History Of International Politics Research Articles

오키나와의 국제정치

This study examines the history of international politics of Okinawa in terms of ‘geopolitical power politics’ in East Asia. Within this theoretical perspective, this study looks at the national destiny of the Rykyu Kingdom, the annexation of the Kingdom by the Meiji Japan, the imperial overextension of the Meiji Japan and its termination after the Battle of Okinawa, and Okinawa in terms of the US post-war East Asian strategy. Major findings of the analysis are as below. First, the national destiny of the Ryukyu Kingdom had been determined by the geopolitical power politics between China and Japan. Second, the Meiji Japan annexed the Kingdom as the power shift had been confirmed after the Taiwan Expedition in 1894. The annexation of the Ryukyu Kingdom marked the beginning of Japanese imperial expansion that was terminated at the Battle of Okinawa. Okinawa was the springboard for Japanese imperial expansion and also the last battlefield that terminated it. Third, Okinawa has been transformed into a key military base for the US post-war East Asian strategy. Finally, Geopolitical power politics proved to be a useful theoretical perspective in analyzing the history of international politics of Okinawa. If the Meiji Japan began its imperial intrusion into China by annexing the Ryukyu in late 19th century after the first power transition between China and Japan, the US now contains rising China by deploying Okinawa as a breakwater at the seas between the East China Sea and the Western Pacific after the second power transition between China and Japan.

Review of Powell, Emilia (2020): Islamic Law and International Law: Peaceful Resolution of Disputes, Oxford and others, Oxford University Press

Purpose The purpose of this study is to critically review the book Islamic Law and International Law by Emilila Powell. Design/methodology/approach The book review is undertaken from a comparative legal and political science perspective, including arguments and insights from international relations, international law, Islamic law, Islamic culture, religious studies, legal history and European as well as international political history. Findings While the empirical part of Powell’s work (chapters 5, 6 and 7) shows a methodologically veryc well done approach and at the same time highly interesting insights, both foundation and context show several critical points, in particular, a lack of differentiation with respect to the Western politico-legal tradition, its concepts and the resulting implications. Research limitations/implications The book represents an excellent starting point that should inspire new, more intensive as well as exhaustive research on this topic. Practical implications The book generates valuable insights for practitioners such as judges at international courts dealing with issues involving so-called Islamic law states, as well as politicians or public service officials in the context of international law and international politics. Originality/value As the paper is a comprehensive review of the book based upon comparatively based insights from international relations, international law, Islamic law, Islamic culture, religious studies, legal history and European as well as international political history, the arguments of Powell are analyzed and commented upon in a comprehensive, well-founded and fair way. This should give potential readers a good understanding of Powell’s arguments, inspire a critical lecture of the book and contribute to the important discourse on the connex between international law and Islamic law.

Off the record: Margaret van Kleffens and the gendered history of Dutch World War II diplomacy

ABSTRACTThis article makes the case for recovering women’s roles from the forgotten corners of diplomatic history, and for considering the consequences of the gap between feminist and non-feminist research. It shows how ignorance of the gendered nature of diplomatic norms and practices impacts our understanding of diplomatic history, and how specific biographies are hampered by gender blindness in particular. Using the history of Margaret van Kleffens and Dutch World War II diplomacy as an example, the article demonstrates how historians’ continued neglect of the role of women and gender norms has influenced representations of twentieth-century diplomacy. To dismiss the history of gender and of women as by definition irrelevant to the actions of states and of male statespersons is not simply part of a self-appointed focus on the political at the expense of the personal; rather, it omits much of the political history too, reproducing stereotypes and resulting in a skewed understanding of diplomatic history and foreign policy decisions. The article argues that both historians and feminist scholars need to historicize gender in order to recognize women’s roles in diplomacy, and so gain a better understanding of the history of international politics as a whole.

