Co-chairing Asia-Pacific defence diplomacy: the case ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting Plus

This article assesses co-chairs’ roles in affecting the outcomes of Asia-Pacific defence diplomacy, which have been under-examined. Attempting to mend this intellectual gap, our study examines: ‘What shapes specific agreement details?’ We contend that co-chairs’ effectiveness is not borne out of resource possession but in fact derived from their ability to manage the resources. In order to be effective, co-chairpersons must convert the available resources at hands into bargaining leverage. To validate our argument, empirical analysis of military medicine (MM) collaboration under the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting Plus (ADMM-Plus) framework was conducted. We demonstrate how the Thai and Russian co-chairs altered the bargaining dynamics to shape the outcomes regarding the ASEAN Center of Military Medicine (ACMM). Insights from our analysis not only extends the existing academic literature on Asia-Pacific defence diplomacy and international negotiation, but also provides practitioners with lessons useful for conducting defence diplomacy and enhancing security cooperation in the Asia-Pacific and beyond.     

"三国同谋论"分析:朝鲜战争起源的再思考

在朝鲜战争起源的问题上,学术界一直存在着争论.一些西方学者认为,朝鲜战争是在苏联、中国和朝鲜周密的共谋下发动的,这种说法后来被称为"三国同谋论".但这种说法与最近公开的资料并不相符.本文以中国、苏联的新资料为依据对以往的"三国共谋论"进行了反驳,并得出结论:中国不仅没有参加策划朝鲜战争,而且在一定程度上对发动这场战争持不赞成的态度.     

试论塞瑟尔的"新君主制"学说

在文艺复兴时期的西欧,法国的宫廷大臣、著名的政治思想家克劳德·得·塞瑟尔根据现实社会的变动,提出了系统的"新君主制"学说.在肯定君主制的价值时,他鼓吹"王权神授",但却着重于从人性的角度来强调君主制的优越性.在对"明君政治"的憧憬中,他界定了一些君主应当遵循的政治行为规范,特别强调君主实施仁政,建立各等级之间的"和谐"秩序,并提出了等级变动的合理性.同时,塞瑟尔主张君主让各等级代表参政议政,建立"君主咨政会议制".他还提出"有限君权"的主张,力图以教会、"正义"与国家法令来遏止君主的暴政.此外,他还要求君主灵活地进行外交,积极进行殖民扩张.塞氏的政治学说充满着"过渡时期"社会所赋予的复杂性与矛盾性,但受时代变迁的感召与人文主义的熏陶,他突破传统的藩篱,提出了适应民族国家发展与新兴资产阶级成长之需要的"新君主制"学说.他的政治理想,反映了西方政治思想从中世纪向近代转型的历史趋势.     

论日欧首脑外交

首脑外交是第二次世界大战以来国家间交往的一种频繁使用的外交形式,随着国际格局多极化与世界经济全球化的发展,首脑外交也日益突显出其独特作用,并且为当今大多数国家的政治首脑所接受,冷战约束后,首脑外交更加趋向于公开化,制度化,全球化,在当今国际新秩序的构建过程中,资本主义世界的铁三角同盟（日美欧战略三角）也面临着战略性的结构调整,向着全球性战略伙伴关系发展,日本与欧盟及其成员国的关键日益密切,日欧间首脑的频繁互访无疑发挥了重大的作用。     

‘Our Bantustans are Better than Yours’: Botswana,The United States,and Human Rights in the 1970s

Many historians have upheld the 1970s as the ‘breakthrough’ decade for human rights. Botswana was a notable beneficiary of the efflorescence of these principles, especially as human rights gained greater prominence in the foreign policy of the United States (US). From 1966 to 1980, the government of Seretse Khama upheld one of the strongest human rights records of any African state, using it to acquire vital economic aid and psychological encouragement from the West. This study of US–Botswana relations is significant for showing the capacity of an underdeveloped and vulnerable state, surrounded by white minority regimes, to use internationalist ideals to improve its prospects for greater security and prosperity. The research also reveals the limits of Botswana's approach, particularly when the US could not align its strategic interests in Africa with its professed value for human rights. Botswana was therefore exceptional in perceiving its geopolitical priorities as closely tied to its integrity as a self-proclaimed model for non-racial democracy in Southern Africa. The article helps to show how the 1970s human rights movement was not just a Western one or an American one, but a truly transnational one, with unique, though often underappreciated, contributions from those in Africa.     

