bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Inflation and electoral competition: a comparative analysis
Authors: Hughes G. , Hawkins M. J. , Burton J.
Published: October 2009

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the notion that liberal democracies are more prone to inflation than other types of regime. In this section we establish the context of this research by briefly rehearsing some of the main themes in the literature on the political economy of inflation. Sections II and III deal with the analytical methods employed in this paper and the results of these analyses respectively. In our Conclusion we re-examine the debate on the relationship between liberal democracy and inflation in the light of our findings.
International political economy: problems and issues—Part I
Authors: Barry Jones R. J.
Published: October 2009

Recent years have seen governmental concern with international economic issues attain an intensity previously reserved for the great questions of war and peace. Students of international affairs have followed suit with a revival of academic interest in the complex relationship between the economic and the political in the international arena: hence the resurgence of international political economy.

International economic issues are now ‘high politics’. Alarm at the domestic implications of ‘stagflation’ within the advanced industrial countries (AICs) has prompted calls for reflationary stimulants to trade and economic activity. Domestic economic dislocation has, however, also revived protectionist arguments within certain Western economies.
Requiem for associated statehood?
Authors: Gilmore William C.
Published: October 2009

With the demise of the Federation of the West Indies in 1962 and the failure of the parties to agree to a ‘truncated’ federation in the smaller Eastern Caribbean islands, the British Government was confronted, for the first time, with the issue of how best to treat the decolonization of island micro-states.
Isolationism or discerning internationalism: Robert Taft, Mike Mansfield and US Troops in Europe
Authors: Williams Phil
Published: October 2009

The United States security guarantee to Western Europe enshrined in the North Atlantic Treaty has been not only the most important and enduring of American foreign policy commitments since the late 1940s, but also the least controversial Few critics have challenged the view that the Atlantic Alliance is vital to American security. The manner in which the commitment has been implemented, however, and in particular the extent to which it requires a substantial presence of American conventional forces in Europe has been much more controversial Indeed, the troop deployment policy of the Executive Branch has been challenged by Congress on several occasions. The first challenge came in 1951 when leading members of the Senate questioned both the legitimacy and the wisdom of President Truman's decision to send US troops to Europe. During the latter half of the 1960s and the first half of the 1970s, the issue arose once again as Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield articulated doubts about the need to maintain the existing troop level in Europe. From 1966 to 1970 Mansfield introduced several Sense of the Senate Resolutions advocating troop reductions; in 1971 and again in 1973 and 1974 he pressed amendments to legislation which, had they been approved, would have mandated reductions.
International political economy: perspectives and prospects—Part II
Authors: Jones R. J. Barry
Published: October 2009

The study of international political economy is beset with complexity: the complexity of the empirical referent and the variety of intellectual perspectives. The complexity of contemporary international economic relations was discussed in the first of these two papers. This paper is devoted to a critical review of the major established perspectives on the global political economy and a discussion of some of the bases upon which it might be possible to construct a synthetic, and hopefully more satisfactory, approach.
Reason in war
Authors: Donelan Michael
Published: October 2009

Many readers will have long known Professor Michael Walzer's remarkable book Just and Unjust Wars. The most interesting thing I can do is to discuss the way it has been received in some centres of the study of international relations in Britain. Professor Hedley Bull, Professor W. B. Gallic and Mr David Watt have reviewed it with Important differences but all to the same ultimate effect. Oxford, Cambridge and the Metropolis conclude that It Is a shallow book, lacking In philosophical depth.
South Africa's vulnerability to economic sanctions
Authors: Katzen Leo
Published: October 2009

Official boycotts of trade by individual countries and UN sponsored economic sanctions against South Africa have been on the international agenda for a good many years. India and Pakistan were the first countries to declare an official boycott of trade with South Africa in the early 1950s although Pakistan withdrew her boycott in 1956. As long ago as 1963 some twenty-five countries,, largely in Africa and Asia, had declared an official boycott against South Africa, In addition attempts to organize unofficial voluntary consumer boycotts against South African products such as fresh and canned fruit, wine etc., began as long ago as 1959 in Britain and the Scandinavian countries. Since 1973 there has been an embargo on oil sales to the Republic by the Arab members of OPEC and a UN embargo on arms sales in 1977, Voluntary consumer boycotts have failed to reduce the level of sales in Western countries. Even in the case of countries that officially boycott South Africa, trade has not been eliminated entirely if one looks at official statistics. But besides officially recorded trade, there is a good deal of trade via intermediaries. It is well known, for example, that South Africa continues to recieve some arms supplies from Western countries in this way. In the case of oil, while 90 per cent of South Africa's supply came from Iran, which refused to join a partial embargo until the Shah's fall, most of the balance is still supplied by countries like Bahrain, Oman, Quatar and the United Arab Emirates, which subscribe to an official embargo. This oil gets to South Africa, probably without the knowledge of the governments concerned, via intermediaries of the major international oil companies. The vulnerability of South Africa to an oil embargo will be discussed at some length later.
Colouring by numbers: comments on a quantitative study of quantitative studies of international politics
Authors: Moul William B.
Published: October 2009

