The origins of the Vietnamese revolution: Taking the long view

Abstract

Americans knew little about Vietnam when they assumed command of the Indochina War in 1954. There were no American scholars who devoted their careers to its study, and, with the exception of Virginia Thompson's French Indochina and a few other works, there was no American body of work on the subject. And so, to better understand the political and social forces confronting them, Americans took possession of the entire French work on Vietnam as part of their legacy of war. Thus, as the first American scholars began to study the Vietnamese revolution, they built on the foundation laid by decades of French scholarly effort.     

The Liberals and Vietnam1

How did the Menzies Governments of the early to mid 1960s arrive at the position of sending Australian troops to Vietnam? During the 1950s, Menzies, and especially his External Affairs Minister Richard Casey, developed an appreciation of the strategic significance of Indochina, but struggled to view the conflict in Vietnam in ways other than through Cold War lenses. By the 1960s too, Britain's capacity to demonstrate a lead for Australia in foreign policy for the region was diminishing with its power, and the Menzies Governments were mindful of the need to support an American preparedness to intervene in Southeast Asia against communist‐led forces. This logic became more compelling in the face of Indonesia's “Confrontation” with Malaysia from 1963. As a result, the Liberals were not reluctant to support US military intervention in the region, in Vietnam.     

Discordant Allies: Trans-Tasman Relations in the Aftermath of the ANZUS Treaty, 1951–1955

Contrary to popular belief, the conclusion of the 1951 ANZUS Treaty did little to encourage an immediate closer political relationship between Australia and New Zealand. The Tasman powers disagreed on major strategic issues and cooperation was minimal (and in some cases entirely absent). Focusing on the development of trans-Tasman relations between 1951 and 1955, this article examines Australian and New Zealand views pertaining to the scope and implementation of the ANZUS Treaty, proposals for the Five Power Staff Agency in Southeast Asia, the “United Action” proposal during the 1954 Indochina Crisis and the “Operation Oracle” project during the 1954–1955 Quemoy–Matsu Crisis. This article advances the conclusion that Australia and New Zealand mainly disagreed on these issues due to competing views about their respective political relationships with the United States and Britain. In other words, in the immediate post-treaty period, closer trans-Tasman political relations were ultimately hindered by strong divisions over accepting the United States instead of Britain as the cornerstone of their respective foreign policies.     

The Philippines: Another Vietnam?

Abstract

The historic relationship between the U.S. and the Philippines today gives an exceptional importance to the massive economic and strategic legacy of over 70 years of American domination of that nation. Apart from its prime significance to the future of American military power in Asia after the Indochina debacle, the Philippines is the most important example of a sustained U.S. effort to transform a Third World country in its own image. Now, with a martial-law regime's fate very much in doubt and the U.S.'s economic investments and military bases all hanging in the balance, the objective pressures for a potentially open-ended American commitment to preserve its interests and credibility in yet one more Asian nation are again re-emerging in a form substantially more compulsive than those in Indochina before 1965.     

Breaking the ‘Silence’ of the Military Regime: New Politics of Memory in Brazil

This article elucidates the latest developments in the ‘politics of memory’ regarding the military regime in Brazil. Only recently, I argue, has the Brazilian state abandoned its ‘politics of silence’ and started to actively champion the memory of the left‐wing ‘resistance’. This new strategy climaxed in a governmental crisis over a historic plan to establish a National Truth Commission to investigate human rights violations during the military regime. The article analyses key incidents and debates prior to the crisis, and contrasts the post‐dictatorial collective memory of Brazil with that of other Latin American countries.     

“Blood Brothers”. Racial Identification and the Right to Rule: the Australian Response to the Spanish‐American War

Historians have paid scant attention to Australia's enthusiastic response to the Spanish‐American war of 1898. Yet these events help us to better understand the centrality of race to Australia's national identity. Even though the Australian colonies were bound by Britain's neutrality, from Sydney to Perth Australians cheered America's decision to declare war. Many gathered outside the US consulate to offer their services as soldiers and nurses. This enthusiasm for the US cause was underpinned by an identification with fellow Anglo‐Saxons and the assumption that Filipinos and Cubans were races not yet fit for self‐government. Australians were intent on establishing their status as equal members of the governing race.     

