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Showing papers on "Expansionism published in 1991"


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In the case of nineteenth-century Madagascar the human factor, in the form of the Merina state, was the predominant demographic influence as discussed by the authors, and the impact of the state was felt through natural forces, and it varied over time.
Abstract: This paper analyses the demography of nineteenth-century Madagascar in the light of the debate generated by the demographic transition theory. Both supporters and critics of the theory hold to an intrinsic opposition between human and ‘natural’ factors, such as climate, famine and disease, influencing demography. They also suppose a sharp chronological divide between the pre-colonial and colonial eras, arguing that whereas ‘natural’ demographic influences were of greater importance in the former period, human factors predominated thereafter. This paper argues that in the case of nineteenth-century Madagascar the human factor, in the form of the Merina state, was the predominant demographic influence. However, the impact of the state was felt through natural forces, and it varied over time. In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries Merina state policies stimulated agricultural production, which helped to create a larger and healthier population and laid the foundation for Merina military and economic expansion within Madagascar. From the 1820, the cost of such expansionism led the state to increase its exploitation of forced labour at the expense of agricultural production and thus transformed it into a negative demographic force. Infertility and infant mortality, which were probably more significant influences on overall population levels than the adult mortality rate, increased from 1820 due to disease, malnutrition and stress, all of which stemmed from state forced labour policies. Available estimates indicate little if any population growth for Madagascar between 1820 and 1895. The demographic ‘crisis’ in Africa, ascribed by critics of the demographic transition theory to the colonial era, stemmed in Madagascar from the policies of the imperial Merina regime which in this sense formed a link to the French regime of the colonial era. In sum, this paper questions the underlying assumptions governing the debate about historical demography in Africa and suggests that the demographic impact of political forces be re-evaluated in terms of their changing interaction with ‘natural’ demographic influences.

32 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In the face of the threat to cultural diversity, this article tried to sensitize readers to the need to take culture seriously, arguing that culture is forms of consciousness; they are decisive on whether people condone genocide or oppose it.
Abstract: Self-celebrations of capitalism are again the order of the day since the collapse of European bureaucratic socialist states. Attempts at ‘normalizing’ colonialism after the ‘victory’ of the US-led coalition in the Gulf war are being made as well. Cultural phenomena are proving crucial for both celebrants of and resisters against the war. Development without consideration of cultural specificities can only be imperialist expansionism. When imposed,‘democracy’,‘peace’ and even ‘revolution’ can only be cultural madness. In the face of the threat to cultural diversity, this article tries to sensitize readers to the need to take culture seriously. Cultures are forms of consciousness; they are decisive on whether people condone genocide or oppose it.

20 citations



Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors studied the incidence of military conflict in territorial exchanges between states during the period 1816-1980 and found that the relative importance of each factor varies according to each era, and the importance of the gaining or losing side in the territorial exchange is also dependent on the time period.

13 citations


Book
04 Dec 1991
TL;DR: In this paper, Sergiu Verona's comprehensive study illustrates the dynamics of Soviet military presence in Romania and provides a framework for understanding Soviet security policy, then and now, as well as the interaction between Soviet military objectives and diplomacy.
Abstract: In 1958, after fourteen years of military occupation, Khrushchev-in an unprecedented act-withdrew the Soviet Union's troops from Romania as part of a political move intended to encourage the withdrawal of Western military forces from Europe. In analyzing this crucial historic episode, Sergiu Verona's comprehensive study illustrates the dynamics of Soviet military presence in Romania and provides a framework for understanding Soviet security policy, then and now, as well as the interaction between Soviet military objectives and diplomacy. Drawing on declassified archival material in the United States and the United Kingdom, the author considers Khrushchev's reversal of Stalinist expansionism by examining the motivation, function, and operation of the initial occupation of Romania; the complex involvement of Soviet diplomacy and its perception by the United States and other Western powers; the process by which Khrushchev decided to withdraw Soviet troops from that country; and the impact of this decision on Soviet policy. Verona extends his analysis, providing comparisons between Khrushchev's and Gorbachev's approaches to Eastern Europe, noting that similarities exist not only in domestic policies but in the realm of foreign policy as well.

