Diplomatic Battle Research Articles

Xi Jinping’s Consolidation of Power at the 20th Party Congress: Implications for Chinese Foreign Policy

The 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in October 2022 secured Xi Jinping’s third term as General Secretary and secured a team of supporters amid socioeconomic woes and increasingly hostile global circumstances. While leadership matters in all political systems, it matters much more in totalitarian and authoritarian ones. Political leaders in democracies are constrained by electoral cycles, term limits, and approval ratings, but the leaders of the PRC’s single-party system that emphasizes discipline, hierarchy, and democratic centralism operate relatively unchecked by bureaucracy, opposition forces, or public opinion. Its leaders possess the ultimate decision-making authority in national security and strategic policies (Zhao, 2022, p. 5).The consolidation of Xi’s power has far-reaching implications for China’s foreign policy. As a feared, sycophantically revered, and ruthless emperor confident in his country’s military power and economic clout, Xi feels equipped to accomplish his mission of making China great again. He has also inherited a pervasive insecurity of pushback from Western powers that threatens his authoritarian rule. He has therefore upheld the security of the regime beyond Deng Xiaoping and his decades of prioritizing growth. Proactively stifling any opposition to his rule and cracking down on any hint of a “color revolution” at home in connection with foreign forces, Xi has strengthened the military and reorganized the economy in preparation for a possible showdown with the United States. He has required Chinese diplomats to act as “wolf warriors” in diplomatic battles and fight criticisms of the regime even at the cost of escalating international tensions. While his team of supporters has maximized his power to implement his policies, this has also prevented his colleagues from counseling against any mistakes they may anticipate or discover. Intentionally or not, he has minimized opportunities to correct his mistakes and increased the stakes and the risks they present, raising the potential for his country to become embroiled in a foreign adventure of no return.

거란과 고려의 保州 영유권 분쟁

In the 10th century, Song in China, Kitan in Manchuria, and Goryeo in the Korean Peninsula were unified. However, territorial disputes frequently occurred as the three countries faced each other with borders centered on Kitan. In Liaodong, Kitan and Goryeo fought wars and diplomatic battles boringly over the Yalu River basin, which was Balhae‘s territory. With the accession of the sixth emperor(聖宗), his Eastern policy and Goryeo's northern policy clashed. Eventually, the Kitan invaded Goryeo, and with this opportunity, the two countries signed an agreement to make the southern part of the Yalu River a territory of Goryeo and the northern part a territory of Kitan. However, not only did he abandon his diplomatic cause and maintain effective control over the already ceded Boju(保州), but he also invaded again to return all six Gangdong states(江東六州). Boju is an area located in the lower reaches of the Yalu River and corresponds to the throat connecting Liaodong and the Korean Peninsula. Goryeo could not yield because it was a military hub and an important transportation and trade hub. Goryeo protested several times to destroy various facilities of Kitan built in Boju and further asked for the return of the site, but failed to achieve its intention. Goryeo had to win Boju on a strategic level, but it was not able to forcibly recapture Boju due to its weak military power. In such a situation, Jurchen rose and founded the Jin Dynasty, and due to the fierce offensive of the Jin, Kitan was in danger, so Goryeo had a chance to acquire Boju again. Goryeo used diplomatic means rather than physical means to compromise with Kitan and Jin. When Kitan withdrew his troops, delivered Naewonseong Fortress(來遠城) and Boju to Goryeo. Goryeo occupied Boju before the Jin's army and asked the Jin Dynasty to recognize their ownership. Jin Dynasty recognized the ownership of Goryeo in return for subservience to the stronger. Finally incorporated Boju into Goryeo's territory. In this way, Goryeo obtained six weeks of Gangdong and Boju by serve Kitan and Yeojin. Subservience to the stronger, in which a small country serves a large country, were international practices at the time. As long as they became a hegemonic power in Northeast Asia, it was a practical option for Goryeo. Goryeo acquired territory and maintained friendly relations between the two countries to minimize the war, which created favorable conditions for the development of Goryeo.

