‘The highest flights of circumlocutory art’: Britain,Latvia and Recognizing the Soviet Annexation of 1940

The British Government never recognized the Soviet annexation of the Baltic States in June 1940, but almost did so early in 1942 and was ready to do so again in 1944, when it took at face value Stalin's revision of the Soviet constitution. The result was ‘trouble’ from the Baltic ambassadors in London, particularly the Latvian ambassador. The British Government changed its stance in autumn 1945 when the revisions to the Soviet constitution proved to be sham. Thereafter British policy amounted to procrastination, as the developing Cold War prevented a final post-war settlement.     

Estonia in the 1990s

Abstract

As Estonia nears its second decade of restored independence, it seems appropriate to offer an overview and assessment of developments during the 1990s.¹ The time perspective is now sufficient to justify such an exercise, and although numerous specific ­­ and often very valuable ­­ studies of various aspects of the transition in Estonia have been published in recent years, they typically remain focused on only part of the overall picture. After a brief look at the process by which an independent Estonia was reestablished in 1991, this article provides a summary analysis of the main trends in domestic politics, foreign policy, economic development, population shifts and society, and culture during the decade of the 1990s. The emphasis is on the political sphere, but all major aspects of Estonia's post-communist evolution are covered.     

Colonial Existence,Home and Nationalism in the Narratives of British Cameroons’ Exiles in the United States

This article explores the personal meanings and public expressions of colonial existence, home and nationalism among exiles of British Cameroons from the standpoints of 11 biographies of British Southern Cameroons’ first-generation exiles living in the United States. Examining their narratives reveals why the exiles actively resist a public categorisation as being Cameroonians. This article provides a new type of research regarding British Cameroons’ exiles and their vision of the restoration of the statehood of British Cameroons, a former United Nations trust territory deserving its separate sovereignty and independence in accordance with the UN Trusteeship Agreement (1946) and UN Resolution 1514 of 1960 on the independence of colonial people. Significant about this study of the narratives of British Cameroons’ exiles is its focus on biography for portraying particular facets of nationalist resistance, including questions relating to the processes that surround the right to define the community one calls home.     

Postcolonial theory as a means to understand Estonian art history

ABSTRACT

This article analyzes Estonian art scene in the Soviet era from the postcolonial perspective. The first objective is to consider whether it is appropriate to call the Soviet occupation of Estonia colonialism. Second, the article points to how postcolonial theory can elucidate the history of Estonian visual art during and after the Soviet occupation. The period of Soviet colonialism in Estonia was not uniform; in the fine arts, several different rhetorical regimes existed simultaneously: pro-authority, Western avant-garde orientated, and a national-conservative discourse. The article also investigates how the Soviet colonial situation shaped the institutional and economic environment of Estonian art.     

The Four Pillars of Russia’s Power Narrative

The Winter Olympic Games in Sochi and the annexation of Crimea were two major international events in which Russia engaged in early 2014. In spite of all the divergence in the logic underpinning each of them, four concepts strongly resonate in both cases. First, in hosting the Olympics and in appropriating Crimea, Russia was motivated by solidifying its sovereignty as the key concept in its foreign and domestic policies. Second, the scenarios for both Sochi and Crimea were grounded in the idea of strengthening Russia as a political community through mechanisms of domestic consolidation (Sochi) and opposition to unfriendly external forces (the crisis in Ukraine). Third, Sochi and Crimea unveiled two different facets of the logic of normalisation aimed at proving – albeit by different means – Russia’s great power status. Fourth, one of the major drivers of Russian policy in both cases were security concerns in Russia’s southern flanks, though domestic security was also an important part of the agenda.     

Social Capital and the Number of Governments within a County: A Potential Problem with Social Capital

Social capital has been demonstrated to be a benefit to a community in a variety of ways. However, researchers have begun to point out that social capital does have a downside. Communities that use bonding social capital to mobilise residents to action have the potential to exclude outsiders from their communities. The number of governments in a county could be used as an indicator of bonding social capital within a region. Residents use their local government to create and pass laws that have the potential to exclude others. The current analysis used the number of governments as a proxy for bonding social capital. Findings demonstrate that as the level of bonding social capital (the number of governments) increased the social capital in the county increased. Residents use their bonding social capital to respond to others, which then increases the level of social capital to be able to mobilise in the future.     

旧韩末韩国的民族主义教育——以西北学会的活动为中心

以1905年11月17日签订的《日韩保护协约》为契机，韩国成为日本的保护国。面对亡国危机，韩国民众通过义兵运动与教育救国运动展开了轰轰烈烈的恢复国权运动。所谓教育救国运动就是通过和平的大众运动的形式实现民族独立的目标，其根本目的是通过普及教育，对民族思想进行弘扬，对一般群众进行启蒙教育，为此，创立学会就成为教育救国运动的重要组成部分。本文以这些学会中的西北人（黄海道、平安道、成镜道出生的人）的文化，以及为了普及教育而创立的具有代表性的学会——西北学会为例，试图考察从西北学会的创立到日韩合并的数年间，这些学会究竟为韩国民族意识的提高发挥了怎样的作用。     

商业银行并购贷款风险结构分析与监管制度完善

商业银行并购贷款是指商业银行为企业并购交易提供的用于支付并购交易现金对价的贷款资金。我国商业银行并购贷款业务开展仅有一年,在缺乏实践经验的情况下,商业银行难以对其风险进行有效的评估和控制。需要设计有效的监管体制,加强对并购贷款业务的监管防止风险的出现。     

外商并购控股我国企业的模式、动因及效应分析

在第五次国际跨国并购日趋激烈和国有企业改革不断深化的背景下 ,外商对中国企业的并购活动也逐渐增加 ,出现了协议收购、增发B股、新建型间接收购等许多新的并购模式 ,并且每一种模式都有自己的特点和适应性。外商并购我国企业 ,除其本身具有的优势外 ,中国的市场、工业基础、劳动力与自然资源等对他们产生了巨大的吸引力。我们应充分利用自己的优势 ,在不断优化投资环境 ,增强对外商投资吸引力的同时 ,也要采取有效措施抑制外商对我国企业并购控股的负面效应。     

Silencing the contestant. Legitimizing Crimea’s annexation by mimicking the West

ABSTRACT

This article analyses Russia’s endeavours in legitimising the annexation of Crimea in the eyes of the Western community. The paper argues that Russia’s strategy of “silencing” the international contestation has been focused on the use of the West’s “language” for the justification of contested actions. Starting from the assertion that the formulation of Russia’s foreign policy is determined by Western normative frameworks and by the West’s international behaviour, the article scrutinised Moscow’s official narrative after March 2014 by comparing it with the West’s arguments used in particular in the cases of NATO’s intervention in Yugoslavia and the recognition of Kosovo’s independence.