The Greater Menace to the Peace of Nations? The 1877 Mills Mission and Direct Canadian–American Diplomatic Relations

In 1877, employing the unwanted presence of armed Sioux in western Canada as a useful mechanism, Canada’s Cabinet, represented by Minister of the Interior David Mills, unhappy with perceived British indifference to Canada’s concerns, sought to initiate direct diplomatic relations with the United States. That effort failed, and British opposition to this endeavour was so sharp that Canada made no similar initiative for half a century. Although he failed, Mills’ effort marked the birth of the Functional notion that Canada’s voice should matter more in Imperial foreign policy formulation when its direct interests were at stake, especially when dealing with the United States.     

When Does the Mission Determine the Coalition? The Logic of Multilateral Intervention and the Case of Afghanistan

Using the debate between the logic of appropriateness and consequences as a theoretical backdrop, I argue that neither is able to explain the United States' choices between unilateralism and multilateralism in post-Cold War military interventions. The logic of appropriateness is theoretically flawed because states are ultimately unwilling to compromise operational effectiveness on behalf of “oughtness,” and the logic of consequences has until now been insufficiently specified for the purposes of explaining military cooperation behavior. In this article, I suggest that “consequences” are best specified according to time horizon, which creates intertemporal tradeoffs between the long-term benefits of multilateralism and immediate payoffs of unilateralism, and the nature of the intervention, which affects the operational payoffs of multilateralism. I test this argument and the existing explanations against the case of Afghanistan. Its within-case variation—largely unilateral in combat operations and robustly multilateral in post-conflict phases—lends strong support to the logic of consequences as specified according to time horizon and operational payoff.     

Peripheral or Powerful? The European Union's Strategy to Combat the Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons

Abstract

The European Union has since 2003 developed both a security and a Weapons of Mass Destruction strategy, and it has become the primary interlocutor of Iran in the dispute related to Iran's nuclear development. These are signs of significant policy progress. However, the fact that four years of nuclear diplomacy have brought few results invites a critical appraisal of EU strategy. This essay undertakes this appraisal, arguing that the EU is notably ambivalent regarding its underlying conception of international order. The EU wishes to be pluralist (in the tradition of sovereign equality), but is also anti-pluralist (in the liberal–democratic tradition). The essay lays out how the EU has coped with pressures for reform—arising notably from the United States—within the current international nuclear non-proliferation regime, and how this has made the EU problem apparent. The essay finally suggests that to salvage its policy of effective multilateralism the EU must acknowledge its anti-pluralist bias and promote a common transatlantic approach to nuclear non-proliferation.     

The Rise of China:The Sustained Development of the WorldSystem or the End of It? *

It has been a controversial issue in the past thirty-odd years in academiccircles at home and abroad whether China’s economic rise as a unique developmentmodel sustains and supplements the world system or brings an end to it. This articlemakes an analysis of the basic features of the three historical stages of the worldsystem established 500 years ago from the perspective of the relationship between theworld system and the rise and fall of countries. The analysis finds that the stages ofmercantilism (1500-1750/1800), liberal economy (1800/1850-1914/1945) and mixedeconomy (1945-2030) were mainly based respectively on “geographical discovery” and“colonialism,” “industrial revolution” and “free trade,” and “economic globalization”and “system innovation.” For the above-mentioned reasons, “geographical discovery,”“international trade and finance,” “science and technology” and “internationalinstitutions and mechanisms” are the four fundamental driving forces that the worldsystem has depended on for its existence for 500 years. The world system provideda context for the rise and fall of each individual country in the past 500 years, whilethe economic success China has achieved in the past three decades mainly benefitsfrom its constant integration into this world system still in existence today. Therefore,the challenge to China in its future development will come, to a great extent, fromthe world system and its impact on China’s domestic politics, economy and socialstructure.     

Where to draw the line? From degree to dichotomy in measures of democracy

While there is much debate about the merits of dichotomous versus continuous measures of democracy, surprisingly little attention is paid to the question as to how to go from degree to dichotomy. This study identifies no less than 38 different ways in which Freedom House and Polity scores have been used to distinguish between democracies and non-democracies. The analysis shows that it is difficult to draw the line in measures of democracy, even for Freedom House and Polity themselves. These problems are illustrated with the help of a recent study on democratization in Africa. The conclusion formulates some guidelines for good practice and points at the potential of disaggregated scores to distinguish between democracy and dictatorship.     

From Women of the Year to “Soccer Moms”: The Case of the Incredible Shrinking Women

In the 1992 U.S. election year, mainstream print and television news coverage was replete with hosannas for female politicians, praised as strong and politically powerful figures during this so-called ''Year of the Woman.'' Just 4 years later, 1996 election news reports relied upon a very different image to describe women vis-à-vis electoral politics: soccer moms. Soccer mom was the term used most recurrently in mainstream television and print media to refer to an aggregate of women, vis-à-vis electoral politics, who were described as crucial to the success of either presidential candidate: President Clinton or Robert Dole. This period of time represents a dramatic shift in news discourse: from discussing women as political power wielders (Women of the Year) to discussing women as a group of swing voters defined primarily by their filial obligations. This article considers some possible implications of this shift and argues that it represents a discursive connection between women voters reduced to a demographic category characterized by womens relationships to their children and an ideology of consumerism that reduces electoral politics to personal choices around product consumption and lifestyle.     

