Strategy of Rebalance to the Asia-Pacific in Obama＇s New Term and US Ideological Export

Since the beginning of his second term, Barack Obama has made some adjustment to US strategy of rebalance to the Asia-Pacific.The adjustment is aimed at adapting the US to the new features in the post-flnancial crisis era, the new developments in the Asia- Pacific situation and the new changes in the overall US strategy, and it also serves US strategic intentions to dominate the regional affairs, acquire and safeguard its own interests and counterbalance China and it also serves US strategic intentions to dominate the regional affairs, acquire and safeguard its own interests and counterbalance China and prevent it from playing a leading role in the region. It is worth noting that the adjusted rebalance strategy features the purposefulness of US ideological export. The impact of the changes in the contents and means of ideological export on the situation in the Asia-Pacific region deserves attention.     

Several Characteristics of the Current International Situation and the New Security Concept

I. Several features of current international situationi. The international situation is further becoming multi-polarized.The end of the bi-polar pattern in the world situation in the early 90s of the 20th century brought about two consequences: one is that it has broken the former structure of the balance of power and led to a relative imbalance of power in the world; the other is that after the Cold War in which two super powers sought domination over the world, there is only one super power…     

The Rise of Referendums: A Death Sentence for Multilateralism?

Perhaps the most notable development of the second half of the twentieth century, and its greatest achievement, is the rapid global spread of two institutions: democracy and multilateralism. These institutions have collectively made us safer and more prosperous than any previous generation in history. But could the two now be coming into conflict? Recent experience regarding the EU suggests both that referendums as a tool of foreign policy decision-making are likely to become more common in the future, and that they pose major risks for multilateralism and international cooperation.     

A Review of the Obama Administration’s Taiwan Policy

Since May 2008, relations across the Taiwan Strait have experienced a ＇historical turning point. The two sides of the strait have tided over a ＂high-risk＂ period and embarked upon a path of peaceful development and benign interaction. When the Obama administration came to power in January 2009, the new situation in cross-straits relations had already taken hold. By then,     

Jacques Vergès,Rupture Strategy and the Argentinean New Left: Circulations and Adaptations of a Judiciary Theory

This article deals with the transatlantic circulations of the theory of “rupture strategy”, popularised by French lawyer Jacques Vergès in the early 1960s. In the early 1970s, the concept was imported and adapted to the Argentinean context by radical left-wing lawyers. Their uses of rupture strategy were modelled by their perception of Argentina as being a “semi-colonised” country, whose situation was comparable to that of Algeria. In the 1980s however, in a context of democratisation, the same lawyers reassessed their uses of “Vergesian” vocabulary and progressively renounced rupture strategy, while still maintaining a critique of liberal penal law. To account for this evolution, this article adopts a socio-historical perspective. It shows that the reception of Vergès’ theory must be understood as a dynamic process, in which the permanent interaction and the contradictory evolution of two different contexts (context of reception and context of origin), interfere with the continued importation of rupture strategy.     

The United States’ New Africa Strategy: Changes and Continuations

With the unveiling of its new Africa strategy at the end of 2018,the Trump administration’s basic policy framework for Africa began to take shape.Generally speaking,this new Africa strategy does not offer any innovative content.Compared to previous policies,adjustments or changes are mainly reflected at the strategic level,where countering China has become the major objective of Washington’s considerations regarding Africa.For China,a systematic analysis of Trump’s new Africa strategy is of genuine significance to properly handle the US factor in its own Africa diplomacy.     

A New Perspective on the Transition of the East Asian Order——A Review of China's Rise and the Transition of the East Asian Order:Shaping and Expanding of Shared Interests

The current world situation, which is undergoing profound changes, is still in the process of post-Cold War transition.     

The Changing Strategic Context of Nuclear Weapons and Its Implications for the New Nuclear World Order

Ever since the nuclear bombing at Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, nuclear weapons have become one of the defining elements in shaping the world strategic situation for better or worse. The end of the Cold War has led to dramatic changes in the world security landscape. The international     

CSDP,Strategy and Crisis Management: Out of Area or Out of Business?

The EU's ineffectiveness vis‐à‐vis Libya and the southern Mediterranean crises more broadly is largely explained by the CSDP's narrow mandate centred on crisis management. The EU's emphasis on external crisis management was strategically sound given the geopolitical context of the 1990s. CSDP's quiet drift towards a ‘softer’ kind of crisis management from the middle of the first decade of the 2000s was also instrumental in highlighting the EU's differences from post‐11 September US unilateralism. That said, (soft) crisis management has become progressively obsolete in the light of a rapidly changing geopolitical environment characterised by an overall retreat of Western power globally, a weakening of America's commitment to European security, an increasingly tumultuous European neighbourhood, and Europe's financial troubles. In order to meet the demands of a changing geopolitical environment, CSDP must break away from its distinctively reactive approach to security to include all the functions normally associated with the military including, chiefly, deterrence and prevention. This would allow the EU to actively shape its regional and global milieu.     

