Waiting for Kant: devaluing and delegitimizing nuclear weapons

Expectations of significant progress towards a nuclear weapons‐free world continue to shape global nuclear politics. Progress towards nuclear disarmament will require diminishing the value of nuclear weapons to the point where it becomes politically, strategically and socially acceptable for nuclear‐armed states to relinquish permanently their nuclear arsenals. Key to this are the concepts and processes of ‘devaluing’ and ‘delegitimizing’ nuclear weapons that have steadily coalesced in global nuclear discourse since the mid‐1990s. This article builds on current research by developing three images of nuclear disarmament under the Nuclear Non‐Proliferation Treaty (NPT): ‘surface’ devaluing, ‘deep’ devaluing, and delegitimizing nuclear weapons. The first represents codification by the nuclear‐weapon states of the transformation of the Cold War environment through reductions in the size and role of nuclear arsenals that leaves the logic of nuclear deterrence and nuclear prestige largely unchanged. Deep devaluing is framed as a reconceptualization of the political, strategic and military logics that underpin nuclear‐weapons policies and practices. Delegitimizing represents a more radical normative project to transform collective meanings assigned to nuclear weapons. The analysis examines conceptions of devaluing nuclear weapons from the perspective of non‐nuclear weapon states and the relationship between devaluing nuclear weapons and the idea of a spectrum of nuclear deterrence. It concludes by highlighting the tension between surface and deep devaluing, the emergence of a delegitimizing agenda, and the political implications for the current NPT review cycle set to culminate in the next quinquennial Review Conference in 2015.     

Growing up Kennedy: the role of medical ailments in the life of JFK, 1920-1957

As a result of the opening of new materials at the John F Kennedy Library relating to John F Kennedy's medical problems, we have a better understanding of the specific nature of those ailments, how they were treated, and how he responded to them. Most important, this study focuses on how his medical problems affected his relationship with his parents, especially his father, in the context of an older sibling who personified what a Kennedy should be: bright, athletic, and healthy. John Kennedy's response to family expectations produced a sometimes rebellious and detached youth who learned to rely on his charm, wit, intellect, and inner toughness to overcome adversity. In the process of dealing with serious medical issues into adulthood, John Kennedy revealed both courage and fortitude-traits that would eventually carry him to the White House.     

Economic policy and development in Austrian Lombardy, 1815-1859

The question of economic integration is not new in Europe. Historically, the birth and construction of nation-states was important in stimulating interest in the systematic relationships between political and economic integration. In the case of the multinational structure of the Habsburg monarchy in the nineteenth century, the result was an economic policy that, for political reasons, aimed to unite the material interests of a state that was completely heterogeneous in other respects. Lombardy was a case in point. Traditionally the region had been in the economic vanguard in central Europe. When it again became part of Austria in 1815 it also became subject to the imperial policy of political integration. As a result its economic priorities were partially reformulated. On the one hand, Austria had a protectionist system aimed at autarky which made incentives to industrial production a priority. Lombardy's purely mercantilist outlook, on the other hand, was based around the production of a few highly specialized goods, most notably silk, for export. Conflict between economic interests in Lombardy was the inevitable result. Nevertheless, the imperial government had to take account of the fact that it was impossible to restrict Lombardy's international trade relations exclusively to the Austrian market. And the problems that beset any effort to tie the Lombard economy into a denser network of relationships with the Austrian market were not due to the political formation of the Italian nation because Northern Italy, and Lombardy in particular, continued to occupy an anomalous position within the context of the Italian economy.     

中国与苏维埃俄国之间的蒙古(1920-1924)

C·Г·卢贾宁 (С Г Лузянин)先生系俄罗斯科学院远东研究所研究员 ,历史学博士。主要从事俄中关系史、现代中国外交史的研究 ,在俄 (苏 )、蒙古、中国三国关系研究方面发表了多篇论文 ,《2 0世纪的俄国·蒙古·中国 :1911— 194 6年三国间的政治关系》(莫斯科 ,2 0 0 0年 )是作者的代表作 ,也是近年来俄罗斯学者有关上述三国关系研究的一部重要著作。本文发表于 1995年 ,着重探讨了 192 0— 192 4年间中俄 (苏 )两国就蒙古问题的交涉以及诸多相关问题。作者的有些观点难为我们所苟同 ,但文章披露了许多鲜为人知的苏俄档案资料。鉴于此 ,特予发表     

Russian Physicians in Harbin (1920-32)

This study analyzes medical practitioners’ adaptation to a dynamic cultural and political scene and examines the impact of medical refugees on a local community. In the early 1920s, there was an influential Russian medical community in Harbin that established medical societies and medical schools. The organization of medical societies was a part of the active formation of a professional community and represented a thoughtful measure for countering the control of Chinese officials. The high degree of cooperation between Russian and Chinese medical personnel in the medical-sanitary department of the Chinese Eastern Railway and in Harbin municipal medical facilities was a part of Harbin physicians’ activities.     

清末民初伪稗丛考

清末民初伪书风行,表现在文言小说领域尤烈.民国以来,一度将所有的笔记、小说统而称之为"笔记小说"--最典型的是影响颇大的《笔记小说大观》,这并不是一个合理的名称,因为笔记不一定是小说,而小说不一定是笔记.