Stevenson, David 1917: War, Peace, and Revolution (review)

REVIEWS 583 be a welcome addition to reading for courses on Jewish history, nationalism and wartime ethnic conflicts, in conjunction with more nuanced studies. Humanities Department Alexander V. Prusin New Mexico Tech Stevenson, David. 1917: War, Peace, and Revolution. Oxford University Press, Oxford, and New York, 2017. xxv + 480 pp. Maps. Illustrations. Table. List of principal personalities. Notes. Bibliography. Index. £30.00. This book is ‘saturated with agency’, to borrow Christopher Clark’s phrase from The Sleepwalkers. Like that account of the origins of the First World War, this history of international politics in the pivotal year of 1917 focuses on decision-making, the assumptions of political and military leaders, and the interactions between decisions within the shifting structures of power politics. Stevenson does not apologise for his elite perspective, though his detailed analysis in several chapters pays close attention to social conditions, morale in the ranks and the economic resources of the major powers. His is an argument for the importance of decision-making in understanding why the war lasted so long and why ‘apparently less perilous and less painful’ alternatives were not adopted. He shows that decisions almost invariably produced outcomes at odds with the intentions of political and military leaders. Many of them floundered in the complexity of the war, some remained hopelessly optimistic, and others acted because inaction (wrongly) seemed too risky. The book is divided into three different geographical sections — the North Atlantic, the continent and the rest of the world. Within each section, there are individual chapters on key decisions — from the German decision for unrestricted submarine warfare to the Balfour Declaration and the reconstruction of the Middle East. These chapters demonstrate Stevenson’s forensic skills in reconstructing the decision-making process, his sensitivity to the broader context for decisions, and his appreciation of the systemic character of international politics. About half of the book is devoted to decisions that shaped the continental war, including chapters on the February Revolution in Russia and the illfated Kerenskii offensive. For Stevenson, the February Revolution was the ‘second time-bomb’ under the duration of the war, the first being the German decision for submarine warfare and the subsequent entry of the United States into the war. The February Revolution revealed structural weaknesses in the Russian war economy, particularly in its railway network, designed for moving commodities along a north-south axis in peacetime, not an east-west axis for SEER, 96, 3, JULY 2018 584 wartime. Comparing Russia with Germany and France, Stevenson shows how the army was more vulnerable to revolution, due to the lack of trained reserves. In this context, political miscalculation exacerbated the strains of war. His deft pen portrait of Nicholas II as a family man, ill-equipped to manage the war effort meshes the personal with the political. After Nicholas II abdicated, the litany of ill-conceived decisions continued. Although Russia stayed in the war, a gulf opened between liberal and middle class elites and the peasantry and working classes over war aims. This gulf widened as a result of the Kerenskii offensiveinJuly1917.Stevensonshowshownarrowtheroomformanoeuvrewas, at least in the eyes of the leaders of the Provisional Government. Increasingly dependentontheAlliesforfinancialandothermaterialsupport,theProvisional Government considered the offensive a signal of commitment to the Allies and an opportunity to establish domestic order. Instead, the offensive petered out, the German army made sweeping gains, and regiments in Petrograd launched a short-lived insurrection. Although Lenin went into hiding following the July Days, Stevenson shows how the authority of the Provisional Government dwindled, setting the scene for the October Revolution. The final chapter of the book places that revolution in its international context, charting the fierce debates amongst the German political and military leaders as they sought to exploit the collapse of the Russian Empire in late 1917 and early 1918. This book presents an international system shaped by the great powers and the political and military leaders of those powers. There is little attention to states in eastern Europe and to important non-state networks and actors, who pressed claims to national self-determination. Nor do ideas play a central role in this study, in contrast to Peter Jackson’s recent argument about a normative revolution in international...

No Rest for the Weary: Competition and Emulation in International Politics. A Waltzian Perspective

ABSTRACTToday, as before in history, competition between states and pressure to emulate the practices of the more successful competitors continue unabated. This article argues that in international politics continuities are far more impressive, and far more engrained, than we might think. By pointing towards the competitive and emulative behaviour of states, the article argues that some 500 years of international-political history lends credence to the old Waltzian proposition that in anarchic realms competitive and emulative behaviour are to be expected. Thus, in examining the conduct of international politics across three distinct international-political systems, the article points to (i) the impressive continuity of international politics, particularly with an eye towards competition and emulation, and (ii) the enduring quality of Waltzian structural realism. Although Waltz’s publications briefly touch on the continuity of international politics, he provides but few historical illustrations, a shortcoming this article addresses.

