Policy Of Non-intervention Research Articles

Reinterpreting the Soviet Policy toward Japan before and after the Mukden Incident

Following the outbreak of the Mukden Incident, the Japanese Army, who provoked the incident, Fengtian warlord clique Zhang Zuolin and the Nanjing authorities all paid close attention to the diplomatic stance of Moscow regarding this incident. Although faced with the serious situation of the possibility of the Chinese Eastern Railway being threatened by the Japanese Army, the Soviet Union still adopted a “non-intervention policy,” sitting by and watching the whole of Northeast China occupied by the Japanese Army. After 1932, the Soviet Union even took the first opportunity to recognize the “Manchukuo” and began negotiations with Japan about the sale of the Chinese Eastern Railway. The series of diplomatic decisions made by Stalin and the Soviet authorities were related to the gradually formed diplomatic model of the Soviet Union apart from the overall international background. In addition, they were also influenced by such historical details as lack of intelligence and failure to correctly judge the future.

The Invaded: How Latin Americans and Their Allies Fought and Ended U.S. Occupations by Alan McPherson (review)

Reviewed by: The Invaded: How Latin Americans and Their Allies Fought and Ended U.S. Occupations by Alan McPherson Stefano Tijerina (bio) The Invaded: How Latin Americans and Their Allies Fought and Ended U.S. Occupations. By Alan McPherson. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014. Pp. ix, 396. $45.00 cloth) In The Invaded Alan McPherson recreates how the people in Latin America reacted to the United States’ Dollar Diplomacy policy implemented across the region during the 1910s, by focusing on the case studies of Nicaragua, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic. Centering on the historical accounts of the violent, peaceful, cultural, and political resistance movements against policies of occupation that surfaced in these nations, the author makes the general claim that the liberator’s efforts were effective in part because these were independent, self-interested initiatives by pacifist, militant, Caudillo-driven, [End Page 766] and elite-driven groups but also because transnational actors from Europe and the Americas generated enough pressure on the United States government, ultimately forcing it to change its policy. This work represents an important contribution to the limited historiography on U.S. occupations. Moreover, it contributes to a broader understanding of U.S. foreign policy; Caribbean and Central American studies; the development of political cultures in Latin America; the role of American NGOs overseas; the history of anti-Americanism; the history of anti-occupation movements; institutional development; the dynamics of the junction between American domestic and foreign policy; and the early role of media, propaganda, labor unions, leftist and centralist social movements, public figures, and race. McPherson relies on detailed, multi-archival primary source research, combined with secondary sources, in order to reconstruct the dynamic of the relationship between occupiers and resistance movements; however, the sources come short of representing the holistic regional grievance against the United States. McPherson should have included a short account of other past occupations in the region that shaped the nature of the occupied in his own case studies, considering that Cuba had experienced a unique form of American occupation in 1898 and that Colombia had experienced its own encounter with American marines in 1903. His generalizations about resistance across Latin America based on the experiences of Nicaragua, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic lessen the validity of his argument, considering that not every Latin American nation had experienced U.S. occupation and others, such as Cuba and Colombia, had already experienced other forms of occupation before 1912, when his analysis begins. For example, when arguing that “transnational efforts by Dominicans and other Latin Americans” were effective in creating networks of propaganda and lobby, his sources center exclusively on the experience of the Dominican Republic, yet he uses it to amalgamate the whole region into his argument (p. 159). His choice of primary and secondary sources also helps him make the argument that the Dollar Diplomacy policy that dominated the [End Page 767] era of occupation was purely political and, most important of all, the domestic and transnational resistance was responsible for the shift of the United States toward the Good Neighbor policy. International political economists and American and Latin American historians would argue that the agendas behind the policy of occupation were economic as well as political. In the end he does not fulfill his promise of demonstrating in a convincing manner that the United States’ shift away from an occupation policy was the direct result of the domestic and transnational resistance movements. The transition toward nonintervention policies was a reflection of the maturity and sophistication of the U.S. State Department or what McPherson referred to as a move away from “US provincialism” (p. 263). It is clear that there is agency to be shared between the actors of resistance and the occupiers in forcing changes in policy, but ultimately it was the pressure from private interests in the United States that tilted the balance, knowing well that the paternalistic approach was not good for business. This is a lesson suggested by McPherson’s work—occupation was “a folly to be avoided at all cost” (p. 269). Stefano Tijerina STEFANO TIJERINA teaches history and political science at the University of Maine. He is the author of “The Role of Canadian...

