and imprecision of the boundaries in Canada between the state and non-state realms. Throughout World War II, DEA and other Canadian government representatives attended CIIA and IPR conferences as “official non-officials,” effectively cooperating with private individuals in a network of purportedly non-governmental organizations that enabled Canada to exert leverage on the British government, reject British leadership, align itself with the United States, and secure a greater world role. CIIA leaders and Canadian officials also consciously encouraged nationalist forces in India, China, and Southeast Asia that sought to reject colonial rule and Western dominance. CIIA activities thus became part of a web of diplomatic interactions across a transnational network of think tanks within and outside the British Empire that had their own impact upon international affairs.