Covid-19 Vaccine and International Relations

The initial policy of the countries that developed vaccines has been to lock the vaccine by patent. This has been due to the fact that domestic demand for vaccine was mounting. Since only a few countries could invest in it, manufacturing and export remained at the behest of those few resulting in deep inequity in the global rollout. Pandemics are global health crises. Hence, calls for the patent waiver for the COVID-19 vaccine are growing to access the vaccine. The vaccine and its production, marketing and distribution have been politicized driven by the hegemonic aspiration. Both manufacturing and import-dependent countries are racing to win the diplomatic battle: the former has to win to gain hegemony and the latter to get the vaccine. Hence, the vaccine distribution has been marked with deep discrimination, and as a result, the migrant community is less likely to get their vaccine on time. This article engages in the decades-long debate over intellectual property rights and patenting life-saving vaccines. We argue that exemption of COVID-19 vaccines from intellectual property rights would improve global access and equity.

Как России после вывода российских войск из Латвии удалось сохранить на 6 лет станцию предупреждения о ракетном нападении в Скрунде. Воспоминания российского посла

After Latvia gained independence in 1991, the question arose of withdrawing Soviet troops and military installations from the territory of the Republic. It was not only difficult, but it seemed impossible to achieve acceptable withdrawal conditions for Russia, in the euphoria of "new thinking" and the furious campaign of Latvian national radicals. The author, who was the head of the Russian State delegation at the talks with Latvia on these issues, reveals the hidden story of the ensuing diplomatic battle within its domestic and international context, analyzes its course, circumstances, lessons and importance.

Between Scylla and Charybdis: Bulgaria in geopolitical calculations of Germany and the USSR at the early stage of World War II

The article covers the position of Bulgaria, which found itself at the cross-roads of geopolitical interests of Germany and the Soviet Union in the initial period of the Second world war and was forced to employ the tactics of maneuvering and dragging its heels choosing its strategic partner and ally. Having declared complete and consistent neutrality, Bulgarian leadership in practice tended to turn the country into a «Pro-German» unit, which was greatly facilitated by the assistance of Berlin in the transfer of Southern Dobrudja to Bulgaria. In addition to the willingness of the German leadership to guarantee territorial increments of Bulgaria, Sofia's position was to a great extent influenced by the fear of Bolshevism and the so-called «Baltic scenario» implemented by that time. Bulgaria's entry into the Triple Pact in March of 1941 meant that the USSR lost the diplomatic battle for Bulgaria.

Problems and Prospects for Conflict Settlement in the East of Ukraine: Diplomatic Battles

In the first section of the work, the study of the beginning of armed aggression of the RF against Ukraine in 2014, which ended with the annexation of the Crimea by Russia, was conducted.The second chapter explores the further development of Russia’s large-scale intrusion into the territory of Ukraine in 2014-2015.In the third section of the work, attention is paid to the peculiarities of a complex negotiation process aimed at finding ways to resolve the conflict in the Donbass.The study of diplomatic battles allowed us to determine the prospects for the further development of relations between Ukraine and other leading countries of the world.

On Hostile Soil: Spanish Republican Diplomats in Berlin at the Onset of the Spanish Civil War

German intervention in the Spanish Civil War was decisive for its development and result. Traditionally scholars have focused their attention on the support given by the Third Reich to the military rebels; however, they have widely neglected the study of the relationship between Germany and the Spanish Republic during the first four months of the war, when both countries maintained diplomatic relations. This paper aims at exploring a crucial aspect of that historical period, namely the circumstances of the Spanish diplomats in Berlin during those first four months, and the strategies that the German and the Spanish governments carried out in the harsh diplomatic battle that they ended up fighting. The author explains the difficult working conditions of the Spanish diplomats who were loyal to the Republic and stayed in Berlin in July 1936, when most of their colleagues deserted. Finally, he explores how the German Foreign Affairs Department, in collaboration with the Gestapo, managed to restrain the Spanish Republic diplomatic action in Germany.

