Free World Research Articles

VLIK from Madrid to Vienna: the Search for a New Political Direction in the Liberation of Lithuania

The Supreme Committee for the Liberation of Lithuania (Vyriausiasis Lietuvos išlaisvinimo komitetas, VLIK), relying on its right to speak on behalf of the subjugated nation and its belief in the meaning of the Helsinki Accords, emphasised the importance of the Madrid conference for the liberation activities of Lithuania. One more aspect of the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, specifically the territorial integrity principle applicable to the liberation process of the Baltic States, was raised in the Spanish capital. Starting in 1981, the VLIK sought to draw international attention to the situation of Lithuanian dissidents in the Soviet Union and drafted memoranda on the situation in Lithuania. After it was ascertained that there was no possibility to raise the case of Lithuania’s freedom at the United Nations, focus was shifted to the situation evolving in Europe. A permanent VLIK representative for maintaining contacts with the European Parliament (EP) was therefore appointed. In co-operation with the Lithuanian diplomatic service and political organisations, the VLIK operated consistently and saw the passing of an EP resolution on the situation in the Baltic States in 1983. Observing signs of a new political trend in the liberation process of Lithuania, the VLIK sought to ensure that the ‘passive position of non-recognition of the occupation of Lithuania’ would become ‘an active and effective campaign’. To this end, expanding the geographical scope of its political activities, the VLIK established and strengthened its representative offices in North and South America, Australia, and Europe. The earlier strategy of cooperation between Lithuanians in the free world and those in the occupied country remained. Having established its intention to restore the ‘execution of the sovereign powers of Lithuania’, VLIK urged political figures at the Vienna conference to hold ‘a broader campaign in Europe’.

Electing to Learn from Elections

Elections happen every year. From selecting our mayors and congresspeople to weighing in on countless referendum issues, every November we have the opportunity to go to our polling places and voice our opinions about our future. However, these elections rarely receive more attention than the big one that occurs every four years, the election of the president of the United States of America. The 2024 presidential election is no different. It is seemingly impossible to get through the day without hearing some news item about the vote for the next leader of the free world.

The role of American intelligence in shaping foreign policy strategies

The aim of this research is to determine the role of intelligence in shaping the U.S foreign policy by comparing the positions of the government and citizens of the state. The research employed a doctrinal approach, a statistical method, a historical method, and a comparative analysis. The conducted research determined that the priorities of U.S foreign policy are based on achieving and maintaining an advantage over competing countries to ensure national security and a safe, free, and prosperous world. The important role of intelligence in achieving such goals is confirmed through the analysis of the budgets of the U.S. Intelligence Community. The analysis found that the increase in funding correlates with the need to intensify intelligence activities during various critical events, primarily related to the activities of competing states. Comparison of the priorities of the U.S government and citizens regarding foreign policy, in which intelligence plays a leading role, revealed certain differences. These include, in particular, the priorities of citizens who are supporters of different parties. The conducted analysis emphasizes the need to take public opinion into account while developing foreign policy. The practical application of the obtained results lies in the possibility of their advocacy by politicians to adapt communication strategies according to the expectations and requests of voters.

Social Economy entities as key actors to achieve Sustainable Development Goals: an example

The 2030 Agenda and the Dubai Declaration call for immediate action not only to signatory States, but also to sub-states, municipalities and different private actors, as only a private–public collaboration can help us achieve the various United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and a carbon free world by 2050. Among private entities, we highlight the important leading role Social Economy entities can play, as well as private entities that have voluntarily adopted a carbon free goal and different 2030 Agenda targets into their Corporate Social Responsibility processes and policies. We provide an example as regards SDG 12.3.

Kosovo’s path to Jerusalem: Orientalist political communication and the free world discourse

This article proposes that the Kosovar political communication toward Israel exemplifies Kosovo’s positioning as a proxy for the US, and highlights the significance and simultaneous absence of Palestine in the meaning-making of Kosovo’s political identity and its place in the world. Through an analysis of Kosovo’s recent political communication toward Israel, the author suggests that the Kosovar political elite has applied the Orientalist discourse of the ‘free world’ in order to establish analogies between Kosovo and Israel as brave and threatened democracies defending Western civilization and frontiers. A detailed engagement with the position of Muslim-majority Kosovo at Europe’s periphery and Palestine as a site of European settler-colonialism situates the current narrative presented by the Kosovar political elite within the broader contexts of colonialism, Orientalism and Islamophobia, with particular focus on the 2020 Washington Agreement brokered by US President Donald Trump.