From decisionism to consensus? the politics of the second‐generation reforms in Argentina

This article focuses on the institutional and political constraints to the adoption and implementation of second‐generation economic reforms in democratizing countries, specifically Argentina. The principal hypothesis is that these reforms require a different set of political conditions from those that enabled the successful adoption and implementation of first generation economic reforms. Institutional constraints hamper the adoption of second‐generation reforms, due both to their intrinsic characteristics and the context of stability in which the attempts arise. This contrasts with first‐generation reforms, whose nature and the surrounding context of crisis allows governments to overcome the constraints to change by pursuing a decisionist strategy. The separation of powers and purposes embodied in the Argentine institutional structure increases the number of veto points through which a plethora of discordant voices is reproduced. Rather than facilitating consensus on change, the outcome is more likely to be stalemate or lengthy negotiations, in which actors ensure that their private interests prevail. The politics of labour and fiscal reforms in Argentina illustrate the argument. The study has implications for the stereotype of ‘delegative democracy’, of which Argentina is often said to be an example.     

A Friend Indeed? From Tobruk to El Alamein: The American Contribution to Victory in the Desert

The article offers a re-evaluation of American reinforcement for the Eighth Army following the fall of Tobruk in June 1942, arguing that American arms and air power made a decisive, if largely unrecognized, contribution to the victory at El Alamein. Both British and American leaders, for their own reasons, glossed over the critical American component of this most quintessentially British victory, and historians have echoed this downplaying of American aid. The article sets these political and military events in the context of expanding American interest in the Middle East.     

How communist is North Korea? From the birth to the death of Marxist ideas of human rights

This article focuses on the Marxist characteristics of North Korea in its interpretation of human rights. The author's main argument is that many Marxist features pre-existed in Korea. Complying with Marxist orthodoxy, North Korea is fundamentally hostile to the notion of human rights in capitalist society, which existed in the pre-modern Donghak (Eastern Learning) ideology. Rights are strictly contingent upon one's class status in North Korea. However, the peasants' rebellion in pre-modern Korea was based on class consciousness against the ruling class. The supremacy of collective interests sees individual claims for human rights as selfish egoism, which was prevalent in Confucian ethics. The prioritization of subsistence rights and material welfare over civil and political rights was also the foremost important duty of the benevolent Confucian king. Finally, unlike Marx's reluctant use of the language of ‘duties’, rights are the offspring of citizens' duties in North Korean human rights discourse.     

The Road from Dayton to Brussels? The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and the Politics of War Crimes in Bosnia

Abstract

The tenth anniversary of the massacre of 7–8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica in July 1995 set in stark relief the continuing salience of war crimes in the political life of Bosnia and Herzegovina. With the country now firmly on a path ‘from Dayton to Brussels’, dealing with the war crimes legacy is critical to its future development. Cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) is a non-negotiable condition for further progress toward membership of the European Union and NATO's Partnership for Peace, while in the long-term, dealing with the legacy of war crimes is crucial to establishing lasting peace in Bosnia and in the region. This article examines the potential contribution of the ICTY to the restoration of peace in Bosnia in the context of debates about the role of post-conflict justice in societies in transition from war to peace and in the context of the international community's use of the war crimes issues as a political bargaining tool. It will be argued that the two are inextricably linked as short-term pragmatic advantages brought by cooperation work in tandem with longer-term goals of peace and reconciliation.     

The origins of the Korean War: Civil war or Stalin's Rollback?

This essay seeks to evaluate civil war theories on the origins of the Korean War by distinguishing between the permissive and efficient causes of war. These theories explain the causes of the war in terms of an extension of border clashes. To explain the efficient cause, Bruce Cumings advances the controversial 'second mosaic' thesis which argues that the war was sparked by the South's provocative actions on the Ongjin peninsula, and quickly spread to the thirty-eighth parallel with the mobilization of Northern troops. Yet new Soviet archival materials enable us to develop the hypothesis of the second mosaic in reverse since Kim Il Sung proposed the Ongjin occupation plan to Stalin. In testing Cumings's 'second mosaic' and the reversed second mosaic thesis, this article sees the origins of the war in Stalin's rollback strategy whose essence was using North Korean troops to cross the US containment line and displace the territories under the US sphere of influence for the first time since the inception of the Cold War.     

The origins of the Korean War: Civil war or Stalin's Rollback?