John Vasquez, in a recent number of the Review, attempts to document the two-part ‘claim that the Realist paradigm has dominated quantitative international relations and has to this time (1979) failed.to explain (state) behaviour adequately’. He labels this the ‘colour it Morgenthau thesis’.
In defence of numbers: synoptic reviews and paradigm evaluation
Authors: Vasquez John
Published: October 2009

Since the publication of Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions and Keohane and Nye's call for a new paradigm in world politics, there has been increasing attention within the field as to what paradigm or paradigms dominate it and how they can be assessed. ‘Colouring it Morgenthau9 attempted to answer both those questions and in the process to develop measures for Kuhn's concepts that would permit some of his propositions to be tested. It is significant that although the original ‘Colour it Morgenthau’ thesis has been criticized, and various counter-views put forth, none of these have ever attempted to test their positions with data in a manner that would permit falsification, or even put forward a research design that would indicate how paradigm evaluations might be conducted. If criticism is to advance knowledge, then it is important that critics present not only counter-views but counter-research or, minimally, a research design that would allow their points to be tested.
Bargaining theory and diplomatic reality : the CSCE negotations
Authors: Holsti K. J.
Published: October 2009

Over the past two decades, psychologists, economists, and political scientists have developed a substantial literature on diplomatic bargaining. Its descriptive and normative development has substantially increased our understanding of the fundamentals of bargaining structures and strategies, outlined the fundamental choices facing negotiator and hypothesized an array of variables to explain outcomes.
Domestic inputs into foreign policy making: the case of the settlement issue
Authors: Yishai Yael
Published: October 2009

The question of the Israeli settlement in the occupied territories has become a focal point for the political system, an issue of ‘high politics’ affecting values and symbols important to Israeli society as a whole. Indeed, the settlement issue may be described as having a significant bearing both on the domestic scene and on Israel's posture In the international arena. Domestically, it has been a subject of acute controversy and intense power straggles. Externally, the. settlements have aroused widespread international opposition and criticism.
World politics at the Open University
Authors: Fielding Rodney J.
Published: October 2009

International Politics has been available as part of the Open University's programme of studies for the best part of ten years. During that time several hundred students have experienced this area of study in the unique form of learning and teaching that has come to be the hallmark of Open University courses. It would be interesting to know how the first generation of graduates with an International Politics course behind them respond to that experience, as they have studied a branch of the social sciences that is regarded as especially difficult and demanding in its scope, so much so that an earlier generation of scholars thought the subject to be unsuited to undergraduate study. We have come a long way since then, however, and the typical Open University student is rather different from the conventional undergraduate, bringing to his study more worldliness perhaps—no bad thing in the study of political matters—and a deeper appreciation of the subtleties of human behaviour But this advantage over the student coming straight into higher education from sixth form or college of further education has to be set against the disadvantages of a probable lack of method and discipline in study and of having to receive and assimilate complex ideas at the end of a day of full-time non-academic work, for Open University students are part-time and will do most of their study in the surroundings of their own homes. These circumstances influence the designers of Open University course. In the market place of adult education the consumer is sovereign. Certainly in large urban areas many different educational bodies compete for the adult student and Open University courses have to be designed with this competition in mind. Programmes of study must be carefully structured to provide for set amounts of material to be mastered in a limited period of time. There has also to be clear direction to courses, with signposts in the form of self-assessment exercises and suitable pauses built into course texts to allow for ‘digestion’ and to ensure that the right route is followed. To achieve these ends packages of learning materials are prepared by Open University staff and mailed to students in their own homes, supported usually by a course reader, some set books, and reinforced by the back-up of television and radio. This form of learning parallels conventional methods only in that periodical tutorials with groups of students are conducted by the Open University's part-time tutorial staff.
Perón's ideology and its relation to political thought and action
Authors: McLynn F. J.
Published: October 2009