In the General Interest of Peace? British International Lawyers and the Spanish Civil War

This article reviews the core issues and different doctrinal positions present in the international legal debates triggered by the Spanish Civil War. It pays particular attention to the contributions of the first two British judges at the International Court of Justice, A. D. McNair (1946–1955) and H. Lauterpacht (1955–1960) to these debates. Their writings can be seen as respectively representative of the two stages through which British international lawyers went in the international legal debates on the Spanish Civil War. The article concludes with an analysis of the case for British “benevolent neutrality to the Nationalists” in the Spanish Civil War, reviewing the underlying motives which historians have highlighted as lurking behind the British-led non-intervention policy in the war.

Excessive Pricing: A View from Chile

Excessive pricing is one of the most controversial topics in competition law. Notwithstanding excessive pricing being one of the most blatant forms of abuse, a non-intervention policy tends to be the prevalent choice worldwide. Such a “hands-off” approach is based on the grounds that excessive prices self-correct, as well as practical difficulties in measuring a competitive benchmark and identifying excessiveness, and the fear of distorting ex ante incentives to innovate and invest. This article aims at providing a more balanced approach, which might be particularly useful for small economies, since market failures tend to linger for a longer time in small markets. Accordingly, it reviews the literature concerning the merit of antitrust intervention and the tests proposed to determine when intervention should take place. Then it illustrates the Chilean experience, which shows challenges concerning the scope of competition law; its goals; and principally the identity of a jurisdiction influenced by both the American and the European systems. This work concludes, on a policy level, that antitrust law might have a role to play in excessive pricing cases; and points out that even if hard enforcement is not considered appropriate, soft-enforcement strategies might also be advisable to address excessive prices. On a practical level, this article concludes that jurisdictions where excessive pricing provisions already exist should prefer tests aimed at defining a workable application of such provisions. This paper provides guidelines to determine their enforcement.

Cost-effectiveness of red blood cell transfusion vs. non-intervention in women with acute anaemia after postpartum haemorrhage.

Red blood cell (RBC) transfusion is frequently used to treat women with acute anaemia after postpartum haemorrhage. We aimed to assess the economic consequences of red blood cell transfusion compared to non-intervention in these women. A trial-based cost-effectiveness analysis was performed alongside the Well-Being of Obstetric patients on Minimal Blood transfusions (WOMB) trial. Women with acute anaemia [Hb 4·8-7·9g/dl (3·0-4·9mm)] after postpartum haemorrhage, without severe anaemic symptoms, were randomly allocated to RBC transfusion or non-intervention. Primary outcome of the trial was physical fatigue (Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory, scale 4-20; 20 represents maximal fatigue). Total costs per arm were calculated using a hospital perspective with a 6weeks time horizon. Per woman, mean costs in the RBC transfusion arm (n=258) were €1957 compared to €1708 in the non-intervention arm (n=261; P=0·024). The 13% difference in costs between study arms predominantly originated from costs of RBC units, as costs of RBC units were six times higher in the RBC transfusion arm. RBC transfusion led to a small improvement in physical fatigue of 0·58 points per day; thus, the costs to improve the physical fatigue score with one point would be €431. In women with acute anaemia after postpartum haemorrhage (PPH), RBC transfusion is on average €249 more expensive per woman than non-intervention, with only a small gain in HRQoL after RBC transfusion. Taking both clinical and economic consequences into account, implementation of a non-intervention policy seems justified.