10 citations


30 Jul 1991
TL;DR: In this article, the authors compare two forms of imperialist expansion: the conquest of America and the exploration of outer space, and argue that there is a marked continuity between the two periods of conquest in that open new frontiers of domination.
Abstract: The paper compares two forms of imperialist expansion: the conquest of America and the conquest of outer space. The historical background for the first expansionist drive was the Iberian version of the period known as the Renaissance, and its territorial background was the Americas. The second expansionist drive, in the form of space exploration by the US and the USSR, has been limited temporally to the second half of the twentieth century. The essay proceeds from the principle that these two cases of expansionism formulated different appraisals of an analogous enterprise: the 'discovery' of the New World. Whereas on a historical level there is an obvious discontinuity - sailing vessels are replaced by rockets, horses, by computers, the conquistadors by astronauts, and the past by the present and future - on the level of theoretical interpretation, there is a marked continuity between the two periods of conquest in that open new frontiers of domination.

2 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
01 Jan 1991
TL;DR: The conflict in Cambodia, still unresolved in its thirteenth year, tends to obscure a range of other security issues in Southeast Asia, all of which involve China directly or indirectly.
Abstract: The conflict in Cambodia, still unresolved in its thirteenth year, tends to obscure a range of other security issues in Southeast Asia, all of which involve China directly or indirectly and are of consequence to United States interests in the region. Fundamental to the security issues is the deep mistrust and suspicion of China on the part of the nations of Southeast Asia. This mistrust is rooted in two millennia of history during which China's haughty demeanor, expansionism, and powerful cultural attraction often touched its neighbors to the south. It has been magnified by the entrepreneurial zeal and interlocking financial networks of the overseas Chinese populations who are prominent in and often dominate the economies of Southeast Asia. Whatever political or security issues that now preoccupy the region's statesmen, the intentions of the Middle Kingdom to the north -1.1 billion population, as restless as ever - are never far from mind.

2 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: For over four years from the Marco Polo Bridge incident to Pearl Harbour China fought alone against Japanese military expansionism in the Far East as mentioned in this paper, and both Britain and the United States recognized China's strategic importance but gave relatively little in the way of material help.
Abstract: For over four years from the Marco Polo Bridge incident to Pearl Harbour China fought alone against Japanese military expansionism in the Far East. Both Britain and the United States recognized China's strategic importance but gave relatively little in the way of material help. On the one hand sufficient aid had to be given to ensure that China continued to act as a bulwark against Japanese imperialism and to keep China from gravitating to the Soviet Union (whose aid programme was more immediate, more generous and took the form of military supplies). On the other hand assistance was limited by British resource constraints, by American isolationist public opinion and by the fear, on both sides of the Atlantic, that overt military aid would provoke Japan into widening the conflict into their own respective spheres of interest.l The economic assistance which was the chosen means of achieving both sets of aims took two forms: financial help and the provision of advice and expertise. On the financial side loans were forthcoming to support the external value of the currency and to enable an inflow of essential, if still largely non-military, supplies. Until the latter months of 1940 British credits, modest though they were, not only exceeded those offered by the United States but were made on more favourable terms. By the end of the following year Britain and America had furnished just under $250m of which $142m had been used by the Chinese. The contrast with the scale of assistance provided over the remainder of the wartime period is striking. Early in 1942 the United States made $500m available and Britain subsequently offered a further ?50m. In addition, between 1942 and 1945 the United States supplied China with materials valued at just over $1,300m through Lend-Lease, with Britain contributing an additional $44m.2 The advice and expertise was provided through a number of missions, resident advisers in China and the dispatch of technically qualified personnel and was concentrated on a management of the currency, budgetary reform and transportation. On the British side Sir

2 citations


Book ChapterDOI
01 Jan 1991
TL;DR: The US has resisted political developments in neighboring states that pose unacceptable threats to its national security as discussed by the authors, and the US concern about Central America has been exacerbated by the region's political turbulence since World War II, dramatized by radical leftist movements.
Abstract: Central America — the scene of civil war upheavals, Soviet expansionism, Cuban intervention and United States anxiety — merits attention as a unique arena in which to assess superpower cooperation in conflict management. This is so for at least three reasons. First, Central America’s geographic location makes it a high priority in US security policy. Like other great powers, the US has resisted political developments in neighboring states that pose unacceptable threats to its national security.1 US concern about Central America has been exacerbated by the region’s political turbulence since World War II, dramatized by radical leftist movements and the emergence in 1979 of Sandinista Nicaragua as a major US security issue. Until the Sandinista’s stunning election loss in February 1990, the US viewed Nicaragua, like Cuba, as an opportunity for Soviet expansionism.

1 citations