New Public Management and Public Sector Reform in Victoria and New Zealand: Policy Transfer,Elite Networks and Legislative Copying*

In the early 1990s, Victoria reformed its state sector along New Public Management (NPM) lines. Drawing on interviews with key policy‐makers of the time, including chief executives, ministers and key officials from both jurisdictions, and using archival material and secondary sources, this article shows that New Zealand developments were a key source for Victoria's reforms — even down to seemingly copying passages of legislation. Policy transfer took place within a supporting framework of an Anglo‐American diffusion of NPM rhetoric and neoliberal ideas. But New Zealand's experiences gave content, form and legitimation to Victoria's reforms, while providing a platform and experience for learning and divergence, and a group of transferable experts. We underline the importance of the Australia‐New Zealand relationship and trans‐Tasman elite networks in understanding the governance of both countries.     

Communist China’s entry into the Korean hostilities and a U.S. proposal for a collective security arrangement in the Pacific offshore island chain

In late 1950, against the background of communist China’s full entry into the Korean War, the U.S. government put forward a Pacific Ocean Pact, which would comprise the United States, Japan, the Philippines, if possible Indonesia, Australia, and New Zealand. This article, after tracing China’s intervention in the Korean War, discusses U.S. policy planning on the proposal for a Pacific Pact, and examines the precise objectives of the proposal. It is argued that the American proposal for a Pacific offshore island chain pact was basically intended to enhance U.S. security interests in Northeast Asia, particularly Japan. The Pacific Pact proposal therefore contained a scheme for committing formally substantial U.S. armed forces to the defense of the Pacific Ocean; the revitalization of Japanese power; and the welding of the resources of strength of Australia, New Zealand, and the Philippines to the defense of Japan.     

Australian Support for an Independent Taiwan Prior to the Recognition of the People's Republic of China*

Australia's efforts between 1950 and 1972 to create an independent Taiwan are an important, largely overlooked element of Australia and Taiwan's international relations. Australia saw de jure independence for Taiwan as a means to support the US while pursuing the interrelated goals of accommodating the People's Republic of China (PRC) and minimising contradictions between US China policy and the policies of the UK and other countries important to it. Initially Australia favoured the establishment of a Taiwanese majority‐controlled state. This preference later gave way to greater support for an independent Republic of China on Taiwan under Chinese Nationalist rule. Australia nevertheless consistently justified its policy via reference to the principle of self‐determination for Taiwan's people — either immediately in the case of a Taiwanese Taiwan, or postponed into the indefinite future in the case of a Chinese Nationalist Taiwan. Championing Taiwan independence lost its utility for Australia when Sino‐ US relations improved in the late‐1960s to early‐1970s, and it became possible for Australia to make the concessions over Taiwan demanded by China without damaging its relationship with the US. This shift preceded the election of a Labor government committed to building a friendly relationship with China. Australia then dropped its policy of advocating Taiwanese independence, and established official relations with China in late 1972.     

Bases That Leave: Consequences of US Base Closures and Realignments in South Korea

ABSTRACT

Contrary to ample attention on American military base closures at home, the consequences of base closures abroad remain under-examined even as the American military continues to adjust its global force posture. South Korea, the third biggest host of US military bases overseas, is an under-investigated case despite offering useful insights applicable to other US base hosts. This article examines short-term local-level consequences of US base departures in South Korea, with a focus on environmental and redevelopment challenges that shape the political and economic fate of former base sites. Detailed analyses and interviews on the oft-overlooked fate of multiple post-military sites draw a rather unsettling picture: Most sites remain empty, temporarily deserted and heavily contaminated spaces plagued by redevelopment difficulties. When overseas American bases are closed, they leave problems behind and those problems persist long after base sites return to host communities.     

