Showing papers on "Expansionism published in 2003"

Generations of Captivity: A History of African-American Slaves

Abstract: Ira Berlin traces the history of African-American slavery in the United States from its beginnings in the 17th century to its fiery demise nearly 300 years later. Most Americans, black and white, have a singular vision of slavery, one fixed in the mid-19th century when most American slaves grew cotton, resided in the deep South and subscribed to Christianity. Here, however, Berlin offers a dynamic vision, a major reinterpretation in which slaves and their owners continually renegotiated the terms of captivity. Slavery was thus made and remade by successive generations of Africans and Americans who lived through settlement and adaptation, plantation life, economic transformations, revolution, forced migration, war, and ultimately emancipation. Berlin's understanding of the processes that continually transformed the lives of slaves makes "Generations of Captivity" useful reading for anyone interested in the evolution of antebellum America. Connecting the "charter generation" to the development of Atlantic society in the 17th century, the "plantation generation" to the reconstruction of colonial society in the 18th century, the "revolutionary generation" to the age of revolutions, and the "migration generation" to American expansionism in the 19th century, Berlin integrates the history of slavery into the larger story of American life. He demonstrates how enslaved black people, by adapting to changing circumstances, prepared for the moment when they could seize liberty and declare themselves the "freedom generation". This epic story, told by a master historian, provides a rich understanding of the experience of African-American slaves, an experience that continues to mobilize American thought and passions today.

Zimbabwe's Triple Crisis: Primitive Accumulation, Nation- State Formation and Democratization in the Age of Neo-Liberal Globalization

Abstract: This essay is concerned with the cultural identity of Africa and the appropriate study of Africa(ns) It is a direct response to the notion of conceptually and pragmatically situating Africa, in all its scope and dimensions, back into Africana Studies The paper raises a fundamental question: whether the vocation of 'African Studies' is really about the study of Africa(ns) and proposes that Africana studies is better suited to project a consummate cultural identity and approach to the study of Africa(ns) Toward that end, the paper distinguishes 'African studies' from 'Africana studies' which is perhaps the first step in confronting the challenges faced by both enterprises, as well as how the latter can become an appropriate intellectual enterprise that would substantively contribute to African life and practice INTRODUCTION Ancient cultures are being transformed through globalized social reengineering into an electronic, legal, linguistic and moral parking lot that blankets the earth in an undifferentiated paved uniformity Both the lot and access to it are Indo-European (including clones and associates) owned and managed Upon the certification of their postmodern Euro-American cultural reorientation, formerly distinct nationalities, states, clans, [ethnicities] are provided with bar-coded entrance keys and assigned parking spaces (fixed economic roles/status) to facilitate the rapid production, transfer and consumption of goods and services Ownership and control of the means of production, rulemaking agencies, financial centers and the global telecommunications that facilitate the transactions are securely in the hands of the American, European, and Japanese business elite This is the current face of an old monster that feverishly reinvents itself This is a wolf pack that changes clothes between slaughters This is the rapacious and insatiable Indo-European expansionism (1) The 'parking lot' analogy is both purposeful and instructive For our purpose, the analogy contextualizes the discussion that follows, elucidating some of the current global and local truisms of the condition of African people This essay is concerned with the cultural identity of Africa and the ways in which the study of Africa(ns) is approached It is also a direct response to a statement by Oyekan Owomoyeka: " perhaps the surest way of getting Africa back into African Studies is to get African Studies back to Africa But, even if we cannot return African Studies to Africa in geographical terms, we could do so at least epistemologically and paradigmatically" (2) Owomoyeka's statement is principally a conceptual claim premised on the anchoring and ownership of the study of Africa(ns) by Africans It raises the fundamental question of whether the vocation of 'African Studies' is really about what its purports to be Does African Studies contribute to African life and practice in substantive ways? If the study of Africa has been and continues to be driven by paradigms and theories established by non-African scholars, then African studies is an invention of academia, which ultimately serves its own interests and those of non-Africans Here, I am merely stating the obvious The problem that Owomoyeka poses is significant not so much for the field of African studies, but for the study of Africa(ns) By the study of Africa(ns), I mean an African centered approach that conceptualizes reality and situates Africans within their cosmological, symbolic, and pragmatic universe Such an unambiguous approach not only affirms African agency and serves their best interests, but also authenticates the notion of an African cultural-historical continuum that predates African studies and would continue even if the academic field ceased to exist The discussion that follows seeks to address why the situation Owomoyeka describes came into being and how it is possible for the study of Africa(ns) to conceptually and pragmatically become anchored in the reality of Africa, in all its scope and comprehensible dimensions …