WHO antenatal care policy and prevention of malaria in pregnancy in sub-Saharan Africa

BackgroundThe WHO 2016 antenatal care (ANC) policy recommends at least eight antenatal contacts during pregnancy. This study assessed ANC8 uptake following policy implementation and explored the relationship between ANC attendance and intermittent preventive treatment in pregnancy (IPTp) coverage in sub-Saharan Africa following the rollout of the World Health Organization (WHO) 2016 ANC policy, specifically, to assess differences in IPTp uptake between women attending eight versus four ANC contacts.MethodsA secondary analysis of data from 20 sub-Saharan African countries with available Demographic Health and Malaria Indicator surveys from 2018 to 2023 was performed. The key variables were the number of ANC contacts and IPTp doses received during a participant's last completed pregnancy in the past two years. Pooled crude and multivariable logistic regression models were used to explore factors associated with attendance of at least four or eight ANC contacts as well as receipt of at least three doses of IPTp during pregnancy.ResultsOverall, only a small proportion of women (median = 3.9%) completed eight or more ANC contacts (ANC8 +). Factors significantly associated with increased odds of ANC8 + included early ANC attendance (AOR: 4.61: 95% CI 4.30—4.95), literacy (AOR: 1.20; 95% CI 1.11—1.29), and higher wealth quintile (AOR: 3.03; 95% CI 2.67—3.44). The pooled estimate across all countries showed a very slight increase in the odds of IPTp3 + among women with eight (AOR: 1.06; 95% CI 1.00—1.12) compared to those with four contacts. In all but two countries, having eight instead of four ANC contacts did not confer significantly greater odds of receiving three or more doses of IPTp (IPTp3 +), except in Ghana (AOR: 1.67; 95% CI 1.38—2.04) and Liberia (AOR: 1.43; 95% CI 1.18—1.72).ConclusionEight years after the WHO ANC policy recommendation, all countries still had sub-optimal ANC8 + coverage rates. This paper is a call to action to actualize the vision of the WHO and the global malaria community of a malaria free world. Policies to improve ANC and IPTp coverage should be operationalized with clear actionable guidance and local ownership. Study findings can be used to inform multi-level policy, programmatic, and research recommendations to optimize ANC attendance and malaria in pregnancy prevention, thus improving maternal and child health outcomes, including the reduction of malaria in pregnancy.

Budgetary responses by the USA to support Ukraine during and after the war

IMPACT The Russian invasion of Ukraine is a major threat to the stability of Europe and the free world. The authors explain why the state of the Ukrainian military at the point of invasion in 2022 necessitated substantial international military and economic assistance. The USA has been the largest contributor, providing almost US$175 billion in defence of Ukraine between March 2022 and April 2024. While the USA provided almost two-thirds of this assistance early in the conflict, political disagreements in the USA stalled additional aid for almost two years. After a six-month hiatus, the Congress approved additional funding for Ukraine on 20 April 2024 at the total amount tof $65 billion (H.R. 8035, 2024). The aid that has been provided combines military, economic and humanitarian assistance. Potential future political disagreements in the USA make prospects for further aid uncertain due to opposing views on Ukraine aid by the two US presidential candidates before the November 2024 election. For practitioners, this study reviews the federal budget process in the times of extreme geopolitical uncertainty, analyses the role of US–Ukraine military and humanitarian assistance aimed at holding Ukraine’s front and securing European capacity for self-defence.

Rocking in the Free World: Popular Music and the Politics of Freedom in Postwar America by Nicholas Tochka (review)

Rocking in the Free World: Popular Music and the Politics of Freedom in Postwar America by Nicholas Tochka (review)

Assertive China After the Rise of Xi Jinping

In terms of China's internationalisation and economic policy, the Chinese economic miracle, which supports visions of China as a global hegemon, would correspond to a coherent long-term grand strategy. First, we analyse the key drivers along China's partial liberalisation processes. Second, the focus will shift to recent political developments in the West, as a late reaction to a more assertive China and its 'wolf diplomacy', taking into account the weakness of the free world in the face of the China threat, given the apparent strengths identified in the examination of China's strategy. Finally, a brief section will be devoted to general conclusions integrating the results of the two perspectives.

