Domestic Political Struggles Research Articles

Genocides in the European politics of History

The concepts of “genocide” and “crimes against humanity”, which crystallised in Western legal and intellectual discourse in the 1960s, have been actively exploited in various domestic political struggles and international relations (the most prominent examples being the Holocaust and the Ukrainian Holodomor), and this has implications for the politics of history. The last 20 years have witnessed significant changes in the European Union’s historical politics, both in the EU’s enlargement to the East and in the EU’s own role in the world. Whereas the narrative that emerged in West Germany in the 1970s and 1980s and was consolidated in the EU in the 1980s and 1990s centred on the Holocaust as an event unique in world history in terms of its scale and consequences, with the wave of EU enlargement in 2004 it was challenged by the new EU members. The latter proposed to treat Nazi and Soviet totalitarianism equally, thus equating the Gulag with the Holocaust. This has made European historical politics more complicated and more susceptible to internal disagreements and misunderstandings between members. The aim of this article is to elaborate on the legal and political exploitation of the concept of ‘genocide’ in the intellectual discourse of the emerging European Community, and to identify the challenges posed to it by the new geopolitical circumstances, ranging from the collapse of the Soviet Union to the military invasion of Ukraine by Russia in 2022. Finally, the recent challenges posed by post-colonial and human rights discourses are discussed in more detail, disrupting the established politics of European history, even in Germany itself, which has been at the forefront of their formation and global implementation. The conclusion is that, despite attempts to find points of contact and compromise between these different models of memory, a consensus that satisfies everyone is unfortunately not currently possible, and is unlikely to ever be achieved.

Genocides in the European politics of History

The concepts of “genocide” and “crimes against humanity”, which crystallised in Western legal and intellectual discourse in the 1960s, have been actively exploited in various domestic political struggles and international relations (the most prominent examples being the Holocaust and the Ukrainian Holodomor), and this has implications for the politics of history. The last 20 years have witnessed significant changes in the European Union’s historical politics, both in the EU’s enlargement to the East and in the EU’s own role in the world. Whereas the narrative that emerged in West Germany in the 1970s and 1980s and was consolidated in the EU in the 1980s and 1990s centred on the Holocaust as an event unique in world history in terms of its scale and consequences, with the wave of EU enlargement in 2004 it was challenged by the new EU members. The latter proposed to treat Nazi and Soviet totalitarianism equally, thus equating the Gulag with the Holocaust. This has made European historical politics more complicated and more susceptible to internal disagreements and misunderstandings between members. The aim of this article is to elaborate on the legal and political exploitation of the concept of ‘genocide’ in the intellectual discourse of the emerging European Community, and to identify the challenges posed to it by the new geopolitical circumstances, ranging from the collapse of the Soviet Union to the military invasion of Ukraine by Russia in 2022. Finally, the recent challenges posed by post-colonial and human rights discourses are discussed in more detail, disrupting the established politics of European history, even in Germany itself, which has been at the forefront of their formation and global implementation. The conclusion is that, despite attempts to find points of contact and compromise between these different models of memory, a consensus that satisfies everyone is unfortunately not currently possible, and is unlikely to ever be achieved.

In the name of culture and sustainability: A Discourse-historical approach of Japan’s whaling policy

Using a Discourse-Historical Approach, this study examined the intertextuality and legitimation strategies in five official documents issued by the Government of Japan from 2014 to 2023, revealing the strategic shifts and underlying political motives that shape Japan’s stance on the ‘whaling issue.’ It was found that the Government of Japan’s position on whaling has evolved from ‘positive cooperation’ to ‘negative withdrawal,’ and finally to ‘easing contradictions.’ Furthermore, the study investigated the external and internal factors that have driven the shifts observed in Japan’s stance on whaling. The analysis indicated that Japan’s decision to withdraw from the IWC in order to resume commercial whaling is an inevitable result of both international external pressure and domestic political power struggles.