Old problems in new conflicts: some observations on eritrea and its relations with tigray, from liberation struggle to inter-state war

Abstract: There can be few more sensitive or emotive subject-matters in the field of Mrican studies today than the attempt to explore relations between Eritrea and Ethiopia in general, and between Eritrea and Tigray, in northern Ethiopia, in particular (Reid, forthcoming). Temperatures rise and tempers fray; accusation and counter-accusation fly with as much impunity as the academic arena can tolerate, which is actually a substantial amount; the term 'heated debate' is something of a polite understatement in a field where the search for 'objectivity' is as apparently fruitless as it is held to be in other areas of intense conflict between proverbial bad neighbours or presumed 'family members', as in Rwanda, Northern Ireland or Israel-Palestine. Virtually everyone who has written on Eritrea-Ethiopia laments the lack of objectivity in the field, usually only to find themselves accused (sometimes with justification, sometimes less so) of the very same failing. One is either a 'greater Ethiopianist', bitterly opposed to the aggressive, militaristic independence which Eritrea had the temerity to achieve, or an 'Eritrean nationalist', bitterly opposed to the aggressive expansionism of the Ethiopian empire-state. It is an apparently infinite debate characterised by polarisation, a discourse which has, at its very core, the old notion that 'if you are not with us, you are against us'. The intellectual and literary battlelines are as clearly drawn as any physical confrontation witnessed by the region at any time over the past two or more generations. An unwavering adherence to the formula 'if you are not with us, you are against us' has served many of the protagonists discussed in this paper very well in the crucible of armed struggle, survival in the face of seemingly overwhelming odds; it is less edifying in the context of informed, scientific discussion and, actually, in the end achieves nothing. The purpose of this brief prelude is not to herald a piece of unprecedented objectivity, as someone, somewhere, will regard it as partisan, whether in overall approach and argument, or simply in a tum of phrase here and arrangement of words there. Academic 'polar bears'

Understanding Belarus: Belarussian identity

Abstract: In the first of this three-part series of articles the linguistic situation in Belarus was analysed. The research questions that inform this second article are: 1) What kind of ethnic identity evolved in Belarus that makes most Belarusians insensitive to ‘their own’ national symbols and attached to those embodying their kinship with neighbouring countries? 2) What is the status of the Belarusian national movement when viewed through the prism of the most reputable theories of ethnic nationalism? My attempt to respond to these questions stems from my field observations and familiarity with scholarly studies and other material. Anthony David Smith's classic volume on ethnic origins of nations and Miroslav Hroch's perceptive book on national movements in Europe's ‘small nations’ are of special importance. A quintessential piece on Belarusian identity is Yanka Kupala's play ‘Tuteishiya’; written in 1922 and published in 1924, it was banned by the Soviet authorities primarily because Russian expansionism in re...

