US Involvement Research Articles

“The World in a Verse”: Stevens, World History, and Global Modernisms

“The World in a Verse”: Stevens, World History, and Global Modernisms Gül Bilge Han I. Introduction IN HIS 1942 ESSAY “The Noble Rider and the Sound of Words,” Wallace Stevens commented on the situation of the modern subject in a global context in the following way: It is not only that there are more of us and that we are actually close together. We are close together in every way. We lie in bed and listen to a broadcast from Cairo, and so on. There is no distance. We are intimate with people we have never seen and, unhappily, they are intimate with us. (CPP 653) Written in the midst of US involvement in the Second World War, when seemingly distant events felt closer to home than ever, Stevens’s lines weave together the intimate and the global as a constitutive feature of ordinary, common life. His remarks highlight the emergence of new forms of cognitive and affective proximity between diverse places and subjects, fostered through new media technologies—particularly, the radio and how it relayed the news. The experience of a lack of “distance,” or of being “close together in every way . . . unhappily,” indicates an imposed mode of connectivity that threatens the demarcation of the boundaries between the individual and the collective, the local and the global, the private and the public realms. Stevens implicitly figures this new mode of collective intimacy as a threatening force against the domain of the individual self, which, in turn, suggests a common modernist trope. But Stevens’s poetic responses to the demands of the global and its distant others, especially from the 1930s onwards, express more than a desire to salvage a degree of individual autonomy and interiority from the intrusions of an increasingly globalized modernity, just as his skeptical reflections on the “broadcast from Cairo” do more than exhibit an anxiety over the advent of [End Page 133] communication technologies—resulting in “an extraordinary pressure of news” (CPP 655)—that brought the world closer in unprecedented ways. Certainly, the new media environment of the early and mid-twentieth century shaped the aesthetic and social sensibilities of modernist writers, including Stevens (Kalliney 121–56). Mass media and circulation of the news are, in fact, part and parcel of modernism’s global networks, in which the news sparked alternative forms of engagement with world events that were negotiated through different journalistic and media discourses. Such developments had crucial implications for modernist conceptualizations of world and self, since they allowed for new ways of imagining cultural and political transfers, across spaces and peoples, without necessitating physical closeness or direct contact. The news as a poetic and creative source, in particular, played a constitutive part in Stevens’s responses to the historical pressures of the actual world. He was, as Jahan Ramazani and Rachel Galvin have discussed most prominently, well aware of how the news “mediate[d] between the individual and the event,” how it shaped “the raw material of history” (Galvin 169), and thereby produced what Stevens called the “pressure of news . . . of a new world” against which he imagined poetry should and would push back (CPP 655). But what seemed equally pressing for Stevens, judging by his wartime remarks, is the emergence of a global collective consciousness reinforced by the news technologies and the media: the heightened presence of an imaginative collective vision, intensified by the globally perceived events of his epoch, which included the Great Depression, two world wars, and the rise of fascism. In “The Noble Rider,” Stevens refers to this shared collective sensibility as “the consciousness of the world,” which he feared would replace the “imagination,” as he put it in the same essay.1 “[F]or more than ten years,” Stevens wrote, “the consciousness of the world has concentrated on events which have made the ordinary movement of life seem to be the movement of people in the intervals of a storm” (CPP 655). Seen at once as a creative and suffocating force, this consciousness of the world manifests itself most markedly in Stevens’s envisaging of the poetic imagination as a potential source for a global vision of collectivity, or what he calls a “civil...

A Cruel Theatre of Self-Immolations: Contemporary Suicide Protests by Fire and their Resonances in Culture [Okrutny teatr samospaleń: Protesty samobójcze w ogniu i ich echa w kulturze współczesnej

<i>A Cruel Theatre of Self-Immolations: Contemporary Suicide Protests by Fire and their Resonances in Culture</i> [Okrutny teatr samospaleń: Protesty samobójcze w ogniu i ich echa w kulturze współczesnej

US Engagement with Central Asia (1991-2021)

After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, US interests in the newly independent states of Central Asia were somewhat limited. However, with new developments, the region strategically became important for the US. The main reasons are the energy resources of Central Asia, the region's strategic geographical location, US involvement in Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and post NATO/US army exit situation in the region and Afghanistan and the threat of reemergence of Taliban. It seems that the US followed a policy of democracy,human rights, the rule of law and development but at the same time had military bases in CARs to keep an eye over Afghanistan and neighboring regions. However, there is a shift in regional dynamics, which will not allow the US to keep its hold over the region. This research work divided the US policy in the Central Asian region into different periods, which are the post-Soviet era, post 9/11, post-2014 and post-US army exit from Afghanistan 2021.

