The Middle East in the American quest for world order : ideas of power, economics, and social development in United States foreign policy, 1953-1961

Doctoral dissertation, University of Tampere

The role of presidential advisory systems in US foreign policy-making : the case of the National Security Council and Vietnam, 1953-1961

Doctoral dissertation, University of Joensuu

Luvatun maan puolustajat

Kirjallisuusarvostelu

Exiles and Constituents: Baltic Refugees and American Cold War Politics, 1948- 1960

This dissertation explores the complicated relations between Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian postwar refugees and American foreign policymakers between 1948 and 1960. There were seemingly shared interests between the parties during the first decade of the Cold War. Generally, Eastern European refugees refused to recognize Soviet hegemony in their homelands, and American policy towards the Soviet bloc during the Truman and Eisenhower administrations sought to undermine the Kremlin’s standing in the region. More specifically, Baltic refugees and State Department officials sought to preserve the 1940 non-recognition policy towards the Soviet annexation of the Baltic States. I propose that despite the seemingly natural convergence of interests, the American experiment of constructing a State-Private network revolving around fostering relations with exile groups was fraught with difficulties. These difficulties ultimately undermined any ability that the United States might have had to liberate the Baltic States from the Soviet Union. As this dissertation demonstrates, Baltic exiles were primarily concerned with preserving a high level of political continuity to the interwar republics under the assumption that they would be able to regain their positions in liberated, democratic societies. American policymakers, however, were primarily concerned with maintaining the non-recognition policy, the framework in which all policy considerations were analyzed. I argue that these two motivating factors created unnecessary tensions in American policy towards the Baltic republics in the spheres of psychological warfare as well as exile unity in the United States and Europe. Despite these shortcomings, I argue that out of the exiles’ failings was born a generation of Baltic constituents that blurred the political legitimacy line between exiles who sought to return home and ethnic Americans who were loyal to the United States. These Baltic constituents played an important role in garnering the support of the United States Congress, starting in the 1950s, but became increasingly influential after the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, despite the seemingly less important role Eastern Europe played in the Cold War. The actions of the Baltic constituents not only prevented the Baltic question from being forever lost in the memory hole of history, but actually created enough political pressure on the State Department that it was impossible to alter the long-standing policy of not recognizing the Soviet annexation of the Baltic States.

China's 'Assertive’ South China Sea Policy And Rhetoric: Proactive, Reactive Or Myth?

In March 2010, Chinese State Councillor, Dai Bingguo, in a private meeting with US Deputy Secretary of State, James Steinberg, allegedly referred to the South China Sea (SCS) as one of the country’s ‘core interests’, a term normally only used to refer to regions like Taiwan, Tibet and Xinjiang upon whose sovereignty Beijing will make no compromises. This alleged wording by Mr Dai caused a strong global reaction, with many countries around the world expressing a fear that China, on the back of its rise to the status of the world's second largest economic power, was now about to implement a more assertive foreign policy more in keeping with its new status of global superpower. As the use of the term ‘core interest’ took place in a private meeting and appears to have been subsequently leaked, it is impossible to prove what was said or meant, yet in 2011, with China and the US continuing to eye each other with suspicion, the adverse repercussions of people trying to deduce what was meant are undeniable. By analysing the views of experts and the evolution or otherwise of Chinese rhetoric and policy towards the SCS, this thesis will show how the alleged use of a term in a private meeting can have consequences that far exceed what was originally intended. It will also show that it is highly unlikely that China’s maritime policy is becoming more assertive as, at China's present stage of social and economic development, it simply cannot afford the ill will and adverse consequences that would result from an act of international aggression. It will show how easy it seems to be for a country like the US to project a misleading image of another country’s intentions, which can in turn serve partially to mask its own intentions. Finally, it will show that the China’s stance on the SCS is starting to be seen by the world as a litmus test for the assertiveness of overall Chinese foreign policy.

Suomen ulkopoliittinen johtamisjärjestelmä uuden perustuslain mukaan

Abstract: The Finnish foreign policy leadership in the new constitution

Pätevää kylmän sodan tutkimusta

Kirjallisuusarvostelu

Uskonnollinen Israel-ystävyys suurvaltapolitiikassa

Kirjallisuusarvostelu

A Bridge Builder or a Raconteur? How Japan Manoeuvres the Global Development Discourse within the TICAD Process

Japan has been a major actor in the field of development cooperation for five decades, even holding the title of largest donor of Official Development Assistance (ODA) during the 1990s. Financial flows, however, are subject to pre-existing paradigms that dictate both donor and recipient behaviour. In this respect Japan has been left wanting for more recognition. The dominance of the so called ‘Washington Consensus’ embodied in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank has long circumvented any indigenous approaches to development problems. The Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) is a development cooperation conference that Japan has hosted since 1993 every five years. As the main organizer of the conference Japan has opted for the leading position of African development. This has come in the wake of success in the Asian region where Japan has called attention to its role in the so called ‘Asian Miracle’ of fast growing economies. These aspirations have enabled Japan to try asserting itself as a major player in directing the course of global development discourse using historical narratives from both Asia and Africa. Over the years TICAD has evolved into a continuous process with ministerial and follow-up meetings in between conferences. Each conference has produced a declaration that stipulates the way the participants approach the question of African development. Although a multilateral framework, Japan has over the years made its presence more and more felt within the process. This research examines the way Japan approaches the paradigms of international development cooperation and tries to direct them in the context of the TICAD process. Supplementing these questions are inquiries concerning Japan’s foreign policy aspirations. The research shows that Japan has utilized the conference platform to contest other development actors and especially the dominant forces of the IMF and the World Bank in development discourse debate. Japan’s dominance of the process is evident in the narratives found in the conference documents. Relative success has come about by remaining consistent as shown by the acceptance of items from the TICAD agenda in other forums, such as the G8. But the emergence of new players such as China has changed the playing field, as they are engaging other developing countries from a more equal level.

Kylmää sotaa ja systeemianalyysiä

Kirjallisuusarvostelu