‘Condemned forever to becoming and never to being’? The Weise Commission and German Military Isomorphism

Despite several post-Cold War reforms which have promised far-reaching change, the Bundeswehr faces a set of deficits in force structures, capabilities, doctrines and military adaptation, which leave it in danger of slipping permanently behind its European partners. The study examines the extent to which reforms proposed by the Commission on Structural Reform of the Bundeswehr will remedy these deficiencies. It finds that the proposals of the Commission include several important measures which will accelerate German convergence with the reforms of its European partners. However, the Commission fails to address several fundamental problems which impair the Bundeswehr's capacity to adapt to ongoing operations. The article critically engages with the existing theoretical literature on German defence policy and highlights the utility of neoclassical realism in explaining the process and outcome of German defence reform. The study also points to the urgent requirement for further comparative scholarship on post-Cold War European military adaptation and civil–military relations in defence planning.     

From liberation movement to political party: ANC foreign policy in transition

With the dramatic changes in the international and domestic environment, the African National Congress (ANC) has been faced with reconciling the policies of liberation with those of a political party. In response, the ANC has taken up a series of positions representing a new foreign policy outlook, one which takes cognizance of both the changing international environment and the ANC's new role as an emergent political party on the verge of taking power. This paper will investigate this transformation of ANC foreign policy by first examining the broad outlines of policy during the period of the liberation struggle; secondly, looking at the nature and effect of the crisis induced by both the end of the Cold War and the implementation of the South African government's radical reform programme; and finally, examining the preliminary contours of a new foreign policy as the organization emerges out of the transitional period and into the role of governing power.     

Lessons Learned? German Security Policy and the War in Afghanistan

The mission in Afghanistan revealed fundamental shortcomings, inconsistencies and contradictions of core elements of German security policy. In an effort to contribute to the debate about the factors that account for the idiosyncrasies of German security policy, the purpose of this study is to assess how far Germany learned lessons from its policy failures in Afghanistan. The study introduces a typology of learning, which is mainly based on the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF); delineates the German security policy belief system; and explores two prominent cases of policy failure: the deployment of the Bundeswehr and leadership of the international police training mission. Utilising different sources of data, the study confirms assumptions of the ACF about the stability of core beliefs and shows that the lack of precise policy objectives was a significant barrier to learning. Instead of clarifying Germany's strategic viewpoint, Afghanistan has further enhanced its disorientation in security policy.     

Beijing’s perception of the international system and foreign policy adjustment in the post-cold war world

This study, applying an international system-centered approach, represents a modest attempt to analyze Beijing’s official perception of the change in the international system from the Cold War bipolar confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union to a new post-cold war multipolar world, and to examine China’s foreign policy adjustment in recent years. It argues that Beijing’s perception of a multipolar system is a matter of normative truth rather than an empirical or analytical assessment. Because the multipolar system is its goal, Beijing “perceives” it. While working hard to encourage a multipolarity, Beijing in fact finds a unipolar reality in the post-Cold War era and has accommodated to it through its foreign policy adjustment. He will join the faculty of Colby College at Maine in the fall of 1993.     

Russia–EU relations at a crossroads: preventing a new Cold War in a polycentric world

In the past year, the Ukrainian crisis has generated an international discussion about a ‘new Cold War’. This article looks into the likelihood of such a scenario and makes suggestions of how it may be precluded. The course of events depends on whether the current model of globalization can be reversed. This would mean not only a change in the current structure of the global economy, but its dismantling. However, it is obvious that for most European and other states, the risks associated with such a policy outweigh potential geopolitical and economic benefits. The international order is in a state of flux. High risks are unacceptable when governments or nations pursue their interests in a stable environment. But when the balance of power shifts substantially, as it has now, the perception of risk threshold also begins to change. European history has shown that large-scale transformations in international relations in most cases triggered tension and violence, caused by rising demands of ascending powers and by resistance of those who were challenged. In the twenty-first century, the polycentric structure of the world provides an opportunity to achieve a new lasting global settlement, and to put an end to the current period of increasing tension.     

The past in the present: Historical memory and German national security policy

In recent years a number of scholars and commentators have suggested that freed of the constraints placed upon it by the Cold War, Germany is likely to aspire to a more active, great power role. This article argues that such predictions overlook the extent to which German national security policy continues to be burdened by the lessons that its population drew from the Second World War and that make it profoundly difficult for any German leader to implement a more active defence and national security policy.     