Carcass of Dead Policies: The Irrelevance of NATO

Abstract: In 1877, Lord Salisbury, commenting on Great Britain's policy on the Eastern Question, noted that "the commonest error in politics is sticking to the carcass of dead policies." (1) Salisbury was bemoaning the fact that many influential members of the British ruling class could not recognize that history had moved on; they continued to cling to policies and institutions that were relics of another era. Salisbury went on to note that the cost was enormous because this preoccupation with anachronism damaged Britain's real interests. Despite Salisbury's clever words, his observation is nothing new. Throughout Western history policymakers often have tended to rely on past realities, policies, and institutions to assess and deal with contemporary and future situations. Post-Cold War American policymakers have not been immune from falling into this trap. Indeed, this inertial approach, characterized by Washington's unbending support for NATO and its expansion, has defined American foreign and security policy since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the bipolar world. During the Cold War, NATO provided the proper linchpin of American--and West European--security policy, and served as a useful, even fundamental deterrent to Soviet military might and expansionism. However, NATO's time has come and gone, and today there is no legitimate reason for it to exist. Although the strong differences exhibited in the Alliance over the war against Iraq have accelerated NATO's irrelevancy, the root causes of its problems go much deeper. Consequently, for both the United States and Europe, NATO is at best an irrelevant distraction and at worst toxic to their respective contemporary security needs. The Inertial Imperative The end of the Cold War presented a problem similar to the one faced by post-World War II American leaders. A tectonic shift had occurred that required innovation, creativity, and a real understanding of the evolving world. For some experts--both in government and academia, as well as on both sides of the Atlantic--the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact called into question the need for NATO. They recognized that an era had ended and the time was ripe for a basic debate about the future of NATO and Western security policies and structures. Unfortunately, the policymakers in Washington who established the priorities for the post-Cold War era reacted quite differently from their predecessors. A small, influential coterie of policymakers in the elder Bush and then the Clinton administrations reacted reflexively and inertially, cutting off what should have been useful debate on the future. Moreover, virtually all of the officials who helped define the foreign and security policy in the Bush "41" Administration have resurfaced in the current Bush Administration. According to them, the existence and viability of NATO was not to be questioned. It was to remain basically the same successful alliance of American and European foreign and security policy that it had been since 1949. But a fundamental change was taking place in the post-Cold War security environment. In 1949, a genuine, measurable security threat justified NATO for all its members. Now, with the end of the Cold War, the inertial attachment to NATO meant that the alliance had to seek or invent reasons to justify its existence and relevance. American officials recognized the threats to the alliance. NATO needed props. Expansion into the former Warsaw Pact was one. Not only did expansion provide a whole new raison d'etre for the alliance, but--perhaps more important--it spawned a large new bureaucracy and the accompanying "busyness" that provide the lifeblood of institutions trying to justify their existence. At the same time, the theological mantra changed. Since there was no longer an enemy, NATO could not be described as a defensive alliance, it now was to be a combination of a wide-ranging political and collective security alliance. …

Barbaric Intercourse: Caricature and the Culture of Conduct, 1841-1936

Abstract: "Barbaric Intercourse" tells the story of a century of social upheaval and the satiric attacks it inspired in leading periodicals in both England and America. Martha Banta explores the politics of caricature and cartoon from 1841 to 1936, devoting special attention to the original "Life" magazine. For Banta, "Life" embodied all the strengths and weaknesses of the Progressive Era, whose policies of reform sought to cope with the frenetic urbanization of New York, the racist laws of the Jim Crow South, and the rise of jingoism in the United States. "Barbaric Intercourse" shows how "Life"'s take on these trends and events resulted in satires both cruel and enlightened. Banta also deals extensively with London's "Punch", a sharp critic of American nationalism, and draws from images and writings in magazines as diverse as "Puck", "The Crisis", "Harper's Weekly", and "The International Socialist Review". Orchestrating a wealth of material, including reproductions of rarely seen political cartoons, she offers a richly layered account of the cultural struggles of the age, from contests over immigration and the role of the New Negro in American society to debates over Wall Street greed, women's suffrage, and the moral consequences of Western expansionism.

Precarious Partnership: Pakistan's Response to U.S. Security Policies

Abstract: Pakistan was hailed during the 1950s as a frontline bulwark against communist expansionism. Bound to the United States in multiple security treaties, it gained a reputation as "America's most allied ally." Pakistan's reputation among Americans slipped in the 1960s and rose swiftly during the Afghanistan War (1979-1989), only to fall again in the years following the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991. The inconstancy of the relationship with the United States has greatly bothered Pakistanis. In fact, nothing has drawn more rueful public commentary in Pakistan in the past decade than what Pakistanis almost universally understand to have been Pakistan's unceremonious dumping by Washington once its usefulness in bringing down the Soviet Union had expired. Just how favorably Washington was disposed toward Pakistan at any given time depended on many factors, including the state of Pakistan's confrontational relationship with India, the strength of its embrace of political democracy and free market economics, the spirit in which it incorporated Islam into its state identity, and the license it took in the pursuit of nuclear weapons. More than any of these, however, what always affected Pakistan's standing in Washington most dramatically was its strategic utility, or "fit": whether and to what extent its leaders seemed able and willing to meld Pakistan's national interests with the U.S. policy imperatives of the day. In this transparently dependent relationship, it was always Washington's perception of strategic necessity, together with Pakistan's capacity for adapting to it, that drove the U.S.-Pakistan relationship.