The Circuitous Nature of Operation Ajax

In seeking to protect its economic interests and its control of oil resources in Iran, Britain planned to overthrow Iranian Prime Minister Dr Mohammad Mossadegh in a military coup d’état following his decision to nationalize the Iranian oil industry in 1951. However, the British initially faced strong opposition to this plan from the US under the Truman administration, which preferred a more diplomatic approach to the crisis and did not see British interests as being in line with its own. Facing this opposition and after unsuccessful attempts to oust the Iranian leader through economic pressure and propaganda campaigns, the British skillfully leveraged American fear of Communism to secure Washington, under the Eisenhower Administration, as a partner to lead a joint US-UK mission to overthrow Mossadegh. This paper explores the reasons behind the shift in American policy regarding this issue, exploring whether it was the Brit's successful use of covert, circuitous tactics to achieve their intended outcomes or solely a result of ideological differences between the two US administrations     

Becoming a “Good Nixon Doctrine Country”: Political Relations between the United States and Singapore during the Nixon Presidency

The Nixon Doctrine, which devolved US troops from direct involvement in Asian conflicts but gave priority to military sales and economic assistance, was considered by some commentators to be an inefficacious foreign policy approach that did little to serve US interests in Asia during the Cold War. Using Singapore as a case study, this article demonstrates that Richard Nixon's foreign policy approach improved US‐Singapore relations significantly from 1970 onwards. After a period of flirtation with the Soviet Union during 1968–72, Singapore came to be labelled a “good Nixon Doctrine country” by the US government in 1973. Through the sale of US military equipment and economic assistance, Singapore and the US cultivated bilateral ties that endured after the withdrawal of American troops from Vietnam in 1973 and the fall of Saigon two years later.     

Gaining Greater Access to Western European Decision‐Makers: a Motive for Australian Membership of the OECD

In weighing Britain's decision to seek membership of the European Economic Community Australian scholars have focussed attention on its adverse impact on Anglo‐Australian and EU‐Australian relations, and the emphasis that Australia thereafter placed upon economic relations with Asia. This article identifies a consequence of Britain's decision which has largely escaped attention: the part it played in stimulating Australia's successful 1969 application for membership of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. Although Australia's interest in the increased access to West European decision‐makers that the OECD would provide dates to the latter 1940s and 1950s, the British application for membership of the EEC added particular weight to those arguing that Australia should seek OECD membership. It led to an extension of Australian activities in Western Europe which was not extinguished by the growing emphasis on relations with the Asian region.     

论日内瓦会议后美国与柬埔寨关系的演变(1954-1960)

本文详细考察了1954-1960年间美国与东南亚小国柬埔寨之间的关系演变历程。独立后的柬埔寨,一度对美国怀有好感,希望通过获得美国的经济、军事援助来发展本国经济、维护国家的安全与独立。美国虽愿意对柬埔寨进行援助,但是其根本目的却是要将柬埔寨融入到美国在东南亚编织的反共体系中。随着时间的推移,双方在美援根本目标上的分歧与矛盾逐渐显露并激化。美国无法容忍柬埔寨独立、自主的中立路线,试图通过削减美援、甚至策划政变的方式改变柬埔寨的外交政策。然而,美国并未达到目标,相反使一度对美国怀有好感的柬埔寨走向自己的对立面。美柬关系的演变对研究这一时期美国与其他新兴独立的中小国家间的关系具有重要的参考和启发意义。     

The diplomacy of Anglo‐German relations: A study of the ERM crisis of September 1992

This article seeks to address Anglo‐German relations, differentiating between the government‐to‐government relationship and the diplomatic one. The relationship is of the utmost importance not only in regulating bilateral affairs but also on a multilateral level, within the European Union and NATO. With the ERM crisis of 1992 relations deteriorated to the point where they were as bad as between any two allied Western states. The article charts the role played by the diplomatic services of both countries. It concludes that prior to unification in 1990 the bilateral relationship (and the two embassies which articulated it) functioned well. This system was shaken after 1990 for political and economic reasons grounded in British and German domestic politics. The embassies found it hard to cope with these new problems and appeared to founder. The ERM crisis thus raises significant issues for the future of Anglo‐German relations and the role played by diplomatic services to their management, requiring new assessment.     