The Congress of Vienna: Power and Politics after Napoleon by Brian E. Vick

The Congress of Vienna: Power and Politics after Napoleon, by Brian E. Vick. Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 2014. 448 pp. $45.00 US (cloth). This engaging work provides an innovative approach to Congress of Vienna by placing its deliberations in a wider political, cultural, and social context. The author, Brian E. Vick, construes both diplomacy and Congress in broad terms that encompass festivals, publications, marketing, salons, and other influences on Congress' work. His emphasis on the embeddedness of diplomacy and its actors in wider and deeper and political culture (330) of time affords both a better understanding of Congress' and an opportunity to see a of issues that have previously evaded historian's gaze. The result is a fresh account that skillfully historicizes world of Congress while also identifying a significant role for diverse historical not least of all women. The book begins with a deft analysis of broader political field of Congress era before turning to a series of specific diplomatic battles that Vick presents in a new light. The first three chapters--on festivity and display, press and market for memorabilia and entertainment, and salon and elite networks--rest on proposition that neither diplomats nor diplomacy were set apart from broader society, culture, and ideas (1). Rather, Vick underscores utility of opening up analysis to the second rank of political actors, including not only diplomats and statesmen but also the wider society of politically engaged individuals with potential influence on political discourse or political decisions (7). Vick's exploration of festivals, merchandising, and salon cultures allows us to perceive how preoccupations of this larger society were crucial in shaping political settlement that emerged. Here we see a curious combination of military and religious, sublime and crassly commercial, courtly and popular, medieval and modern--all shaped by agency of women as well as men. The intents of those who organized festivities or published pamphlets were often subverted or otherwise altered as their consumers invested those products with their own interpretations. Patriotism and religiosity were not merely sentiments to be cultivated and expressed but also became cultural commodities and multimedia entertainment, with entrepreneurs stepping in to promote forms of politics that still repelled established regimes. Salons brought statesmen and rulers into direct contact with broader publics whose influence on politics proved significant. Turning to specific diplomatic issues, Vick departs from general histories in important ways, though at points he seems more concerned with filling holes than with fundamentally reinterpreting Congress. He devotes an entire chapter to religious politics, focusing above all on Jewish question but also exploring reconstruction of Catholic Church and development of religious liberty. Vick detects in these discussions humanitarian arguments and a universalizing language of human rights more developed than one might expect. …

The enemy underground: geostrategic intelligence and the war in Algeria

During the Algerian war (1954–1962), beside the war events proper, another conflict took place: a diplomatic and technocratic battle for the possession of Saharan oil resources in the name of national energy security. Its main actors were France, Italy, the US, and Algerian independence fighters. In the case I analyse in this paper, I show that the three Western-block countries used their local knowledge of the subsurface given by the collaboration of the three elements of: (1) geoscientists, (2) their national oil companies, and (3) their respective diplomatic bodies, in order to carve out a prominent place for themselves in the exploitation of Saharan resources. Algerian nationalists also succeeded in benefiting from this knowledge. I argue that this struggle for natural resources in a post-independence scenario, and the corresponding role of the geosciences in it, significantly contributed to influence the final configuration of the postwar Algerian hydrocarbon sector.

Als God op Aarde

Abstract The diplomatic battle over precedence between France and Spain by way of arguments, 1564-1610 Conflicts over precedence were a disruptive but integral part of European diplomacy in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. This article will explain both the insolubility and the importance of such conflicts, by analyzing the actual arguments made by French and Spanish publicists between 1564 and 1610 who argued for the supremacy of their own king. This analysis shows that national concepts of kingship were central to their reasoning: they identified the most characteristic features of their own brand of kingship and presented these as the criteria by which to construct international hierarchy. This meant first that no consensus was possible, either on the international order itself, or on the criteria to be used; and second, that not only princes, but also diplomats, lawyers, and historians were deeply involved in these conflicts.

Walka dyplomatyczna Polski o Galicję Wschodnią 1918‑1923

Walka dyplomatyczna Polski o Galicję Wschodnią 1918‑1923

UN Resolution 61/225: a gift to the diabetes world

UN Resolution 61/225: a gift to the diabetes world

FDR and the Soviet Union: The President's Battles over Foreign Policy by Mary E. s> Glantz (review)

