Part 1 The Cold War Era (1945–89), 10 The Gulf of Tonkin Incident—1964

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guilfoyle Douglas
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Use Of Force ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
The United States ◽  
Operational Environment ◽  
Armed Attack ◽  
Gulf Of Tonkin ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Self Defence

This chapter examines the United States’ air strikes against torpedo boat bases in the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in August 1964 in response to two claimed armed attacks against its naval units in the Gulf of Tonkin earlier that month. It considers the facts, historical context and operational environment. It examines the reactions at the time of the main actors, and their allies, in the Security Council. In assessing the incident’s legality it notes that several of the questions raised remain controversial today, including: (i) Can a state validly exercise self-defence based on a mistake of fact? (ii) Can self-defence encompass ‘preventative’ actions? (iii) Can an attack on a single vessel trigger a right of self-defence? (iv) Was the action proportionate and necessary? (v) How proximate in time must a (legal) defensive use of force be to the triggering armed attack in order to avoid being classed as a reprisal?

Linkage Politics

2019 ◽  
pp. 290-316
Author(s):  
Joshua R. Itzkowitz Shifrinson
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Use Of Force ◽  
The United States ◽  
Soviet Policy ◽  
Issue Linkage ◽  
Cross Domain ◽  
Political Interests ◽  
The Cold War

Most discussions of cross-domain deterrence focus on variation in the means of coercion, but variation in political ends can be just as consequential. Cross-domain deterrence in the context of linkage politics, in which disparate political interests are tied together to create incentives for favorable outcomes, gives potential adversaries the opportunity to avoid confrontational meeting engagements by playing for time to clarify interests and choosing the means most suited to achieving new goals. A broader diplomatic conception of cross-domain deterrence can also highlight the potential of using financial, institutional, or other nonmilitary actions that render the threat or use of force less attractive. This chapter draws on newly available archival evidence to examine issue linkage politics in the context of changing strategic interests in the case of U.S. efforts to deter Soviet repression in Poland and East Germany at the end of the Cold War. In both cases, U.S. policymakers used diplomatic reassurance and threats of isolation to shape Soviet policy as the United States pressed its new-found political interests in Eastern Europe rather than its traditional preoccupation with military affairs.

The Wisdom of a Socialist Defector

2020 ◽  
pp. 58-62
Author(s):  
Harry R. Targ
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Federal Republic ◽  
German Democratic Republic ◽  
Karl Marx ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
The United States ◽  
West Germany ◽  
Federal Republic Of Germany ◽  
The Cold War

Victor Grossman's A Socialist Defector: From Harvard to Karl-Marx-Allee is at once an exciting adventure story, an engaging autobiography of a radical opponent of U.S. imperialism, and a clear-headed assessment of the successes and failures of the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) at the onset of the Cold War until 1990, when its citizens voted to merge with the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG, West Germany). Most poignantly, Grossman compares the benefits workers gained in the GDR, the FRG, and even the United States during the Cold War.

scholarly journals The British National Union of Teachers (NUT) against the background of the Cold War: An International Peace Conference between teachers in Western and Eastern Europe

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 161-180
Author(s):  
Amarilio Ferreira Jr.
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
The United States ◽  
Political Connection ◽  
International Peace ◽  
National Union ◽  
European Continent ◽  
The Cold War

The aim of this article is to explain the political and trade union stance of the British National Union of Teachers (NUT) – representing the teachers of England and Wales – against the arms race and nuclear warheads set up in the European Continent during the Cold War (1947-1991). After adopting resolutions in support of «Education for Peace» at its Annual Conferences (Jersey, 1983 and Blackpool, 1984), the NUT held an International Peace Conference (1984) involving Western and Eastern European countries in which teachers’ unions from the following countries participated: the United States, Finland, the Soviet Union, the German Democratic Republic and Bulgaria. The international event was held in Stoke Rochford Hall (England) during the British miners’ national strike against the socioeconomic reforms instituted under the governments of Margaret Thatcher (1979-1990). The article started from the methodological presupposition based on the principle of political connection on an international scale within the scope of the trade union movement of teachers. Indeed, despite differences in nationalities, the educational processes institutionalized by schooling have acquired a universal character. Thus, teachers, irrespective of their nationality, are workers who are politically committed to the cultural values consecrated by the knowledge accumulated by humanity throughout history, especially when it comes to peace among peoples. It should be emphasized that the topic addressed has never before been analysed on an international level, and that primary sources that fall within the historical context of the facts studied were used in the production of the article.

Part 1 The Cold War Era (1945–89), 29 The US Intervention in Nicaragua—1981–88

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kammerhofer Jörg
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Use Of Force ◽  
Customary Law ◽  
The Us ◽  
State Practice ◽  
The Icj ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Us Intervention ◽  
Self Defence

This chapter focuses on the US intervention in Nicaragua from 1981 to 1988, as a contribution to the state practice on the law on the use of force and the right to self-defence under both UN Charter and customary law. After an overview of the background of the so-called ‘contra war’ and of the salient facts regarding the US intervention in that conflict, it discusses the positions of the two parties on the facts and law, and takes note of the reaction of the international community, focusing on the debates at the UN. The next section focuses on the legality of the operation; the ICJ’s holdings in its 1986 Nicaragua judgment form the backbone of that discussion, while taking note of dissent and comment both inside and outside the Court. The contribution concludes by discussing the precedential value and effect of this conflict, and of the ICJ case.