Genocide in the former Yugoslavia: a critique of left revisionism’s denial

Abstract: In 2001 two events at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) at the Hague put the subject of genocide in the former Yugoslavia back on the front pages of newspapers. First, Bosnian Serb General Radislav Krstic was convicted of genocide against the Muslim population of the Bosnian town of Srebrenica, the first conviction at the ICTY for this gravest of crimes. Second and more spectacularly, former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic was indicted and put on trial for genocide against the Muslim and Croat populations of Bosnia-Herzegovina as a whole. These events at the ICTY inflamed the bitter controversies that have raged over this conflict since it broke out in 1991. Internationally, political opinion has been divided into two camps divided by their conflicting analyses of the crisis and view of the correct international response. On the one side were those who viewed the war as a result of Serbian aggression and expansionism and generally advocated military intervention by...

Inverse Engagement: Lessons from US-Iraq Relations, 1982-1990

Abstract: February 2003 marked the 12th anniversary of the liberation of Kuwait by the United States and its global allies and their near-total victory over the military forces of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in Operation Desert Storm. However, much to the surprise of members of the first Bush Administration, academic scholars, military analysts, media pundits, foreign policy experts, and the average layman, Saddam Hussein remained in power in Iraq and continued to successfully defy the international community. Regardless of the military success of the US war with Iraq prosecuted by the second Bush Administration in 2003, Saddam's longevity should in itself serve as a significant warning to policymakers that something may be amiss in the formulation and execution of US foreign policy. In this article I reexamine the fundamental intellectual assumptions of what is known as "engagement," the foreign policy doctrine that guided US behavior toward Iraq in the decade preceding Saddam's invasion of Kuwait. Despite the whol esale failure of engagement in Iraq before 1990, the fundamental assumptions that guided US engagement policies have remained largely unexamined. This failure to acknowledge historic mistakes raises the disturbing possibility that similar failures of engagement may occur in Washington's strategic relationships with other problematic international actors and rogue states. Engagement in Practice: US Relations with Iraq, 1982-1990 Engagement serves as a core policy doctrine of US national security strategy in the 21st century. (1) In practice, implementing engagement relies heavily on the manipulation of economic incentives, primarily in the areas of trade and finance, to influence the behavior of other states. Engagement uses economic interdependence, or mutual dependence, to create ties that bind states together. Robert Keohane and Joseph Nye suggest that economic interdependence should be understood in terms of the power to influence, or the effects on each state of their trade linkages. Indeed, as many scholars have indicated, states have long recognized the truth that power generally flows from asymmetrical (or imbalanced) interdependence. (2) In keeping with this tradition, Keohane and Nye stress that when planning an effective diplomatic strategy, "It is asymmetries in dependence that are most likely to provide sources of influence for actors in their dealings with one another. Less dependent actors can often use the interdepend ent relationship as a source of power in bargaining over an issue and perhaps to affect other issues." (3) At its core, economic statecraft is founded on the principle of asymmetrical power. In 1979 political turmoil in the Middle East forever changed the regional strategic landscape. In January of that year a groundswell of Islamist protesters drove the Shah of Iran from the Persian throne, in December the Soviet Union launched its ruinous war in Afghanistan, and in September 1980 Iraq invaded Iran. Thus, the Middle East stage was radically changed as the Reagan Administration entered the White House. In the minds of Ronald Reagan's foreign policy team, US national interests in the oil-rich Persian Gulf now faced two significant new threats: communist expansionism by direct military means from the Soviet Union and the spread of anti-US Islamic fundamentalism from Iran. With these two factors in mind, Iraq's sponsorship of international terrorism was seen as a lesser of evils, and therefore Baghdad was perceived as a potential partner that could serve US strategic interests in the region. In March 1982, the US government officially began engaging Saddam Hussein by removing Iraq from the list of state sponsors of terrorism. The official reason was to recognize Iraq's improved record, (4) a claim that a Defense Department official later rebutted in stating, "No one had any doubts about [the Iraqis'] continued involvement in terrorism.... The real reason was to help them succeed in the war against Iran. …

Countering the Soviet Threat? An Analysis of the Justifications for US Military Assistance to El Salvador, 1979–92

Abstract: From 1979 to 1992, the US supported the El Salvadorian government in its counter-insurgency war. The insurgents were characterized by the US as Soviet backed communists. US support for the El Salvadorian government was sold as supporting a pro-US ally to contain Soviet expansionism within Central America. This article examines the documentation that the US used to substantiate this justification, and argues that the facts and interpretations that the US used cannot sustain the characterization of the insurgency movement in El Salvador as Soviet backed. Furthermore, even in the event of a rebel victory, and in the absence of US hostility, the insurgents would have almost certainly sought good relations with the US.

