THE KOREAN PENINSULA

Both North Korea and South Korea will be busily occupied with their internalaffairs in 1997. (1) Regime building will be the central task for North Korea before and af-ter Kim Jong-il takes over the country' s leadership. After Kim Jong-il's 3-yearmourning period expires on July 8, he may formally assume his office as generalsecretary of the Korean Worker' s Party and president of the state sometime be-     

FROM THE EDITOR

Dear Reader:Contemporary International Relations is an English monthly journalpublished by the China Institute of Contemporary International Rela-tions.It is now in the fifth year of publication,and is favourably re-ceived by international academic community,especially the diplomatic     

ON THE DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY OF THE INDIAN ECONOMIC PLANNING

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THE UNITED STATES

The year of 1996 was not bad at all for the United States. Its economy wentsmoothly, the President and the Republican party both got what they wanted inthe elections, and the country did not suffer any major foreign policy crisis. The year of 1997 may be somewhat different. Most economists foresee that this year, the seventh year of economic growthfor the U. S. since the recovery in 1991, would be another moderate year for the     

THE EUROPEAN UNION

For the European Union (EU), 1997 will be a critical year, whether for es-tablishing its Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) or for building its political u-nion, or for its eastward enlargement. First, 1997 is a decisive year for countries applying for founding membershipof the EMU scheduled to be launched in 1999. To be sure, to realize EU's plan forsingle currency is one of the major objectives of its cross-century strategy and also     

LOOK BACK ON THE PAST,ADVANCE BRAVELY IN THE FUTNRE

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THE PARABLE OF THE METAL: DEPLETED URANIUM,NATO, AND THE ISSUE OF “ENVIRONMENTAL SECURITY”

In this article, we present a parable about how a metal, depleted uranium (DU), became linked both with a security organization, NATO, and a security concept, “environmental security,” and did so in a most dramatic, if short-lived, manner during late 2000 and early 2001. A parable involves the telling of a story for didactic purpose. It might even be considered a kind of “continued metaphor,” to use the expression sometimes reserved for that related device, allegory. By this is implied that we resort to parable when we want to get across a message, one that seems, on the surface, to be about something else altogether. ¹ 1. H.W. Fowler, A Dictionary of Modern English Usage, 2nd ed., rev. Sir Ernest Gowers (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1968), p. 558. Partly we do this for the dramatic effect produced; partly we do it because it is an economical way of expressing meaning. As a variant of metaphor, parable enables us to see what might otherwise have been obscured, because as the philosopher Earl Mac Cormac reminded us, “explanations without metaphor would be difficult if not impossible, for in order to describe the unknown, we must resort to concepts that we know and understand, and that is the essence of metaphor—an unusual juxtaposition of the familiar and the unfamiliar.” ² 2. Earl R. Mac Cormac, A Cognitive Theory of Metaphor (Cambridge. MA: MIT Press, 1985), p. 9.      

‘THE OLD DAYS ARE OVER’:1 IRISH REPUBLICANISM,THE PEACE PROCESS AND THE DISCOURSE OF EQUALITY

This article examines the current role of equality as a key discourse in the language of Sinn Féin. It explores this within the context of the consociational character of the Good Friday Agreement and the discursive nature of Republican ideology. The article argues that mainstream contemporary Republicanism (in the shape of Sinn Féin) is reforging its political agenda and doing so by rearticulating key elements of Republican thought and northern Nationalist political culture. Republicanism has always contained within it radical-universalist and ethnic particularist dimensions. It could be argued that the consociational nature of the Good Friday Agreement has placed a political premium for parties to emphasize their role as ethnic community advocates. The article will suggest that Sinn Féin has been employing the language of equality in order to marry its appeal as a party of communalist leadership with universalized principles. While the rhetoric of Nationalist aspirations remain, this process has ensured that equality has emerged as the meta-discourse for Sinn Féin as it moves away from armed anti-partitionism.     