The Donald Trump Factor and US-Ukrainian Relations (2017-2020): From Strategic Friendship to Cold Partnership

This article analyses the dynamics of relations between Ukraine and the United States under the presidency of Donald Trump, covering the approaches of the parties to bilateral cooperation, key events and issues. It describes in detail the main features of Washington’s policy towards Ukraine during this period, the factors that shaped it and the reasons for any contradictions involved. It is noted that the course of the Trump administration’s foreign policy towards Ukraine has been shaped by three factors: strong pressure from Congress, contradictions between the president and his foreign policy team, and public suspicions of collusion between Trump’s entourage and the Kremlin in the 2016 US presidential election, which was accompanied by a bitter domestic political struggle. With no room for manoeuvre in such circumstances, the Trump administration chose the safest course of action – to continue the policy of the Obama administration with certain tactical changes designed to demonstrate a more decisive stance than its predecessor. These involved a significant increase in economic and military assistance to Ukraine, including the provision of lethal weapons and the appointment of Kurt Volker as US Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations. Based on extensive empirical evidence, this paper also highlights the progress made and achievements with regard to cooperation in four areas that made up the Ukrainian-US relations agenda during the period covered: political dialogue, security, energy projects and the fight against corruption. The author shows that the contradictory nature of US policy towards Ukraine under Trump comprised a combination of a significant increase in military assistance and a decrease in the intensity of high-level political contacts.

The logic of China–US rivalry

Behind the struggle and game between China and the United States are four sets of overlapping and mutually causal logics, namely the growth and decline of the two countries’ strength, ideological differences, changes in the international environment, and domestic political influence. Sino–US relations will not be able to return to the depth of exchanges and level of cooperation at the beginning of the twenty-first century for a long time. However, the long-term interests and strategic considerations of the two countries determine that the two countries must avoid war with each other and maintain a certain degree of economic cooperation and social exchanges. The biggest uncertainty in Sino–US relations in 2024 is the chaos that may be caused by domestic political struggles in the United States. However, the official and non-governmental contacts between China and the United States since 2023 have made the upper limit of the development of bilateral relations and the bottom line of conflict clearer. Sino–US relations are difficult to improve, but they are expected to be basically stable.

1922 — the best year of the Comintern. Soviet Russia, German communists and the Genoa conference

The signing of the Declaration on the formation of the Soviet Union on December 30, 1922 marked a new stage in the history of international relations, and, at the same time, took stock of intense domestic and international political struggle unfolding in the previous years. The developments within the Communist International were of particular importance for both the outcomes of this struggle and the future of international labor movement. The author stresses that for the Comintern the year of 1922 was dominated by a struggle between the two opposing ideological and political trends: the inertia of the ‘storm and onslaught’ enthusiasm of the first post-revolutionary years and the rise of the ideas of peaceful coexistence. In this context, the paper assesses the role that the Bolshevik leaders envisaged for the Comintern during the preparation and conduct of the Genoa Conference and, particularly, for the policy of the united workers front. The author shows that the very idea of cooperation with socialists and social democrats received an extremely ambiguous reaction from representatives of Western communist parties. In this regard, the position of the German Communist Party (KPD) was of particular importance to the Bolshevik leaders. Indeed, the case of KPD was emblematic of those tendencies and contradictions that marked the development of the international communist movement in the period under review. The KPD leaders welcomed the Comintern’s turn towards a united workers front. However, the author notes that this support was based on a highly unstable compromise between multiple contradicting domestic and foreign policy imperatives, including opposition from the left-wing radicals within the party and continuous conflict with the government of the Weimar Republic, exacerbated by ideological and financial dependence on Moscow. As a result, the KPD’s actions were very often ad hoc and inconsistent, reflecting general issues typical to the international labor movement of that period. That became clear during the Fourth Congress of the Comintern, which took place at the end of 1922. It failed to outline a clear strategy for interaction between the Russian Bolsheviks and foreign communists. At the same time, the outcomes of the Fourth Congress were crucial for further evolution of the ideology and practical activities of the Comintern. The policy of the united workers front got a broader definition as the Communist International started to recognize the threat posed by fascism.