Since the ghost of Perón and Perónism has never been laid in Argentina, it is perhaps surprising that more attention has not been paid to the thought and ideology of Perón, particularly as expounded in the Peronato from 1945 to 1955. There is a widely held perception that there is nothing new to say about Peronist ideology, as distinct from the political movement, on the grounds that justicialismo was simply an excuse for pure political opportunism. Though Perón's ideology came to mean pure opportunism in practice, it does not follow that it was devised expressly to provide that result. There was rather more to Peronist ideology than that, as this paper hopes to make clear. Accordingly, we shall advance an argument in four stages: first, to show the relationship of the ideology of justicialismo to the classical tradition in political thought; second, to advance the proposition that Perón sincerely believed in his own ideology; third, to show the extreme flexibility of the doctrine; and fourth, to demonstrate the contradictions that destroyed it as a credible body of thought.
A normative enquiry in international relations: the case of ‘pacta sunt servanda’
Authors: Suganami Hidemi
Published: October 2009

A study of ethics must be regarded as incomplete if it does not offer tools for analysing moral problems arising in the international context, particularly in an age of growing interdependence between the peoples of the world. Similarly, a study of international relations must be thought to be imperfect if it leaves out normative questions.

To this it may be objected that International Relations is an empirical discipline, and that it can legitimately leave normative considerations to moral philosophers. However, such a division of labour is unfortunately more likely to result in mere division rather than efficient co-operation. Moreover, international relations, the subject-matter, is logically, as well as historically, prior to International Relations, the academic discipline. Therefore, a study of international relations, undertaken by International Relations experts, cannot be claimed to be complete if it neglects those aspects of the subject-matter which have occupied the minds of many thinkers who do not consider themselves as IR specialists.
The theory of the balance of power in the first half of the eighteenth century: a note on sources
Authors: Black Jeremy
Published: October 2009

‘Very often it was no more than a phrase used to inhibit thought. Frequently appealed to, it was seldom analysed in real depth or formulated with genuine rigour. Writers tended to shy away from the questions it raised and the difficulties it involved.’ Professor Anderson's somewhat bleak statement about the eighteenth century use of the theory of the balance of power in international relations relects the tendency of writers concerned to analyse theories of international relations to concentrate on the opinions and writings of prominent intellectuals, eminent jurists, distinguished writers and famous statesmen. It is the intention of this note to draw attention to less eminent sources for eighteenth century views on international relations, and to suggest that far from being constrained by an inhibiting model of international relations, that of the balance of power, interpretations of European developments were aided by the very ambiguity and flexibility of the concept.
Change and international relations
Authors: Vincent R. J.
Published: October 2009

A common theme of all the books under review is the neglect of change by scholars in the social sciences generally, and especially in the study of international relations. A number of reasons are offered in explanation of this. One is that change is hard whereas continuity is comparatively easy. What stays the same over time is simpler to map than that which changes. In any young science static comes before dynamic analysis. (Gilpin, p. 4) Another reason for the neglect of change is the dead weight of tradition. The argument in the volume is that established theoretical approaches to the field have over-emphasized continuity at the expense of change.' (Buzan and Jones, p. 2; see also Holsti et al., p. xvii) A third reason is the decline in grand theory. (Gilpin, p. 4) We are reluctant to ask big questions about society any more and are concentrating on small and middle-sized ones. Fourthly, of course, there is the now well-known western bias in the study of international relations, and a parochialism which allows no purchase on the non-western systems whose study would be important for a theory of international political change. (Gilpin, p. 5) A fifth reason for the failure to do justice to change is anti-intellectualism. The search for laws of change is futile because of the uniqueness, and complexity of historical events. (Gilpin, pp. 4–5) No order can be imposed on the empire of circumstance. Finally, there is the idea that the conservatism of the western practitioner of political science conditions his or her treatment of the subject. (Gilpin, pp. 6–7) A preference for stability, or for, at most, orderly social change, makes it difficult to give a proper account of the radical change that would make the life of the observer uncomfortable. It is not surprising, says Chris Farrands, that one looks in vain to conservative thinkers for ‘an account, still less a theory, of international social change’. (Buzan and Jones, p. 87)
In the interest of peace and progress: Eduard Bernstein's socialist foreign policy
Authors: Fletcher R. A.
Published: October 2009