The South African Broadcasting Corporation's expansion into Africa : South African media imperialism? : research case studies

Abstract: This article examines the commercial advancements of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) into the African regional media markets. In this examination, the focus is mostly on the SABC's Africa-orientated channels, SABC Africa and Africa2Africa, as a case study. The article posits that the SABC's regional commercial expansion is paradoxical in the sense that it is both advantageous and disadvantageous at the same time. At the theoretical level, the article identifies some limitations to applying theoretical and analytical frameworks such as the dependency paradigm, media and cultural imperialism in explaining regional expansionism driven by Southern-based national media organisations.

A Critical History of the American Red Cross, 1882-1945: The End of Noble Humanitarianism

Abstract: From Europe to the United States - origins of the international committee of the Red Cross and the Geneva Convention the Red Cross during the Spanish-American war - Clara Barton seeks to position the Red Cross as America's humanitarian agency with the Spanish-American war as the catalyst expansionist ideals of juvenile nation - American government recognizes the advantage of incorporating the Red Cross as a sponsored humanitarian arm as the US embarks on expansionism Boardman opens the door - Barton is overthrown as president of the American Red Cross by Mabel Boardman, who reforms the ARC into a more bureaucratic philanthropy Will, Mabel and their progeny - the friendship between William H. Taft and Mabel Boardman as possible impetus behind change in leadership at the ARC the price of progressivism - continuing discussion of reform of the ARC to an institutionalized philanthropy a new Red Cross - the origins of ARC headquarters in Washington DC, financial reorganization the test of the 1905 charter - first test as a humanitarian arm of the government in WWI, government-endorsed fund drives, propaganda and censorship, trial of Louis Nagle, transformation of the ARC into a quasi-governmental agency ersatz humanitarianism - ARC at the mercy of policy as developed by the ICRC, government censorship, military - ARC so politicized and bureaucratized by WWII aid to American prisoners of war held in German camps not always effective nor accurately portrayed conclusion appendices.

The South African Broadcasting Corporation's expansion into Africa: South African media imperialism?

Abstract: This article examines the commercial advancements of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) into the African regional media markets. In this examination, the focus is mostly on the SABC's Africa-orientated channels, SABC Africa and Africa2Africa, as a case study. The article posits that the SABC's regional commercial expansion is paradoxical in the sense that it is both advantageous and disadvantageous at the same time. At the theoretical level, the article identifies some limitations to applying theoretical and analytical frameworks such as the dependency paradigm, media and cultural imperialism in explaining regional expansionism driven by Southern-based national media organisations.

Tales of the Periphery : An Outline Survey of Municipal Employees and Servives in the 19th and 20th Century City

Abstract: In this introduction we will first elaborate on why municipal employees and services is a relevant and revealing theme in urban history, and then go on to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of existing scholarship. With particular reference to the contributions to this book, we will consider the consolidation of civic expansionism from the mid-nineteenth century. Next, we will examine the complex relationships that emerged between the executive and administrative spheres of local government, the changing role of central government and employees' responses to the needs and directives of the often highly politicized municipal power-base. Finally, we will look to further research approaches to open out this important, yet under-rated aspect of urban history.

War Games: Richard Harding Davis and the New Imperialism

Abstract: An analysis of the beginnings of American imperial rhetoric; This is a study of the early writings of Richard Harding Davis, the premier American journalist of the 1890s, best remembered for his coverage of the Spanish-American War. The emphasis of the book is on Davis's reporting - including several volumes of travel writing, covering trips to the Near East and South and Central America. Some account is also made of his fiction, most especially Soldiers of Fortune (1897), which critics have seen as a romantic treatment of the imperialist elan. As such, the novel serves as a prolegomenon to the war in Cuba, which Davis covered during its insurrectionist stage. He later accompanied Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders when U.S. forces invaded the island in 1898, an action he had urged and may have in part inspired. John Seelye argues that Davis, rather than supporting the notion of an American empire on the Roman or British plan, advocated what would become U.S. strategy over the next century: a limited engagement in support of embryonic democratic movements in the Caribbean, followed by withdrawal of armed forces once a stable government had been established. While approving British methods when they seemed in accord with his ideas of fairness, Davis was critical of the English presence in Egypt and was scathing in his treatment of the Boer War, championing the Dutch settlers over the invading army. Like many others associated with the Spanish-American War, Davis was an ardent fan of football: fair play and good sportsmanship were integral to his notions of democratic expansionism, hence the title of this book. Seelye not only brings Davis into the mainstream of recent historical treatments of American imperialism, but makes a case that Davis was, as his contemporaries regarded him, a master of journalistic style.