USING GROWTH CURVES MODEL TO ANALYSE THE PROSPECTS OF CHINA–PAKISTAN OIL AND LNG TRANSPORTATION CORRIDOR

In order to analysing the oil and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) import and consumption changing trends, the Occurrence Period (OP), Growth Period (GP) and Maturation Period (MP) of oil and LNG import and consumption in China, and studying how the oil and LNG import and consumption changing trends influence the development of China–Pakistan oil and LNG transportation corridor (CPOLTC), in this paper we apply a Growth Curve Model (GCM) based approach to solve the problems mentioned above. First, the Chinese oil and LNG import and consumption changing trends are analysed by applying the GCM. The results show that oil and LNG consumption and import belong to the GP because of the fast industrialization and urbanization development, so the oil and LNG import and consumption demand will increase fast; Then, the External Dependence (ED) is applied to describe the oil and LNG consumption dependence degree in China, the results show that import will remain high ED value, especially for the oil import (over 70%), which means the security of the energy supply chain still remains the central idea of Chin’s energy policies. Finally, the challenges and key issues of CPOLTC is analysed. Challenges are: domestic political struggles and institutional defects in Pakistan make the CPOLTC projects lacking of implementation, security along the corridor, influence and competition from external forces, impacts of western project culture, the comprehensive projects establishment ability in Pakistan, etc. The key issues are: Value Engineering (VE) researches for projects, Chinese element such as project construction, management, standards and specifications, assessment of the projects’ life cycle and so on.

Elite and popular contradictions in security coordination: overcoming the binary distinction of the Israeli coloniser and the colonised Palestinian

ABSTRACT Settler colonial theory has made a hugely significant contribution to the theorisation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, but there is a danger that its application to the specific practice of security coordination could simply render the practice as an instrument of settler colonial rule. In this article, we would like to propose the important qualification that Coordination is, in practice, deeply conflicted and subject to multiple internal pressures, which extend from elites to public opinion. In accepting that Coordination can be appropriately viewed through a settler colonial lens, we would like to argue that it can also be viewed from ‘below’, and as an object of domestic political struggle that is implicated in legitimisation processes. Coordination is therefore simultaneously renounced and retained as part of the survival strategy of assorted elite groups. In order to demonstrate this, we reference Elite theory, interviews and online materials. Moreover, internal Palestinian divides suggest that opposition is more incomplete, partial and reactive within the neoliberal and settler colonial context.

Brazilian foreign policy: from the combined to the unbalanced axis (2003/2021)

From 2003 until 2021, Brazilian foreign policy has endured several changes and upheavals that are affecting its international relations traditions and projection. This process is generated by domestic political struggles, the instability of the world’s balance of power towards multipolarity and is linked to a more comprehensive strategy of public policies. Based on a qualitative review and critical analysis, the aim of this article is to examine these agendas, and the combined and unbalanced axis of the current foreign policy transition.

Struggles for a universal health system in Brazil: successes, obstacles and setbacks

Abstract Brazil is a populous middle-income country, characterized by deep economic and social inequalities. Like most Latin American nations, Brazil historically constructed a health system that included, on the one hand, public health programs and, on the other, social insurance healthcare, which only covered formal workers. This study analyzes the implementation of a universal health system from the mid-1980s to the present, focusing on the context, political agendas, government orientations, and actors. Research techniques included a literature review, interviews with national health authorities, analysis of documents and selected health indicators. In the 1980s, against the backdrop of democratization, Brazil's health reform movement proposed a Unified Health System (SUS), which was incorporated into the 1988 Constitution. The combination of a democratic system with opportunities for interaction between various developmental and social agendas and actors has played a key role in shaping health policy since then. However, the expansion of public services has been hampered by insufficient public funding and by the strengthening of the private sector, subsidized by the state. Private enterprises have expanded their markets and political influence, in a process that has accelerated in recent years. Despite these obstacles, SUS has produced significant health-status improvements and some reductions in Brazil's health inequalities. A combination of long-term structural and contingent factors, international agendas and interests, and domestic political struggles, explains the advances and obstacles to building a universal system in an economically important yet unequal peripheral country. Further consolidation of SUS and reduction of health inequalities hinge on the uncertain prospects for democracy and national development, on enlarging the political coalition to support a public and universal health system, and on strengthening the state's ability to regulate the private sector. Key messages The implementation of a universal health system in Brazil has favored health improvements but has been hampered by insufficient funding and by state subsidies to the expansion of the private sector. A combination of structural and institutional factors, international and domestic political agendas and interests explains the advances and obstacles to building a universal system in Brazil.