The Impact of Non-Tariff Measures on the Exporting of Agricultural Products of Cambodia

The production and exporting of agricultural products were considered one of the most important roles of the Cambodian people. In the free trade world, tariff measures were not determined to be the main obstacle to moving products from one country to worldwide, but non-tariff measures, NTMs, were defined to be the main problem nowadays. An empirical investigation using the gravity model with four classes of NTMs: SPS, TBT, PSI, and NTB was carried out to assess the impact of Cambodia’s exported agricultural products abroad. In order to generate robust standard errors for hypothesis testing, the Ordinary Least Square (OLS) estimation method was combined with the bootstrapping technique. The results of this research supported the gravity model hypothesis, however, SPS and PSI were negatively affecting Cambodia’s exporting at significant levels of 10 percent and 1 percent, respectively, while the TBT measure had a positive influence on trade at a level of significant of 1 percent. In contrast, the NTB class had no significant impact on exports.

Transwar Japanese Thought at “the End of Ideology”

In 1957, the Japanese affiliate of the Congress for Cultural Freedom, an international anticommunist organization dedicated to the liberal ideals of the “free world,” convened a symposium under the title “Tradition and Transition in Japanese Culture” (“Nihon bunka no dentō to hensen”). The event put noted Kyoto School intellectuals who had earlier conceptualized Japan's unique mission within world history during the war years—including Kōsaka Masaaki, Suzuki Shigetaka, and Nishitani Keiji—into dialogue with postwar thinkers who advocated for freedom of thought in opposition to what they viewed as the closed-mindedness of ideology. Drawing on rarely cited archival documents, this article explores how the symposium raised key questions about the fate of world historical thinking in transwar Japan at the same time that it tested the putative universality of postwar liberal ideals against what the symposium participants called the particularity of Japanese culture.

Ukrainians in Italy fight for ukraine’s participation in the Olympic Games

The article analyzes archival funds and primary sources to establish the peculiarities of the activities of the Ukrainian diaspora in Italy on the eve of the 1960 Olympic Games. Correspondence between Osip Zinkevich and Vasyl Fedorovych regarding the participation of Ukrainian athletes separately from the USSR in the Olympic Games in Rome was revealed. It was found that the Ukrainian Olympic Committee was active on the eve and during the Olympic Games, distributing memorandums to the International Olympic Committee, National Olympic Committees, International Sports Federations, etc., printing newsletters, opening an information bureau in Rome.
 The activities of the information bureau of the Ukrainian Olympic Committee contributed to the distribution in Ukrainian and English of the newsletter «For the participation of Ukraine in the Olympic Games», the organization of a press conference in Rome for the foreign press, the organization of an exhibition of Ukrainian publications in the countries of the free world, the establishment of contacts with Ukrainian (Soviet) athletes , re-presenting the issue of Ukraine's participation in the Olympic Games at the Rome session of the IOC, promoting the Olympic idea among the Ukrainian community in Ukraine and abroad, publishing the book «Ukrainian Olympic Champions» in English. The idea of local participation of the Ukrainian team in the Olympic Games has little global support.

Prince Wan Waithayakon’s Attempt for Rapprochement with the People’s Republic of China at the 1955 Asian-African Conference at Bandung

Abstract After the end of the Second World War, newly emerging nations were being divided up geopolitically into ideological camps – the so-called “Free World” led by the United States and the ‘Communist Bloc’ under the leadership of the Soviet Union. At the same time, there was rising demands for self-determination by national leaders who did not wish to commit exclusively to either ideological camp, as they perceived this to be a form of neo-imperialism. A leading group within this third way of thinking was the Colombo Group. In the midst of this intense three-way struggle, post-war Thailand under the leadership of Premier Field Marshal Plaek Phibunsongkhram was heavily influenced by the US in the earliest stages of the Cold War. In the attempt to renegotiate and re-balance Thailand’s position in the heightened political tension of the region, the premier sent the then Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prince Wan Waithayakon, to represent Thailand at the Asia-Africa Conference – initiated through the cooperation of the Colombo Group earlier in May 1954 – in April 1955. At this conference Prince Wan exercised independent diplomacy by meeting and negotiating with the Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai in an attempt to re-balance Thailand’s relations with world powers in both the Free World and the Communist Bloc. This meeting would have significant ramifications for Thailand’s diplomacy throughout the Cold War and has impacted the kingdom’s relations with the People’s Republic of China up to the present day.