Eduard Bernstein (1850–1932) is now widely known as the father of revisionism and one of the more important progenitors of democratic socialism. What is often still overlooked is that almost all his theoretical work (an attempt to update the thought of Karl Marx in the light of the changed conditions of advanced capitalism) was done in England during his London exile (1888–1901) and that for the last three decades of his life he was a practising politician who manifested a close, informed and overriding interest in the major political issues of the era. Almost without interruption between 1902 and 1928 he served as a Social Democratic deputy in the German Reichstag, where he functioned as one of the SPD's principal foreign policy and taxation spokesmen. He was most influential within the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) before and during the First World War, increasingly less effective after 1914. An outline of Bernstein's views on German foreign policy during the period when he was at the height of his authority as an active socialist politician thus promises to fill a gap in existing scholarship and to shed new light on the father of revisionism and his progeny.
International relations and the promptings of history
Authors: Thorne Christopher
Published: October 2009

History is too important to be left to the historians. An individual or a society lacking an awareness of the past is as deprived as those who remain strangers to the world of imaginative literature. Moreover, anyone tempted to rely totally upon the pronouncements of professional historians for their ideas about earlier events still has to choose (even though the process is not always a conscious one) from among a wide range of versions and verdicts emanating from the ranks of those historians themselves.
Contemporary understanding about spheres of influence
Authors: Keal Paul
Published: October 2009

A decade ago it was possible to argue with some confidence not only that the Soviet Union and the United States had spheres of influence but also that they had a tacit understanding about them. The existence of a tacit understanding seemed to be confirmed, for instance, at the time of the invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, in that while the United States denounced the Soviet action it nevertheless acquiesced in it. At that time it could be claimed that the Soviet Union had merely acted in eastern Europe in the same way as the United States had on various occasions in Latin America, the most recent being the intervention in the Dominican Republic in 1965. Further, the doctrines each power used to justify intervention were alike. The Brezhnev Doctrine justifying the intervention in Czechoslovakia seemed similar to the Johnson Doctrine legitimizing intervention in the Dominican Republic in that both claimed hegemonic rights within a sphere of influence. And from this a reciprocal understanding was inferred about what each would allow the other to do in its respective sphere. Both superpowers denied it. The United States did so because spheres of influence transgress the doctrine of the sovereign equality of states and because the practices associated with them violate the norms of interstate behaviour. The Soviet Union did so because it counterposed the Soviet Union to other socialist States and it would have followed that the Soviet Union would not have been acting, as it claimed, in the interests of socialism.
Do general rules of international law exist?
Authors: Lowe A. V.
Published: October 2009

The aim of this short paper is to explore the concept of ‘general’ rules of customary international law (i.e., rules in principle binding upon all states, as contrasted with ‘special’ rules binding only on a few states, usually on a regional or local basis), and-the tension which exists between that concept and the consensual basis of customary international law. It will be suggested that it is possible to hold a view of international law which denies the general applicability of most rules of customary law and preserves its consensual character, while admitting that a few rales of truly general application do exist which, however, must derive their binding force from outside the framework of consensual law creation.
Uncomplementary characters
Authors: Nailor Peter
Published: October 2009

The White House Years and Years of Upheaval take the story of Henry Kissinger's influence and power from his appointment to the White House staff at the beginning of Richard Nixon's presidency to the period of Nixon's resignation, when Kissinger was Secretary of State. He continued in that office under President Ford until 1977, so his public memoirs are not yet complete. George Ball, though not rising to quite such high office, has had an official career spanning a wide range of years and appointments, and fitting into what has become, in the last two generations, a traditional American pattern of in-and-out' involvement with public office. He is now full of years, and his memoirs, in the sense that he is in retirement, are a full retrospective of his career. The two works offer a fascinating comparison at almost every level, especially as Ball has much to say of the Nixon-Kissinger period, which followed his own period of particular prominence under Kennedy and Johnson. And yet they could hardly be more different. It is not so much that they are chalk and cheese; the contrast between haute cuisine and nouvelle cuisine is, I think, a better analogy, in relation both to the richness of the fare and the size of the portions.
French foreign policy: external influences on the quest for independence
Authors: Waites N. H.
Published: October 2009

In recent years there has been a marked tendency to assess French foreign policy in terms of continuity and change in the aims, organization and actions associated with General de Gaulle and his pursuit of national independence. Analysts have found that in spite of major personality differences between de Gaulle, Pompidou9 Giscard d'Estaing and Mitterrand, and a presidential system of government that maximizes the opportunities for personal direction,, there has been paradoxically a high degree of continuity in French foreign and defence policies. Until recently it was possible to account for this by emphasizing the influence of the GauIIist party in government and the National Assembly, but now that it is no longer the largest party nor enjoying a share in power it is necessary to seek other explanations for continuity in policy. Moreover, the return to power in 1981 of men of the Fourth Republic who continue to maintain many of their predecessors’ policies reveals the inadequacy of Gaullism as a basis for analysis and the need for terms of reference allowing for a longer view of the French role in world affairs. If that role has been so consistent in spite of changes in society, economy, political leadership and even regime is it not time to seek reasons for continuity by analysing external influences on French foreign and defence policies in the light of international relations theory? This is particularly appropriate in view of current French interest in systemic approaches to international politics. The intention here is to examine some relevant developments in the theoretical study of the international system and to consider their implications for existing interpretations and future study of French foreign policy and its claim to independent The French case is of obvious relevance to the situation of other middle-sized powers pursuing an ambitious role in world affairs, yet finding access to power and independence severely restricted.
Sovereignty: ground rule or gibberish?
Authors: James Alan
Published: October 2009