How Can Money Conquer France? On the Question about the Monetary Policy of King Henry V in 1415–1422

This article studies the peculiarities of the monetary policy of English king Henry V in the territories of the Kingdom of France occupied by him between 1415 and 1422. The purpose of the study is to establish its influence on the state of finance in France and, first of all, on the sharp depreciation of silver money following the defeat. Within the framework of English politics, two stages can be clearly traced: the first one lasted from 1415 to 1420, when monetary policy was indirect in nature, influencing the French economy by the fact of conquest and becoming an additional factor in the aggravation of the domestic political struggle, and the other one lasted from 1420 to 1422 and was connected with the intention of Henry V as regent of the Kingdom of France, to bring the financial system into relative order. The author refers to French and English chronicles, The Diary of a Parisian Citizen, as well as the ordinances of the kings of France, which reflected the peculiarities of the monetary policy, more particularly, changes in the exchange rate and weight of silver coins and attempts to carry out reforms. The study carried out makes it possible to find out that the depreciation of the French silver coin was associated with the beginning of the British conquest of Normandy and the transfer of mints located there. A sharp drop in the money rate occurred after the transfer of Paris into the hands of the Burgundians and the formation in the fall of 1418 of an independent financial administration in the south of France under the control of the dauphin. On the contrary, some stabilisation followed the conclusion of the Treaty of Troyes, and the General States adopted a course towards reforms in December 1420. The author determines the stages of the reform and the reasons for its delay. These include: the lack of control over all the mints of the kingdom, the lack of coin metal and the required number of qualified personnel. Finally, the premature death of Henry V in the summer of 1422 did not allow the completion of the monetary reform.

Der Vertrag zwischen der Bundesrepublik Deutschland und der Volksrepublik Polen über die Grundlagen der Normalisierung ihrer gegenseitigen Beziehungen als Zäsur in der Geschichte der Bonner Republik

For Poland, the "Warsaw Treaty between the Federal Republic of Germany and the People's Republic of Poland" brought legal certainty: The Polish western border was now recognized by both German states under international law. For the Federal Republic of Germany, the tough domestic political struggle for ratification of the treaty marks a turning point. The essay describes this struggle between the social-liberal government and the conservative opposition against the background of the German constitution (Basic Law), which should ensure the stability of the democratic system based on the experiences from the Weimar period. It shows how the conflict parties used instruments of the no-confidence vote and the dissolution of parliament and what role the Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht) played in this conflict: The leading decision of the court is analysed in detail. Last but not least, the surprising role of the GDR in this conflict is also examined.

South-South trade and sustainable development: The case of Ceylon tea

While there is a substantial body of research focused on the links between North-South trade and sustainable development, research on South-South trade and sustainable development is still in its infancy. Given current understandings of the drivers of sustainable development, one might expect increasing trade in agricultural commodities within the global South to have a negative impact on sustainable development opportunities. In this sense, the Ceylon tea industry presents a puzzle. Despite exporting most of its tea to Southern markets, it has been among the top performers in terms of economic, social, and environmental practices. As such, the case raises a number of questions around shifting trade patterns and their implications for sustainability outcomes. I address these questions through four propositions – three mechanisms and one condition – through which South-South trade can expand the opportunities for sustainable development. While the exact nature of sustainable development outcomes will ultimately be decided through domestic political struggles, shifts toward more equal trade can make sustainable production more likely. Overall, the analysis draws attention to nuanced ways in which end markets shape their respective supply chains and how these dynamics impact the potential for actors operating at the bottom of supply chains to shape sustainability outcomes.

Reexamining Taiwan’s South China Sea policy dilemma

While other claimants are directly involved in maritime territorial disputes and dialogues, Taiwan has stalled its momentum and kept its distance from controversy. The government in Taiwan has quietly retreated from the most legitimate and conventional role in the South China Sea in hope of gaining diplomatic support in the region. Many have wondered why Taiwan consistently shies away from the issues. Does the government in Taiwan realize its key role in the South China Sea has been further marginalized as a result? Over the last 2 decades, following democratization, various administrations in Taiwan only managed to imply that Taiwan may have a policy guideline on the South China Sea, but not a firm policy per se. With substantially less political weight in domestic political debates and fierce power struggles in Taipei, Taiwan’s South China Sea claim has unfortunately been left far behind general issues on the policy agenda, especially when the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is in power. Due to their relevance to the People's Republic of China (PRC) and Taiwan’s complicated relationship with it, the DPP does not want to attach its political efforts to South China Sea issues. This paper intends to review the effectiveness of political measures on South China Sea issues taken by various administrations in Taiwan and examine reasons why indecision has become mainstream in policy thinking on the territorial disputes.

