Defence and Diplomacy: The British Foreign Office and Singapore, 1939-1940

Examinations of the defence of Singapore normally focus on therole the Royal Navy and antipodean cries of betrayal. In suchstudies, great attention is paid to such matters as how longit would take the Royal Navy to relieve Singapore and the degreeto which the British government misled Australia, New Zealand,and Singapore itself with regard to London's determination todefend the fortress. This study concentrates instead on Britishdiplomacy in the Far East, and contends that Britain intendedto defend its position in the region by means of creating theimpression in Tokyo that Japan faced a loose Anglo-Americancoalition opposed to any Japanese expansionist efforts. In asimilar fashion, the British attempted also to utilize Soviet–Japanesehostility to protect their interests in the Far East. By lookingat these matters, a greater understanding of the wider aspectsof British strategic defence policy can be found.     

日本对外贸易政策的新动向--关于区域自由贸易协定的几点议论

日本与新加坡签署自由贸易协定,表明其对外贸易政策发生了一些变化,它有别于日本一贯主张的“多边主义”,这一变化是建立在对多边贸易政策和区域协定重新认识基础之上的,表现为日本积极参与区域协定的具体行动上,其意图是适应外部环境变化以解决自身的经济问题。     

16世纪后期英国的外贸公司及其历史作用

16世纪后期的英国,资本主义生产关系已初步形成,工农业生产得到一定程度的发展,呢绒成为英国重要的出口商品。都铎政府采取重商政策,鼓励商品出口。在此背景下,对外贸易公司纷纷成立。这些贸易公司除了在其垄断地区进行正常贸易外,同时从事地理发现和海上掠夺,并代表政府进行外交活动。外贸公司的活动,促进了英国工业的发展,对英国当时和后来的经济发展产生了深远的影响。这一时期出现的外贸合股公司这一组织形式,成为英国17世纪对北美洲和印度实行殖民占领和统治的过渡的组织形式。外贸合股公司为不列颠殖民帝国的创建做出了不可磨灭的贡献。     

工业化冲击下的德意志帝国对外贸易及其政策

德意志帝国时期,工业逐步确立起在德国经济中的主导地位。由于工业化的冲击,德意志帝国时期的对外贸易量和外贸结构都发生了巨大变化,德国逐渐成为外向型经济国家。与此同时,德国的对外贸易政策也出现了因时而进的调整。     

Selected Characteristics of Soviet Foreign Trade and Implications for the Foreign Trade of the Commonwealth of Independent States

This paper provides observations on recent patterns of the Soviet Union's foreign trade in the context of factor endowment trade theory and two models drawn from the new trade theory. Empirical analysis indicates that recent Soviet foreign trade was not based on differing factor intensities between Soviet goods and the those of the rest of the world. Instead, the recent geography of Soviet foreign trade suggests that it conformed more to the trade in differentiated products expected under the new trade theory. These results suggest that Soviet foreign trade had developed in such a way that, at least with respect to merchandise trade, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) has a strong potential for fairly rapid integration within the group of industrial countries.     

Beyond the Foreign Office Papers: The Making of an International Historian

This article reflects on the changing discipline of diplomatic history/international history through the author's own experience in the field since the 1950s. It also draws wider lessons about the craft, especially the importance of understanding the people behind the papers – illustrated with vignettes of diplomats whom the author interviewed, including Harold Nicolson, William Strang and Owen O'Malley. Woven into this is some discussion of the author's own books, especially those on the pre-1914 Foreign Office, Britain and the origins of the First World War and, most recently, her two volumes on Europe's international relations between the world wars.     

