Wireless Nationalism, 1938–1939

2020 ◽  
pp. 111-142
Author(s):  
Simon J. Potter
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Latin American ◽  
British Government ◽  
International Broadcasting ◽  
Policy Goals ◽  
British Foreign Policy ◽  
Foreign Office ◽  
Intelligence Service

During the late 1930s international broadcasting was mobilized as a weapon for deployment in the coming conflict, an essential tool of propaganda. In 1938 the BBC began broadcasting to the Middle East in Arabic and to Latin America in Spanish and Portuguese. In running the Arabic Service in particular, the BBC was obliged to accept the input of civil servants from the Foreign Office and other branches of the state, particularly when it came to the editing of news bulletins. Material was carefully included and omitted to further British foreign policy goals. BBC officers sought to build up an Arabic Service that would appeal to listeners across the Middle East but made limited headway due to a lack of resources and the scarcity of listener feedback. Similarly, there seemed little evidence to suggest that the BBC Latin American Service developed a significant audience. Attempts to strengthen links between British and American broadcasters meanwhile continued. Only vestiges of wireless internationalism remained: these were years of wireless nationalism, driven by the expansion of fascist broadcast propaganda. The September Crisis of 1938 prompted the inauguration of BBC broadcasts in German, Italian, and French. In all these activities the BBC adhered closely to official policies of appeasement, and accepted government directions to avoid broadcasts that would provoke Germany and Italy. The British government also covertly broadcast to Europe from commercial stations on the Continent, particularly Radio Luxembourg, with the involvement of the Secret Intelligence Service.

Rivalry and Competition, 1934–1937

2020 ◽  
pp. 84-110
Author(s):  
Simon J. Potter
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Short Wave ◽  
League Of Nations ◽  
Foreign Languages ◽  
Cross Border ◽  
International Broadcasting ◽  
Foreign Office ◽  
British State ◽  
The Relationship

The mid 1930s were one of the most decisive periods in the development of international broadcasting, as the use of wireless for propaganda purposes intensified and states became intimately involved with cross-border radio services. Fascist Germany, Italy, and Japan set the pace: Germany’s short-wave station at Zeesen continued to be the main competitor for the BBC’s Daventry station, and following the invasion of Abyssinia Italy’s stations at Rome and Bari threatened to undermine British influence in the Middle East, and particularly in Egypt and Palestine. Attempts by the International Broadcasting Union and the League of Nations (with its Broadcasting in the Cause of Peace initiative) to halt the rising tide of broadcast propaganda failed. Wireless internationalism increasingly seemed a forlorn hope. Britain also used broadcasting for propaganda purposes. The BBC stepped up attempts to reach US audiences by providing improved relays for the American networks. More significantly, the Foreign Office turned to the BBC to begin broadcasting in Arabic for the Middle East and Spanish and Portuguese for Latin America. The chapter significantly revises our understanding of the relationship between the BBC and the British state in this period, demonstrating that in taking on the work of broadcasting in foreign languages, the BBC accepted significant restrictions on its independence.

Agent of Empire? The National Bank of Turkey and British Foreign Policy

1975 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 367-389 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marian Kent
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Ottoman Empire ◽  
British Government ◽  
Third Place ◽  
The Third ◽  
British Foreign Policy ◽  
Foreign Office ◽  
National Bank ◽  
The Subject

‘The National Bank of Turkey was founded in 1909 with British Government encouragement and support to further British economic enterprise in the Ottoman Empire’ so we are told in all die standard and respectable works on the subject. This is correct in form but incorrect in substance, for one cannot accept the implications it carries with it, in some cases explicitly stated. These are that, in the first place, the Foreign Office was instrumental in actually starting the Bank, in the second place, that the Bank succeeded very far in its objects, and in the third place, that it ever received much Foreign Office support in what it sought to do.

scholarly journals Extra-regional aspects of Uruguay’s foreign policy (2010-2015

2016 ◽  
pp. 94-106
Author(s):  
Irina Kireeva
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Latin American ◽  
The Other ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Latin American Countries

The article analyses extraregional aspects of Uruguay’s foreign policy during the presidency of José Mujica (2010-2015), namely the development of relations between Uruguay and the USA, the European Union, Russia and countries of Asia and Middle East such as China, India, Iran, Palestine and Israel. This aspect of Uruguayan foreign policy is particularly relevant amid the crisis in Mercosur, when Uruguay is trying to mitigate its adverse consequences for the country’s economy by expanding trade ties with the other countries, both within Latin America and beyond it. The relations between Uruguay and Latin American countries are touched upon in some investigations while Uruguay’s active foreign policy in other regions isn’t studied at all

Expedition turned Invasion: The 1888 Sikkim Expedition through British, Indian and Chinese eyes

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-27
Author(s):  
YI MENG CHENG
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
British Government ◽  
British India ◽  
Intelligence Gathering ◽  
Peace Negotiations ◽  
British Foreign Policy ◽  
Foreign Office ◽  
The Subject ◽  
British Foreign Office ◽  
Chinese And English

Abstract A fresh look at the 1888 Sikkim Expedition using both Chinese and English language sources yields very different conclusions from that of previous research on the subject. During the course of policymaking, the British Foreign Office and the British Government of India did not collaborate to devise a plan to invade Tibet; conversely, their aims differed and clashed frequently. During the years leading to war, the largest newspapers in British India gave plenty of coverage to the benefits of trade with Tibet, thus influencing British foreign policy and contributing indirectly to the outbreak of war. The Tibetan army was soundly defeated in the war, while the British troops suffered only light casualties. Although the Tibetan elites remained committed to the war, the lower classes of Tibetan society quickly grew weary of it. During the war, the British made much use of local spies and enjoyed an advantage in intelligence gathering, which contributed greatly to their victory. Finally, although the war was initially fought over trade issues, the demarcation of the Tibetan-Sikkim border replaced trade issues as the main point of contention during the subsequent peace negotiations. During the negotiations, Sheng Tai, the newly appointed Amban of Tibet, tried his best to defend China's interests.

