Dialogues,Trialogues and Triangles: The Geometry of Germany's Foreign Policy of Trust-Building

This article explores three formats for interstate relations developed by, or at least significantly influenced by Germany in the post-Cold War period: the Petersburg Dialogue, the German–Russian–Polish Trialogue and the Weimar Triangle. An examination of the form and function of each of these formats is followed by a discussion of what these formats have in common and why they are worthy of further study. The paper addresses whether this ‘variable geometry’ of Germany's foreign policy of trust-building is likely to survive a period of turbulent relations or changes in leadership and, furthermore, how the effectiveness of dialogues, trialogues and triangles might be evaluated.     

Energy Security and Germany's Response to Russian Revisionism: The Dangers of Civilian Power

This article examines the impact of German dependence on Russian gas supplies for Europe's ability to apply effective sanctions against Russia. It demonstrates that by focusing on the environmental dimensions of energy policy and a policy of rapprochement with Russia, Germany has neglected the security of supply implications of its dependence on Russian gas. The article argues that Germany's excessive energy dependence on Russia has limited the ability of the EU to challenge Russian revisionism by targeting its energy sector through sanctions. The article makes a number of energy policy recommendations which will be essential for Germany to avoid undue Russian influence on its foreign and security policies. The article concludes by exploring the utility of Neoclassical Realism in understanding Germany's approach to energy security. In doing so it highlights the dangers of allowing ideology to cloud a sober assessment of the imperatives of the balance of theat.     

The paradox of the Ethiopian Developmental State: bureaucrats and politicians in the sugar industry

ABSTRACT

This paper challenges the commonplace characterisation of Ethiopia as a developmental state, by stressing that the Ethiopian model, which heavily relies on political control of the rent process at the expense of the bureaucratic knowledge/expertise, is not conducive for industrial policy implementation. We show that this approach worked fine at early stages of growth, however with the increasing complexity, knowledge- and capital-intensive nature of industrial policy-making and implementation, the crucial role to be played by a capable bureaucracy becomes more evident. This argument is based on the avoidable failures of sugar industrialisation visions, mainly due to the inimical view of the existing sugar bureaucracy in the old sugar factories. Drawing on long-term case study research on state-led sugar industrialisation, this article illustrates that if the Ethiopian state is to become truly ‘developmental’ the need of building a capable bureaucracy as an integral part of the model should be recognised and worked towards.     

The Media Salience of Germany's Bilateral Relations to the United States,France and Britain

This article provides a comparative analysis of the salience of Germany's bilateral relations to the United States, France and Britain in the German media since the end of the cold war. It offers a media content frequency analysis which identifies long-term similarities and differences in media reporting across the three relationships as well as short-term upswings of media interest in each of them individually. This is relevant because the media salience of bilateral relations is a measure of their underpinnings in public discourse and speaks to the significance of domestic drivers in conducting such relationships. The article finds that media reporting on Germany's three bilateral relations under study has significantly increased in the post-9/11 period and that US–German and Franco–German relations attract far more attention in the German media than Anglo–German relations. Short-term upswings in media coverage are triggered by specific types of events, in particular crises in European integration and international military missions.     

Living in the Marikana world: The state,capital and society

Abstract

The ‘Marikana massacre’ that happened on 16 August 2012 at Lonmin mine near Rustenburg in the North-West province of South Africa, in which the South African police shot dead 34 mineworkers for protesting against low wages and other unbearable employment and/or living conditions, cannot be understood as merely an accidental event. It may therefore be useful to view the massacre as one of those tragedies that dramatises, in visible ways, the generally hellish conditions which the peoples of the non-Western world have come to endure ever since the advent of Western modernity. The ‘voyages of discovery’ undertaken by figures such as Christopher Columbus after 1492 marked the commencement of a world system characterised by a Western-centred modernity whose ‘darker side’ inflicted hellish conditions on the non-Western subject, while its ‘brighter side’ in the West saw positive developments – from the 16^th-century ‘rights of people’ to the 18^th-century ‘rights of man’, up to the late-20^th-century ‘human rights’. This article is a decolonial critique on the Marikana massacre and seeks to explain how the modern world system has, since its advent in 1492 as global power structure, been producing a series of ‘Marikana-like’ conditions and events on the part of the non-Western subject that underlies its hierarchical arrangement. The article's point of departure is that rather than understand the Marikana massacre as a unique event or accident, it can better be characterised as a sign of the non-Western subject's subjection to Western-centred modernity. The article explicates how the modern South African state and capital are part of the same ‘colonial power matrix’ (Quijano 2000a), hence the two were bound to be on the same side against labour during the Marikana massacre.     

