CIAO DATE: 03/05

International Affairs

January 2005

• The political support system for American primacy  Richard K. Betts

  Much of the world seems exasperated by American foreign policy. Why does the United States exercise its primacy in the global distribution of power with such relish and such indifference to the anxieties of other states? A realpolitik explanation is that this is simply what great powers do whenever they can get away with it. With rare exceptions such as Germany under Bismarck, states expand until they are stopped. Bush is no Bismarck, and in a unipolar world there is no one to stop the United States.

• Empire by denial: the strange case of the United States  Michael Cox

  One of the privileges of being more important than anybody else is that one can-and often does-reflect more frequently than others on the conditions of one's own existence. This is something to which Americans in particular have been especially prone. The United States, they reason, is more significant than any other country. It is more than just another great power. Thus what happens within its borders must be of deeper importance than what happens within the space of other, lesser nations. This obsession, bordering on the narcissistic, has taken several different forms, from exploring the deeper sources of US exceptionalism (and by implication American superiority) through to assessing what it really means to be an American in a rapidly changing racial landscape where Hispanics, Asians and others look like outnumbering whites in the years ahead. One of the more persistent themes in American discourse, though, has revolved around not the complex issue of identity, but the rather more prosaic problem of power. This has found expression over the years in one of several 'great debates' about where the United States happened to be heading, why it was heading there, and what significance this might have for the international system at large. Foreigners might have found all this selfabsorbed discussion decidedly parochial; Americans, by and large, have not. Indeed, what could be more interesting (many of them have wondered) than trying to find out whether or not the United States was on the way up, merely holding its own or-God forbid-on its way down?

• 'International community' after Iraq  Barry Buzan and Ana Gonzalez-Pelaez

  That the invasion and occupation of Iraq created deep divisions within and among countries is not contested. One frequently hears statements about the damage done to the 'international community', whether the context be the future of the UN, or a distancing of relations between the United States and Europe, or a weakening of the EU integration project, or a breakdown of trust between the war coalition and the rest of the world, or a 'clash of civilizations' between Islam and the West. One also hears Tony Blair welcoming Libya back into the 'international community' as one allegedly positive spin-off from the Anglo-US war against Iraq. It is clear that 'international community' means different things to different people. It is also clear from the nature and frequency of its use that the term has an important political function in generating legitimacy for those who act in its name. But one cannot assess the impact of the war on the 'international community' if one does not know what the concept means.

• The collapse of British foreign policy  William Wallace

  British foreign policy has tried to punch above its weight for the past halfcentury, while balancing between different sets of international allegiances. For Winston Churchill, Britain could compensate for its loss of empire by playing a role in 'three circles': the British Commonwealth and Empire, as it still was, the transatlantic Anglo-Saxon partnership, and the links with our continental European neighbours. Later, as the Commonwealth connection shifted from apparent asset to apparent burden in the course of the 1970s, when the problems of Rhodesia/Zimbabwe loomed over British governments and the caucus of African governments within the Commonwealth replaced deference to Britain with demands on Britain, the preferred image shifted from three circles to two stepping-off points, the United States and western Europe, with Britain acting as the 'bridge' between them.

• The Right that failed? The ambiguities of conservative thought and the dilemmas of conservative practice in international affairs  Ian Hall and Nicholas Rengger

  Looked at from one point of view, times seem good for those who identify themselves as conservatives. In the United States the Republican victory-not only in the presidential election but also in congressional and gubernatorial contests-looks like making the avowed ambition to establish Republican, and conservative, primacy for a generation that bit closer. In Australia, John Howard's unprecedented fourth term also seems to suggest a conservative ascendancy. Yet in Britain things are much less happy. The Conservative Party remains in the political doldrums and, despite mounting evidence of a loss of faith in the government, and indeed in the prime minister personally, there is little liking for the ideas or personalities of the Conservative opposition.

• New approaches to deterrence in Britain, France, and the United States  David S. Yost

  Each of the three nuclear powers in NATO has revealed new thinking about deterrence in recent years. While much of the new thinking preceded the terrorist attacks against the United States on 11 September 2001, some of it reflects reassessments in the light of those attacks and other signs of change in the international security environment. Despite their differences, London, Paris and Washington have each come to focus on contingencies involving terrorists and regional powers armed with weapons of mass destruction as the most likely near-term challenges for deterrence.

• The rise and fall of the NPT: an opportunity for Britain  Michael MccGuire

  Signed in 1968, the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty used to be seen as an unexpectedly successful example of international cooperation.1 Today, it is more like a wisdom tooth that is rotten at its root, and the abscess is poisoning the international body politic. Britain was mainly a bit-player in this complicated story; but today, as the plot begins to unravel, it is in a unique position to bring the story back on track and provide the opportunity for a happy ending.

• 'The enemy is at the gate': Russia after Beslan  Dov Lynch

  The terrorist attacks on Russia in August and September 2004 were relentless and varied. On 24 August two planes that had taken off from the Moscow airport of Domodedovo exploded in flight. One crashed near Tula and the other near Rostov; 89 passengers died. On 30 August a suicide bomber detonated a bomb in the Moscow metro, killing 10 and wounding 50. On 1 September a group of 32 terrorists took hostage School Number One in the North Ossetian town of Beslan, holding prisoner over one thousand children, parents and teachers who had gathered to celebrate the first day of term. The hostagetaking ended two days later in a confused firefight that left 326 dead, including 159 children, and some 540 wounded.