362 SEER, 85, 2, 2007 The authorhas adaptedhis title 'The Land of the White Dusk?' from that of Sir Paul Dukes's memoirsabout Soviet Russia, RedDuskandtheMorrow (London, I922). Fortunately, Finland experienced a happier morrow than Russia. Enormousprogresswas made during the 1920S and I930Sin building a democratic state in Finland. In I9I8-2I the nation was deeply divided; in 1939 Finland united to resist Soviet aggression. Berkhamsted J. E. 0. SCREEN Glantz, Mary E. FDRandtheSoviet Union: 7hePresident's Battles over Foreign Policy. Modern War Studies. University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 2005. Viii + 253 pp. Notes. Bibliography.Index. ?27.50. THE diplomatic battles identified by Mary Glantz that added to Franklin Roosevelt's burdens were between the president and those entrusted with carrying out his policy towards the Soviet Union. Glantz has undoubtedly made a distinct contribution to our understanding of the evolution of his policy in her wide-ranging, well researched and stimulatingstudy. Previous workshave focused on the makersof policy ratherthan its executors. Glantz makes effective use of an explanation of the tensions that can disrupt the businessof government offeredby Graham T. Allison, namely, that the main obstacle presidents must overcome is bureaucratic 'politics'. Glantz goes so far as to suggest that these struggles within the executive branch defined 'the formulation of United States-Soviet relations throughout Roosevelt's presidency' (pp. I, 35). Consequently,Glantz'sprime focus is on the machineryof governmentand the president's effort to modify it. These manoeuvres, she believes, offer 'a necessaryclue' (p. 2) to elucidatingthe enigmaticRoosevelt'smotives. She also gives due weight to the impact of militaryfactors on diplomatic calculations. The latterwould seem to be an obviousfactor,but the militarydimension has often been overlooked.The historiographyhas been influencedby an undue preoccupationwith diplomaticevents resultingfrom an obsessionwith seeking out the origins of the Cold War rather than illuminating the history of the Second World War. The basis of FDR's policy had been laid down before I939 thanks to the work of the Ambassador in Moscow, Joseph E. Davies, and the military attache, Lieutenant Colonel Philip R. Faymonville, who built up extensive contacts with the Soviet military. Their successors, Ambassadors Laurence Steinhardtand Admiral William H. Standley, and attaches Ivan Yeaton arid Joseph Michela, were much more hostile to the Soviet Union. They favoured a strictpolicy of reciprocity.Concessionsshouldbe demanded from the Soviet Union in return for any aid, and Soviet diplomats should be treated in the same way as the Americans, few of whom enjoyed their service in Moscow. Glantz argues that this group proved incapable of grasping the strategic importance of the Soviet Union within a broad internationalcontext. They allowed their anti-Sovietprejudicesto warp theirjudgment;Moscow Embassy staffunderestimatedthe importance of the Soviet Union as an ally. REVIEWS 363 Glantz explores the intellectuallegacy of Robert F. Kelley, the head of the State Department'sDivision of EastEuropeanAffairs.He chose and groomed an entire generation of Soviet experts that remained hostile to Roosevelt's policy of developing American-Soviet cooperation. Before I943 Roosevelt sought to hold the GrandAlliance together,mainly because of the vital Soviet contributionof pinning down the bulk of the Wehrmacht.He remainedwary of any compromisepeace that the Sovietsmight signwith Hitler, and thought reciprocity was a luxury the Western Allies could not afford. He was thus prepared to give the Soviet Union all the aid that it demanded. Roosevelt by-passedcriticsin the State Department and Moscow Embassyby sending a stream of special envoys to deal with Stalin directly, including Davies, Wendell Wilkie and W. Averell Harriman. He also by-passed the bureaucracyby creating the Office of Lend Lease Administration(OLLA),whose Moscow office for a time operated independently of the Embassyunder the direction of BrigadierGeneral Faymonville. Admiral Standley mounted a counter attack. He ambushed Davies at a Moscow press conference, having briefed the press against his predecessor. On 8 March I943 he denounced the Soviet Union and embarrassed Roosevelt, by claiming that the Kremlin was ungratefuland concealed from the Russian people the source of Lend Lease material. And Faymonville's reputation was besmirched when Michela had the FBI investigate him on 'moralscharges' (p. I35), that is, homosexuality. After I943 Roosevelt's dependence on the Soviet militarycontributiondid not diminish, as the Second Front could not be opened untilJune...

Envisioning the French Empire: Utrecht, 1711-1713

In the negotiation of the Anglo-French Treaty of Utrecht, 11 April 1713, the most hard-fought diplomatic battles concerned questions of commerce and colonies. The comte de Pontchartrain, secretary for the Navy, framed an argument for empire that was mercantilistic and maritime, an approach that also governed strategic thinking about the colonial world. Inland territorial claims in North America received scant attention. Of course, the French vision of empire was an abstraction, a construction based on theory, dispatches, books, and maps that encouraged the designation of grand trading zones and the projecting of notional boundaries in little-known regions. Sea charts and maps encouraged a geometrizing of colonial space congenial to a Cartesian passion for method and clarity.

