Social Service Provision in the US and Germany: Convergence or Path Dependency?

With a special focus on social services, the article discusses the topic of convergence versus path dependency of state welfare arrangements in the US and Germany. In both countries, social services cover a broad spectrum of activities. In the US as well as in Germany, these services are to a large extent provided by non-profit organisations, although the two countries belong to very different welfare regimes. With a special eye on social services, the article provides an overview of the history of the two welfare states; it refers to current developments, of which the shift towards private commercial social service provision is most prominent. Against this background, the article comes to the conclusion that there is no simple answer to the question of path-dependency versus convergence. Indeed, in both countries commercial provision of social services is on the increase; however, current developments in Germany and the US do not reflect thoroughly the path-dependent or the convergence approach of depicting change.     

Like father like son: Libyan civil–military relations before and after 2011

This article finds that in contrast to other cases of civil–military relations in the region, Libya does not fit a regular praetorian stereotype; rather, the interaction between its armed forces and their civilian counterparts has been paternalistic in nature. As a result, the Libyan military was the subject of destructive civilian interference throughout its modern history, and therefore incapable of delivering on its raison d’être, i.e., defence. This curious and ultimately negative interplay between civilian and military leaders in Libya draws attention to the generally understudied role of Arab civilians in the control of armed forces outside democratic structures – and highlights the state-fracturing consequences of this type of interaction.     

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization,trade, and the roles of Iran,India and Pakistan

This article seeks to explore the implications of Shanghai Cooperation Organization's (SCO) engagement with India, Pakistan and Iran. Not in terms of power-politics or as a counterbalance to the USA as this has been explored elsewhere, but what practical problems such an expanded organization could help solve, what opportunities it could realize, and how SCO's engagement in trade is a function of favourable political and bilateral developments in the region. It is argued here that the trade, infrastructure and energy sectors are of particular importance and that substantial potential gains could be realized if coordination is improved. Nevertheless, it is also recognized that China, Russia, Pakistan, India and Iran may have lower standards of democratic development and economic transparency than the West. What is the motivation behind the SCO's engagement with India, Pakistan and Iran? Should this engagement be conceived only in terms of balancing US unipolarity or are there legitimate concerns of increasing regional cooperation in Eurasia?     

The US-India Nuclear Pact: Policy,Process, and Great Power Politics

Abstract

This article examines the process through which India and the United States made their bilateral civilian nuclear energy cooperation pact a reality. Using the levels of analysis approach, this article examines the factors that were instrumental in shaping up the nuclear agreement as well as the negotiating process as it evolved in the United States and India with a special focus on how political leaderships in the two states managed domestic opposition to the pact. Subsequently, this article locates the US-India nuclear agreement in the context of the broader theoretical debate in international relations over the role of international institutions in global politics and argues that the successful conclusion of the agreement highlights the importance of strategic considerations in driving the nonproliferation priorities of great powers.     

Soldiering on: The Reagan Administration and Redemocratisation in Chile, 1983–1986

This article examines the circumstances in which the Reagan administration began to rethink its support of the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile and shift toward advocating a return to democratic civilian rule. It argues this shift was closely related to calculations that US interests might best be served by severing ties with the incumbent regime, but only so long as two vital interrelated issues were resolved to Washington's satisfaction: the nature of the movement likely to inherit political power, and the survival of key institutions of the autocratic Chilean state. To the extent that the incoming government did not portend a challenge to existing constitutional and economic arrangements, and to the extent that the ‘old’ military – the perceived ultimate guarantor against any kind of radical transformation – was in a position to survive the transition with its power and prerogatives intact, a ‘regime change’ could be supported, and even actively promoted. These twin concerns shaped and influenced a US commitment to democracy in Chile that was more contingent than principled, reflected in the constraints US policymakers imposed upon themselves in regard to the types of pressures they were prepared to apply to achieve their preferred outcome.     

Civilians and the Military in Latin America: The Absence of Incentives

This article argues that civil‐military relations should be conceptualized not only in terms of democratic civilian control but also for effectiveness in implementing a spectrum of roles and missions. It also argues that achieving effectiveness requires institutional development as a necessary but not sufficient condition. Currently in Latin America, the focus in civil‐military relations remains exclusively on civilian control. While there is a growing awareness of the need for analysis beyond asserting control over the armed forces, so far nobody has proposed or adopted a broader analytical framework. This article proposes such a framework, and employs it to analyze differences among four major South American countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Colombia. The explanation for the differences identified by use of the framework is found in the incentives of civilian elites in Chile and Colombia, who have recognized serious threats to national security and defense.     

