Japan’s Twin-Track Diplomacy during the Cambodian Conflict, 1979–84: A “Member of the West” Pursuing an Independent Foreign Policy 1

The Cambodian conflict and the increase of the Cold War tension following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan posed major challenges to Japan’s Southeast Asia policy but, contrary to what is claimed in the existing research, did not halt Tokyo’s efforts to promote peaceful coexistence between the countries of ASEAN and Indochina. Declassified documents and other primary sources show that through the adoption of a twin-track diplomatic line, Japan acted as an “Asian member of the West”, committing to the anti-Soviet alignment but at the same time continuing to pursue its regional objectives. By engaging Vietnam and striving for a “regional” solution to the Cambodian conflict, Japan followed an independent diplomatic line, eventually expanding its role in Southeast Asia beyond the economic dimension to security issues. In the end, Japan’s bridging efforts in Southeast Asia, envisioned by Prime Minister Fukuda in 1977, helped Tokyo to lay the foundation for its involvement in the mature stage of the Cambodian peace process after the late 1980s.     

The Heath Government and British Defence Policy in Southeast Asia at the End of Empire (1970-71)

This article examines the rationale behind the Heath government's1970 decision to negotiate a Five Power Defence agreement withAustralia, New Zealand, Singapore and Malaysia and to maintaina small British military contingent in Southeast Asia as a partof this new politico-military framework. It argues that whileits overriding foreign policy concern was to end Britain's problematicrelationship with the European Economic Community and to makemembership of this grouping the cornerstone of its foreign policy,the Heath government was careful not to cast Britain's post-imperialfuture in purely European terms. The successful negotiationof the Five Power Defence Arrangements in 1970–71 wasinstrumental in achieving this by ensuring that London wouldmaintain close links with key Commonwealth partners in the Asianregion. In what was not only an attempt to neutralize potentialdomestic opposition to Britain's entry into the EEC, but alsoa lingering reluctance to do away with the rhetoric of Britainas a leading power with extra-European interests, Heath waseager to show that by making a contribution to the stabilityof Southeast Asia, Britain still had a role to play outsideEurope.     

Knowledge and Information Networks in an Italian Wine Cluster

The aim of this article is to analyse the nature and extent of knowledge and information networks in an Italian wine cluster. Moreover, the relation between firms’ characteristics and the knowledge network structure is also explored. The empirical findings show that knowledge is unevenly distributed in clusters and that networks of knowledge and information differ a great deal in terms of their structure. In fact, knowledge flows are restricted to a tightly connected community of local producers, differing in terms of knowledge assets, innovation behaviour and overall economic performance with respect to the rest of the firms in the cluster.