International reactions to the Scottish referendum

The referendum on whether Scotland should become an independent country will be held on 18 September 2014. This article reflects on the evolution of foreign governments' attitudes towards the referendum since its confirmation in October 2012, and on their expectations should a �yes� vote result. With few exceptions, they have adopted a policy of non-intervention, treating the referendum as the UK's domestic affair. President Obama's expression on 5 June 2014 of his desire for the UK to remain �a strong, robust, united and effective partner� may, however, be seen as a sign of increasing apprehension abroad. Concerns of foreign governments aroused by the referendum include the diminution of the UK's power and role in international affairs, the possible encouragement of other secessionist movements, and disturbance to international organizations and alliances. It is commonly assumed that Scotland would become a reasonably prosperous and reliable small state. But how would the rest of the UK (rUK), a much more powerful and populous country, respond to �the loss of Scotland�? How would it affect the UK's already unsettled relations with the EU, including the prospect of a referendum on EU membership? Despite many uncertainties and a febrile political atmosphere, it is widely expected abroad that Scotland and rUK would settle into a cooperative relationship after a difficult transitional period, and that an independent Scotland would be accepted into the EU and NATO if it displayed flexibility on important issues.

Povorot and the Khanate of Khiva: a new canal and the birth of ethnic conflict in the Khorazm oasis, 1870s–1890s

Previous research has emphasized that after the creation of a Russian protectorate over the Khanate of Khiva in 1873, Russian colonial authority in Turkestan followed a non-intervention policy up to the 1910s. However, Russian administrators and irrigation planners continued to interfere in irrigation matters in the khanate in order to realize the diversion (povorot) of the Amu Darya to the Caspian Sea, which was a goal Imperial Russia had been pursuing from the beginning of the eighteenth century. The typical example of such efforts towards diversion is the unsuccessful construction of the New Lawzan Canal, starting in 1894. Construction began without sufficient investigation, under the assumption that it would be easily realized by mobilizing the native population. As a result, it directly provoked a Yomut Turkmen uprising in 1899. Later, it represented a starting-point for the prolonged conflicts between the Khivan government and the Turkmens, which, in the 1920s, came to be interpreted as an ethnic conflict over water issues between the Uzbeks and the Turkmens.

Interstitial Lung Disease in Systemic Sclerosis

Despite many unanswered questions regarding the pathogenesis of interstitial lung disease in systemic sclerosis (SSc-ILD) and the lack of accurate epidemiological risk factors, there have been major advances in the identification and prognostic evaluation of SSc-ILD. The evaluation of disease severity is a multidisciplinary exercise, requiring the integration of pulmonary function tests, high-resolution computed tomography data, and symptomatic severity and these factors all need to be considered in the detection of disease progression. Except in a minority of patients with reversible inflammatory disease, the primary goal of treatment is the prevention of disease progression. Current treatment regimens are centered on immunosuppressive therapy with controlled treatment data largely confined to the use of cyclophosphamide. The results of two controlled trials indicate that cyclophosphamide therapy is appropriate in SSc-ILD patients with extensive fibrotic lung involvement. There is a need to broaden therapeutic approaches with the exploration of rituximab (based on recent pilot data) and antifibrotic agents, shown to have treatment effects in other fibrotic interstitial lung diseases. However, it is also important to avoid the overtreatment of SSc-ILD patients with limited nonprogressive lung involvement. In that setting, an initial policy of nonintervention but meticulous observation ("masterful inactivity with cat-like observation") is often warranted.

Revisiting China's Non-Interference Policy towards Intrastate Wars

This article evaluates, through statistical analysis, China’s foreign policy of non-intervention, and answers the question of whether or not China has kept to its declared policy regarding intrastate wars relative to the other four powers that are permanent members of the UN Security Council. The evidence in this article suggests that the Chinese policy of non-interference was more a declaration than a policy. China significantly lower only from the United States and the USSR/Russia and differs solely in numbers of interventions, their extent, and diversity. Yet China is the only power that has not sent troops to interfere in intrastate wars. The country’s share among the powers in supporting actors in intrastate wars is significantly less as time passes, although China exhibited no significantly different trends between the Cold War and the post-Cold War periods. It is, on the contrary, the United States and UK among the powers that have significantly increased their relative share of interference.

Corporeal Disasters of War : Legibilities of “Spain” and the Jewish Body in Helen Tamiris’s Adelante!