In the study of International Relations few terms cause more confusion than sovereignty. As all the territorial participants in international life proclaim themselves to be sovereign it is a difficult term to get away from. But it also seems enormously difficult to get hold of, at least in any way which combines clarity and helpfulness. The matter is not assisted by the common suspicion that sovereignty has something to do with law, for law is widely taken to be an element to which any level-headed student of the international scene will give little time. On the other hand, sovereignty is also often supposed to have something to do with power—and that is a factor which, it is generally agreed, commands attention. However, in addition sovereignty has at least the smell, if not the clear suggestion, of absolute power—and that surely is something which is hardly applicable to any of the world's states, not even the super-states. All that can be said with confidence about them is that they are stronger than the others—but in that case what price the equality which sovereign states profess on the ground that they are all sovereign?
Transnational business, national friction structures and international exchange
Authors: Johns R. A.
Published: October 2009

Two consequences of the internationalization of economic activities that has taken place since the early 1960s have been that, within the international trading system, participant states have become more vulnerable and sensitized to the economic conditions obtaining in other countries; and economic actors have, in general, become more transnational and universal in their orientation and more aware of worldwide business possibilities. Consequently, visible trade flows have been progressively transformed through global raw material sourcing, production location and marketing; and invisible trade has been restructured by global deposit sourcing and lender servicing. Both types of international exchange required extensive external production networks which had to be newly created by international capital transfers and institutional migration. Despite the outward manifestation of these infrastructures, international exchange tensions nevertheless remained because of ‘the continued existence of still mainly nationally based political systems’ and the conflicts of interest and uncertainties created by the asserted extra-territorial orientation of national tax and legal system's, These problems were largely untouched by the harmonization and liberalization processes attempted by industrial nations under the aegis of GATT and other international institutions. As a result, the transnational operations of multinational companies have often had to be channelled to parts of the world where their activities are least frustrated by obstructive interventionist policy in order to secure particular objectives.
Economic diplomacy at the Atlantic Conference
Authors: Dobson Alan P.
Published: October 2009

Of the family of war conferences the Atlantic meeting between Roosevelt and Churchill in August 1941, has been a neglected relation. It has been covered in general histories but only one substantial account of the conference has appeared to date. This state of affairs is regrettable given the intrinsic importance of some of the issues which were raised at Argentia and the fact that T. A. Wilson's account,The First Summit, was written before some of the official records were released. However, though there is a need for an overall review of the conference, this paper has the modest goal of reconsidering the economic questions which resulted in point four of the Atlantic Charter. The reasons for a new account of the genesis and formulation of the main economic provisions of the joint declaration are three-fold. First, the context of economic discussions in which the conference took place has never been adequately described; consequently the reasoning behind certain decisions, as well as some of the nuances of the talks, have been misunderstood. Secondly, the injudicious character of Welles' proposals for point four and the nature of America's diplomatic defeat at the hands of the British have never been properly explained. Finally, it has not previously been detected that Churchill evaded full consultation with his Cabinet and ignored some of their advice which, ironically, resulted in a less serious set-back for American economic goals than would otherwise have been the case.
A. V. Lowe on general rules of international law
Authors: Suganami Hidemi
Published: October 2009

In his recent Review article, ‘Do general rules of international law exist?’, Lowe states that there are at least two interpretations of the nature of customary international law.1 In the following, I shall attempt to clarify what these two interpretations are, examine the implications which Lowe attaches to the interpretation which he favours, and discuss his assertions about truly general rules of international law.
A reply
Authors: Lowe A. V.
Published: October 2009