Recentering U.S. Empire: A Structural Perspective on the Color Line

In the past 20 years, scholars of top sociology and race and ethnicity articles increasingly have mentioned the term “color line.” Prominent among them are sociologists concerned with how incoming waves of Latin American and Asian immigration, increasing rates of intermarriage, and a growing multiracial population will affect the U.S. racial order. While much of this work cites Du Bois, scholars stray from his definition of the color line in two ways. First, they characterize the color line as unidimensional and Black–white rather than as many divisions between non-white people and whites. Second, scholars portray the color line as the outcome of microlevel factors rather than the product of international geopolitical arrangements. I contend that in contrast to scholarship that portrays immigrants and intermarried and multiracial people as shifting the color line, international and imperial policies related to immigration, intermarriage, and multiracial identification are longstanding sites of the construction of the U.S. racial order. Scholars should conceptualize the United States as an empire state in order to analyze the international political history of multiple color lines. In doing so, they can distinguish between differences in kind and degree of racial divisions.

Methodology of German Historical School in International Political History Research: Maturing Process of the European States System in the 18th Century

Methodology of German Historical School in International Political History Research: Maturing Process of the European States System in the 18th Century

Republican continuities in the Vienna Order and the German Confederation (1815–66)

This article argues that the German Confederation — deutscher Bund — (1815–66)was a form of rule built on early modern republican political theory. It was a ‘Compound Republic’ form of rule constructed to prevent the emergence of a system of sovereign German states as well as a single sovereign German state. Its purpose was maintaining peace and stability in Europe and safeguarding the autonomy of its member polities. Contemporary statesmen, intellectuals and scholars saw these purposes as complementary. A non-sovereign, polycentric and republican organization of the German lands was regarded as a natural and necessary component in a stable Europe free from war and revolutions. This article analyses the origins, institutions and policies of the German Confederation, with particular regard to how the means of organized violence were organized. It thereby demonstrates the implementation of republican ideas and purposes in the Bund. The article situates the Bund in 19th-century thinking about European stability and sovereignty, further demonstrating the prevalence of republican ideas on international order. Republican political theories and institutions differed sharply from modern theories and models of international relations. Consequently, the history of international politics, the European system of states and state-formation must be re-conceptualized more in line with historical realities.

The Law of the Jungle? Denmark's International Legal Status during the Second World War

This article investigates Denmark's international legal status during the Second World War. In exploring this theme it brings together two emergent research perspectives on twentieth-century international political history: (1) a growing interest in small states as actors and active interpreters of international political events in times of crisis and war; and (2) a focus on international law as an independent and so far underexplored research theme. From this double perspective the article highlights and analyses the unprecedented and unparalleled character of the legal relationship between Denmark and Germany after the German occupation of Denmark in April 1940. In doing so it places particular focus on how this situation was viewed and conceptualised by Danish politicians and legal experts. Thus it explores the complex entanglement of politics and law that characterised Danish attempts to bring about and consolidate the particular peaceful and ‘normal’ relationship with Germany as well as efforts to change this relationship and make Denmark a belligerent state. By analysing the four concepts of neutrality, non-belligerence, peaceful occupation, and war the article shows how these legal concepts served as political instruments that were pushed forward by competing and changing understandings of Denmark's international position and interests during the war. But it also shows how these legal conceptualisations were fundamentally structured by the general international legal and political developments of the war (the deterioration of neutrality and the emergence of long-term military occupation and guerrilla warfare throughout Europe). And it demonstrates how they gradually took on a life of their own and came to frame and shape perceptions of Denmark's international position - both among Danish politicians and bureaucrats during the Second World War and among historians to this day.

A Tale of Four Crises: The Politics of Great Depressions and Recessions

Author’s Note: Harvey Sicherman was a firm believer in the importance of historical precedents in helping us to understand contemporary events, and some of the most delightful moments of my professional life were the discussions we had in which he shared his immense and rich knowledge of the history of international politics and foreign policy. Harvey also believed in the importance of the economic foundation of international affairs, and he consequently invited me to present my study of a succession of great global economic crises to FPRI’s study group on America and the West, and I did so in September 2010. As always on such occasions, Harvey himself greatly enriched the group discussion with his knowledge and wisdom. And as always, Harvey followed up with one of his characteristically thoughtful and personal letters, gracefully crafted to fit the particulars of the topic and the speaker. In doing so, he reminded me again of what a pleasure and an honor it was to present one’s scholarship to Harvey Sicherman, and he provided me with a memory that I still hold today of what a splendid scholar and gentleman he was.