Unlawful Instruments and Goods: Afghanistan, Culture and the Taliban. (Behind the News)

Abstract: In December 1998, an official notice was placed in a local Herat newspaper in western Afghanistan. It reported that a 'number of unlawful instruments and goods' had been seized by the local authorities and burned. These items included televisions, cassette players, VCRS and thousands of tapes. It also included 'musical instruments and accessories'. In February 2001 reports first came in of the Taliban leadership's policy of destroying the Buddhist statues at Bamiyan, as part of a wider destruction of the pre-Islamic cultural heritage of Afghanistan. Mir Ghulam Navi, a curator in the National Museum of Afghanistan recalls how, in March 2001, 'They (the Taliban) came with 10 men with hammers and began smashing the sculptures of human forms. We couldn't stop them--they said they would kill us if we tried. It was miserable to watch' (Anon 29/11/01). It is clear that the rule of the Taliban was not germane to cultural freedom and expression. However, this simple recognition does not take us very far in understandi ng why these events took place. How and why did such policies geared towards cultural repression and the destruction of pre-Islamic culture come about? How do we begin to understand the logic of such policies? A 'dialectic of the local and the global' (Giddens 1991) suggests that global processes have local implications and affect the way people live and act. In trying to understand the cultural universe that designated musical instrument and the like as 'unlawful instruments and goods' we can apply three levels of analysis for such a dialectical account. Firstly, the general political, economic and cultural context within which (often global) agencies act and conflicts are played out. Secondly, the specific cultural policy content that is maintained by the various governments and cultural agencies locally. Thirdly, we can point to the actions of communities in these specific locales, in terms of the texture of peoples' everyday lives. Context The widest and most general contextual features are the economic, political and cultural processes of globalization. These include the globalized nature of political relations between nation states, the increased global nature of social, political and economic processes, the distribution of global wealth, and the cultural expansionism of the West and resistances within certain regions! locales. The combination of these features bring new dynamics and a new politico-cultural universe or 'constitutions' (Hardt and Negri 2000). The economic and political consequences of these global processes for Afghanistan are well known. Economically, Afghanistan has not benefited from global processes. Politically, Afghanistan has been relatively isolated until the recent fall of the Taliban. Culturally, Afghans resist Western expansionism in various ways before, during and since the Taliban's rule. To explain these processes in greater depth is beyond the scope of this paper. However, the argument developed below can be see n as a case study in exploring the specific local impact of these global contextual features. For instance, Western criticisms of the cultural repression perpetrated by the Taliban were seen as hypocrisy by the some Afghans. They asked, why does the West care so much about some statues, but care nothing about the misery of the Afghan people. This was at a time when the country was in the grip of its worst drought for 30 years, 12m people were said to be affected, 3m were said to be on the brink of starvation and UN sanctions were still in place (Harding 3/3/01). Global markets have encouraged the illicit trade in cultural artifacts out of Afghanistan over the past 20 years to both official western cultural institutions and private collectors. The Western market for cultural artifacts and the unofficial local supply is but one emanation of the major contextual factors that affects Afghan cultural heritage. Peshawar in northern Pakistan is described as a 'centre of underground trafficking in Afghan antiquities' (Miles and McLennan 2001). …

‘What reason commands, the heart approves’: The Special Relationship of 1950

Abstract: Examination of Anglo-American relations in 1950 at the global, regional Middle Eastern and specific Iranian levels reveals that the Special Relationship had survived, despite inauspicious prospects in the immediate aftermath of World War II. This did not necessarily mean harmonious relations. Beneath broad anti-communist cooperation lurked different national interests that sometimes inspired acute Anglo-American tension. Anglo-American relations in the Middle East generally, and in Iran specifically, were indicative of this ‘competitive cooperation’. Here Britain sought desperately to defend its traditional ascendancy against its own economic weakness, rising nationalism and US expansionism, which was pursued in the cause of anti-communism but which also uncannily complemented American economic interests. And few issues in the region were more traumatic than control over oil resources, which the Iranian crisis was to demonstrate repeatedly.

Contrasting Interpretations of Mussolini and the Origins of the Second World War

Abstract: Academic discussion on the immediate background to the Second World War has focused extensively on two key elements: the reemergence of German expansionism after Hitler’s rise to power in January 1933, and the response to it of the main European powers, France and Great Britain.