‘The limits of international leadership’: The Eisenhower administration,East‐West trade and the cold war, 1953–54

This article examines the Eisenhower administration's trade policy towards the Soviet Union in 1953–54. It argues, contrary to previous scholarship on the subject, that the liberalization of East‐West trade controls in August 1954 cannot be attributed solely to the presidential leadership of Dwight D. Eisenhower. Instead, whilst Eisenhower played a significant role in changing American embargo policy, it was the Churchill government which provided the impetus required for the revision of the international export control lists. Despite conflict and confrontation over the shape and contents of the new embargo between Washington and London, the two governments forged a compromise in the summer of 1954.     

The history of the use of bacteriological and chemical agents during Zimbabwe's liberation war of 1965-80 by Rhodesian forces

In 1979 the largest recorded outbreak of anthrax occurred in Rhodesia, present day Zimbabwe. The incident, widely known in Africa and in intelligence circles is not widely known in the USA or Europe. At the time Rhodesia was fighting a guerilla war against black nationalist insurgents. Rhodesia first accused the nationalist side of using anthrax as a weapon. In allegations that surfaced in 1998--and which persist to this day--external researchers and the current government of Zimbabwe insist that the outbreak in 1978-80 was anything but benign. They argue that the original outbreak was the result of a calculated move by the Rhodesian government with the duplicitous acknowledgment of apartheid South Africa. Furthermore, the government alleges that a current outbreak is the work of disgruntled white farmers in the country. The allegations over the 1979-80 outbreak are given credence by the acknowledgement by Ken Flower, Chief of Rhodesia's Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO), and by CIO Officer Henrik Ellert that the white minority regime of Ian Smith used biological and chemical weapons against the guerillas, against rural blacks to prevent their support of the guerillas and against cattle to reduce rural food stocks. The current government and researchers have drawn inferences from his statements to show that the unusual outbreak in 1978-80 was a deliberate use of weaponized anthrax. These inferences rely on important facts which will be highlighted in this paper, namely that: 1) by 1978 the 'writing was on the wall' for the white regime and recourse to a weapon of last resort was not unfathomable; 2) because of its international status, Rhodesia had become an expert in sanctions busting; 3) the alliance between South Africa and Rhodesia makes the allegations more credible; and 4) the current government of Zimbabwe has purposefully failed to launch a formal investigation because it is convenient to its continued survival to vilify the former regime and current white farmers in order to deflect attention away from the 21-year-old dictatorship of Robert Mugabe and the economic woes that have followed from the regime's mismanagement.     

Taking the Constitution Out of the Common Law: Political Libels and Freedom of Communication in Australia

This paper argues that English courts should adopt a recent Australian innitiative in the area of political libels. It is suggested that English law is at present too accommodating to defamed politicians and insufficiently sensitive to the need to foster freedom of political expression. The paper contends that Australian law, unlike similar rules found in American constitutional law, offer our courts an unproblematic way to re-order this aspect of our common law in a fashion that better serves the political values of transparency and accountability within the government process.     

Spatial practice

Henri Lefebvre. The Production of Space (trans. Donald Nicholoson‐Smith). Oxford: Blackwell, 1991, Pb. & Cloth.     

How are we doing? Group-based economic assessments and African American political behavior

Using data from the National Black Election Study, this study tests the importance of group-based economic evaluations in driving African American political behavior.¹ Group-based evaluations powerfully influence presidential approval and vote choice, even controlling for national and personal evaluations and a conception of “linked fate.” More importantly, group-based assessments exert a significant and independent influence on turnout, the central variable in black electoral politics. The results extend and reconsider the implications of group solidarity as a motivator of black political behavior and suggest that a revision of traditional notions of economic voting is in order, at least for African Americans.