E. Yanagizawa, A History of International Politics after the war, 1944-1958 K. Gujima, A Modern History of Internatioal Politics

E. Yanagizawa, A History of International Politics after the war, 1944-1958 K. Gujima, A Modern History of Internatioal Politics

Has Europe Solved the Problem of War? Explaining the ‘Long Peace’ of the Post-1945 Era

May 9, 2010, marks the 60th anniversary of what is arguably the boldest and ostensibly the most successful experiment in the history of international politics. On that date, in 1950, the Schuman Declaration1 was issued, seeking to release Europe from its centuries of fratricidal war, those conflagrations having just previously reached near suicidal proportions. The process of European integration – culminating in today’s European Union – was launched by six states at the heart of the continent, for the purposes of making war ‘not only unthinkable, but materially impossible.’ There is today little empirical question of Europe’s success. War between former bitter enemies has never been even remotely near the horizon during the period that has now become known as ‘The Long Peace,’ and, looking forward, such militarized conflict remains all but inconceivable. But was it the process of European integration that produced this achievement? And if so, is the model exportable to other regions? This essay catalogues the factors that account for Europe’s success in ending the scourge of war on a continent where it had been a commonly employed extension of politics for centuries. I conclude that the integration process represents an important contribution, but is only one of a plethora of causal factors that massively over-determined Europe’s long peace of our time, and that the European experiment is mostly non-exportable to other parts of the world.

Postcards and Propaganda: Cartographic Postcards as Soft News Images of the Russo-Japanese War

Postcards are an important resource that has been largely overlooked in mainstream research on historical events, political attitudes, perceptions, propaganda, and communication. Accordingly, this article expands the relevance of the postcard from social artifact to historical document embodying social and political messages. In particular, the article examines the images and representations used in cartographic postcards during and after the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905). Not only is this relevant to the study of political propaganda, but also for the study of historic media, popular consumption of political messaging, and as an additional tool with which to study the history of international politics and communication. The political history leading up to the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War is briefly covered. Images of cartographic postcards are examined in context of the conflict, with the goal of gaining a greater appreciation for postcards as a form of early “soft news” visual mass media. As such, this is a means by which imperial attitudes and public opinion were shaped. Recommendations are made to broaden the use of postcards as primary documents, especially as these cards are enjoying an online renaissance (e.g., collecting, displaying, discussing). They are valuable in augmenting a variety of research agendas and are fruitful for the study of early modern mass media, social history, public discourse, and political messaging with regard to soft news and public opinion.

O nomos e a lei: considerações sobre o realismo político em Carl Schmitt

O artigo aborda o tema do realismo político no pensamento de Carl Schmitt, à luz de suas reflexões sobre o direito e a história da política internacional no mundo moderno. Para tanto, o texto analisa sua narrativa sobre a constituição da ordem das relações internacionais a partir do século XVI, apresentada no livro Der Nomos der Erde im Völkerrecht des Jus Publicum Europaeum (O Nomos da Terra no Direito Internacional do Jus Publicum Europaeum). Essa análise busca pôr em evidência a maneira como Carl Schmitt concebe a relação entre direito e realidade na época moderna e, com isso, pretende apresentar uma imagem do seu realismo político que leve em conta algumas de suas premissas históricas e filosóficas.

Hayden White, international history and questions too seldom posed

This article assesses how far it is possible to discern any form of what we might term a Whitean sensibility amongst contemporary practitioners of the history of international politics. An audit of contemporary practice reveals a good deal of work which is frankly disappointing by the yardstick of White, some of which reflects at least a degree of sensitivity to his concerns, and some of which demonstrates both his clear stimulus and hopeful portents for the fruitful future application of his ideas.

Following the Leader: A History and Evolution of the Amir ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Jazairi as Symbol

The following is an investigation of the narratives of ‘Abd al-Qadir that were embodied and represented in British, French and Algerian literary production, biographies and iconography, and to examine why the figure of ‘Abd al-Qadir had such strong appeal within countries whose interests often directly competed. This study is not concerned with the validity of any particular interpretation of ‘Abd al-Qadir's personal or political life. Rather, it seeks to uncover how and why these interpretations emerged and were transformed over time and space. Cultural and symbolic interpretations of ‘Abd al-Qadir have proved tremendously flexible in their ability to fit separate and often contradictory national myths. The ‘Abd al-Qadir narrative was adapted to fit competing ‘myths of election’ developed by France and Britain for the purpose of justifying their respective colonial projects, and it was later adapted to fit Algeria's ‘myth of foundation’. A close reading of French, British and Algerian cultural production in the context of international political history provides a window into the cultural expressions of these myths.