This essay seeks to evaluate civil war theories on the origins of the Korean War by distinguishing between the permissive and efficient causes of war. These theories explain the causes of the war in terms of an extension of border clashes. To explain the efficient cause, Bruce Cumings advances the controversial ‘second mosaic’ thesis which argues that the war was sparked by the South's provocative actions on the Ongjin peninsula, and quickly spread to the thirty‐eighth parallel with the mobilization of Northern troops. Yet new Soviet archival materials enable us to develop the hypothesis of the second mosaic in reverse since Kim Il Sung proposed the Ongjin occupation plan to Stalin. In testing Cumings's ‘second mosaic’ and the reversed second mosaic thesis, this article sees the origins of the war in Stalin's rollback strategy whose essence was using North Korean troops to cross the US containment line and displace the territories under the US sphere of influence for the first time since the inception of the Cold War.     

Gangsters or Gandhians? The Political Sociology of the Maoist Insurgency in India

This article combines concepts from political sociology with evidence from newspaper reports, insurgent and state documents, and ethnographic studies in order to understand the nature of the Maoist insurgency in India. The first section argues that the insurgency should be conceptualized as a state building enterprise rather than organized crime. It demonstrates that both insurgent violence and fundraising serve, on the whole, the collective interests of the state building enterprise – i.e., to consolidate insurgent control in their base areas – rather than the private interests of individual insurgents. The second section seeks to understand how Maoist state builders undermine and fragment the Indian state’s monopoly of the means of violence and administration in areas where they operate. In some areas the state is totally absent, while in others the state forms alliances with the insurgents at the local level in order to maintain the semblance of a sovereign and democratic ruler.     

Climate business for poverty reduction? The role of the World Bank

The World Bank is increasingly active in the area of climate change mitigation. While it justifies this engagement with its poverty reduction objective and its capacity to pave the way for new business activities in developing countries, critics blame the World Bank as a ??climate profiteer?? and as an unfair competitor in private markets. Our econometric analysis of over 2,000 projects registered until May 2010 under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol allows us to compare the activities of the Bank with those of other, primarily private actors. The results indicate that hardly any of the CDM projects can be considered as strongly pro-poor. Nevertheless, in comparison to the rest of the CDM projects, the Bank??s portfolio shows a relatively clearer orientation towards poor countries. Within these countries, however, the Bank does not show any particular pro-poor focus, and tends to implement those projects that are commercially most attractive. Moreover, there is no evidence of the Bank phasing out its activities once the market becomes fully operational, which goes against its professed pioneering and catalytic role in carbon markets.     

The rise of China—challenges and opportunities for the European Union

Asia Europe Journal - China’s growing power and influence raise important and inescapable questions for countries and societies around the world, not least for Europe. A rising China offers...     

Responding to mental distress in the Third World: Cultural imperialism or the struggle for synthesis?

This paper questions the appropriateness of some of the 'help' that has already been given in mental health in 'developing' countries, particularly Africa, and examines some of the complex ideological issues underlying different cultural understandings of the aetiology and treatment of mental illness. Some personal experiences, illustrating examples of the imposition of culturally inappropriate ideology in the teaching of psychiatry, are described. In conclusion, some principles of good practice are suggested which could form the basis of a synthesis between cultures, and maximise the possibility of Western aid in the field of mental distress being more culturally appropriate.     

Hit the Core or Weaken the Periphery? Comparing Strategies to Break the Circle of Violence with an Embryonic Terrorist Group: The Case of Galician Resistance

This article studies whether the action-reaction model holds on an “embryonic” terrorist group like Galician Resistance (REGA). After presenting an overview of REGA’s history, structure, financing, terrorist campaigns, and the police measures adopted against them, the text empirically contrasts whether deterrence is an efficient measure in reducing an incipient terrorist group’s actions. Our results show that deterrence does in fact reduce the number of attacks when aimed at the group’s periphery. However, it causes a backlash of new attacks when aimed at the group’s core. In addition, we prove that an increase in the number of attacks also causes a reaction by police forces and a higher number of detentions of core members. Our results give some meaningful insights into the design of counter-terrorism strategies aimed against “embryonic” groups.     

The UNGA—a talking shop? Exploring rationales for the repetition of resolutions in subsequent negotiations

The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) is frequently criticized as being an inefficient talking shop. Such criticism is partially due to the fact that UNGA resolutions are not legally binding, and partially due to the considerable share of resolutions that are debated repeatedly in multiple UNGA sessions. This article shows that more than half of the resolutions on the negotiation agenda of the UNGA in a given year are not novel, but have been discussed in the same arena in the past. As this increases the negotiation workload and also the capacity requirements of the member states, the widespread phenomenon of repetitions is puzzling. Therefore, the article examines the reasons behind reoccurring resolutions. It distinguishes between incrementalist and symbolic rationales and sheds light on the different motivations for repetitions in a series of case studies. This reveals that both rationales matter for repeating resolutions and that neither symbolic politics nor incrementalism are confined to specific types of issues or actors.