Sultanism

2021 ◽  
pp. 47-76
Author(s):  
Christopher M. Davidson
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Max Weber ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Empirical Literature ◽  
Sub Saharan

To facilitate a comprehensive and up-to-date understanding of the concept of sultanism, this chapter provides a detailed theoretical and empirical literature review. Firstly, it considers the oriental origins of the concept, as applied by Max Weber and others to the Ottoman Empire and a number of South Asian examples. Secondly, it traces the emergence of ‘contemporary sultanism’, as applied by scholars to Latin American regimes from the mid-twentieth century and onwards. Thirdly, it explores the more recent concept of neo-sultanism and the development of a distinct international empirical category of autocratic-authoritarianism which includes: various Latin America regimes; some of the former communist republics of central Asia and Eastern Europe; and a number of regimes in sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Southeast Asia. Finally, it assesses the need to address the scholarly deficit in applying contemporary sultanism or neo-sultanism to the Middle East, and suggests that the present-day Saudi And UAE regimes may be strong examples.

China’s Relations with Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East

2020 ◽  
pp. 291-312
Author(s):  
Joshua Eisenman ◽  
Eric Heginbotham
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Security Policy ◽  
Developing World ◽  
World Order ◽  
Political Support ◽  
Policy Tools ◽  
Policy Makers

Over the last two decades, developing countries have become central to China’s increasingly ambitious foreign policy makers. This chapter begins by explaining China’s conceptualization of the developing world and its position in Beijing’s geostrategy. After describing the three characteristics of China’s approach—asymmetry, comprehensiveness, and its interlocking structure—the chapter then explains the various economic, political, and security policy tools that comprise it. China works to bring the separate strands of its foreign policy together in a comprehensive whole and to build synergies between component parts. Ultimately, the chapter concludes that Beijing’s primary objectives—regime survival and advancing China’s position in an increasingly multipolar world—are probably insufficient to engender widespread political support among developing countries for a China-led world order.

scholarly journals Crusaders in Reverse? The Emergence of Political Islam in the Middle East and the Reactions of British Foreign Policy, 1978–1990

Religions ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 196
Author(s):  
Ihab Shabana
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Middle East ◽  
International Relations ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Political Islam ◽  
Early 20Th Century ◽  
Archival Material ◽  
Political Analysis ◽  
British Foreign Policy

British foreign policy in the Middle East has been well researched. However, there are still aspects of Britain’s approach towards the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) that have yet to be researched. One such aspect is Britain’s encounter with the rise of political Islam in MENA and the way(s) in which this phenomenon was deciphered. Even though political Islam dates back to the late 19th and early 20th century, our study focuses on the period between the turbulent years of the outburst of the Iranian Revolution in 1978–1979 and its widely-felt influence until 1990. Our methodological tools include Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) archival material that addresses the phenomenon of political Islam and its implications for British interests and international relations in general. We choose the concept of political Islam and its adherents that are widely acknowledged as political, comparatively to those of da’wa and Jihadi Islamism. We argue that British officials were widely influenced by the intellectual debates of the period under consideration and that they mainly adopted four analytical schemas which focused firstly on the rise of sectarian politics in MENA, secondly on the gradual accommodation of non-state actors and organizations in political analysis, thirdly on the worrisome prospect of an alliance between Islamist and communist forces, and lastly on the prevalence of the idea of Islamic solidarity and Islamic exceptionalism in exerting international politics. Our findings suggest that, at times, the FCO approaches the issue of political Islam with a reassuring mindset, focusing on its divisions and weaknesses, while at other times it analyzes it with a grave concern over stability and Britain’s critical interests.

scholarly journals India’s Public Diplomacy in the Twenty-First Century: Components, Objectives and Challenges

2020 ◽  
Vol 76 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-39
Author(s):  
Arijit Mazumdar
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Soft Power ◽  
Public Diplomacy ◽  
Nation Branding ◽  
First Century ◽  
International Exchange ◽  
International Broadcasting ◽  
Policy Goals ◽  
Twenty First Century ◽  
Rising Power

In recent years, several countries have made sustained efforts to project their ‘soft power’ abroad. Public diplomacy has been an important tool for this purpose. Public diplomacy involves activities usually undertaken by a national government to inform and influence foreign public opinion and attitudes in order to advance its foreign policy goals. Such activities include ‘nation-branding’, diaspora outreach, digital engagement, international broadcasting, and international exchange programmes, all of which are designed to promote a positive image and reputation of the country to a global audience. This paper discusses the role of public diplomacy in the service of India’s foreign policy goals during the twenty-first century. The practice of public diplomacy helps the country achieve two significant objectives. First, it helps allay any active or dormant fears within the international community about India as a rising power. Second, it helps India compete with other countries as it seeks to boost foreign tourist arrivals, attract foreign investment and secure new markets for its exports in an era of globalisation. This paper also briefly discusses some of the challenges associated with India’s use of public diplomacy.

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