Hidemi Suganami's thoughtful criticisms of my recent article in the Review1 throw valuable light on some of the key elements of the argument which I tried to outline there. None the less, those criticisms do not seem to undermine my central argument, which is that there is a difference between the conception of customary international law as a set of laws which in principle bind all states and the conception of customary international law as a set of obligations which in principle bind only those states which have consented to be bound by them. By ‘law’ here, I mean a rule which purports to apply to all entities which fall within the open-ended set (i.e., ‘states’) which constitutes its sphere of application rationae personae. An ‘obligation’, on the other hand, claims no such general applicability, but—in the case of consensual obligations, with which we are here concerned—is only binding upon the closed set of states which have consented to be bound by it. There is, in my view, no good reason why the orthodox conception of customary international law as a set of laws should be preferred to the conception of customary international law as a set of obligations.
Imperial interests in the British decision for war, 1914: the defence of India in Central Asia
Authors: Wilson Keith M.
Published: October 2009

The most striking feature of the British Cabinet's decision for war on 2 August 1914 is the absence of any attempt by the Foreign Secretary, Sir Edward Grey, to convince his colleagues of the necessity for intervention on the grounds of British interests. According to the fullest contemporary source, the diary kept by L A. Pease, President of the Board of Education, Grey simply presented the Cabinet with the alternative of his resignation. In so doing, he made the decision a matter of politics rather than policy. At no stage did he place before his colleagues the considerations that had convinced him of the necessity for the step on which he insisted. Although Britain's treaty obligations were examined on 29 July, British interests, as such, were not spelled out. Even on the morning of 3 August, by which time the decision had effectively been taken, Grey was urged merely to ‘allude’ to unspecified British interests in his forthcoming meeting with the French ambassador.
Soviet Russia and the Asian revolution, 1917–1924
Authors: White Stephen
Published: October 2009

The founding fathers of Marxism provided an analysis of the contradictions of capitalist society and an indication of the means by which its revolutionary overthrow might be accomplished. They had less to say, however, about the colonial world into which the capitalist society of their day was rapidly expanding, and in their scattered writings on the subject they leave the clear impression that they shared the views of most of their socialist contemporaries that the colonies were the objects rather than the subjects of history, and that their destiny would be determined by the success or failure of the revolutionary movement in the major metropolitan countrieSo1 Marx and Engels were generally unsentimental about the nature of imperialist rule in the colonies, and they drew attention to the plunder, corruption and destruction by which it had usually been accompanied. They had little sympathy, however, for the ‘undignified, stagnatory and vegetative life’ in which most of the colonial peoples were believed to dwell, and they followed Hegel and much of Victorian social theory in regarding its displacement by the way of life of the major metropolitan countries as both inevitable and in accordance with a general scheme of social evolution by which ‘all, even the most barbarian nations are drawn into civilisation’, as theCommunist Manifestoput it.
Progress and problems in world modelling
Authors: Nicholson Michael
Published: October 2009

These two books should be welcomed enthusiastically by the international relations community. They describe economically the work done in two important and related fields with which scholars of international relations, no matter what their speciality, should be acquainted. This judgement may not, of course, be accepted by everyone, but I hope this review article will provide reasons in support of it. For even if one concludes (as I do not) that the approaches of these books are wrong, they are interestingly wrong.
A reply
Authors: Baylis John
Published: October 2009

I am greatly obliged to Cees Wiebes and Bert Zeeman for their illuminating comments on my treatment of the Post-Hostilities Report ‘Security in Western Europe and the North Atlantic’. Although my assessment of the report was not, as they suggest, ‘a central feature of my article’ (two out of fifteen pages) the points they make are nevertheless very valuable.
International studies: retrospect and prospect
Authors: Reynolds P. A.
Published: October 2009

In 1919 the world's first chair in international politics was founded at Aberystwyth. Now fifty-six years later a British Journal of International Studies achieves publication. The journal is timely – even overdue. It has predecessors of high quality in the United States, in Canada, in India, in Norway and in many other countries. The subject is taught widely in Europe, in Japan and many countries of Asia, in Africa and Latin America, more recently in Eastern Europe, and throughout the United States; but in the United Kingdom, though it is represented in some twenty-four universities and in several polytechnics, it is taught extensively only in eight of these institutions. It seemed appropriate, in the first number of the new journal, to review the somewhat hesitant cultivation of the field in this country, and to consider how the subject generally appears to be moving. The paper accordingly begins with a quick survey of evolution n i a changing historical context, examines recent explorations of methodology and expansion of range, and makes some comments about directions of advance which in the opinion of the writer seem promising or likely to be fruitful.
Hans-Ulrich Wehler on imperial Germany (1871–1918)
Authors: Waller Bruce
Published: October 2009