Corporeal Disasters of WarLegibilities of “Spain” and the Jewish Body in Helen Tamiris’s Adelante! Lisa Jackson-Schebetta (bio) With Goya a new standard for responsiveness to suffering enters art…While the image, like every image, is an invitation to look, the caption, more often than not, insists on the difficulty of doing just that. SUSAN SONTAG, REGARDING THE PAIN OF OTHERS The civil war now raging in Spain has brought Goya’s Disasters of War to [an] intense second life. Through them we see deeper into the present suffering in Spain than we could in newspaper photographs. A. HYATT MAYOR, “GOYA’S ‘DISASTERS OF WAR’” Between 1810 and 1820, Francisco de Goya created Disasters of War in response to Napoleon’s invasion of Spain. Each of the eighty-five etchings explicitly depict wartime atrocities (rape, dismemberment, castration, torture, massacre). Goya captioned each print with cryptic phrases: “This is bad.” “With reason—or without.” “Poor mother.” When first published in 1863 by the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Madrid, the series appalled British and U.S. critics as psychotic filth and served for others as yet further evidence of the Black Legend, of just how cruel and degenerate the Spanish could be. The etchings found a receptive English-speaking audience, however, after World War I, an audience that grew larger during the Spanish Civil War, 1936–1939. In 1936, the Spanish military revolted against the Spanish Republic, democratically elected in 1931. The western democracies adhered to a policy of nonintervention throughout the conflict, leaving the Republican side dependent on Communist Russia and, to a [End Page 35] lesser extent, Mexico. The Nationalists, in contrast, benefited from the support of Italy and Germany, borne out in arms, airplanes, money, and bodies. Despite official U.S. policy, as deaths mounted in Spain and fascism’s hold on Europe grew, Republican sympathy in the United States gained momentum. Spanish Republicans conjured popular resistance to Napoleon as a precedent to their current plight, an ideological move that featured Goya’s images, the well-known Third of May 1808 and Second of May 1808 as well as the Disasters. In the United States, Goya’s series was republished in 1938 as a newly potent invective against the atrocities of global fascism in which Spain figured as the key battleground. The publication of the Disasters in 1938 could be read as but one more contribution to the representations of wounded, displaced, dead, and dying bodies that circulated through the international imaginary of the Spanish Civil War. It is not difficult to rattle off such images: Jay Allen’s account from Badajoz, Pablo Picasso’s Guernica, Robert Capa’s Falling Soldier, and the violence of air raids, mass graves, and executions documented in newspapers and photography and imagined on screen and stage. What is unique about the Disasters is that they found their way onto a national stage in the United States: Helen Tamiris staged Goya’s work in the dance piece Adelante! (meaning “onward” or “forward”), presented by the Federal Theatre Project (FTP) in April 1939. The presence of Goya in the work has yet to be examined by scholars. In this essay, I argue that Goya’s etchings influenced the aesthetics of the dance, its dramaturgy, and the historio-graphical bent of its politics. In Adelante!, Tamiris ostensibly presented a story of Spain as told through the memory of the dying body of Republican soldier José, but Tamiris was not only documenting the corporeal disasters of war that were littering Spain. Tamiris’s disasters of war, built upon both Goya’s and Spain’s, staged a revision of Iberian Jewish history in order to issue a call to arms, not for the Spanish but for the American Republic. Continued U.S. inaction against the anti-Semitism of fascism, Adelante! declared, compromised America’s legitimacy as a democracy in a global world. Tamiris’s activism in American modern dance, her passion for organizing, and her instrumentality in the Federal Dance Project and the Federal Theatre Project have been addressed by Elizabeth Cooper (1997, 2004), Mark Franko (2002), Susan Manning (2004), and Ellen Graff (2007). Tamiris’s work on Adelante!, in particular, has been amply...

Neville Chamberlain and the Spanish Civil War, 1936–9

Neville Chamberlain's role in the Spanish Civil War is a neglected subject in the history of the conflict. Yet he wielded considerable influence over Britain's Spanish policy. Like most Conservatives, his ideological sympathies lay more with the Nationalist forces led by General Francisco Franco than the besieged Republicans. At the same time, he deplored the intervention of Germany, Italy, and Soviet Russia and was strongly committed to the policy of non-intervention, which he genuinely believed had confined the Spanish conflict and prevented its escalation into a European conflagration. He was strongly opposed to granting belligerent rights to Franco unless foreign volunteers were withdrawn from Spain. He deplored the bombing of civilians in Spain, sought to help the many refugees caused by the war, and tried unsuccessfully on occasions to mediate an end to the conflict. The civil war was a considerable obstacle which threatened to undermine Chamberlain's appeasement of Fascist Italy, intended to weaken the Rome–Berlin Axis, and to constrain Germany in pursuit of general European appeasement. The Prime Minister's commitment to non-intervention in Spain, more the creation of the Foreign Office than his own, did no serious damage to British economic and strategic interests before June 1940.

