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51. Vietnam

Author:
Keith Ekiss
Publication Date:
02-2015
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
The airport shuttle driver arrives at dawn. When I complain in jest about the hour, he fires back a phrase, then translates: 'Vietnamese for Tough shit, baby.' We pick up a woman bound for France and he unloads, as if between men there was untold conflict. Her long blonde hair curls in tendrils toward her waist, she leans forward, a hand to his shoulder. Thirty years after Da Nang, he brought gifts to an orphanage, wooden toys, no guns, the children too young to have known our war. I put it, I tried to put it behind me. I watch him squeeze a thumb and finger to his temple: I pressed it all in here. When I was a boy, no one said a word about the war. For all I knew, the country didn't exist, a place as distant as Paris, the French model city for Saigon.
Political Geography:
Vietnam

52. The Myth of Entangling Alliances: Reassessing the Security Risks of U.S. Defense Pacts

Author:
Michael Beckley
Publication Date:
03-2015
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Security
Institution:
Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:
A large literature assumes that alliances entangle the United States in military conflicts that it might otherwise avoid. Since 1945, however, there have been only five cases of what might be characterized as U.S. entanglement—the 1954 and 1995–96 Taiwan Strait crises, the Vietnam War, and the interventions in Bosnia and Kosovo in the 1990s—and even these cases are far from clear-cut. U.S. entanglement is rare because the United States, as a superpower with many allies, is capable of exploiting loopholes in alliance agreements, sidestepping commitments that seriously imperil U.S. interests, playing the demands of various allies off of each other, and using alliances to deter adversaries and allies from initiating or escalating conflicts.
Topic:
Diplomacy, International Cooperation, and International Security
Political Geography:
United States, Bosnia, Vietnam, and Kosovo

53. 1914 and 2014: should we be worried?

Author:
Margaret MacMillan
Publication Date:
02-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Chatham House
Abstract:
A century ago this autumn the first battle of the Marne ended Germany's attempt to crush France and its ally Britain quickly. In that one battle alone the French lost 80,000 dead and the Germans approximately the same. By comparison, 47,000 Americans died in the whole of the Vietnam War and 4,800 coalition troops in the invasion and occupation of Iraq. In August and September 1914 Europe, the most powerful and prosperous part of the world, had begun the process of destroying itself. A minor crisis in its troubled backyard of the Balkans had escalated with terrifying speed to create an all-out war between the powers. 1 'Again and ever I thank God for the Atlantic Ocean,' wrote Walter Page, the American ambassador in London; and in Washington his president, Woodrow Wilson, agreed.
Topic:
War
Political Geography:
Britain, Iraq, America, Europe, Washington, France, London, Vietnam, Germany, Balkans, and Atlantic Ocean

54. Review article - Leaving Vietnam: Nixon, Kissinger and Ford, 1969-1975 (Part two: January 1972-January 1973)

Author:
Geoffrey Warner
Publication Date:
02-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Chatham House
Abstract:
On 20 January 1972 an alarming message reached Washington from General Creighton Abrams, the US commander in Vietnam. He stated that 'the enemy is preparing and positioning his forces for a major offensive. There is no doubt that this is to be a major campaign . We foresee a hard battle involving sophisticated weaponry and as much ground combat power as the enemy can generate.' He therefore asked for a number of 'standby authorities' for military actions, notably air power. This was just the latest of a series of warnings from Abrams, but it was deemed important enough to be forwarded to the White House, where President Nixon's National Security Advisor, Henry Kissinger, raised the matter with his boss later the same day. It was agreed that any decision upon future action should be postponed until after the President's televised speech to the nation on Vietnam on 25 January (vol. VIII, no. 2).
Political Geography:
United States, Washington, and Vietnam

55. CHINA'S UNRAVELING ENGAGEMENT STRATEGY

Author:
Jeffrey Reeves
Publication Date:
02-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Washington Quarterly
Institution:
Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:
The growing consensus among Chinese analysts, both in China and the West, that elements of China's contemporary foreign policy have been self - defeating is important but limited in two significant ways. First, it focuses on China's most divisive policy stances—such as its expansive territorial claims, disruptive diplomacy in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), or growing use of unilateral economic sanctions. This focus on controversial policies, while important, ignores less litigious policies which are also now contributing to regional instability. Second, analysts who look at China's foreign policy largely confine their work to China's relations with large or medium powers—such as Japan, India, Vietnam, or the Philippines—or with regional organizations such as ASEAN. This focus ignores China's relations with smaller, developing states—such as Cambodia, Laos, Mongolia, or Myanmar—which are, in many ways, the building blocks of China's periphery security.
Topic:
Foreign Policy
Political Geography:
Japan, China, India, Mongolia, Vietnam, Philippines, Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar

56. Sizing U.S. Ground Forces: From ''2 Wars'' to ''1 War + 2 Missions''

Author:
Michael O'Hanlon
Publication Date:
04-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Washington Quarterly
Institution:
Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:
During the Cold War, the United States varied between a "1 ½ war" and a "2 ½ war" framework for sizing its main combat forces. This framework prepared forces for one or two large wars, and then a smaller "half-war." Capacity for a major conflict in Europe, against the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact allies, represented the enduring big war potential. This period saw simultaneous conflict against China as a second possible big war, until Nixon's Guam doctrine placed a greater burden on regional allies rather than U.S. forces to address such a specter, and until his subsequent opening to the PRC made such a war seem less likely in any event. The half-wars were seen as relatively more modest but still quite significant operations such as in Korea or Vietnam.
Topic:
Cold War
Political Geography:
United States, China, Europe, Vietnam, and Korea