Since the appearance of Fritz Fischer's Griff nach der Weltmacht in 19611the study of German history has not been the same. His strong views and the evidence he presents on the question of German responsibility for World War I naturally provoked controversy. But the impact of his book has another equally important, and, at first glance, less apparent aspect. Fischer gave great prominence to economic affairs and the role of various pressure groups. Whether his views on German war guilt are accepted or not, Fischer's approach to history, his attempt to break out of the bonds of diplomatic, purely political and intellectual history and emphasize its economic and social strains, has encouraged a multitude of young German historians to take a fresh look at their past. They have concentrated on the last 100 years, but this method can of course be more widely applied. Since the days of Ranke the writing of German history has been directed towards the analysis of political events and increasingly since the turn of the century towards the study of the history of ideas. After an early and promising start in Germany, social and economic history was either neglected, or studied merely in isolation without reference to politics.
The study of ‘appeasement’ and the study of international relations
Authors: Jones R. J. Barry
Published: October 2009

The works on the topic of ‘appeasement’ to be discussed in this article have been widely reviewed elsewhere as works of historical analysis. The emphasis has been placed on the quality of their historical scholarship or the contribution made to the historiography of ‘appeasement’. The aim of this discussion will be to examine the relevance, if any, of such writings to a theoretical understanding of international relations.
The Rosecrance model of domestic-foreign policy linkage and the politics of Imperial expansion
Authors: Cooney S. L.
Published: October 2009

It is probably fair to say that the work of Professor Richard Rosecrance represents the outstanding attempt of recent years to produce a general model of international relations and the making of foreign policies, based on the evidence of historical research. His bookAction and “Reaction in World Politicsdrew inductively from the historical evolution of the international system an analysis of the processes of that system. His latest book,International Relations: Peace or War?,summarizes the historical analysis of the earlier work and elaborates on its general discussion of foreign policy making, especially by drawing upon recent theoretical work by other authors. In both these books Rosecrance tries to explain the developments of international politics in terms of the long historical perspective, to show how fundamental changes in the nature of states and the international environment have altered the nature of relationships between states. The question to be explored here is the viability of Rosecrance's model and his explanations, examined in the light of a particular historical development which he
The British Cabinet's decision for war, 2 August 1914
Authors: Wilson K. M.
Published: October 2009

On Sunday 2 August 1914 the Liberal prime minister, Asquith, received a note from Bonar Law and Lord Lansdowne in which the Conservative leaders offered their ‘unhesitating support’ to the Government in any measures it might consider necessary for the object of supporting France and Russia. Of this communication the Foreign Secretary, Sir Edward Grey, wrote in his memoirs: “The message was first read and then laid aside; it could have no influence on our discussion. ” In a recent article, Donald Lammers has concluded that “the state of our information does not justify ascribing a high or determining importance to Conservative statements and actions in connection with the British decision to go to war”. In doing so he has added his name to those of Robert Blake, Roy Jenkins, Keith Robbins, Samuel Williamson and Cameron Hazlehurst, who have in his words maintained that “the Conservative letter counted for almost nothing and the relentless march of events almost everything in the way of changing or settling ministerial minds” in the European crisis of late July and early August 1914.
Constraints and choices in the transformation of Britain's defence effort since 1945
Authors: Greenwood David
Published: October 2009

The United Kingdom's defence effort has undergone profound transformation in the thirty years since the end of the Second World War. Further change is foreshadowed in the programme for the forthcoming decade which emerged from the Labour Government's 1974 Defence Review. Indeed, as Britain's economic distress persisted through 1975 it became apparent that the budgetary projections yielded by this “most extensive and thorough review of our system of defence ever undertaken by a British Government in peacetime” would themselves come in for further scrutiny and revision. Even the future is not what it used to be.
What's wrong with torture?
Authors: Paskins Barrie
Published: October 2009

In discussing this (understandably?) neglected question, this paper attempts to make clear what is meant by the word ‘torture’; expresses doubts about the best known moral positions on torture; offers what seems a better account of the matter; and demonstrates that the question of what is wrong with torture merits consideration in any worthwhile study of international affairs.
“Inter. Pol. by Post” or international relations and foreign policy from the Open University
Authors: Carey Roger
Published: October 2009