Тенденции развития внешней политики США конца XX − первой четверти XXI века. Концептуальный аспект

This article analyses trends in US foreign policy of the late 20th and first decades of the 21st centuries as a major factor influencing modern geopolitics. The problem is considered in the theoretical aspect and in the historical-political retrospect, from the 1990s to the present day. The subject of the analysis is the stages of the formation of the foreign policy doctrine upheld by the USA in international relations. For the 1990s, the paper studies the doctrines asserting hegemony and unipolarity as the goals of US foreign policy in the geopolitical realities that took shape after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The period of 2000s – 2010s was, according to the author, a time of transformation in US foreign policy: from the adoption after September 11, 2001 of the so-called Bush Doctrine, giving the USA rights to launch preventive strikes and make interventions against states suspected of cooperation with international terrorist organizations, to the idea of abandoning claims to global hegemony and attempts to normalize relations with Russia (“reset” policy) and China (the Group of Two) during Barack Obama’s presidency. The final part of the article examines the period of Donald Trump’s and Joe Biden’s presidencies, when the USA returned to the idea of global hegemony, based on the ideological thesis that the USA is the leader of the free world opposing the world of autocracies, whose leaders are Russia and China. According to the author, the current situation reproduces the realities of the Cold War, with the confrontation between the USA as the “defender of the free world” and the USSR as the founder of the world communism movement. The author concludes by attempting to determine the reasons for the transformations in US foreign policy of the late 20th and early 21st centuries as well as to give a forecast of its development trends.

“Putin’s War of Choice”: U.S. Propaganda and the Russia–Ukraine Invasion

The Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022 ignited propaganda efforts from the U.S. executive branch of government and the U.S. media, as the country tried to position itself towards the war not just in the eyes of its citizens but of the entire world as part of its geopolitical power position. A comparative quantitative and qualitative analysis of official U.S. communications and U.S. partisan media coverage in the first week of the invasion aims to uncover how the U.S. government set the agenda and framed the events, and to what extent the media copied or diverged from this agenda-setting and framing. The results suggest a narrow focus and distinct framing on the part of the U.S. government, partly taken over by partisan media. The latter also touched on other topics that fit media logic and provided some counter-frames in line with their ideological positions, yet overall confirmed the dominant framing of the war as unjust, unprovoked and premeditated, as Putin’s choice, and the position of the U.S. as the leader of the free world and defender of democracy.

From ghetto to swamps? Lasting Nazi fake news about sending deported Jews to drain the Pripet Marshes

ABSTRACT Beginning in October 1941, a rumour circulated in the occupied territories and in the press of the free world that Jews deported from the ghettos were being sent to the Pripet Marshes for land reclamation. In reality, this was fake news created by the Nazis to cover up the ongoing Holocaust. The false claims reached the West through the Jewish Telegraph Agency, which in turn relied on reports from the Swedish newspaper Social Demokraten and the Ukrainian-language Nazi newspaper Krakivs’ki Visti. The article analyzes the sources of these false claims and attempts to explain the reasons for their persistence; for not only did the belief that Jews were sent to the marshes rather than the death camps persist during the war, but the rumour is now being exploited by Holocaust deniers.

Commitment, Cold War, and the battles of the self: Thomas Schelling on behavior control.

Economist Nobelist Thomas C. Schelling (1921-2016) is known for his contribution to the analysis of international conflict and many see him as the Cold Warrior par excellence. At a time of great uncertainties and dangers, Schelling combined a deep understanding of strategic analysis, a detailed knowledge of US commitments around the world and an inimitable talent for dissecting everyday behavior, which made him a think tank all on his own. When he turned to the analysis of bargaining in the mid-1950s, one question dominated policy discussions: "How to demonstrate the US commitment to the 'free world'"? Schelling answered unequivocally: By restricting one's choices so as to shift others' expectations and thereby influence their behavior in the desired direction. By the mid-1970s, after he had broken with the US administration and joined the Committee on Substance Abuse and Habitual Behavior, Schelling transposed the tactics deployed in international conflict to the analysis of individuals trying to achieve self-control. In the process, he reproduced the logic of military conflict at the level of the self. The view of a conflicted self itself comprised of two selves made restricted choice the daily routine of individuals who wish to avoid the negative consequences of their present behavior in the future while it promised those who enjoy unbounded freedom of choice an unsettling future.