Part 1 The Cold War Era (1945–89), 24 The Lebanon War—1982

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Williamson Myra
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Use Of Force ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
The Political ◽  
Armed Attack ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Us ◽  
Un Security Council ◽  
Un General Assembly ◽  
The Cold War

This chapter analyses the context and legality of Israel’s invasion of Lebanon, also referred to as the First Lebanon War and ‘Operation Peace for Galilee’. It began on 6 June 1982 and became an 18-year-long occupation, ending on 22 May 2000. The first section discusses the immediate pretext for Israel’s invasion—the attempted assassination in London of the Israeli Ambassador to Britain, Schlomo Argov, by Abu Nidal terrorists—as well as the more complex causes, such as the political animosity between Israel, Lebanon, Syria and the PLO. Section two analyses the positions of the main antagonists—Israel, Lebanon and the PLO—as well as other interested parties (the US, the UN Security Council and the UN General Assembly). The third section addresses the legality of Israel’s use of force, citing the arguments of scholars on both sides of the debate. Finally, the chapter assesses the precedential value of this use of force, in light of the Security Council’s refusal to accept that the attempted assassination was an ‘armed attack’ and its condemnation of the Israeli aggression.

Part 1 The Cold War Era (1945–89), 19 The Entebbe Raid—1976

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kreß Claus ◽  
Nußberger Benjamin K
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Security Council ◽  
Use Of Force ◽  
Good Faith ◽  
Popular Front ◽  
Rescue Operation ◽  
Legal Perspective ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Self Defence

In 1976, Israel conducted a successful, but highly controversial military rescue operation in Entebbe, Uganda, to save its nationals taken hostage on Ugandan territory by members of the ‘Popular Front of Liberation of Palestine’. From an international legal perspective, this case revolves around the existence of a right of a state to take military action to protect its nationals abroad in mortal danger. Following an extensive legal debate in the Security Council on the incident, it appears safe to conclude that a rescue operation such as conducted in Entebbe passes the threshold for a use of force within the meaning of Article 2(4) UN Charter. In light of the ambiguous justification, however, it appears that an Entebbe-type situation falls within a grey area of the prohibition of the use of force. Still, the incident suggests that if states are willing to support the legality of a military rescue operation only the right of self-defence can conceivably justify such a use of force, and only in a case where the local state does not itself deal with the threat in good faith, and under strict conditions of proportionality.

Part 1 The Cold War Era (1945–89), 14 The USS Pueblo Incident—1968

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
von Heinegg Wolff Heintschel
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
International Law ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Law Of The Sea ◽  
Legal Analysis ◽  
Armed Attack ◽  
Customary International Law ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Cold War

This contribution discusses the 1968 USS Pueblo Incident by assessing the factual background on the basis of available documents and by providing a legal analysis on the basis of the then applicable international law. In view of the contentious issue of the USS Pueblo’s location at the time of the attack and her seizure by the armed forces of the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea, the discussion of the legal issues at stake is not limited to the ius ad bellum but must be extended to the law of the sea, in particular the breadth of the territorial sea according to customary international law recognized in 1968 and the status of foreign warships. As regards the ius ad bellum, the unjustified use of force against a sovereign immune warship is considered an armed attack triggering the flag state’s right of self-defence.

“Is This the End of Perestroika?” International Reactions to the Soviet Use of Force in the Baltic Republics in January 1991

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 26-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Una Bergmane
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Use Of Force ◽  
The United States ◽  
State Archives ◽  
The Baltic ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
The U.S ◽  
West European

This article examines the official U.S. reaction to the Soviet government's use of force in the Baltic republics in January 1991, not only showing the complexity of the U.S. position but also demonstrating how reactions in Washington became harsher in the space of a week, eroding the previous “Gorbachev first” attitude. The article identifies the main reasons for this shift, especially West European reactions, domestic pressures, and growing concerns that violence in the Baltics marked the end of perestroika. The analysis sheds light on a larger debate between Kristina Spohr and Celeste Wallander about Western attitudes toward the Baltic question at the Cold War endgame. The article is based on newly available archival materials in the United States and France as well as on documents from the archives of the Gorbachev Foundation in Moscow and in the Latvian State Archives.

scholarly journals The Opening Phase of the Struggle for Germany

Slavic Review ◽  
1979 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 473-480
Author(s):  
Robert M. Slusser
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
The United States ◽  
Federal Republic Of Germany ◽  
Major Powers ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Opening Phase

Ever since the Berlin blockade of 1948 the attention of historians of modern and recent international relations has been engaged by the problem of how Germany and its capital, Berlin, came to be divided, first among the major powers of the anti-Hitler Grand Alliance—Great Britain, the United States, the Soviet Union, and France—and then, in 1949, into two rival states, the German Democratic Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany. This problem lies at the heart of the much-debated question regarding the origins of the Cold War. This review article makes no pretense at being a comprehensive report on the literature of the German problem. My aim is, rather, to call attention to some recent contributions to the literature and place them in context.

Part 1 The Cold War Era (1945–89), 32 The Intervention of the United States and other Eastern Caribbean States in Grenada—1983

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hajjami Nabil
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Cold War ◽  
International Law ◽  
Use Of Force ◽  
The United States ◽  
International Organisations ◽  
Caribbean Community ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Eastern Caribbean ◽  
The Cold War

This chapter examines the legality of the 1983 American-led intervention in Grenada. It recalls the positions of the main protagonists of the crisis, including international organisations such as the United Nations, the Caribbean Community and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States. It then analyses the justifications of the American administration, which are mainly based on three different grounds: the protection of citizens abroad; the activation of regional mechanisms and the intervention by invitation. The conclusion assesses the precedential value of the Operation Urgent Fury. Regarding its wide condemnation, the chapter argues that reactions to the American-led intervention in Grenada can finally be deemed as a strong reaffirmation of the prohibition of the use of force in international law.

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