Britain Gets Its Way: Power and Peace in Anglo-American Relations, 1838-1846

From the perspective of twenty-first-century America, it seems natural to assume that no other nation has ever been able seriously to threaten the continental states with its navy or military. The assumption that US geography has always deterred such pressure, however, ignores the early Victorian era. In the 1830s and 1840s, one nation could and did pose a credible threat to the United States: Great Britain. As the world's supreme naval and financial power, Britain had the means to protect and advance its interests in the face of American belligerence. Ultimately, Britain's strength deterred the United States from turning the tensions of 1838-46 into war. True, by this time Britain could never invade and reconquer its former American colonies. But it was never in its interest to go to war with the US. Anglo-American commercial relations were quite profitable, and peace kept them so. Furthermore, the British preferred a divided America, fighting over slavery and states' rights, to one united against an external enemy. Britain's goal was peace, but the methods it used to avoid war with the US in this period did not look particularly peaceful. Especially under Foreign Minister Lord Palmerston, preserving the peace did not equate with yielding in diplomatic battles. Rather, a `strong stance' warned the US away from confrontations of a more lethal kind. Interestingly, the prospect of a British invasion through Canada played only a relatively small part in this deterrence. More important was the ability of the Royal Navy, with new gunnery and steam vessels, to strike at the populous and prosperous cities of the eastern and southern coasts of the US. Britain knew the possibilities for mayhem, as did the US government and some, at least, of the American public. Besides Britain's technical advantages, its funding and political support for the navy were second to none. While the US struggled in vain to finance new ships and fortifications, the British cabinet could rest assured that if the Royal Navy required more funding, it would get it. The British government counted on the navy's strength to intimidate the Americans in controversies over the Caroline and McLeod affairs, the Maine boundary and the Oregon territory. Palmerston's personal style of `gunboat diplomacy' may have encouraged this course, but he and his colleagues did worry that the political system of the United States might lead it to start a war neither side really wanted: the fevered American press and people might push the government to some act the British could not tolerate. Britain used the Royal Navy to signal the dire consequences of such an act and forced the American government to resist popular pressure. Geography in these cases was not enough to shield the US; Britain's strong stance preserved its existing interests and maintained peace.

Mark S.W. Hoyle, Mixed Courts of Egypt

The Mixed Courts, their organization and composition, as well as the political and diplomatic battle for their foundation, have been discussed in hundreds of books and articles. These works date mostly from the time of the Mixed Courts. They are the memoirs of judges, lawyers, and legal administrators or parliamentary and diplomatic reports, thus writings which are surveys as much as historical sources. A classical example is the 1930 The Mixed Courts of Egypt by Jasper Yeates Brinton, who wa...

The New Zionist organization's diplomatic battle against partition, 1936–1937

The New Zionist organization's diplomatic battle against partition, 1936–1937

The Construction Market: Japan Slams the Door

America has been fighting a bitter diplomatic and trade battle against blatant protectionism in Japan9s $380 billion per year construction market. Focusing on a new international airport project near Osaka, this article explains why the dispute and its outcome are so crucial. At stake is open U.S. access to hundreds of billions of dollars more in contracts from new Japanese high-technology public works projects that will give the nation a new social infrastructure. If the U.S. continues to be shut out of Japan while Japanese continue to aggressively invade the U.S. and third-country markets, construction could become another major strategic industry in which American corporations will have lost a significant share of the global market.

Frameworks for Arab-Israeli negotiations?What difference do they make?

It is unfortunate that procedural controversies about the appropriate forum for negotiations often delay substantive talks on how to accommodate conflicting interests. But historical experience indicates that the participants believe the forum to be important. If and when a decision to renew negotiations is reached, the choice of the forum and the shaping of its structure will not be determined by its effectiveness as a vehicle for conflict resolution, but by the political calculus of bargaining power, and side effects, that such a forum would entail. International negotiations are aimed at conflict resolution. But they cannot be divorced from competitive power politics. The disputes about fora for negotiations are not about choosing an effective structure for making peace, but about seizing the high ground for the diplomatic battles ahead.

Review

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