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321. Coming face to face with bloody reality: Liberal common sense and the ideological failure of the Bush doctrine in Iraq

Author:
Toby Dodge
Publication Date:
03-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Politics
Institution:
Palgrave Macmillan
Abstract:
A conventional technocratic wisdom has begun to form that blames the failure of the US led invasion of Iraq on the small number of American troops deployed and the ideological divisions at the centre of the Bush administration itself. This paper argues that both these accounts are at best simply descriptive. A much more sustained explanation has to be based on a close examination of the ideological assumptions that shaped the drafting of policies and planning for the aftermath of the war. The point of departure for such an analysis is that all agency, whether individual or collective, is socially mediated. The paper deploys Antonio Gramsci's notion of 'Common Sense' to examine the Bush administration's policy towards Iraq. It argues that the Common Sense at work in the White House, Defence Department and Green Zone was primarily responsible for America's failure. It examines the relationship between the 'higher philosophies' of both Neoconservatism and Neo-Liberalism and Common Sense. It concludes that although Neoconservatism was influential in justifying the invasion itself, it was Neo-Liberalism that shaped the policy agenda for the aftermath of war. It takes as its example the pre-war planning for Iraq, then the disbanding of the Iraqi army and the de-Ba'athification of the Iraqi state. The planning and these two decisions, responsible for driving Iraq into civil war, can only be fully explained by studying the ideology that shaped them. From this perspective, the United States intervention in Iraq was not the product of an outlandish ideology but was instead the high water mark of post-Cold War Liberal interventionism. As such, it highlights the ideological and empirical shortcomings associated with 'Kinetic Liberalism'.
Topic:
Cold War
Political Geography:
United States and America

322. To Be or Not To Be: South Korea's East Asia Security Strategy and the Unification Quandary

Author:
Seongho Sheen
Publication Date:
06-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The International Spectator
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
Since its division following independence from Japanese colonialism in 1945, the reunification of the Korean peninsula has been the ultimate national mission for the Republic of South Korea (ROK). Unification became the most important redemptive mission for Koreans to recover the national pride and unity lost during Japanese colonialism. Yet, it also became a practical imperative to address the most serious national security threat posed by North Korean military aggression. Memories are still vivid of the Korean War which North Korea's Communist leader, Kim Il-sung, started in 1950 in an effort to unify Korea by force, and which killed almost four million Koreans on both sides (since the 1953 armistice, the two Koreas have remained technically at war). Additionally, unification is understood as a way to enhance Korea's geostrategic leverage over its big neighbours, China and Japan, which seem to have taken advantage of the division. In fact, the Chinese and Japanese views on Korean unification can be likened to the way former French President Mitterrand spoke of the prospects of German unification: they like Korea so much that they prefer to have two of them as their neighbours rather than just one. Koreans had every reason to believe that reunification was their national mission and in Korea's interests. Indeed, as much as the South Koreans feared military aggression from the North, they also wanted to achieve unification badly enough to risk war, causing the United States to keep a close eye on each South Korean government throughout the Cold War for any intent to launch a pre-emptive attack on North Korea.
Topic:
Cold War
Political Geography:
Korea

323. The Gstaad Process: The West's Relations with Russia: Towards a Cold Peace?

Author:
Jon Strandquist
Publication Date:
01-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Geneva Centre for Security Policy
Abstract:
At the 2008 Gstaad Process conference, the discussion of securityrelated issues central to West-Russia relations focused on four broadly defined areas: global security, energy security, missile defence, and nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament.
Topic:
Conflict Prevention, Foreign Policy, and Cold War
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, and Asia

324. Fighting the Pre-eminent Threats with Intelligence-led Operations

Author:
Fred Schreier
Publication Date:
01-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:
This paper discusses the role of intelligence, intelligence services and intelligenceled operations as crucial components of the efforts to counter the new risks, dangers and threats to states and their population.
Topic:
Security, Cold War, Intelligence, and Weapons of Mass Destruction
Political Geography:
Eastern Europe and United Nations

325. Repairing US-Russian Relations: A Long Road Ahead

Author:
Eugene B. Rumer and Angela E. Stent
Publication Date:
04-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Academy of Political Science
Abstract:
At the end of the Bush administration, relations between the United States and Russia had reached their lowest point since the Cold War. The promise of a new direction in U.S.-Russian relations since President Barak Obama's London meeting with President Dmitry Medvedev has led to expectations on both sides of the Atlantic that bilateral ties will improve substantially. Such a change would be highly desirable, for it would enhance the odds of success for many U.S. initiatives from the Middle East and Southwest Asia to the Far East and the Pacific. But that improvement will not come easily or quickly. It took years to reach the current nadir in the relationship between Washington and Moscow, and there are still questions remaining on their diverging values and competing interests that have to be resolved.
Topic:
Cold War, Diplomacy, and Bilateral Relations
Political Geography:
Russia, United States, Washington, Middle East, Asia, and Moscow