The Russian Bear and the Revolution: The Bear Metaphor for Russia in Political Caricatures of 1917–1918

Using an analysis of satirical journals published in Russia, Germany, Great Britain, and Poland in 1917–1918, this paper explores how caricaturists employed the metaphor of the bear to represent revolutionary events in Russia. The first part of the paper characterizes historical and intellectual contexts for the use of the image of the Russian bear in Western and Russian cultures. Then, the authors discuss how European caricaturists exploited this image to shape perceptions of the Russian revolution. The final part of the article focuses on employing the bear metaphor in Russian satirical journals. The authors point out that the use of the bear was a part of struggle for interpreting Russia’s revolutionary events, and this struggle was carried out in no small part in caricatures. It contributed to shaping representations of delegitimating power, domestic political struggle in Russia, substantiation of national character in the revolution, and its influence on Russia’s participation in the Great War and on the independence of Poland. The polysemy of the bear symbol provided the possibility to exploit it both for support of the revolution and its criticism. Representations of the revolution through the prism of the bear metaphor varied by political orientation of journals, the country represented, and political dynamics during the period under consideration. There was one commonality: this metaphor was used to symbolize Russianness in both positive and negative meanings.

Small State Anti-Fascism: Norway’s Quest to Eliminate the Franco Regime in the Aftermath of World War II

In the early postwar years Norway was among the most active in the campaign against Franco’s Spain, supporting the policy of keeping Spain out of the UN, and pushing for UN members to break off diplomatic relations with Spain. Within a few years the policy of ostracism was seen to fail as it appeared to strengthen rather than weaken the Franco regime. Spain was then gradually allowed into the warmth. Until the early 1950s Norway’s retreat from its 1946 position was very reluctant, and it was in 1949 the last Western European state to accept normalization. Spain retaliated with economic pressures, and by 1951 Norway had relented and joined in the general reestablishment of normal diplomatic relations, and in 1955 accepted the package deal that brought Spain into the UN. The article discusses the foreign policy concerns and the domestic political struggles that explain Norwegian policies, including the veto on Spanish NATO membership that was never given up.

Монгольский вопрос в политике Коминтерна

The foreign policy course of Soviet Russia in the 1920–1930s was aimed at spreading the ideas of the world revolution and the struggle against international imperialism. In connection with the defeat of the revolutionary movement in Europe, the Asian direction of revolutionizing has become the most promising one. The Comintern acted as a kind of corridor for the ideas of the world revolution to the East, and China foremost. In the policy of the Comintern, Mongolia and the Mongolian question associated with its playing an important role in promoting revolutionary ideas using the national liberation movement of Mongolian peoples (panmongolism). Later, with the changing international situation and regarding the military threat from Japan, the Comintern concentrated its work on strengthening its own positions, in supporting the Left in the domestic political struggle, as well as on bilateral Soviet-Mongolian relations.

From imperial revenants to Cold War victims: ‘red repatriates’ from the Soviet Union and the making of the new Japan, 1949–1952

When over half a million former Imperial Japanese Army soldiers returned home from long captivity in Soviet labour camps in the late 1940s, they brought back more than their memories of hardship and humiliation. In post-war society, the Siberian returnees were the uncomfortable remnants of the failed Japanese Empire; yet it was their brush with the communist enemy that caused suspicion and dragged them into the domestic political struggles. In this article, I use the experiences of Siberian internees as a lens to reconsider Japan’s formative post-war decade, when the onset of the Cold War eclipsed the inconvenient legacies of empire.