British voluntary hospitals, 1871-1938: the geography of provision and utilization

This article examines the distribution of beds, staff and in-patients in voluntary hospitals in England, Wales and Scotland between 1871 and 1938. The findings bear upon two theoretical debates; first, the concern of historians of social policy with the extent to which charity and mutual insurance delivered a satisfactory level of institutional care before the NHS, and second, the broader issue of whether the localism of voluntary sector provision tends to produce a geographically uneven service. We survey the chronology of voluntary hospital growth pointing to reasons for foundations. We then analyse the levels of beds, staff and in-patients per head of population in counties, county boroughs and large burghs. This evidence suggests that despite the expansion of the sector and the narrowing of differences between places, considerable variations in provision and utilization remained. We argue that these variations were likely to have had an impact on the health of individuals. We conclude by tracing the emergence in political and public discourse of the perception that geographical unevenness was a failing of the voluntary system.     

‘The Anglo-Irish Agreement put us on side with the Americans’: Margaret Thatcher,Anglo-American relations and the path to the Anglo-Irish Agreement, 1979-1985

ABSTRACT

This article offers a critical re-evaluation of British prime minister, Margaret Thatcher’s relationship with U.S president, Jimmy Carter (1977–1981) and his successor, Ronald Reagan (1981–1989), in the context of the Northern Ireland conflict from 1979 to 1985. Specifically, it examines the impact that the ‘Irish Question’ had on the changing nature of Anglo-American relations from Thatcher’s entry to No. 10 Downing Street in May 1979 to the signing of the Anglo-Irish Agreement (AIA) in November 1985.     

“巨文岛事件”与英国东北亚政策

"甲申政变"之后,辅佐谁来保护朝鲜,是英国制定东北亚外交政策的焦点。朝鲜"背清亲俄"、日本不断挑战中朝宗藩关系、《天津条约》的撤兵造成朝鲜半岛即将出现政权、军事真空局面,导致中国在政治、军事两方面掌控朝鲜的力度空前薄弱,加剧了域内域外国家对朝鲜主导权的争夺。为了防止朝鲜半岛的动荡局势向着于己国不利的方向演变,维护在远东地区的战略格局,1885年3月,英国精心策划了一个"由中国保护朝鲜"和"有一打算"的外交计策,并于1885年4月在防御"英俄战争"的大义名分下,占领了巨文岛。由此,开始了近两年的辅佐"中国保护朝鲜"的外交活动,最后如愿获得了一个在中国宗主权掌控下的相对稳固的东北亚局势。可以说,巨文岛事件是在英国军事力量支持下,中英联手巩固东亚宗藩体制的外交事件,英国是这一事件的最大赢家,中国是最大的受益者。而英国高调渲染占领巨文岛的大义名分和辅佐"中国保护朝鲜"的真实用意,如同一枚硬币的两面,反映了巨文岛事件的复杂性、多面性。1885年以后,在强化宗藩体制的过程中,以遏制日本和朝鲜进一步破坏中国宗主权为目的的英国外交活动发挥了关键作用,巨文岛事件是其中的重要历史拐点。     

The merger of the Foreign Affairs and Trade Departments revisited

In July 1987 the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Trade were merged into a single department. Fifteen years on, this article assesses the benefits and costs of the merger. It focuses on two questions. Firstly, did the organisational change meet the objectives being sought: that is, better coordination and greater efficiency, flexibility and responsiveness? Secondly, were Australia's capabilities in managing its international relations enhanced by the merger? The article reaches mainly positive conclusions.     

The Anatomy of Russian Foreign Trade Statistics

The study, by a noted Japanese economist and observer of Soviet and post-Soviet economic affairs, represents a pioneering effort to evaluate the statistical data base reflecting Russian foreign trade. The author examines in minute detail the inconsistencies and deficiencies of data compiled from 1985 to mid-1994, focusing on classification and highlighting the changing and conflicting methods of compilation. Tracing and tabulating data valued in dollars and foreign trade rubles, he also covers and analyzes Russian statistics detailing trade in commodities. Also discussed is the geographic distribution of Russian exports and imports to foreign countries in the late 1980s and 1990s. 1 figure, 10 tables, 37 references.