When Philip Reynolds opened the first issue of the British Journal of International Studies with an examination of the “state of the art” in Great Britain,2 he omitted any mention of the Open University as a source of such studies. In the sense that Reynolds was seeking establishments with full-time students of International Studies, the omission was justified; in the sense that the Open University forms a seat of learning whose students are concerned with the study of International Relations, it was not. Indeed, it is possible that the Open University may have, at any one time, more students reading International Relations than any other single institution in the United Kingdom. These several hundreds of part-time students, pursuing the single course under review, are distributed rather unevenly across the face of Great Britain. They have varying access to library facilities; the greatly varying environment of their own homes in which to work; greatly varying amounts of contact with their tutors, either on a “face-to-face” basis or by letter or telephone. In short, the student for whom this course is designed is different – he represents, perhaps, the “new actor” in academic life in Great Britain. He is ignored at our – the traditional academics, – peril, for whilst we may be concerned with standards of academic excellence there are many in high places who now judge success by such criteria as staff-student ratios, cost effectiveness, and the like.
Sir Charles Dilke and the British Intervention In Egypt, 1882: decision making In a nineteenth-century cabinet
Authors: Chamberlain M. E.
Published: October 2009

“There's Dilke that has done it all”, remarked Wilfrid Scawen Blunt to Lord Blandford as they watched Dilke walk down Piccadilly one day in July 1882.1 The “it” was the British intervention in Egypt which entangled Britain in Egyptian affairs for two generations. More soberly, Louis Mallet, the Permanent Under-Secretary at the India Office, wrote to Evelyn Baring a year later that the Liberal government of William Gladstone had made themselves “the unconscious, and some of them (not all) the unwilling instruments of a policy from which Lord Beaconsfield and Lord Salisbury would have shrunk, and which is big with future disaster”. “Dilke and Chamberlain” he wrote, “I consider mainly responsible for the Egyptian war.” In The Trouble Makers, A. J. P. Taylor came to the conclusion, “The occupation of Egypt in 1882 marked Gladstone's decisive breach with Radicalism. Indeed it ruined Radicalism for more than a generation. It began modern British Imperialism…”. How ironic if the ruin of British radicalism was brought about by the two leading radicals of Gladstone's predominantly Whig administration. What do the Dilke and Chamberlain papers among others reveal about the exact role of the two men in the crisis ?
National interests and foreign policy: A conceptual framework for analysis and decision-making
Authors: Nuechterlein Donald E.
Published: October 2009

The term “national interest” has been used by statesmen and scholars since the founding of nation-states to describe the aspirations and goals of sovereign entities in the international arena. Today foreign ministers, military strategists and academicians discuss the vital interests of their countries in ways suggesting that everyone understands precisely what they mean and will draw correct inferences from their use of the term. Nothing could be further from reality. In truth, the study of international politics as well as the art of diplomacy suffer from widespread ambiguity about the meaning of national interest, with the result that some scholars have proposed that the concept be abandoned and replaced by some other phrase. To my mind, this would be an abdication of the scholar's responsibility because, whether we like it or not, the term national interest is so deeply ingrained in the literature of international relations and diplomatic language that it is unlikely to be dismissed from our vocabulary simply because some scholars find it useless. Were we to attempt to substitute some new phrase, we would likely find even less consensus and could become engaged in yet another round of jargon-creation. A better alternative, I suggest, is to strive for a more precise definition of national interest and then provide a conceptual framework in which serious discussion of foreign policy and international politics can become more fruitful. That is the purpose of this paper.
The Joint Declaration on the colonies: an issue in Anglo-American relations, 1942–1944
Authors: Williams J. E.
Published: October 2009

The collapse of the British Empire in south-east Asia in the early months of 1942 brought to the fore in Anglo-American relations the different attitudes of the two countries towards colonialism. Surprisingly, their long standing disagreement about the merits of colonialism was not pushed to one side by the need to defeat Japan. On the contrary, Britain's humiliating setbacks in Malaya and Burma reinforced doubts and confirmed prejudices in the United States about the probity of the British Empire – doubts and prejudices that were powerfully articulated throughout 1942 and succeeding years in the American press as well as in private exchanges between members of the Administration and their British counterparts.
Rationality and politics: the case of strategic theory
Authors: Salmon Trevor C.
Published: October 2009

The development of new kinds of weapons in the immediate post-war period led to a great increase in academic interest in strategic problems. After occasional forays into the field by thinkers such as Bernard Brodie, the output of literature on strategic matters by academics has grown enormously. Most of the work has been done by Americans and reflects an American perspective of the world. It deals with problems that the United States has faced, and is facing, in strategic policy matters.
The League of Nations and international politics
Authors: Smith Michael
Published: October 2009

The problem of reconciling historical data and scholarship with the concepts and assumptions of political science is a familiar and much-debated one. Whatever the abstract arguments about the exercise, it is a desirable one in the evolution of rigorous and comparative analyses, and one which demands attention in many areas of international studies. It is the aim of this review article to look at the problems entailed in the reconciliation of history and theory, through the particular example of the League of Nations and its experience.