“退向未来”:冷战后德国地缘政治思想刍议

冷战结束后,德国当代部分地缘政治学者从重新研读德国传统地缘政治学文献入手,力图求证德国地缘政治学与纳粹意识形态之间存在的根本不同,探讨德国传统地缘政治逻辑方法与概念命题的当代价值,并在此基础上提出了包括放弃融入西方政策、重回中部视角、重视东方战略等在内的政策建议。冷战后德国的地缘政治思想依然是德国传统地缘政治研究方法及其多文本表述的延续,它基本没有克服德国传统地缘政治思想存在的诸多缺陷,对德国外交政策制定的影响力亦是有限与隐性的。此外,德国当代地缘政治研究在精神上与冷战后德国及欧洲的新右翼政治势力联系较为紧密。     

The Hamburg election of 19 September 1993

The transformation of Polish–German relations since the end of the Cold War has been a success story. The two countries are linked by a community of interests founded on common values and goals. Although Germany, in its policies towards Central and Eastern Europe, occasionally attaches too much weight to trying to mollify Russia, the united Germany has supported the Eastern enlargement of the EU and, ultimately, of the NATO. It genuinely wants ‘Western’ neighbours to its east. German foreign policy will continue to be characterised by continuity, with a strong emphasis on multilateralism. There is a danger, however, that Germany's European engagement and support for closer integration will be weakened by its preoccupation with its domestic economic and social problems.     

从外交到移民——美国对中国“滞留”学生政策的转变分析(1948~1957)

“滞留”美国的中国留学生是冷战初期中美关系中的重要议题之一。两国在围绕其去留的反复较量中,美国的政策变化不仅是对现实利益的追求,更重要的是为满足其冷战意识形态斗争的需要。中国留学生与中共的跨国政治联系直接影响了中国政府在争取滞留人士过程中的方针策略。此外,部分滞留的中国留学生转化为永久定居美国的移民,在美国移民政策中创造了诸多“先例”并产生了多米诺骨牌效应,对此后旅美外籍留学生申请永久移民产生了深远影响。     

Despite Insurgency: Reducing Military Prerogatives in Colombia and Peru

Colombia and Peru made significant progress in reducing the institutional prerogatives of their respective militaries in the 1990s and 2000s while reforming their economies in a neoliberal direction. They accomplished this despite internal armed threats to state authority and stability. The end of the Cold War, U.S. promotion of "market democracies," and the international centrality of free markets and formal democratic governance coincided with the rise to power in Peru and Colombia of "neoliberal policy coalitions." The internal insurgency mitigated the emergence of antiglobalization or antidemocratic reform factions in the military and civil society. The armed forces unified behind their counterinsurgency mission, and opposition in civil society was weakened, creating greater space for neoliberal elites to reform their economies and reduce military prerogatives.     

The United Nations and the future peace

The end of the Cold War promised a great improvement in the UN's effectiveness as a framework for international peace and security. Yet, it soon became evident that the UN was having great difficulty in coming to grips with countless new conflicts. Several practical measures are suggested for making the UN a more credible and relevant instrument/or a more peaceful and less destructive post‐Cold War world     

Japan’s search for influence in the Korean peninsula after the Cold War: Aspirations and constraints

This article examines Japan’s search for a more active international role in the Korean peninsula after the Cold War. It argues that Japanese foreign policy toward the Korean peninsula after the Cold War has continued to exhibit a reactive posture due to several important constraints. The United States has remained an important factor in shaping the Japanese foreign policy agenda in the post-Cold War era. Moreover, the Japanese domestic political environment, despite the dramatic political realignment after 1993, has continued to favor a nonmilitary Japanese role in world affairs. Finally, the lingering Korean mistrust toward Japan has hampered Japan’s bid to increase its political profile. Consequently, these constraints ensure that Japan’s independent role in the Korean peninsula will be rather limited in the foreseeable future.     

Profits and Cold War - Politically Motivated Export Finance in West Germany during the 1950s: Two Case Studies

The importance of exports in the process of West Germany's reintegration into the international community after the Second World War is well documented. In addition to political rehabilitation and the fundamental need for hard currency, there were also political reasons for the importance the federal government placed upon exports. In order to support American Cold War strategy, it was drawn into a risky credit programme to Yugoslavia, which at one stage was also used to further Adenauer's own agenda. Changes in West German political priorities, resulting partly from the Hallstein Doctrine, forced the government into still more politically motivated export finance and foreign aid. Without losing importance as the engine of German economic growth, export finance and economic aid became increasingly important to the country's foreign policy from the late 1950s onward.     

