The politics of food aid: John F. Kennedy and famine in China

The horrific famine China experienced during the early 1960s not only highlighted the failures of Communist Parry policies, but also sparked a debate within the administration of John F. Kennedy over possible US reactions. Several of Kennedys closest advisors argued for sending American surplus food, while others were adamant that no change should be made in US policy. The final decision to ignore pleas for assistance from the United Nations and other sources was influenced by many issues, including China's relationship to the UN, its aggression toward India and offshore islands, and its role in Southeast Asia.     

To Prevent a Revolution: John F. Kennedy and the Promotion of Democracy in Iran

John F. Kennedy came to power in 1961 with Iran on the verge of revolution against the Shah's unpopular policies. To stabilise the situation, his Administration attempted to promote democracy through a development plan based on the precepts of modernisation theory. Backed by academic theorists who argued that promoting democracy was the best way to secure victory in the Cold War, Kennedy developed an ambitious plan to transform Iran. This policy was seen as essential to replace the inevitable uncontrollable revolution and subsequent loss of Iran, with one controlled and directed by Washington. This analysis provides the first comprehensive examination of this plan and its foundations that has heretofore been overlooked. Kennedy's policy towards Iran illuminates the role that external powers can have in manufacturing, supporting, and encouraging a country's transition to democracy. Its failure, and the absence of any replacement plan to ensure political reform, made inevitable the uncontrollable revolution which eventually came in 1978.     

Rejecting the gift horse: international politics of disaster aid refusal

This is a study of the increasingly common phenomenon of developing states refusing some or all international aid following serious natural disaster. Aid refusal by the Myanmar junta following a 2008 cyclone is only the most recent prominent example of this practice, and I present here an original dataset of all cases of disaster aid refusal occurring between 1982 and 2006. Through quantitative analysis, I show that although poorer states are indeed less likely to refuse aid than wealthier states, recipient need does not alone drive the decision-making process. Nor are autocratic regimes any more or less likely to refuse aid than democratic regimes. Rather, just as recently transitioned states have been shown by other scholars to be particularly likely to engage in military conflict, I find that they are also particularly likely to publicly and explicitly refuse aid and insist on their own ability to handle disaster relief and recovery. Aid refusal, much like aid provision, is at its core a political act.     

A Lost Opportunity: A Reappraisal of the Kennedy Administration's China Policy in 1963

This article explores US policy towards China under President Kennedy. It focuses on 1963, when it is argued a major reappraisal took place under the auspices of State Department Officers Averell Harriman, Roger Hilsman and James Thomson. It concludes that a twin-track approach was developed which gave the President a greater degree of flexibility in his dealing with the PRC and laid the basis for the policy to be followed in a second term Kennedy administration. It also suggests that a close relationship existed between the Kennedy State Department and a group of policy academics that enabled this evaluation of China policy to take place.     

Food and poverty in the Americas: Institutional and policy obstacles to efficiency in food aid

This article reviews trends in poverty, hunger, and food security in the Americas; examines some of the principal processes, institutions, and policies which generate unsustainable development; and speculates on reforms required at all levels in order to improve food security. While food aid offers opportunities for alleviating poverty and hunger, it may contribute to intensifying rather than resolving livelihood crises. Since the World Food Programme is a major player in the context of food aid, some issues crucial for WFP policies in the Americas are considered.     

The politics of naval aid: the foreign office, the admiralty, and Anglo-Soviet technical cooperation, 1936-37

This article examines the interdepartmental friction caused by Soviet requests for technical naval assistance from Britain between 1936 and 1937. With an eye to the deteriorating global situation, the Admiralry remained wedded to the view that any help leading to the strengthening of the Soviet navy would only wreck Germanys commitment to crucial qualitative and quantitative naval restrictions. Adopting a different tack, the Foreign Office welcomed the opportuniry to accommodate Soviet fleet requirements as a means of forging Anglo-Soviet amiry and a European balance of power. Ultimately however, the fate of Anglo-Soviet technical cooperation was determined by the exigencies of British rearmament.     

The politics of Hegemony and the politics of development: The 1994 elections in South Africa's Eastern Cape

Following the first multi‐racial, democratic elections in South Africa, in April 1994, the new leadership and the country are confronting the dual task of political transformation and economic redistribution having won a clear popular mandate on the basis of a populist, Reconstruction and Development Programme. In government, however, the former liberation movement is now under pressure to adjust its policies and its developmental strategy in the light of new economic constraints, both domestic and international. The choice is between the politics of compromise, suggesting adoption of a corporatist (and elitist) model of policy‐making, with the co‐optation of various constituencies, or adherence to a more radical style of direct popular political participation, akin to the ‘mass action’ of recent decades. Nowhere is this contradiction clearer than in the Eastern Cape Province, with a long tradition of militant mass action, strong trade unions and industrial action and a history of popular involvement in the liberation struggle.     