Blood and AIDS: an international political history

The politics of health was never tested more in the Western democracies than when the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) surfaced at the beginning of the 1980s. In those countries it became the most important medical event of the last half of the 20th century. The significance of AIDS was not only as a disease that took away lives, but also as a disease that had great effects on social and political life. The involvement of the blood community in their national problems when AIDS appeared in the industrialized countries persists to this day in unresolved questions in other parts of the world. An analysis is presented on those blood politics in the USA, France, Japan and Canada. Those events had different roots and effects depending on the various national blood programmes and policies, on donor and patient populations and, not incidentally, on decisions made and secrets kept. The events that related blood to AIDS in the industrialized nations in the 1980s and 1990s are still in progress in other parts of the world. The mistakes made in the West and the resultant effects on social and economic progress offer a modern history lesson for the rest of the world.

Old Wine in Old Bottles: Recent Contributions to British Foreign Policy and European International Politics, 1789–1848

This review article has a conventional purpose, namely, to assess the contributions made by thirteen recent books, most by British historians, to the history of British foreign policy and the European states system during the revolutionary, Napoleonic, and post-Napoleonic eras. There is, however, a problem. None of the books is conventional diplomatic history. Almost half relate only indirectly to foreign policy, while for the remainder foreign policy constitutes only part of their subject matter. The review therefore consciously runs two risks: that of judging the books by inappropriate standards and that of drawing conclusions about current historiography in this field and period from an inappropriate sample. The reader will have to judge whether the results justify the procedure.Geoffrey Best's War and Society in Revolutionary Europe illustrates the problem. Best clearly succeeds in his goal of going beyond the study of military organizations to the study of war itself as a “unique human interest and activity.” The book is far-ranging, delightfully written, based on wide reading, and packed with insights. It also contributes substantially to the history of international politics, mainly by demonstrating how powerful an impact armies and combat had. Yet from the political historian's standpoint there is ground for some frustration as well as for pleasure. Best's descriptions of how armies developed from the Old Regime into the nineteenth century and his analyses of the impact of war in 1792–1815 are excellent for France and Britain and adequate for Prussia and Spain.

Braudel's Mediterranean: Un Défi Latin

Fernand Braudel's immense history of international politics in the sixteenth century s i significant for analytic social scientists from two standpoints—methodological and substantive. Although Braudel does not pretend to present a theory of history or international relations, he utilizes a broad range of geographic and economic theory to provide a novel conceptual framework. He devotes particular attention to defining boundaries in time and space. Braudel is highly innovative in his use of quantitative techniques, as in his analysis of communications potentials to delineate the spatial configurations of the sixteenth-century world. Just as Braudel's eclectic methodology suggests alternatives to approaches dominant in North American social science, his substantive emphasis on the pre-eminence of Latin civilization during the formative period of the modern Western world provides an impressive alternative perspective to the Whig interpretation of sixteenth-century history which has generally prevailed in English-speaking countries.

The Future of the European Community in International Politics

Cette étude analyse l'émergence d'une organisation internationale régionale en tant que participant intégré aux affaires internationales. Partant du postulat selon lequel la Communauté européenne doive, pour sa propre survie, développer une politique extérieure commune, l'auteur soutient que les politiques économiques communes aux pays membres ne peuvent plus être considérées en dehors d'un contexte politique plus large. Même avant la crise énergétique actuelle, le succès des politiques économiques de la Communauté avait entraîné une confrontation politique directe avec les Etats-Unis, confrontation qui a eu pour conséquence de mettre en cause la sécurité européenne dans le cas d'un retrait possible de l'aide militaire américaine.Les deux principaux fondements d'une politique extérieure commune pour les pays de la CEE sont la sécurité et la formulation de certaines politiques. La sécurité constitue un problème essentiellement politique. C'est pourquoi il faut accorder beaucoup d'importance aux relations politiques que la CEE entretient avec les Etats-Unis et l'URSS, de même qu'à la capacité qu'a la CEE d'extraire des populations politiquement hétérogènes qui la composent les ressources nécessaires au maintien et au développement d'un système de défense moderne.Quant à la formulation de politiques extérieures communes, elle a déjà franchi deux étapes: celle des politiques économiques communes découlant de l'intégration elle-même et celle de la mise au point récente de certains mécanismes de coordination en matière de politique extérieure. L'auteur emit cependant qu'une troisième étape est nécessaire au succès de la formulation d'une politique extérieure commune, soit celle du développement d'une approche commune aux affaires internationales.