Reconstruction and reparations: Lessons from China and the Pan-African world

Abstract

This article addresses the role of the university and institutions of higher learning in carrying out the mandate of the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance (WCAR), held in Durban, South Africa in 2001. The active contribution of the university is anticipated in Article 98 of the Programme of Action published in the Report of the World Conference (2001), which clearly states:

We emphasize the importance and necessity of teaching about the facts and truth of the history of humankind from antiquity to the recent past, as well as of teaching about the facts and truth of the history, causes, nature and consequences of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, with a view to achieving a comprehensive and objective cognizance of the tragedies of the past.     

The emergence of a civilian power: Germany and central Europe

This article argues that in its policies towards the central European countries, unified Germany displayed the characteristics of a civilian power. This was a consequence of the changes the west German state had undergone since its inception, which predisposed it towards a particular foreign policy. The article has three sections. It first sketches the ideal type civilian power, and places its normative commitments in the tradition of international liberalism. The second section illustrates the particular German circumstances that make an inclination towards a civilian foreign policy possible. The third section presents an outline of selected German policies towards the Visegrad countries, namely aid, trade, and institutional extension, and compares the findings with the civilian power ideal type introduced in Part I.     

OECD and Asia in the globalizing world economy

In the globalizing world economy, the economic performance of Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) economies is being increasingly shaped by dynamic and emerging economies in Asia and other areas. This fact makes it a priority for the OECD to chart a path for how countries—both OECD and non‐OECD—can best work together and meet the challenges of globalization, says Kumiharu Shigehara, deputy secretary‐general of the OECD. A primary key to that strategy is for the OECD to expand its dialogue and cooperation with economies from the Asian region, he argues.     

Stilwell in the stocks: the Chinese nationalists and the allied powers in the second world war

Dr Hans van de Ven is Reader in Modern Chinese History at Cambridge University. His most recent publication is War and Nationalism in China, 1925–45 (Routledge, London, 2003; this will be reviewed in the next issue of Asian Affairs). Other publications include Warfare in Chinese History (Leiden, Brill, 2000) and From Friend To Comrade: The Founding of the Chinese Communist Party (University of California Press, Berkeley, 1991). This article is based on the talk which Dr Hans van de Ven gave to the Society on 11 March 2003.     

Us strategy in the middle east and the 2004 presidential election 9/11: towards a redefinition of america's role in the world

September 11th dramatically changed the geopolitical landscape for the United States. Though President Bush was elected as a domestic policy president, the war against radical Islam has become the central theme of his presidency. In this war, adhering to the analyses of the neoconservatives, the President believes that the region's tyrannies are a breeding ground for Islamic extremism. Overthrowing Saddam Hussein's tyranny and replacing it with a more democratic regime is the start of a long process of liberalization of the Arab world that will have reverberations for years to come. Though Senator John Kerry has based his 2004 presidential campaign on criticizing President Bush's Iraq policy, if Kerry were elected president, his Iraq policies would actually differ little from those of Bush.     

Globalization and the stability of world order

Globalization brings dangers that result from the failure of governments to effectively govern markets, says Professor John Ikenberry of the University of Pennsylvania. The struggle between governments on the one hand and markets on the other defines the new reality, and governments will need to find new ways to cooperate and build regional and global institutions to manage this struggle. If the benefits of globalized markets are to be realized and sustained, new social bargains between industrial and developing countries will be needed and new international institutional mechanisms will have to be devised.     