The Importance of Historical Context: A New Discourse on the Nation in Basque Nationalism?

All nationalist movements make use of a variety of aspects (language, history, race, etc.) of the territory claimed as a nation to build their discourse on said nation, and, though these discourses are often presented as something permanent and unchanging over time, they can change depending on the historical context. This is indicated by the Basque nationalist movement's two main discourses on the nation, as well as by what appears to be a tendency towards a new discourse currently being developed within this movement. The new discourse seems to have adopted the concept of democracy as a key element in its theorization.     

Change Nobody Believes In: Obama and the Israeli–Palestinian Conflict

Despite the promise of ‘change’ in President Barack Obama's early dealings with the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, the policy that has since emanated from the White House was in fact commensurate with those of preceding administrations. Rather than heralding a new direction for American engagement with the conflict, the Obama Administration had displayed more patterns of continuity than change in its dealings with both parties. Specifically, by continuing to act as “Israel's attorney” during negotiations, the Obama team had in effect negated the president's early pledges to act as an honest broker in the conflict. In assessing the (in)effectiveness of the Administration's management of the Israeli–Palestinian issue, it seems that on-going mediation efforts to revive the moribund peace process have exhausted their potential. Arbitration may be explored as a more effective method to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian territorial dispute.     

Democracy and the Preparation for War: Does Regime Type Affect States' Anticipation of Casualties?

Immanuel Kant and more recent expositors of the democratic peace thesis suggest that citizens in a republic sanction leaders for resorting to war because, in part, citizens are loath to shed their own blood. This Kantian thesis in turn implies substitution. Just as consumers confronted with price shocks shift consumption to less affected goods rather than simply curtailing consumption, democratic leaders facing retribution for casualties can limit losses, not just by avoiding military contests, but also by substituting capital (ships, tanks, aircraft) for labor (soldiers, sailors, airmen) in the provision of security. A simple consumer choice model shows that citizens' leverage over leaders implies that democracies should consume disproportionately more capital in preparing for—and conducting—defense. Numerous anecdotes assert that democracies do shelter labor with capital, especially during war, but tests of defense-factor allocations on factor endowments, regime-type, and other variables show that defense-factor usage is explained by basic economic theory and not by democracy.     

Saddam and Israel: What Do the New Iraqi Records Reveal?

This article uses newly available Iraqi records to examine Saddam Hussein's strategic view of Israel, from the time of his political ascendancy in the late 1970s to the Persian Gulf War of 1990–1991. It sheds light on a variety of issues: the sources and motives of Saddam's bitter hostility to Israel, his desire for a bloody war of attrition against the “Zionist entity,” the role of Israel in motivating the Iraqi nuclear programme, Iraq–Israel relations during the Iran–Iraq War, Saddam's fears of an Israeli strike in the run-up to the invasion of Kuwait in 1990, and his motives for attacking Israel with SCUD missiles in 1991.     

Beyond ‘Engagement and Integration’ : An Analysis of the Adjustment of the Obama Administration’s Economic Policies toward China

As part of its new strategy of ＂returning to the Asia-Pacific region＂, the ~Obama administration has adopted some tough economic policies towards China, notably promoting the Trans-Pacific Partnership （TPP） and attempting to establish new rules of international trade and investment aimed at strengthening economic ties with other Westem countries through the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership Agreement（TTIP ）,     

Diplomatic and Security Strategies of the Obama Administration： Has the ＂Time of Change＂ Come？

It is of great significance to study the diplomacy and security strategies of the Obama administration which took office on 20th January 2009, not only because of the current global financial crisis but also because of Obama＇s ＂politics of change＂, a slogan raised by him in the campaign. How to lead America out of the seemingly ＂still deteriorating domestic financial and economic dilemma is not only the most important criterion for judging Obama＇s governance capability but also the biggest obstacle affecting the new Democrat administration＇s domestic and foreign policies. To analyze the adjustments of the Obama administration＇s foreign and security policies, we must focus our attention on how it will take corresponding measures to overcome the financial crisis and how to put its campaign slogan ＂politics of change＂ into practice. In retrospect of the Obama administration＇s first three-month performance, the ＂politics of change＂ promised by him has dramatically evolved into the ＂diplomacy of change＂ first. In the following sections, we will thoroughly analyze the trend of the new administration＇s diplomatic and security strategies on the basis of its first one-hundred-day performance.     

Views of China and Europe on the New Order of the World

The 7^th Sino-German Security Dialogue Seminar is focused on ＂China, Europe and a new world order＂. Our discussions should include the world order in general, as well as in-depth exchanges on specific issues in the area of international relations that both countries deem important. I want to get to the point directly by stating a basic point： although many factors in the international politics continue to change, as old challenges still exist and new challenges keep cropping up, there still remains a cornerstone for the world order, which is the Unites Nations. This is a starting point very close to the real politics： we must advance the international politics within current structure, and I would like to stress that such international politics must be international politics for peace.