Peace movement responses to Russia's invasion: For limited war and restraints on militarism

AbstractThe “pragmatic pacifist” tradition, exemplified by the transition of many peace activists in the 1930s to critical support for the Allied war effort during World War II, can provide a nuanced path for Western peace activists in responding to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This essay examines how several voices of the American peace movement have addressed this situation, offering a variety of levels of critical support to Ukraine's fight for self‐defense and the US involvement in the conflict.

Stranger Things, Nostalgia, and Aesthetics

<i>Stranger Things</i>, Nostalgia, and Aesthetics

What’s Fair in International Politics? Equity, Equality, and Foreign Policy Attitudes

How do concerns about fairness shape foreign policy preferences? In this article, we show that fairness has two faces—one concerning equity, the other concerning equality—and that taking both into account can shed light on the structure of important foreign policy debates. Fielding an original survey on a national sample of Americans, we show that different types of Americans think about fairness in different ways, and that these fairness concerns shape foreign policy preferences: individuals who emphasize equity are far more sensitive to concerns about burden sharing, are far less likely to support US involvement abroad when other countries aren’t paying their fair share, and often support systematically different foreign policies than individuals who emphasize equality. As long as IR scholars focus only on the equality dimension of fairness, we miss much about how fairness concerns matter in world politics.

NEUSPEH ŽENEVSKIH PREGOVORA O PREKIDU RATA U BOSNI I HERCEGOVINI JANUARA 1993.

The International Conference on the Former Yugoslavia was created in London in August of 1992 as an instrument for the negotiations conducted by the United Nations and the European Community, represented by Cyrus Vance and Lord David Owen. Until the end of the year, they developed a detailed proposal to settle the Bosnian conflict, known as the Vance-Owen Peace Plan (VOPP). The VOPP was presented to the leaders of the warring factions in Geneva during the first session of talks in January of 1993. On the basis of archive material, judicial records, published documents, and memoirs of the participants, this article aims to reconstruct the dramatic negotiation process, which consisted of several rounds. An analysis of the declared Bosnian, Serbian, and Croatian positions during the negotiations, as well as the interactions among the delegations and relations within them, reveals that all the parties were had been deeply engaged in double dealing. The Croatian side was seemingly ready to sign the VOPP but was undermining it by launching a conflict in the field at the same time. The Serbian side was escalating as well, the Bosnian Serb leaders were not ready to accept the plan, despite the suggestions they had received from Belgrade. Sarajevo was procrastinating, hoping for a direct US involvement in the crisis following the inauguration of the new Clinton Administration. That administration did undermine the plan, which damaged the credibility of the international negotiators. In such circumstances, the plan had slim chances of succeeding. Although a ceasefire would have shortened the Bosnian war by almost three years and cut human losses by at least half, the main negotiators found a compromise solution to be unacceptable. As they defined and propagated maximalist goals, acceptance of a compromise was both damaging their grip on power and defying their worldview.

US – Iran Proxy War in Middle East Under Trump Administration

The heated bilateral relation between Iran and the United States has brought the middle east into another level of problem. The divided geopolitical and regional interest of both countries has led to several and many multidimensional issues, ranging from political, security, and even to economic ones. This article discussed the Iran – US tension on their proxy conflict in the Middle East. This article employs the Regional Security Complex Theory to construct the events related to both states’ proxy conflicts. The polarized region for sure has drawn another line that seems to be more complexed for both countries to achieve mutual understanding and continued peacebuilding. The US withdrawal from JCPOA, killing of Soleimani, and Saudi Arabia – Iran Yemen proxy war exacerbated the status quo. This article perceived that the intertwined issues show how the traditional thought of security should be redefined as both countries try to gain bargaining power. Especially with Iran that was hindered very much by sanctions and embargo placed by the US. This article discusses many important issues on Iran, US, and Saudi Arabia involvement and their correlated dynamics within the UN. This article analyzed Trump’s leadership style in the Middle East and its implication from the proxy war to the Middle East security architecture.

Američki kongresmen i srpski lobi u SAD-u / A US Congressman and Serbian Lobby in the USA

The aim of this paper is to analyze the foreign policy activism of former Republican Congressman Dan Burton during the 1992–1995 war in Bosnia. Based on Burton's newly accessible congressional papers, this article traces the Indiana Republican's efforts to influence US policy towards Bosnia. Opposed to any US involvement in Bosnia, Burton's views reflected the Serbian-American diaspora's policy positions on Bosnia. Though ultimately unsuccessful, Burton's efforts in the early 1990s provide a glimpse into how opponents of American intervention in Bosnia operated.