Post‐fire salvage logging alters a key plant‐animal interaction for forest regeneration

Post‐fire salvage logging is widely implemented worldwide, but there is an increasing concern about its potential impact on the ecosystem. Moreover, there is scant information about the effect of salvage logging on ecosystem processes mediated by species interactions. We manipulated a burnt pine forest to experimentally analyze the effect of burnt‐wood management on the colonization of Holm oak (Quercus ilex) mediated by acorn dispersal by Eurasian jays (Garrulus glandarius). Three replicates of three treatments were established in an 18‐ha plot: salvage logging (SL), non‐intervention (NI), and partial cut plus lopping (PCL; felling and lopping most of the trees but leaving all the biomass in situ). We hypothesized that different burnt‐wood management could alter jays' landscape perception and thus the pattern of seed dispersal and seedling recruitment. We monitored jay abundance in each treatment for three winters and three breeding periods, and jay flights of potential acorn dispersal between nearby oak trees and the treatments. We also searched for oak seedlings recruited in the experimental plot for five years following the fire. Jays were recorded significantly more times (87%) in NI, and movements to this treatment during the acorn dispersal period were also more frequent (81% of the flights). Oak seedlings were also more abundant in NI (ca. 55%) than in SL or PCL (ca. 25% each), despite a strong effect of small remnants of live pines. The results show that the burnt forest, if unsalvaged, still provides a suitable habitat for jays, while salvage logging reduces the strength of this key plant‐animal interaction for oak natural regeneration. Non‐intervention policies after a forest fire therefore provide the opportunity for adaptive management that helps reduce restoration costs and increase the resilience of the system.

Salvage Logging Versus the Use of Burnt Wood as a Nurse Object to Promote Post‐Fire Tree Seedling Establishment

Intense debate surrounds the effects of post‐fire salvage logging (SL) versus nonintervention policies on forest regeneration, but scant support is available from experimental studies. We analyze the effect of three post‐fire management treatments on the recruitment of a serotinous pine (Pinus pinaster) at a Mediterranean mountain. Treatments were applied 7 months after the fire and differ in the degree of intervention, ranging from “no intervention” (NI, all trees left standing) to “partial cut plus lopping” (PCL, felling most of the trees, cutting the main branches, and leaving all the biomass in situ without mastication), and “SL” (felling and piling the logs, and masticating the woody debris). Seedling survival after 3 years was the highest in PCL (47.3% versus 38.7% in SL). This was associated with the amelioration of microclimatic conditions under the scattered branches, which reduced radiation and soil temperature while increasing soil moisture. Seedling density after 2 years was approximately 5.5 times higher in PCL than in SL, as in SL a large fraction of seedlings was lost as a consequence of mechanized mastication. The NI treatment showed the lowest seedling survival (17.3%). Nevertheless, seedling density was similar to SL. Seedling growth scarcely differed among treatments. Our results show that branches left onsite acted as nurse objects that improved key microclimatic conditions for seedling recruitment. This creates a facilitative interaction ideal for seedling establishment in moisture‐deficient ecosystems, as it provides the benefit of a shading overstory but without underground competition.

Heroes of the Republic, heroes of the revolution: French communist reportage of the Spanish Civil War, 1936−1938

It is widely acknowledged that the Spanish Civil War was one of the contributory factors to the collapse of the French Popular Front, forcing a wedge between Léon Blum’s government and the Parti Communiste Français (PCF) which opposed Blum’s policy of non-intervention. By examining French communist reportage of that conflict, this article studies the tensions occasioned by continued loyalty to the Popular Front and a commitment to the preservation of the Western democracies on the one hand and the perception of a revolutionary reformulation of Spanish society on the other. It argues that communist representations of the Civil War serve to resolve this tension into a strategic revolutionary understanding of the politics of the anti-fascist alliance; such an understanding could not be discerned in France where French communists were increasingly frustrated by the relative conservatism of its own Front Populaire. What emerges in these representations of the Spanish Republic and its Popular Front regime is a utopian vision of such politics, a vision embodied in the heroes and heroines of the Spanish Republic, whereby the revolution is successfully postponed but signs of a radical, long-term transformation of the world remain visible.