Searching for Civilian Supremacy: The Concertación Governments and the Military in Chile

This article explores the nature and evolution of government-military relations in Chile since democratic restoration in 1990. Its highlights both the attempts by the Concertación governments to reinstate civilian control on the armed forces, as well as the mechanisms used by the military establishment to resist it. Special attention is given to two particular actors of the Chilean democratic transition who have played a critical role in the evolution of government-military relations in the post-authoritarian period: the civilian Right and the Judiciary. As this article aims to show, the strength of the Chilean right has constantly represented a formidable barrier for the Concertación governments in attempts to introduce the legal reforms required to re-establish civilian supremacy over the military. Furthermore, legal decisions adopted by the Chilean judiciary on human rights-related cases have also played a crucial role in the evolution of government-military relations during the past decade.     

Japan–US–China Relations during the Trump Administration and the Outlook for East Asia

Recent political events, such as the UK decision to exit the EU and the election of Donald Trump to the US presidency, may indicate a transition from globalism to isolationism in world politics. This article reviews Japan-US-China relations and East Asian regional cooperation during the Obama administration and contrasts them with prospects during the Trump administration in the new political climate.     

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.     

Palestinian state‐building: police and citizens as test of democracy

This article explores police‐society relations by assessing the impact of current state‐building efforts by the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) in the Gaza Strip and part of the West Bank. The article presents an outline of the emerging civilian policing model and its wider implications for citizens’ rights and the dominant political order. The specific focus of the paper rests on an examination of the potential tensions associated with the perceived need for strong coercive security structures (including the civil police) as part of state‐building efforts and the desire by the population for increased freedom and pluralism. This issue is further complicated by the ambiguous nature of the current experiment in limited autonomy underway in those areas of the West Bank and Gaza Strip where Israeli redeployment has taken place.     

Civilian victimization during the Tajik civil war: a typology and strategic assessment

Tajikistan experienced a brutal civil war shortly after independence, in which an estimated 50,000 people died. Yet the scope, patterns and effects of civilian victimization in Tajikistan remain under-examined. This article explores two key questions: (1) What types of civilian victimization were utilized by the war's victor, the Popular Front of Tajikistan (PFT)? (2) What were the strategic effects and outcomes of civilian victimization by the PFT? The aim is to disaggregate civil war violence in Tajikistan and enable new avenues of research into its patterns and effects. The article's key findings are that civilians were victimized primarily through targeted violence and displacement, and that victimization was generally a successful strategy for the PFT.     

Civil-military relations in Pakistan: a case study of Sino-Pakistani relations and the port of Gwadar

This article analyses how the dynamics of civil-military relations in Pakistan have ensured policy continuity towards China. By looking at the development of the port of Gwadar, which represents the flagship project of Sino-Pakistani cooperation during the last 15 years, this article contends that the continuity in Pakistan’s policies towards China in the post 9/11 period is explained by a broad-based consensus among the Pakistani elites, in which, however, the military plays a dominant role. Civilian control over the military is a concept that was never fully absorbed in Pakistan and, as the analysis ascertains, most of the policies introduced by General Pervez Musharraf have been adopted by the subsequent civilian regimes under indirect control from the military establishment. The ultimate aim of the Pakistani leadership, civilian and military alike, has therefore been to provide a safe ground for the Chinese investments in the country because of the key role that China plays in Pakistan’s strategic posture. Organised around semi-structured interviews conducted in Pakistan in early 2015, the article is grounded in the relevant literature on civil-military relations and assesses the level of civilian control in three key decision-making areas pertaining to the port of Gwadar: economic policy, internal security and foreign policy.     

Australia's Response to the Indochina Crisis of 1954 amidst the Anglo‐American Confrontation

Meeting in Berlin in February 1954, the Great Powers decided to convene an international conference in Geneva in April to discuss the restoration of peace in Indochina and thereby opened the door to a crisis. Their decision triggered a Vietnamese communist offensive against the French union forces at Dien Bien Phu, and a subsequent US proposal for multilateral military intervention which put great strain upon Anglo‐American relations. This article examines Australia's response to the Indochina crisis of 1954 amidst the Anglo‐American confrontation, focusing on the disagreement between the UK and USA with its origins in their different assessments of the will of the French and Vietnamese to continue fighting; on the impetus that events such as the Berlin conference gave to Australia to redefine its own position on Indochina; and on the (relatively minor) role which Australia, as the military situation in Indochina worsened, played in assisting the US to alter its proposal for allied military intervention.     

Germany and the Kosovo war: still a civilian power?