• Review Article: International peacekeeping: the challenges of state-building and regionalization  Paul D. Williams

  After the failed international operations in Bosnia and Somalia in the early 1990s, and under significant US pressure, the United Nations temporarily retreated from peacekeeping, especially in Africa. A decade later, however, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan told the Security Council that it was once again 'facing a time of surging demand' for its peacekeeping operations. Since the catalyst for the US-led retreat from peacekeeping had been an operation in Africa, it was ironic, if unsurprising, that African wars were now responsible for the rising demand for UN peace operations. Annan's statement prompted the Brazilian and UK representatives in the Council to declare that the UN was facing problems of overstretch just as it had been in the early 1990s. What the ambassadors failed to mention is that overstretch is caused not only by rising demand: it also occurs when the UN's members fail to supply the organization with the resources necessary to maintain international peace and security; and, as generations of peacekeepers will testify, lack of supply has been the rule rather than the exception.

• Review Article: Beyond banality? Ethical responses to evil in post-September 11 International Relations  Renée Jeffery

  The greatest evil is not now done in those 'sordid dens of crime' that Dickens loved to paint. It is not done even in concentration camps and labor camps. In those we see its final result. But it is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, carried and minuted) in clean, carpeted, warmed and well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voice.

• Review Article: Lyndon Johnson's war? Part 2: from escalation to negotiation  Geoffrey Warner

  The first instalment of this two-part article concluded with President Lyndon Johnson's decision in July 1965 to authorize a large-scale deployment of American ground troops to South Vietnam in order to prevent the takeover of that country by the communist guerrillas controlled, supplied and reinforced by the government of the Democratic Republic of (North) Vietnam (DRV). The present article takes the story up to the end of March 1968, when Johnson announced a significant de-escalation of the war in the hope of persuading the government of the DRV to come to the negotiating table, which it did on 10 May 1968.

• Book Reviews: Online publication date: January 2004

  International Relations theory

  Constructing global civil society: morality and power in international relations. By David Chandler.

  International ethics

  The ethics and politics of asylum: liberal democracy and the response to refugees. By Matthew J. Gibney.

  Bait and switch? Human rights and American foreign policy. By Julie A. Mertus.

  International law and organization

  The United States and the rule of law in international affairs. By John F. Murphy.

  Conflict, security and armed forces

  Arguing about war. By Michael Walzer.

  Border and territorial disputes of the world. 4th edn. Edited by Peter Calvert.

  Politics, democracy and social affairs

  British foreign secretaries since 1974. Edited by Kevin Theakston.

  The new mandarins: how British foreign policy works. By John Dickie.

  Silvio Berlusconi: television, power and patrimony. By Paul Ginsborg.

  Thaksin: the business of politics in Thailand. By Pasuk Phongpaichit and Chris Baker.

  Ethnicity and cultural politics

  Globalised Islam: the search for a new ummah. By Olivier Roy.

  International and national political economy, economics and development

  The economics of innocent fraud: truth for our time. By J. K. Galbraith.

  Why globalization works: the case for the global market. By Martin Wolf.

  Global production networking and technological change in East Asia. Edited by Shahid Yusuf, M. Anjum Altaf and Kaoru Nabeshima.

  Locating global advantage: industry dynamics in the international economy. Edited by Martin Kenney with Richard Florida.

  Energy and environment

  The green state: rethinking democracy and sovereignty. By Robyn Eckersley.

  History

  Think tanks and power in foreign policy: a comparative study of the role and influence of the Council on Foreign Relations and Royal Institute of International Affairs, 19391945. By Inderjeet Parmar.

  A 'special relationship'? Harold Wilson, Lyndon B. Johnson and Anglo-American relations 'at the summit', 196468. By Jonathan Colman.

  The flawed architect: Henry Kissinger and American foreign policy. By Jussi Hanhimäki.

  The first domino: international decision making during the Hungarian Crisis of 1956. By Johanna Granville.

  Britain, Kenya and the Cold War: imperial defence, colonial security and decolonisation. By David Percox.

  Mohammad Mosaddeq and the 1953 coup in Iran. Edited by Mark J. Gasiorowski and Malcolm Byrne.

  Britain and the confrontation with Indonesia, 19601966. By David Easter.

  Europe

  Easier fatherland: Germany and the twenty-first century. By Steve Crawshaw.

  The European dream: how Europe's vision of the future is quietly eclipsing the American dream. By Jeremy Rifkin.

  EU development cooperation: from model to symbol. Edited by Karin Arts and Anna K. Dickson.

  Russia and the former Soviet republics

  Vladimir Putin and the new world order: looking east, looking west? By J. L. Black.

  Russian crossroads: toward the new millennium. By Yevgeny Primakov.

  Middle East and North Africa

  What we owe Iraq: war and the ethics of nation building. By Noah Feldman.

  The missing peace: the inside story of the fight for Middle East peace. By Dennis Ross.

  The war for Muslim minds: Islam and the West. By Gilles Kepel.

  Contending visions of the Middle East: the history and politics of orientalism. By Zachary Lockman.

  Modern Iran: roots and results of revolution. By Nikki R. Keddie.

  Inventing Iraq: the failure of nation building and a history denied. By Toby Dodge.

  Asia and Pacific

  The international relations of Northeast Asia. Edited by Samuel S. Kim.

  Holding China together: diversity and national integration in the post-Deng era. Edited by Barry J. Naughton and Dali L. Yang.

  Japan's security agenda: military, economic, and environmental dimensions. By Christopher W. Hughes.

  North America

  More equal than others: America from Nixon to the new century. By Godfrey Hodgson.

  Hegemony or survival: America's quest for global dominance. By Noam Chomsky.

  The decline of American power: the US in a chaotic world. By Immanuel Wallerstein.

  Latin America and Caribbean

  Reforming Brazil. Edited by Mauricio A. Font and Anthony Peter Spanakos.

  The last colonial massacre: Latin America in the Cold War. By Greg Grandin.