A democratic paradox: The communalisation of politics in Ceylon, 1911-1948

Contributions to the Anthropology of Iran. By Henry Field, Curator of Physical Anthropology, University of Chicago, December, 1939. Vol. 29, No. I, 508 pp., 22 text figures, 1 map. 9½” × 6½”. $5.50. Vol. 29, No. II, 198 pp., 4 text figures, 144 plates. 9½” × 6½”. $2.25. Maps A and B, Distribution of Tribes in Iraq and Western Iran, 10” × 24½”, with list of tribal names.

Once in Sinai. By J. M. C. Plowden (Madame Charles Jullien), with a foreword by Major C. S. Jarvis. 9” × 6”. XXV. + 302 pp. 18 Illustrations. 7 Sketch Maps and 1 fold‐in Map. Methuen and Co., Ltd. 1940. 12s. 6d.

La Turquie, Centre de Gravité des Balkans et du Proche Orient. By Gerard Tongas. Préface de S. E. M. Suad Davas. Pp. 276. 7¾” × 5¾”. Paris : Geuthner. 1939.

Gelawêj (Sirius). A Kurdish literary and cultural monthly magazine, 9¾” × 6¾” each number about 64 pp. Baghdad: Najah Press, December, 1939; January and February, 1940.

Rome and China. By F. J. Teggart. Pp. xii, 245; 14 Maps, 9½” × 6½”. University of California Press. 1939. 18s.

Mohammed and Charlemagne. By Henri Pirenne. Translated by Bernard Miall. Pp. 293. Allen and Unwin. London. 1939. 10s. 6d. net.

Jenghiz Khan. By C. C. Walker, Squadron‐Leader Royal Canadian Air Force. 10” × 6½”. Pp. 215. 7 Maps in Colour. London : Luzac. 1940. 17s. 6d.

What are the Jews? Their Significance and Position in the Modern World. By Rabbi Israel I. Mattuck, A.M., D.H.L. 7½” × 5½” Pp. 256. Hodder and Stoughton. 5s.

The Throne of the Gods. By A. Heim and A. Gansser. Translated by Eden and Freda Paul. 22 Plates, 18 Sketches in text, 11 musical items, and Relief Map. 233 pp. of text. 9½” × 6¼”. Macmillan. 21s

Cultural Relations on the Kansu‐Tibetan Border. By Robert B. Ekvall. University of Chicago Press. Pp. 87. $1.50.

A Cavalier in China. By Colonel A. W. S. Wingate, C.M.G. With a Foreword by Sir Francis Younghusband, K.C.S.I., K.C.I.E. Illustrated. Pp. 327. Grayson. 1940. 15s.

Dersu the Trapper. Exploring, trapping, hunting in Ussuria. Translated from the Russian of V. K. 8½” × 6”. Secker and Warburg.

Shanghai and Tientsin. By F. C. Jones‐ With the co‐operation of certain members of the Royal Institute of International Affairs. 9” × 6”. Pp. x + 182. Five plans. Oxford University Press. 7s. 6d.

Warning Lights of Asia. By Gerald Samson. With 32 plates and 7 maps. Pp. xvii + 311. Robert Hale. 1940. 15s.

Memorandum on the Kahilu Sanctuary. By D'Arcy Weatherbe. (Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, Vol. XLI., No. I, August, 1939.)

The Arabic Listener. Published by the British Broadcasting Corporation. Printed in England by Stephen Austin and Sons, Ltd.

Climate and Ecliptic Tilt. By Brigadier N. M. McLeod, from the R.A. Journal, April, 1940.

A Winter in Arabia. By Freya Stark. 9¼” × 6½” Pp. xii + 328. Illustrations from the author's own collection of photographs and 3 maps. London : John Murray. 1940. 16s.