Ritu Birla . Stages of Capital: Law, Culture, and Market Governance in Late Colonial India . Durham, N.C. : Duke University Press . 2009 . Pp. xi, 346. Cloth $84.95, paper $23.95.

The typical subject, in colonial studies in general and in studies on colonial India in particular, tends to be the middle-class intelligentsia. Ritu Birla's ambitious monograph places Indian capitalists—specifically, Marwari capitalists—squarely at the center of her study and uses them to study the formation of the modern Indian economic subject. In Birla's analysis, the world of India's “vernacular capitalism” was characterized by family firms that functioned within the “negotiable” spheres of personalized kinship and communal ties on the one hand and the material values of credit, trade, and investment on the other. The book explores the tensions inherent in colonial efforts to create a standardized, rational market through the formulation and implementation of laws relating to companies law, negotiable instruments, income tax, charitable giving, and pension funds, while at the same time pursuing a policy (particularly since 1858) of non-intervention in the cultural conventions and practices of their Indian subjects. The paradox of the Indian/Marwari family firm, which was an important player in the colonial economy and yet did not meet colonial/metropolitan standards of a rational, modern business organization free from ties of caste, community, and communal-corporate conventions, resulted in such entities being categorized as a familial institution. This categorization gave rise to the concept of the “Undivided Hindu Family” (UHF) which, as Birla shows, sat uneasily upon firms that straddled the spheres of business and family/community. This move, in Birla's analysis, created the blending of the public sphere—associated with the economy—and the private sphere—representing cultural matters—from which the colonial regime had announced its intention of staying away.

Experimental Test of Postfire Management in Pine Forests: Impact of Salvage Logging versus Partial Cutting and Nonintervention on Bird–Species Assemblages

There is an intense debate about the effects of postfire salvage logging versus nonintervention policies on regeneration of forest communities, but scant information from experimental studies is available. We manipulated a burned forest area on a Mediterranean mountain to experimentally analyze the effect of salvage logging on bird-species abundance, diversity, and assemblage composition. We used a randomized block design with three plots of approximately 25 ha each, established along an elevational gradient in a recently burned area in Sierra Nevada Natural and National Park (southeastern Spain). Three replicates of three treatments differing in postfire burned wood management were established per plot: salvage logging, nonintervention, and an intermediate degree of intervention (felling and lopping most of the trees but leaving all the biomass). Starting 1 year after the fire, we used point sampling to monitor bird abundance in each treatment for 2 consecutive years during the breeding and winter seasons (720 censuses total). Postfire burned-wood management altered species assemblages. Salvage logged areas had species typical of open- and early-successional habitats. Bird species that inhabit forests were still present in the unsalvaged treatments even though trees were burned, but were almost absent in salvage-logged areas. Indeed, the main dispersers of mid- and late-successional shrubs and trees, such as thrushes (Turdus spp.) and the European Jay (Garrulus glandarius) were almost restricted to unsalvaged treatments. Salvage logging might thus hamper the natural regeneration of the forest through its impact on assemblages of bird species. Moreover, salvage logging reduced species abundance by 50% and richness by 40%, approximately. The highest diversity at the landscape level (gamma diversity) resulted from a combination of all treatments. Salvage logging may be positive for bird conservation if combined in a mosaic with other, less-aggressive postfire management, but stand-wide management with harvest operations has undesirable conservation effects.

Ideology and Total War. Military Intellectuals and the Analysis of the Spanish Civil War in Britain, 1936–1943

Abstract The recent historical interest in the analysis of the lessons of the Spanish Civil War by the European powers has tended to focus very strongly on the tactical experiences and the study of new military technology. This has led to the implied assumption that much of this analysis took place within a closed, professional military environment. In the case of Britain, however, the military debate on the lessons and significance of the civil war was conducted in a much more public fashion than in many other countries. For this reason, and due to the considerable political controversy over the official government policy of non-intervention, ideology played a significant role in the analyses of the unfolding military drama in Spain. This article considers the way in which ideology affected military interpretations of the conflict – and the employment of these analyses for ideological purposes – by examining the public debate, the reaction of British intelligence and the views of four "military intellectuals" who commented on the conflict in newspaper articles, books, and in memoranda written for military intelligence

