Revolution, State Building, and Foreign Policy

Book reviewed in this article:
Daniela Spenser, The Impossible Triangle: Mexico, Soviet Russia, and the United States in 1920s     

Congress,the Presidency,and U.S. Foreign Policy

Gibson, Martha L. Conflict Amid Consensus in American Trade Policy. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2000. Pp. 213. $55.00 hardbound; $17.95 softbound.

Henehan, Marie T. Foreign Policy and Congress: An International Relations Perspective. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2000. Pp. 248. $49.50 hardbound.

Brands, H.W. The Foreign Policies of Lyndon Johnson: Beyond Vietnam. College Station, TX: Texas A&M Press, 1999. Pp. 194. $29 95 hardbound.

McNamara, Robert S., James G. Blight, and Robert K. Brigham, with Thomas J. Biersteker and Herbert Y. Schandler. Argument Without End: In Search of Answers to the Vietnam Tragedy. New York, NY: Public Affairs, 1999. Pp. 512. $27.50 hardbound; $17.00 softbound.     

Australian Foreign Policy

G. Clark: In Fear of China, Lansdowne Press, Melbourne, 1967, pp. 219 + ix, $3.00.

W. J. Hudson, ed.: Towards a Foreign Policy: 1914–1941, Cassell, Melbourne, 1967.

T. B. Millar, ed.: Britain's Withdrawal from Asia: Its Implications for Australia, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University, 1967, pp. 114.

T. B. Millar, ed.: Australia's Defence Policies 1945–1965, Department of International Relations, A.N.U., 1967, pp. 86.

A. and M. Vandenbosch: Australia Faces Southeast Asia: The Emergence of a Foreign Policy, University of Kentucky Press, Lexington, 1967, pp. 175 + vi, $5.75 (U.S.).

A. Watt: The Evolution of Australian Foreign Policy 1938–65, Cambridge University Press, 1967, pp. 387 + ix, $9.25.     

Melvyn P. Leffler, Ideology, and American Foreign Policy

Melvyn P. Leffler. The Specter of Communism: The United States and the Origins of the Cold War, 1917–1953 . New York: Hill and Wang, 1994.     

Dutch Spatial-economic Investment Policy Revised: Strengthening the Role of Parliament

The central research questions in this contribution are: how are spatial-economic investment projects assessed, selected and prioritized nation wide, and how can the role of Parliament be defined and, if necessary, be strengthened? In practice, this centres on the issue of how to avoid “entrapment”. A critical assessment of the current Dutch policies to strengthen the economic structure of the country is followed by a discussion of the proposals presented in 2004 by the Dutch Parliamentary Commission on Infrastructure Projects. This contribution concludes that the acceptance of (the majority of) the Duivesteijn Commission's proposals will greatly clarify and strengthen the position of the Dutch parliament in selecting and prioritizing spatial-economic investment projects. The Dutch experience may be relevant for parliaments in other countries as well.     

The Reichswehr, the Republic and the Primacy of Foreign Policy, 1918-1923

This article contends that the relationship between the Reichswehrand the Republic was shaped by the primacy of foreign policybetween 1918 and 1923. In this period the major concern of theofficers was the stabilization of the German Reich, which wouldpreserve Germany as a Machtfaktor in Europe and serve as thebasis for a revisionist and militarized foreign policy. Foreignpolicy matters and aims shaped their attitude to domestic politics.Cooperation with the Republic enabled the officers to achievethe stabilization of the Reich by 1923. They were also ableto introduce important reforms in the military structure ofthe Reich, which showed that cooperation with the Republic couldpay dividends. In terms of the substance of foreign policy theReichswehr followed a pragmatic, unideological approach by developinglinks with the Red Army. By examining the relationship betweenthe Reichswehr and the Republic from the perspective of theprimacy of foreign policy, it is possible to come to a fullerunderstanding of the shifting nature of civil-military affairsin the Weimar Republic.