326. Peace from Below: Recent Steps Taken along the Track-Two Diplomacy Path

Author:
Michael Thomas Kuchinsky
Publication Date:
01-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Human Rights and Human Welfare - Review Essays
Institution:
Josef Korbel Graduate School of International Studies, University of Denver
Abstract:
Among the many emotional galleries at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC, stands a series of tablets describing persons whose courage and compassion pushed them to conceal or save the lives of those hunted by the Nazi regime for extermination. The biographical displays end near the exit doors. Perhaps their placement suggests a purpose, or an interpretation: “Here were people of good will or faith whose conscience pricked them to act against a genuine evil and for a reconciled community.” “Here were some who did more good than harm.” “Here were prophetic voices who understood the urgency of the moment.” “Here were some who hoped in the midst of despair.” Or, “here were those whose visions for humanity were broader than mere power and violence, who believed in the possibilities of peace through human intervention.”
Topic:
Cold War
Political Geography:
United States

327. Close Encounters of a Sovereign Kind

Author:
Dino Kritsiotis
Publication Date:
04-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
This article considers the prominence that threats of force have had in international political life since the end of the Cold War, and how we tend to overlook these threats in favour of the actual uses of force. Security Council Resolution 678 of November 1990 is one such example. Emblematic of the rule of law and its New World Order, it is often invoked for the 'authorisation' it gave to Member States of the United Nations 'co-operating with the Government of Kuwait ... to use all necessary means to uphold and implement resolution 660 (1990) and all subsequent resolutions and to restore international peace and security in the area' - but this provision was made contingent upon whether 'Iraq on or before 15 January 1991 fully implements [previous] resolutions'. We examine the range of circumstances in which threats of force have arisen and find that these go beyond the archetypal 'close encounter' between states - such as the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 and the 'threats of force' directed against Iraq prior to Operation Desert Fox (1998) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (2003). Making use of the jurisprudence of the International Court of Justice from its Nuclear Weapons advisory opinion (1996), we advance the idea of a prohibition of the application of force, and consider the logistics of its operation in state practice; first, in the recent relations between the United States and Iran and, then, through a modern reprise of the facts of the Corfu Channel Case of April 1949. We allude to the importance of the legislative background and purpose behind this prohibition, constantly reflecting upon the intricacies of state relations in which this provision of the United Nations Charter seeks to make its mark.
Topic:
Security, Cold War, Government, and United Nations
Political Geography:
United States, Iraq, and Kuwait

328. Settling Self-determination Conflicts: Recent Developments

Publication Date:
02-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
Self-determination conflicts outside the colonial context have previously appeared virtually impossible to settle. Long-running and very destructive internal armed conflicts have been the result. Since the termination of the Cold War, however, there has been a veritable wave of self-determination settlements. While some of these trade the claim to secession for internal autonomy in order to safeguard the territorial unity of the state, a number of innovative solutions have been adopted, going beyond this traditional approach. This article reviews over 40 settlements and draft settlements in order to identify an emerging post-modern pattern of practice of settling self-determination disputes. The article also assesses the impact of this practice on the classical, restrictive understanding of the doctrine of self-determination.
Topic:
Cold War

329. Investigating Japanese government's perceptions of the postwar world as revealed in prime ministers' Diet addresses: focussing on East- West and North-South issues

Author:
Takafumi Suzuki
Publication Date:
05-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Relations of the Asia-Pacific
Institution:
Japan Association of International Relations
Abstract:
This study applies content analysis to Japanese prime ministers' Diet addresses in order to examine the Japanese government's perception of the world after World War II. Since the end of the Cold War, many scholars have revealed more strategic and proactive aspects of Japanese foreign policy by investigating broader issues or longer time periods. Methodologically, these studies as well as conventional studies derive the character of Japanese foreign policy mainly from an examination of documentary sources or case studies, thus further empirical evidence can help these discussions. By investigating the long-term perception focussing on North-South issues as well as East-West issues, we show that there are aspects of Japanese foreign policy with an individual character. We conclude that this method provides empirical evidence and helps to construct a multidimensional perspective for characterizing Japanese foreign policy, and thus contributes to the recent lively discussions on this topic
Topic:
Cold War
Political Geography:
Japan

330. Contemporary conservative thoughts in Japan: conservative views on morality, history, and social issues

Author:
Hiroshi Kaihara
Publication Date:
05-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Relations of the Asia-Pacific
Institution:
Japan Association of International Relations
Abstract:
This article discusses the political thoughts of conservatives. What makes their thoughts distinctive is their understanding of the state of the nation: the Japanese people are degenerating. Especially they worry about the youth. Horrendous juvenile crimes, bad manners, school bullying, and declining academic capabilities force them to paint Japan's future gloomily. Conservatives believe that the taproot of these social problems is a lack of morality: they have lost the will to tell what is right or wrong. They believe that morality is possible only when people embrace tradition and history. However, the Japanese cannot have pride in their history and country because of public discourse propagated by America's occupation policies and leftist ideologies. They also believe that public schools must concern not only on students' knowledge but also on their moral characters, such as the will to live. To raise pupils and students with moral characters, family must get involved along with schools.
Topic:
Cold War
Political Geography:
Japan and America