The American Influence on German Neo-Nazism: An Entangled History of Hate, 1970s–1990s

ABSTRACT This article takes a transatlantic approach to the history of the Far Right by examining the American influence on German neo-Nazism from the 1970s through the 1990s. The main argument reveals a disturbing yet hitherto unacknowledged reality, which has implications for the way we understand the global Far Right today: the strengthening of Germany’s neo-Nazi movements would have been unthinkable without US involvement. In the decades after Hitler, when East and West Germans struggled to suppress Nazism, American neo-Nazis exploited the US right to free speech and the increasing ease of global communications to circumvent restrictive German censorship laws and ship propaganda across the Atlantic Ocean. In so doing, they contributed to the expansion of a worldwide network of Holocaust deniers and galvanized a new, younger generation of neo-Nazis on both sides of the Berlin Wall who turned their hatred not only against Jews but also against the immigrants and asylum seekers who arrived in the context of postwar mass migration to Europe. In exposing these transatlantic far-right entanglements, the article makes several interventions into the study of German history, Holocaust memory, and antisemitism. First, it speaks to recent historiographical approaches that aim to analyze the role of the long taboo concepts of ‘race’ and ‘racism’ in German efforts to come to terms with the Nazi past. Second, it reconsiders the triumphalist Cold War narrative of America’s influence on post-Hitler Germany; not only does it highlight the failure of US denazification efforts to eradicate the racist mentalities of the Third Reich, but it also reveals that American actors played a crucial role in re-Nazifying Germany. Finally, it encourages historians to examine the politics of racism, xenophobia, and Holocaust denial beyond nation-state borders as a means to better understand the resurgence of global far-right extremism today.

Engaging the United States Network of Biosphere Reserves in a changing social-political context

The United States was an integral part of the early growth of UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB), yet changing political and social contexts have impacted the relationship between the US and MAB. Poised at the start of a new period of activity, as the US reviews its strategy on its current and future engagement with MAB, it is critical to discuss the factors that have influenced the history of US involvement in the World Network of Biosphere Reserves (WNBR) and how the US will engage in the future. For the purpose of this article, the US Biosphere Network (USBN) refers to the current recently reinvigorated network of biosphere reserves in the US. As many of the USBN sites are partially or fully mountainous ecosystems, the renewed engagement of the USBN will contribute to the conservation of some of the nation’s most prized mountain landscapes. This article provides an overview of the biosphere reserve concept and of US involvement with the intergovernmental programme. We discuss challenges facing the USBN, including relevancy and inclusion, political relations with UNESCO, and perceptions of zoning. We present examples of opportunities and strategies that have been implemented by the Champlain-Adirondack Biosphere Network in a mountain region, followed by conclusions on revisioning MAB in the US and globally for the next 50 years.

Chinese Ports Blockade by the Nationalists Navy, Background to the 1954 Capture of the Tanker Tuapse

In 1949, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army drove Chiang Kai-shek’s followers from the mainland to the island of Taiwan, but the Chinese Nationalists did not resign themselves to defeat. Enlisting the support of its American allies, the Kuomintang tried to impose a naval blockade on the People’s Republic of China and detained foreign cargo ships on their way to the communists. The Nationalists announced the closure of the ports taken over by the CCP-led military forces, which gradually turned into an economic and military blockade of the entire China coastline. As a result, foreign and Chinese merchant ships that were carrying cargo to the PRC were shelled, destroyed, or detained by Nationalist naval ships. The notorious one was the seizure of the Soviet oil tanker Tuapse in 1954. The author, referring to the prehistory of the Tuapse detention, investigates the Nationalists’ justification of the closure policy, its goals and objectives. The paper reveals also the rules adopted by the government of the ROC Navy&amp;apos;s interaction with foreign vessels, and touches upon the extent of the US involvement in maritime operations, using unexplored documents, and comments of senior ROC government officials.

An Evaluation of the US Relations with Sub-Saharan Africa in The 21st Century

Abstract This study assesses the viability of relations between the US and sub-Saharan Africa by examining the trends of their political and economic cooperation. Given the high number of member states involved in this partnership, a strong alliance could influence good governance practices beyond their continents. The gist of their relationship challenges lies in claims by sub-Saharan states that the partnership is one-sided in favour of the US, turning the enterprise into a zero-sum game. For instance, the US insist on their partners to meet thresholds of ‘good governance practices’ as determined by the US itself. However, governance breaches are revealed from both sides. Data for this study were gathered from secondary and primary sources. The study concludes that the relationship is lukewarm due to mistrust, and this has led to the unsuccessful US involvement in sub-Saharan Africa.