From Ambivalence to Influence: Australia and the Negotiation of the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty

In early 1967 it appeared that the Eighteen Nation Disarmament Committee in Geneva would successfully negotiate a multilateral treaty to curb global proliferation of nuclear weapons. This triggered an urgent review by the Australian Government of its policies on the civil and military applications of nuclear technology. The need to build a coherent response to a US expectation that its Pacific ally would sign the prospective Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty imposed discipline upon a hitherto ad hoc approach to nuclear policy development. Those in the new Gorton Government and the nuclear science bureaucracy who advocated the embrace of nuclear technology—in both its civil and military applications—fought, and ultimately lost, a battle against proponents of the NPT. The resolution of the struggle for supremacy within elements of the policy community impelled the Government to demand and receive concessions from the USA. Originally silent on how the NPT might be interpreted and operationalised in order to maximise support, the US now shared its views with the members of the Western Alliance. US willingness to compromise with Australia in this way exceeded what its Pacific ally had cause to expect and illustrates that middle powers can wield influence on a global scale when circumstances permit.     

The G.I. movement in Asia

Abstract

The War against Vietnam has done much to America. It has weakened the economy. It has aggravated social tensions. And it has opened the way for large numbers of Americans to see the racism, the imperialism and the genocide that is so pervasive and yet so deeply buried in American history. By fighting so successfully, the Vietnamese people have helped Americans make a space for revolutionary thought and revolutionary politics in America. While it is true that the American left has been largely unable to take advantage of the widespread discontent that the War has created, there has been a significant erosion in the effectiveness of many American institutions. Central among these institutions is the military. When the values and interests of a ruling class are seriously challenged, its political power does come out of the barrel of a gun; and so the fading effectiveness of the American military is of the deepest concern to America’s “leaders.”     

End of an Era? Anti‐Americanism in the Australian Labor Party

Anti‐Americanism, sometimes called the “last acceptable prejudice”, is a common phenomenon in the modern era. This paper explores the ebb and flow of anti‐Americanism in the Australian Labor Party in the post‐Second World War period and argues that while at times it was reasonable or proportionate, at others such criticism became unreasonable, disproportionate and therefore prejudicial. When this occurs the Australia‐US alliance can become strained, the Australian electorate tends to become sceptical of the ALP's credentials on national security and the party's electoral prospects also tend to suffer. Nevertheless, following the brief leadership of the stridently anti‐American Mark Latham, such sentiment in the ALP has been widely discredited and is unlikely to emerge again in its prejudicial form for some time, marking the end of an era.     

An Indochinese conference in Vancouver

Abstract

An important conference took place at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, B.C., Canada, on April 1st to 6th. Six Indochinese delegates met about 600 women from Voice of Women, Women Strike for Peace, Third World, and Women's Liberation groups of western North America. The purpose of the conference was “to meet and talk in order to get a better understanding and strengthen our solidarity so as to put an early end to the war, and to give information to Canadian and U.S. friends on the situation in Indochina.” Third World delegates, who numbered about 300, came from Black, Chicano, Asian, and Native American and Canadian groups. The Indochinese also talked to G.I. wives, veterans, deserters, and draft resisters, and held public meetings with Canadian citizens. A similar conference followed in Toronto (see The Guardian, New York, April 17, page 5).     

Chinese Perceptions of and Responses to US Conventional Military Power

Chinese analysts view the US military not only as a model for emulation but also as a serious threat given its strengths in high tech weapons and equipment, power projection, and unparalleled ability to conduct information-intensive joint combat operations. Yet they also see many of the capabilities the US military relies upon to execute these operations – most notably forward bases, space capabilities, and computer networks and information technology systems – as potentially vulnerable to disruption. Accordingly, China has developed capabilities designed to deter or counter US military intervention in areas close to China. This poses two interrelated challenges for the United States: maintaining its military advantage in an era of rapid technological change and preserving deterrence against growing Chinese ambitions in Asia.