57. Managing Tensions in the South China Sea: Comparing the China-Philippines and the China-Vietnam Approaches

Author:
Li Jianwei
Publication Date:
04-2014
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
Abstract:
Although disputes in the South China Sea are in general under control since 2009, developments show that China-Philippines and China-Vietnam are two key relationships that have experienced incidents leading to fluctuating levels of tension in the South China Sea region. This study reviews the evolution of these two relationships in relation to bilateral disputes in the South China Sea and the respective approaches to managing these disputes, with emphasis on the post-2009 period. By comparing the China-Philippines and China-Vietnam approaches, it intends to analyse the differences/similarities and their implication on the management of the South China Sea disputes, as well as their bilateral relations in a broader sense.
Topic:
Security, Bilateral Relations, and Territorial Disputes
Political Geography:
China, Asia, Vietnam, and Philippines

58. Le monde britannique, une société impériale (1815-1919)?

Author:
Christophe Charle
Publication Date:
05-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Cultures & Conflits
Institution:
Cultures & Conflits
Abstract:
Depuis une quinzaine d'années, l'historiographie et la science politique aux Etats-Unis et en Grande-Bretagne sont traversées par des discussions intenses autour des notions d'Empire, de colonialisme et d'impérialisme alors que ces thèmes avaient en partie disparu de la bibliographie après la guerre du Vietnam. Dans le même temps, l'histoire coloniale et les études post-coloniales ont débattu des réalités et des limites de ces notions, qu'elles soient abordées du côté des sociétés colonisées ou à partir des sociétés colonisatrices. Les différents courants historiographiques s'affrontent en particulier sur la question de savoir quelle était la véritable relation entre l'intérieur et l'extérieur de l'Empire, qu'il s'agisse des puissances coloniales et des espaces coloniaux ou semi-coloniaux. La division du travail académique dans les pays concernés a eu pour effet notamment d'isoler une branche « histoire coloniale », largement séparée de l'historiographie de la métropole – la rencontre entre histoires nationale et coloniale ne s'opérant qu'au moment des crises ou des guerres : période de conquête ou de mise sous influence, période de révolte ou de décolonisation. Une des controverses les plus importantes a concerné le monde britannique où s'opposent grosso modo « intentionnalistes » et non intentionnalistes, tenants de la réalité d'un impérialisme culturel et global dans la lignée d'Edward Saïd, et sceptiques doutant de l'existence d'un veritable « projet impérial » au-delà de quelques élites ou groupes de pression. Nombre des controverses proviennent de la labilité des notions d'Empire, de colonie, de société coloniale, d'impérialisme, mais surtout de la tendance de chaque branche de l'historiographie à séparer ce qui ne l'est pas dans la réalité, à essentialiser comme concepts « durs » des configurations qui varient à travers le temps et l'espace social et géographique, à confondre les intentions affichées des acteurs et les effets involontaires de leurs actions ou décisions, à négliger aussi les interactions avec les autres mondes coloniaux et impériaux, à privilégier les sources les plus accessibles et centrales ou encore à limiter le questionnaire à tel ou tel aspect de la relation de domination interne et externe.
Political Geography:
Vietnam

59. Managing Tensions in the South China Sea: Comparing the China-Philippines and the China-Vietnam Approaches

Author:
Li Jianwei
Publication Date:
04-2014
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies (NTS)
Abstract:
Although disputes in the South China Sea are in general under control since 2009, developments show that China-Philippines and China-Vietnam are two key relationships that have experienced incidents leading to fluctuating levels of tension in the South China Sea region. This study reviews the evolution of these two relationships in relation to bilateral disputes in the South China Sea and the respective approaches to managing these disputes, with emphasis on the post-2009 period. By comparing the China-Philippines and China-Vietnam approaches, it intends to analyse the differences/similarities and their implication on the management of the South China Sea disputes, as well as their bilateral relations in a broader sense.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Diplomacy, Military Strategy, and Conflict
Political Geography:
China, Asia, Vietnam, Philippines, and South China

60. America in Southeast Asia before the ‘Pivot’: The ‘Battle of Quallah Battoo’ in 1832

Author:
Farish A. Noor
Publication Date:
06-2014
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies (NTS)
Abstract:
Today, there is much talk about the „American pivot‟ back to Southeast Asia, and the role that America continues to play in terms of the geo-strategic relations between the countries in the region. That America has been a player in Southeast Asian affairs is well-known, as America‟s presence in countries like Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam has been well documented since the Cold War. However, there has been less scholarship devoted to America‟s role in Southeast Asia prior to the 20th century, lending the impression that the United States is a latecomer as far as Southeast Asian affairs is concerned. This paper looks at a particular incident – the First Sumatran expedition of 1832 – where America played a visible role in the policing of the waters off Sumatra. Though the event has been largely forgotten today, and is not even mentioned in Indonesian history books, it was important for it marked America‟s arrival – first as a trading nation, and later as a policing power – to the region. Drawing upon contemporary sources, the paper looks at how and why the expedition was launched, and the response of the American public in its wake. It tells us something about American public perception then, and how Americans were then divided over the role that America should play in Asian affairs.
Topic:
Foreign Policy and Military Strategy
Political Geography:
United States, Indonesia, Asia, Vietnam, and Philippines