Divided we Fall: Division Within the National Partisans of Vidzeme and Latgale,Fall 1945

Heinrihs Strods has shown that Latvia's national partisans were defeated primarily because of the overwhelming military odds they faced, but he added a secondary cause–the lack of unity in their ranks. This article explores the causes of such disunity and suggests that Björn Felder is right to see a blurring of ideological divisions as the Second World War came to an end; however, even at the height of summer 1945 there were some signs of tension, and as the likelihood of foreign intervention waned, fundamental tactical disagreements developed, disagreements which reflected different political pasts and differing visions of Latvia's future.     

International Obligations and the Morality of War

Americans are not as religiously divided on foreign policy questions as they are over such hot-button, culture war domestic issues as abortion and gay marriage. Nevertheless, surveys suggest that Americans’ attitudes on several foreign policy fronts are consistent with a religious worldview. This analysis draws primarily on the findings of various PRC polls to examine the relationship between religion and three areas of foreign policy: the role of the USA in the world; the nature of international obligations; and the morality of war.

The politics of genocide scholarship: the case of Bangladesh

ABSTRACT

The massive communal violence that occurred in East Pakistan in 1971 received worldwide attention at the time, but has been largely ignored since. Some scholars and other writers have denied that what took place in Bangladesh was a genocide. Journalists’ reports, expatriate testimony, refugee reports and an investigation by the International Commission of Jurists in 1972 all indicate, however, that the Pakistani army did commit genocide in Bangladesh in 1971. The political and ideological circumstances that led to the secession of East Pakistan were conducive to religious and ethnic genocide. Beachler examines the treatment by memoirists and scholars of the 1971 crisis in East Pakistan and seeks to explain the reasons why the genocide in Bangladesh has been largely ignored since the early 1970s. No ideological or partisan faction in the United States has stood to gain much from the study of the Bangladesh genocide. And the governments of Bangladesh and Pakistan have not been interested in promoting study of the mass murder and rapes that took place in 1971.     

‘The Secret Nazi Network’ and Post-World War II Latvian Émigrés in the United States

This study of post-World War II political refugees from Latvia in the United States during the 1970s and 1980s uses data from American and Latvian periodicals, printed materials and archival records to uncover the complexities in small immigrant groups’ collective memory, political position and relations with the dominant group. When a number of Latvians were accused by the Office of Special Investigations of having lied on their immigration forms about their collaboration with the Nazis, this story gained political undertones and propelled the émigré community into an intra-group debate over its history and public image.     

第一次反“围剿”胜利与毛泽东人民战争思想

中央苏区第一次反＂围剿＂战役的胜利与人民战争思想有着密切的关系。红军之所以确定＂诱敌深入＂为第一次反＂围剿＂战役的战略方针,其主要目的就是要战略退却到根据地内腹心地域,依靠根据地内有利的人民和地理条件来改变敌强我弱的对比,充分依靠人民群众,实行人民战争,最终打败敌人的＂围剿＂。中央苏区第一次反＂围剿＂战役的胜利就是毛泽东人民战争思想的胜利。     

Notes Toward a Theory of Ideology in Historlcal Writing on Modern Afrlca

Since the publication of her first novel Le ventre de l’Atlantique (2003), Fatou Diome, a Senegalese author who immigrated to France in the 1990s, has been regularly invited to French cultural TV programmes, in which she often criticises European foreign policy, as well as social and racial segregation. Despite her public political commitment, in several interviews, Fatou Diome argues that literature should be dissociated from politics. This article analyses Diome’s narrative techniques when depicting current social issues in her second novel Kétala (2006). In Kétala, Diome shows how Senegalese gay people and women face social violence and exclusion. Drawing on queer theory and the concept of performance, this article describes the various strategies through which marginalised identities in Kétala contest heteronormative social representations. This paper argues that Fatou Diome’s novel captures the reality through a singular poetics.     

Cold War redux in US–Russia relations? The effects of US media framing and public opinion of the 2008 Russia–Georgia war

This paper examines the Cold War rhetoric in US–Russia relations by looking at the 2008 Russia–Georgia war as a major breaking point. We investigate the links between media, public opinion and foreign policy. In our content analysis of the coverage in two major US newspapers, we find that the framing of the conflict was anti-Russia, especially in the initial stages of the conflict. In addition, our survey results demonstrate that an increase in the media exposure of US respondents increased the likelihood of blaming Russia exclusively in the conflict. This case study helps us understand how media can be powerful in constructing a certain narrative of an international conflict, which can then affect public perceptions of other countries. We believe that the negative framing of Russia in the US media has had important implications for the already-tenuous relations between the US and Russia by reviving and perpetuating the Cold War mentality for the public as well as for foreign policymakers.     

Voting in the United Nations security council

Recently, both within and outside of the U.N. there have been serious debates on certain proposals which are aimed at changing the voting structure of the Security Council. However, neither the proponents nor the opponents of these proposals provide any evidence whatsoever about consequences of the change. This paper has dealt with two critical areas: 1) the role of the veto in the functioning of the U.N. is analyzed and articulated and 2) recent proposals to change the voting structure of the Council are analyzed and their theoretical consequences are identified.     

From Tremors to Talks: Do Natural Disasters Produce Ripe Moments for Resolving Separatist Conflicts?

This article suggests that natural disasters can produce a ripe moment for conflict resolution because governments faced with the demand for effective disaster relief have incentives to offer concessions to separatist challengers. An analysis of the prevalence of new negotiations, ceasefires, and peace agreements during 12-month periods before and after natural disasters for separatist dyads 1990–2004 reveal some support for this proposition. Natural disasters increase the likelihood that parties will initiate talks or agree to ceasefires but have less effect on the signing of peace agreements. In line with the proposed mechanism, these results are particularly strong in democracies and following more severe disasters where the need to provide relief is most acute.     

人的安全保护与民主转型 ——基于阿富汗战争的考察

一些国家在由非民主体制向民主体制转型的过程中,往往遭遇各种暴力与冲突。由于人的安全得不到保障,新政府的信誉与合法性因此受到质疑,从而损害了民主转型的前景。阿富汗就是这方面的典型例子,特别是2009年的总统大选表明,恶劣的安全状况已经影响到民主的运作和信誉,这体现了一个困扰许多处于转型过程中的国家的困境：没有人的安全,就没有可靠的民主;转型中的发展中国家很容易在一种失序、动荡的过渡期中反复纠缠,民众的不安全与无效的政府成为一对相互催生的恶瘤。西方的武力干预容易推翻一个旧政权却很难塑造一个强有力的新政权,其造成的权力真空加剧了人的安全与民主转型之间的紧张。民主的价值不容否定,但民主应该在一个稳定的安全基础上去构建,无视人的安全去追求民主,可能反过来有损于真正的民主进程。人的安全视角表明：安全在价值序位上是高于民主的,也是民主生成的前提性条件;有一个能够保证人的安全的有效政府,是国家顺利实现民主转型的关键。