The choice among aid donors: The effects of multilateral vs. bilateral aid on recipient behavioral support

Scholars studying foreign assistance differ over whether multilateral aid is preferable to bilateral aid for promoting development, but nearly all build their cases primarily on highly aggregated cross-national time-series data. We investigate this topic experimentally from the perspective of those whom the foreign aid directly affects: recipient citizens and elites. We thus report results of a survey experiment with behavioral outcomes on more than 3000 Ugandan citizens and over 300 members of Uganda’s Parliament. In spite of a large literature suggesting differences, the findings generally reveal few substantive differences in citizens’ and elites’ preferences and behavior toward the two types of aid. While no strong pattern of differences emerges, limited evidence suggests that the public evinces greater trust in multilateral institutions, and both masses and elites feel that multilateral aid is more transparent. Overall, these null results inform an ever-expanding literature, which is increasingly articulating distinctions between multilateral and bilateral aid. At least in the minds of the recipients, however, multilateral and bilateral aid may not in fact be all that different. This accords with the literature noting the strong overlap in aid organizations and bemoaning the fact that they do not specialize more. Our results raise the question about why have both multilateral and bilateral aid donors if they in effect do the same thing.     

试论肯尼迪政府联合印尼对华遏制孤立政策

中美关系解冻前,印尼在美国对华冷战政策中一直居于突出地位。肯尼迪非常看重它的国力及其在不结盟世界的影响,他联合印尼遏制孤立中国的意图比艾森豪威尔明显加强。但围绕西伊里安问题、马来西亚问题,美国与盟国矛盾激化,这在某种程度上避免了他在拉苏加诺加入反华轨道时可能采取的极端决策,肯尼迪政府借助印尼强化对华遏制孤立的政策作法最后与初衷背道而驰。     

Malay press and Malay politics: The Hertogh Riots in Singapore

During the morning of Monday 11 December rioting began outside the Supreme Court of Singapore, where a largely Moslem crowd had gathered to hear the court’s decision in a case where the custody of a young Dutch girl, Maria Hertogh, was being contested. This riot was the first and only one of its kind directed against the British and Eurasians in Singapore by the Malay-Moslem community. Both the violence itself, as well as the circumstances which precipitated this Moslem protest, became the focus of a tangle of cultures and religions which aroused worldwide interest. The riot was considered to be the fault of the British colonial authorities, who had been guilty of racial and religious discrimination, and seen as an indication of anti-colonial feeling among the people of Singapore. The events in Singapore also aroused strong feelings of anger among the Malay political parties who felt that the Moslem religion had been humiliated by the judgement of the Singapore Supreme Court. As a result, British rule in its predominantly Moslem colonies, already under threat from the various pressures for decolonisation, faced a further challenge. Despite the significant impact which the Moslem riots had both in Singapore and elsewhere, they have understandably been overshadowed by the more systematic and enduring violence emanating from another quarter, the Communist presence in Malaya. This study therefore sets out to understand inter-racial problems after the Second World War which was also related to problems relating to security, religious and inter-racial relationship. During the war period social and racial relationship seemed to be tied closely due to the suffering and the majority of the people were trying to help each other however after the war when everybody were liberated, political and racial relationship seemed to be divided and fragmented.

---

The politics of IO performance: A framework

Some international organizations (IOs) are subject to constant criticism for producing poor results while others are praised for accomplishing difficult tasks despite political and resource constraints. Indeed, IO performance varies substantially over time and across tasks, and yet the international relations literature has devoted little attention to why this occurs. This article provides a framework for studying IO performance. After addressing some of the distinct challenges of conceptualizing and analyzing performance in the context of IOs, we discuss the tradeoffs of using different performance metrics—from process indicators to outcome indicators—and present a typology of factors that influence performance. Finally, we discuss research strategies for those interested in studying performance rigorously. The policy relevance of studying IO performance is clear: only if we understand why some IOs perform better than others can we begin to improve their performance in a systematic way. As many organizations come under pressure to reform, while at the same time taking on new and more complicated tasks, scholars should be actively engaged in debates surrounding IO performance and its role in effective governance at the international level.