The US military policy toward China and Russia under the Biden administration

This article offers a comprehensive study of the policy of deterrence toward China and Russia in the military sphere under the Biden Administration. The US military policy toward China and Russia under the Biden Administration consists in increase regular pressure on Beijing and Moscow. The motivation for this policy is expressed in the following way: authoritarian China and Russia are posing a direct challenge not only to the values, interests, security and well-being of the United States, but also to the free, open, prosperous, and secure world order. According to the Biden administration's opinion only integrated deterrence through military and non-military methods and direct competition with China and Russia can maintain the US leadership in world politics. The methodological basis of the study includes analysis of the doctrinal documents which that regulate foreign and military policy of the US, the method of logical analysis and decision analysis. Despite the difference in ideological preferences and foreign policy attitudes between the Democrats and the Republicans, the foundations of the US military strategy toward China and Russia under Trump have passed into the strategic documents of the Biden administration. The main threats to the US and its allies are once again China and Russia. The US emphasizes that China and Russia are powerful nuclear powers which the US faces simultaneously for the first time in its history. China is rapidly developing its military potential and preparing for a military confrontation with the United States, which makes this country the most dangerous threat to the entire world in the very near future. Russia, which has a smaller range of capabilities compared to China, poses an acute military threat here and right now through special military operation, cyber-attacks, activities in gray zones and the deployment of the latest hypersonic missile systems.

Community-based Advocacy Communication Social Mobilization (ACSM) intervention by empowering key community leaders: Evaluation using the RE-AIM framework.

Based on the theme of World Tuberculosis (TB) Day 2018-"Wanted Leaders for TB free world," various studies and country-level project have witnessed how training leaders on TB has helped enhance TB awareness in the community. This study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of Advocacy Communication and Social Mobilization (ACSM) intervention strategy through key community leaders, using Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, Maintenance (RE-AIM) framework. This study was undertaken by the Department of Community Medicine, Sri Manakula Vinayagar Medical College and Hospital (SMVMCH), Puducherry, in the field practice area of Primary Health Centre (PHC), Thirubuvanai. The STOP TB, ENGAGE-TB, and National TB Elimination Program (NTEP) guidelines were used for interventions. Key community leaders (KCL) list (N = 117) was obtained from Mannadipet commune panchayat and PHC. The study was conducted in four phases: phase 1 (baseline): quantitative data: proportion of presumptive TB cases from notification register; phase 2 (intervention): training program for staff nurses, auxiliary nurse midwife (ANM), Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA), and Anganwadi workers (group activity), participatory rural appraisal (PRA) activity for self-help group (SHG) leaders, and health education session for religious leaders and ex-panchayat leaders; phase 3: strengthening of ongoing activity: health education session and active case finding for TB; and phase 4: end line: outcome of the intervention, evaluated using the RE-AIM framework. As an outcome of the intervention, there was a marginal increase (21 cases) in the proportion of presumptive TB cases when comparing before (2018) and after (2019) intervention. The proportion of presumptive TB cases identified and referred by KCL was 312. A total of 77 presumptive TB cases were identified through community-based active case finding (ACF). Two sputum samples (on the spot early morning) were collected and sent for Cartridge-based nucleic acid amplification testing (CBNAAT), of which three cases were positive. This study was community led and involved leaders from diverse backgrounds, optimizing the chance of success. For sustainability, we have initiated TB support group.

War Travels: The Logistics of Vietnam War Militourism

This article explores the everyday entanglements of militarism and tourism that helped sustain soldiering life during the Vietnam War. Free world soldiers in Vietnam were entitled to take between five and seven days of leave in rest and recuperation (R&R) sites located within the war zone and across the Pacific more generally. This article places the literature on militourism in conversation with close readings of archival sources to show how imperial soldier-tourists used trans-Pacific infrastructures of military R&R in a diversity of ways. Militourists in colonized cities such as Manila and Hong Kong often enacted heteronormative fantasies of leisure, seeking out intimate and predatory relationships with local women. The U.S. military also valued R&R as a mechanism for reuniting soldiers with their families, however, and transformed Honolulu into a site for hosting such forms of leave. When considered together, these different forms of militourism emphasize how trans-Pacific R&R infrastructures served simultaneously as conduits of gendered violence, terrains of racial management, and objects of political struggle. What this article offers, then, is a more complex understanding of militourism, one that reclaims vernacular cultures of travel from militaries, markets, and empires, and repurposes them to further the urgent work of abolition, decolonization, and demilitarization.