WORDS FROM THE NEW SECRETARY-GENERAl

Themeetingofthe9thCounciloftheChineseAssociationforInternationalUnderstanding(CAFIU)wassuccessfullyconvenedonJune30,2003.Atthemeeting,theworkofthepreviousCouncilwasreviewed;thereviseddraftoftheconstitutionwasadoptedandanewleadingbodywaselected.AsanewlyassumedsecretarygeneraloftheAssociation,Iwillliveuptomymis-sionstrivingtoopenupanewvistaforfurtherdevelopmentofthecauseoftheAssociationwithahighsenseofresponsibility.SincethefoundingofthelastCouncil,underthejointeffortsbytheleadersandthecou…     

RUSSIA AFTER THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

In the recent presidential election,a most bitter trial of strength since its inde-pendence took place between the“democrats”and the so-called“traditionalists”in Russia.The outcome of this rivalry has a direct bearing on thechoice of Russia's future development path.The reelection of the incumbent Presi-dent Boris Yeltsin in the second round of the voting has offered the political guaran-tee for the country's further search for an appropriate development strategy alongthe current track.     

CHINA''''S SECURITY AFTER THE COLD WAR

As the Cold War has passed into history, China's national security is now facedwith a new international environment, in which the bipolar confrontation hasdisappeared and the danger of a new world war has further receded. China's currentsecurity can be said in a better condition than at anytime during the Cold War.     

REFLECTIONS ON THE TRANS-CENTURY WORLD SITUATION

The most salient and significant phenomenon in 1997 is the large scale adjust-ment of various bilateral and multilateral state relations,propelled specificallyby the big powers and major local powers.This will set the tune for the still-on-the-way transition of the world pattern from the old to the new in the dawning ofthe new century.     

AFRICA TOWARD THE 21ST CENTURY

Worldwide attention is now focused on the prospect of Africa in the forthcom-ing twenty-first century as the present one is drawing to a close. In the latter half of this century, countries and the people in Africa eventuallywon their national freedom and independence after centuries-long bitter struggles a-gainst the colonial rule of the imperialists. The emergence of a New Africa in the     

LESSONS FROM THE 50 POSTWAR YEARS

Fifty years is but a twinkle of the eye in the long stream ofhuman history,but each 50 year period is one of the links in thechain that connects the past to the present,and each link has itown significance.At the turn of the century it is fit for us to re-view cool-headly the changes in world politics in the last 50 yearsso as to be able to explore on the world of the 21st century.     

THE IMPACT OF BRITISH COLONIALISM ON INDIA

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MACROMANAGEMENT OF THE MIXED ECONOMY IN INDIA

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THIRD WORLD TODAY AND THE NON-ALIGNED MOVEMENT

In the very beginning, the non-aligned movement was initiated by newly inde-pendent countries during the upsurge of the post-war national independencemovement. The vicissitudes it has experienced in the last 30 years are closely relat-ed to the changes in the world and the historical tasks before the Third World.And so any appraisal of the movement's present and prediction of its future must bebased on an objective assessment of the world situation today and its impact on theThird World.     

THE INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENT AND OUR FOREIGN POLICY

After the bombing of our embassy in Belgrade, Chinese students of internationalrelations tensely discussed about China's international environment. The manyopinions fell into two basic groups. One expressed the belief that the war in Kosovobrought about a fundamental change of the international environment; the othergroup thought that the Kosovo War merely reflected the post-Cold War interna-tional reality rather than changing the international environment. In order to cor-     

A VISIT TO THE ROTARY DISTRICT 5170

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US POLITICS AND POLICIES AFTER THE ELECTIONS

In the US presidential election held on November 5, 1996, Bill Clinton defeat-ed the Republican candidate Bob Dole with an overwhelming majority of 379electoral votes-against Dole's 159 votes. He has hence become a president to go be-yond the century and the first Democratic president gaining re-election after the