冷战与韩国一心会

二战后朝鲜半岛成为冷战的前沿阵地,美国为了执行冷战反共的战略,需要韩国有一个强大的政府和稳定的政局。美国还帮助韩国实现了军事现代化,极大地提高了军队的社会政治地位,栽培扶植了一批韩国新军人。这些军人以全斗焕等韩国陆军士官学校的毕业生为代表,建立秘密军事集团＂一心会＂。这支新军部集团在冷战的背景下迅速壮大,抓住朴正熙遇刺事件的时机,通过一次次政变夺取军权、政权,打击社会民主力量,最终从冷战的工具成为韩国的统治者。当冷战缓和、终结,民主力量壮大的时候,韩国威权统治也就到了终点。     

German policy towards the European union: The effects of historical memory

Reflection on the past and its implications shaped German policy towards the European Union during the early 1990s. Helmut Kohl's post‐reunification foreign policy rhetoric reveals two prominent historical themes: that European integration is a ‘question of war and peace’, and that German unity and European unity represent ‘two sides of the same coin’. In the post‐Cold War context, both themes served to orient and legitimate his European policy. They informed Kohl's strong support for the realisation of the Maastricht Treaty. And they were central to his efforts to maintain domestic political support for deeper integration.     

Change and continuity in post-unification German foreign policy

Ten years after unification, Germany still maintains its post-Second World War foreign policy course based on transatlantic multilateralism and European integration despite changes in Germany's international and domestic contexts. This study argues that neither realist nor institutionalist explanations can explain the post-unification pattern of German foreign policy. Instead, continuity and change in this policy can be understood best through a role-theoretical approach based on the civilian power idealtype. Two causal pathways are developed which account for continuity in foreign policy orientation (goals) and strategies while explaining change in the choice of foreign policy instruments. First, the apparent success of Germany's traditional foreign policy role concept during and after unification helped to reify a broad foreign policy consensus around the goals and strategies of an ideal-type civilian power. Second, major foreign policy crises, such as the Yugoslavian wars, stirred the long held hierarchy between the core values of reticence vis-à-vis the use of force (never again German militarism) and the special German responsibility to prevent genocide (never again Auschwitz). The interaction between domestic and foreign expectations provides a promising source for explaining change and continuity in Germany's foreign policy role concept and behaviour.     

US-Japan Alliance: The Political Dimension

George W. Bush was inaugurated as the new president of the United States on 20 January 2001. How will the change in personnel influence Washington's approach to its relationship with East Asia and, in particular, with Japan? Takashi Oka, a Washington-based consultant to the Liberal Party of Japan who was for many years a correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor, considers this question in the following article. Oka argues that the strategic importance of the US-Japan alliance has not lessened with the end of the Cold War,and that in order to confront the security challenges of the twenty-first century, Japan's position within the US-Japan alliance needs to change from that of a protected subordinate to that of an equal partner. For this to be possible, a politician with sufficient vision and power, someone with a clear foreign policy, who is strong enough in domestic politics to carry out that policy, needs to emerge in Japan.     

Empire, Region, World: the International Context of Australian Foreign Policy since 1939

What have been the most important factors in international relations for Australian foreign‐policymakers over the last sixty years? Five broad themes stand out: the end of empire; Cold War dependency; the changing nature of security; economic development; and race and national identity. Cumulatively, and often in intertwined ways, these themes have amounted to little short of a revolution in Australia's place in the world since the Second World War. The challenges facing Australians have, as a result, been considerable. The international context in which Liberals have made foreign policy has been reshaping Australia as it has been reshaping the external environment.     

Sacred Sovereigns and Punishable War Crimes: The Ambivalence of the Wilson Administration towards a Trial of Kaiser Wilhelm II*

Conventional wisdom characterises President Woodrow Wilson as a progressive internationalist in the making of foreign policy, sceptical of international practices such as secret diplomacy and balance-of-power theories. An examination of the Wilson Administration's record in quelling Allied attempts to punish Kaiser Wilhelm II after the end of the First World War provides a contrasting view. The White House, leading figures in the State Department and a large grouping of prominent lawyers argued that punishing the German sovereign for waging war in violation of treaties would destabilise international order and lose the peace. Current American reluctance to participate in the International Criminal Court and fears of an undue intrusion of an international judiciary on the merits of foreign policy make an understanding of these reservations timely.     

Instrumentalizing the recent past? The new Cold War narrative in Russian public space after 2014

There has been much debate about whether the US and Russia are locked in a new Cold War, but much less attention as to how the term is used in Russian political discourse. Through a close analysis of public statements, I analyze how the Cold War narrative has been used in the Russian public space since 2014, and assess how the “resuscitation” of the Cold War paradigm has been used by Moscow’s political elites, in order to discuss its impact on foreign policy. I document a distinct shift in Russian policymakers’ use of the term in 2016 and trace this shift to domestic political considerations.