ТАЙВАНЬСКИЙ ВОПРОС: ВНЕШНИЕ И ВНУТРЕННИЕ ДЕТЕРМИНАНТЫ

The article is devoted to peculiarities of the Taiwan question, given a special position of the island in the modern system of regional and international relations. The specificity of the relations between the two shores of the Taiwan Strait, the domestic political struggle, a unique position in the regional system of Southeast Asia, regional and transregional integration processes provide a model for well-balanced interaction. Constant vector of the PRC's policy towards the island, the formation of a new paradigm of Taiwan’s “viable diplomacy”, the change of investment flows of USA to Taiwan in periods of ruling of Kuomintang and DPP - distance the prospect of a military solution to the issue of the two shores. The difficulty faced by one or the other leading party of Taiwan is determined by the structural dif-ferences in their programs relative (a key parameter) to mainland China. In the twenty-first century PRC demonstrates the high efficiency of economic instruments for reintegration. In addition to the restrictions, from the point of view of convergence of opposite sides, and, given the long-term prospects, most acceptable is the creation of preferential terms of trade and economic cooperation. This model is applicable by Beijing at the regional and transregional levels. The authors conclude that Taiwan's economy closely connected with mainland China complements the civilizational message of the unity of the Han and their right to civilizational dominance in Southeast Asia and the Asia-Pacific region.

THE ANGOLAN PUZZLE: VARIED ACTORS AND COMPLEX ISSUES

Too frequently policy makers in Washington or Moscow see local or regional issues in southern Africa solely through their own, often distorted, lenses. And seen exclusively in ideological, or alternatively East-West or Cold War terms, they view their interests as inherently antagonistic. The old African maxim popular among non-aligned leaders in the early 1960's is apropos: "When the bull elephants fight, the grass gets trampled." Yet, unlike two elephants contesting clashing claims to territory of or sexual supremacy, southern Africa is not the territory of either of the super powers. Nor does Angola belong to other regional powers, notably South Africa. Although such states may have "interests" there, Angola is not their's to shape. One way of slicing into Angolan analysis is to try to appreciate the diversity of parties to the dispute. In this regard Angola is tremendously complicated. Angola is an issue that has metastasized in the sense that it has ramified or spread out to touch not only Angolans, but neighboring peoples, and governments far beyond southern Africa.1 This is not new. During Angola's war for independence, Portugal's membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization provided support for its faltering colonial regime. It thus almost assured that Portugal's wars be internationalized. To offset that external weight, the various national movements for independence drew upon assistance and sanctuary provided by other states, other movements and interstate organizations. Metastasis implies that a localized disease spreads as it grows. Angola also serves as a lure attracting foreign interests that see in Angola an opportunity to expand their power and influence. By imposition as well as invitation external forces sought to exploit Angola's vunerabilities. As a result, ten years ago Colin Legum titled one of his books After Angola: The War Over Southern Africa.2 For 25 years now, as John Marcum so well reviews, Angola has represented an issue of continual unrest.3 Angola does not go away, and until it is resolved other regional issues cannot be addressed directly and without let. Thus Angola involves more than just geographical Angola. The Angola puzzle is at once an issue of domestic Angolan politics and an issue of international political economy, both regional and global. In that respect the question might be approached as a problem in the classic level-of-analysis dilemma.4 Do we study Angola chiefly as a question of the international system? In that case issues of domestic interest are seen as instrumental to the larger interstate systemic issues. How do various state and non-state actors relate to one another and why? What is the larger balance of forces and interests or the correlation of forces in the world and in the region? Or do we see international politics as just one component of the domestic Angolan political struggle? The interstate system level of analysis emphasizes external determinants of state behavior. The national or state level of analysis attributes such behavior largely to internal characteristics: the lpolitical system, the economy, and the social structure of Angola itself. There is a third level of analysis that provides an even sharper, more microscopic view of the Angolan questionthe decision-making level. The policy makers, the policy and the decisions taken by individual governments and decision-making bodies of non-state actors and movements become the focus. How do policy makers perceive the political arena in which they operate? Which elements, factions and interests prevail in the various actors involved and how do they relate to other actors and interests? A chief consideration with regard to Angola is the tremendous complexity of the issue. This complexity is reflected in several different ways. First, there are a large number of major actors involved. Various Angolan parties, especially the MPLA and UNITA, diverse foreign regimes. Secondly, within many of the actors there is debate and disagreement on how best to deal with the issues at hand. Americans have followed closely the pull and tug between various U.S. parties, factions, offices and personalities over southern African policy. No less a confusion of opinion exists, for example, in South Africa or within the Angolan government. This, in turn, contributes to the third