But There Was No War: The Impossibility of a United States Invasion of Canada after the Civil War

The notion that the United States threatened to invade the Canadian colonies after the Civil War persists to this day. Alleged British and Canadian support for the Confederate States angered Washington so much that Canadians feared military action. This menace started the Confederation movement that created the Dominion in 1867. This article argues otherwise by pointing to the careful diplomacy during the war—and rapid changes afterwards—each worked against the threat of a war. Tensions rose and fell with events such as the Trent Affair of 1861 and the St. Albans Raid of 1864, but each country otherwise sought to avoid trouble. Neither side deployed troops to the border during the war. After Appomattox, Union soldiers headed north but only to return home. Demobilization, combined with military deployments to the former Confederacy and the West, and resolute diplomacy afterwards, further prevented conflict. Not even the Fenian raids of 1866 and 1870 could disturb the peace.     

The role of the AALD in preserving the Australia–US alliance

This article critically evaluates the agenda and strategy of the Australian American Leadership Dialogue (AALD) for protecting and strengthening the Australia–US alliance. Nominally an exercise in informal diplomacy dedicated to fostering mutual understanding, the AALD functions more like a pro-American lobby group as it seeks to preserve orthodox thinking and eschew dissenting perspectives. The AALD performs this function in three main ways: by carefully framing discussion and debate, by socialising Australian elites into the alliance orthodoxy and by serving as a ‘gatekeeper’ of the status quo.

本文对保卫、加强澳美联盟的澳美领袖对话提出批评。该对话虽然名义上只是加强共同理解的非正式外交实践, 但其作用更像是亲美游说集团,因为它要保持正统的思路,回避不同的观点。该对话用三种方式实现这一功能：小心地设置讨论和辩论;向澳大利亚精英灌输联盟的正统观;充当现状的守门人。     

中印建交与新中国外交抉择

新中国成立后,印度是第一个同中国进行建交谈判的国家,也是资本主义国家中第一个同我国建交的国家。同印度建交是新中国外交的一次重要实践,它不仅确立了中国同其他国家先谈判后建交的外交原则,还赋予了"一边倒"更丰富的内涵,开创了中国周边外交的新局面。     

Canadiana Abroad: The Department of External Affairs' Book Presentation Programmes, 1949–1963

This article examines one aspect of Canada's early cultural diplomacy. During the late 1940s, the Department of External Affairs frequently received requests for Canadian books from foreign libraries. At the same time, many officials were eager to promote Canadian culture abroad. The Annual Book Presentation Programme was inaugurated with the intention of creating “repositories of Canadiana” which might stimulate interest in Canada among foreign readers. Although the budget for the program was always modest, over the years the department's book gifts did fulfill their aim, creating a basis for the later growth of Canadian studies in universities abroad.     

Makarios cultural diplomacy legacy in the republic of Cyprus

ABSTRACT

The article explores the cultural diplomacy initiatives undertaken by the Republic of Cyprus (RoC) during Makarios presidency (1960–1977) in order to strengthen the state acknowledgement and visibility in the international scenery and promote a nation brand focused mainly on the Hellenocentric aspect of the Greek-Cypriots’ cultural identity. Cyprus, a recently independent state (1960), shaped its cultural diplomacy practices according to the political developments; on the escalation of bi-communal conflicts internally and the international insecurity provoked by the Cold War rhetoric. This paper aims to map certain state cultural initiatives in an attempt to make connections between the internal identity-building process and the external projection of cultural identity and gain a better understanding about how a small-sized state can pursue and project a nation brand abroad by practicing the diplomacy of culture.