The "Sisterhood Arrangement": Postcolonial Dreams, Cold War Racial Politics, and US Involvement in the Indian Institute of Technology at Kharagpur

This essay examines the 1950s State Department–brokered "sisterhood arrangement," or "sisterhood relationship," between the University of Illinois and the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. I bring the archives of the "sisterhood" into conversation with historical scholarship on the importance of racial image-management to US Cold War strategy. In doing so, my analysis spotlights the imbrications of race and education within the crosscutting forces of Indian postcolonial nation-building and US Cold War empire-building as they clashed and converged in the 1950s. I illuminate the interconnected operations of new educational projects and old racial systems at this key historical juncture of US and Indian political trajectories by (1) demonstrating the centrality of international education partnerships to US strategic plans for Third World alignment; (2) revealing the presence of racial image-management activities embedded in the sisterhood relationship; and (3) discussing the role of racialized gender in structuring the daily operations of the sisterhood relationship. Overall, this analysis spotlights the "sisterhood" as an illuminating prism for examining the entanglements of race, geopolitics, and education in a Cold War world.

Taliban, Terrorism and War on Terror: Assessing US Involvement in Afghanistan

Taliban, Terrorism and War on Terror: Assessing US Involvement in Afghanistan

Author’s Response

Author’s Response

Skepticism and Exposure: Television Coverage of the Vietnam War

As the United States was expanding its role in the Vietnam War, television sets were increasingly becoming integral components in many American households. With more Americans tuning into news programs, television presented continual reminders to the public of the expanding US involvement in Vietnam, and the sacrifices that came with war. Unlike any prior American war, the sights and sounds from the war in Vietnam unfolded in the living rooms of the American public. Combined with critical analysis by reporters both on the frontlines and in studios, the reports from Vietnam would leave a lasting impression for many Americans. This unprecedented combat coverage allowed for a mostly unfiltered glimpse into the war, forever changing wartime reporting. As the war progressed and US officials continued to present an optimistic vision of progress in Vietnam, the reality seen daily by Americans on their TVs was much different. News segments and commentaries showed the true state of the stalemate, allowing public support for the war effort to deteriorate overtime.

Stormy Seas: The South China Sea in US-China Relations

How do the United States and China perceive each other’s role in the South China Sea disputes? In this paper, we trace how interactions between the US and China in the South China Sea have hardened perceptions of each other’s broader strategic intentions. Based on our examination of US and Chinese views, we argue that the South China Sea disputes have evolved from a contest over sovereign rights among the claimants into a contest between the US and China over the regional order, including the balance of power and international norms and rules. On the one hand, China views US involvement in the South China Sea disputes as a threat not just to its sovereignty claims but to its rise more generally. On the other hand, the United States views China’s efforts to strengthen its claims and influence in the South China Sea as a threat to the regional order and US leadership in the region. Our findings have two important implications. First, as the US and China use interactions in the South China Sea as an indicator of the other’s broader strategic intentions, hardened perceptions of each other in the South China Sea are likely to fuel adversarial perceptions in other issues. Second, unresolved territorial and sovereignty disputes may heighten the peril associated with power transitions, increasing the risk that the US and China will become entangled in an escalatory spiral.

Cooperation in Israeli-Saudi Relations: Impact on Iran in the Middle East

The study explores the transformation in great power politics and factors affecting the dynamics of the Middle Eastern political landscape, such as the relationships between ideological arch-rivals of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and Israel. The closing up of the relationship between KSA and Israel is a historic transformation, holding immense potential embodying change in the strategic landscape of the Middle East. The article argues that the changing dynamics of global power politics has polarised the political dynamics of the Middle Eastern region along opposite poles. The US, China and Russian involvement in the Middle Eastern region have pushed the ideological arch-rival of KSA to the US and Israel, pushing Iran to tilt towards Russia and China in the region. Therefore, the significance of the study lies in the changing nature of international structure and the way this shift has impacted the inter-dynamics of Saudi-Israeli cooperation in the Middle East.

Rewriting Dusklands: the narrative of Marilyn Dawn

ABSTRACT The purpose of this article is to redress the silence imposed on the character of Marilyn Dawn, wife of the protagonist in the first novella of J. M. Coetzee’s Dusklands (1974). Her husband Eugene is a military analyst who suffers a nervous breakdown while researching how to advance US involvement in the war in Vietnam. Marilyn is rendered voiceless through his intensive, first-person narration, which is condescending and often degrading to her. Rather than analyse Marilyn’s characterisation in the novel, which would present her through Eugene’s eyes, this article rewrites their story from Marilyn’s perspective – an act of creative criticism that calls into question how we approach an artwork. Although Coetzee’s novel will always remain intact, we can at least imagine a way for Marilyn to break away from the confines of a patriarchal, abusive narrative, if only for a few pages.