This article assesses the motives, significance and implications of Germany's participation in the 1999 Kosovo War. This was all the more remarkable, because it took place under a Red–Green government and was not legitimised by a UN mandate. Events in Kosovo forced the new government to choose between two foreign policy articles of faith of the German Left: ‘nie wieder Krieg’ (‘never again war’) and ‘nie wieder Auschwitz’ (‘never again Auschwitz’). The government tried to ease this dilemma by flanking its participation in the war with intensive efforts to secure a negotiated settlement of the crisis involving Russia. Despite its participation in the war, Germany remains a ‘civilian power’, as it is committed to deploying military force strictly multilaterally. Kosovo shows that it has become a normal ‘civilian power’, comparable to other mature democracies in the Euro-Atlantic community.     

国际原子能机构的困境与未来

国际原子能机构成立的初衷是促进核能的民用,但如何在促进核能民用的同时防范核扩散是该机构诞生以来一直面临的困境。近年来,国际原子能机构在伊拉克和伊朗的核查历史表明,该机构所面临的挑战如果得不到妥善解决,那么,未来无论是在促进核能民用还是在防范核扩散方面均将作为有限。本文简要回顾了IAEA成立的历史,并在分析其内在困境以及在两伊核查中所存在问题的基础上,提出了IAEA应对日益增多的挑战的出路。     

Nakasone Yasuhiro and Japan’s European Diplomacy

While Prime Minister Nakasone frequently showed his cordial personal friendship with US President Ronald Reagan, he was successful in creating new Japan-Europe relations based on his close ties with European leaders such as UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and French President François Mitterrand. Nakasone felt that the so-called “Yoshida Doctrine” was not enough and focused more on “culture and politics.” This article reveals that this originated in his high school days when he learned French and the importance of the philosophy of liberalism.     

Relationale Soziologie – Theoretische und methodologische Positionierungen zwischen Strukturalismus und Pragmatismus

Nowadays, relational sociology is represented by sociological approaches from the US and from France. These approaches share the aim of recombining the two “mega-paradigms” in the social sciences, structuralism and pragmatism. Relational sociology is thereby conceived as a project integrating the analysis of different forms of social practices and structures. The article aims to identify the specific properties of relational sociology beyond this common basis. Starting with the “New York school of relational sociology”, it is shown that this school can on the one side be regarded as a contemporary approach of relational sociology, having introduced innovative contributions, but also shows deficient developments on the other side. Thereupon “actor-network theory” and “economics of convention” in particular are presented as examples of the “new pragmatic sociologies” in France, which can also be regarded as modern versions of relational sociology. After characterizing and comparing these three versions of relational sociology, their metatheoretical and particularly methodological commonalities are presented. Finally, the article tries to define positively what constitutes relational sociology.     

The coup d'état in Spain: from the anti-liberal movements to the democratic revolution, 1814–1874

SUMMARY

In this article Mikel Urquijo seeks to explain the evolution of the coup d'état as a feature of the political history of Spain in the nineteenth century. The repeated interventions based on the armed forces, with a greater or lesser contribution from the civilian politicians, are seen as the method by which some alternation in government between the political factions was made possible. The article traces the development from the purely military coup, or pronunciamiento of the early years, intended to exclude civilian politicians, to the mixed coups of the mid-century. In the absence of a truly democratic political system, or a developed national and civic consciousness, in a system where the ruling party could decide the outcome of elections by executive action, the coup was the accepted method of changing the regime. But the increasing participation of civilian politicians in the process culminated in the coup of 1868, which had some of the characteristics of a democratic revolution, and overthrew for a time the Bourbon monarchy. This represents a true civic-military coup d'état.     

Could Japan become the 'Great Britain of the Far East?'

The United States' relationship with the United Kingdom was held up as the model for future US-Japan relations by the bipartisan writers of the so-called Armitage report published in October 2000 before the US election. The two new administrations in both Washington and Tokyo have signaled the potential for a revitalized US-Japan alliance. In this article, David Asher, associate director of Asian Studies at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), argues that it is high time the two countries work together to build a security and economic alliance between the US and Japan that is as committed and durable as that between the US and the UK. He concludes that although it will not be easy, if both countries combine forces there is no reason why this should not be possible.     

The B.B.C. Arabic broadcasts

This is an account of the origins and history of the little-known British Advisory Mission in Vietnam (BRIAM), which sought to transfer to Vietnam the techniques used in the Malayan Emergency to isolate insurgents from the population at large, while at the same time winning the loyalty of that population. This article looks first at the situation in South Vietnam and second at how the US and the UK viewed that situation and what they were doing about it. The third section deals with what BRIAM itself tried to do in introducing the process labelled “strategic hamlets”. The final section seeks to explain why the process failed.