Re-interpreting China's Non-intervention Policy towards Myanmar: leverage, interest and intervention

China's non-intervention policy has long been criticized for prolonging the rule of many authoritarian regimes. Myanmar has become one of the classic examples. As China is expected to become a responsible great power, her behavioral patterns have aroused many concerns. This paper aims to re-interpret China's non-intervention policy. While explaining various constraints on China's capability to intervene in the Myanmar government, it shows how China is making efforts to seek a new intervention policy in dealing with countries like Myanmar. It argues that China's insistence on a non-intervention policy does not mean that China does not want to influence other countries such as Myanmar. To assess Chinese leverage and its non-intervention policy toward Myanmar as well as to supplement the current limited academic discussion on Sino–Myanmar relations, in this paper we first examine Chinese leverage in Myanmar through Burmese local politics, such as the power struggle between the central government and local rebel governments. Second, we disaggregate the Chinese interests in Myanmar into different levels (regional, geo-strategic and international) and discuss how these interests affect China's non-intervention policy. Third, we argue that China has indeed tried to intervene in Myanmar politics, but in a softer manner that contrasts with the traditional Western hard interventions, such as economic sanctions and military interference.

La polětica de no intervenciňn en la guerra civil espanola

- The policy of Non-Intervention agreed by all the Europeans Powers with regards to the Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939 was a serious obstacle to the war effort of the Republican Government and it was also very favourable to the Francoist side. Under the cover of the European arms embargo, Germany and Italy supported General Franco's Insurgent forces from the beginning, while the Western Democracies refused to intervene in the conflict at all. The timely arrival of Soviet help to the Republic was enough to avoid early defeat but not to obtain victory. The consequent system of aids and inhibitions was therefore a vital factor in the course and final outcome of the Spanish struggle.Key words: Spanish civil war, Non Intervention, 1936-1939, appeasement policy, Italo-German Axis, Soviet collective security.Parole chiave: guerra civile spagnola, non intervento, 1936-1939, politica di appeasement, Asse italo-germanica, sicurezza collettiva sovietica.

Somoza and Roosevelt: Good Neighbourn Diplomacy in Nicaragua, 1933-1945

Diplomatic history, or as some job descriptions now classify it, “the history of the United States and the world,” has undergone significant changes over the last quarter century, with many historians applying the tools of social and cultural history to America's diplomatic record and others focusing on the archives of other countries to document the impact of the United States. Andrew Crawley's work is an unembarrassed throwback to an earlier era, an account of the policy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration toward Nicaragua based almost exclusively on the State Department's voluminous records. But a traditional approach still has its strengths, and Somoza and Roosevelt is surprisingly enlightening on many issues and raises important questions in trying to understand the history of U.S.-Latin American relations. Crawley's argument is inspired by the view that the history of this era was distorted by the “intense, ideologically charged, international debate” of the 1980s, occasioned by the efforts of the Ronald Reagan administration to overthrow the Sandinista regime (p. 2). Crawley is determined to set the record straight and rejects many of the key assumptions that historians have made about the Good Neighbor period, including the view that “Washington … ordered the murder of Augusto Sandino” and created and consolidated the Anastazio Somoza regime (p. 3). Using a detailed and exacting approach to the diplomatic record, Crawley demonstrates that the Roosevelt administration decided to adopt a rigid anti-interventionist policy and that this approach unintentionally played into the hands of General Somoza and his American-created national guard. In effect, what Crawley argues is that the U.S. decision to change its policy to one of nonintervention, while applauded by much of Latin America, had adverse consequences for Nicaragua. Having constructed the apparatus that led to the election of Juan Sacasa and the creation of the national guard, the new U.S. policy of nonintervention was, in fact, an abdication of American responsibility. In Crawley's view, this situation is clearly revealed in the failed efforts of American officials in Nicaragua, such as that by Ambassador Arthur Bliss Lane, to convince Washington to help Sacasa against the machinations of Somoza. Lane's failure only underscores the importance of Somoza's own agency in determining events. Far from being an American puppet, Somoza was very much his own man, and not, as fdr supposedly characterized him, “our S.O.B.”