Canadian Policy Towards Bangladesh: How Does the North Look at the South?

2011 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 281-305 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zaglul Haider
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Cold War ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
National Interest ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Development Partner ◽  
The North ◽  
The Us ◽  
New Nation ◽  
North And South

Abstract The goal of the paper is to analyze the Canadian policy towards Bangladesh. In this paper I argue that Canadian approach towards Bangladesh was different in different phases of history. In the liberation war of Bangladesh Canada played a role that went against the interest of Bangladesh and suited with the triple alliance of the US-Pakistan and China. Against the backdrop of Cold War politics, Canadian policy demonstrated the reflection of her national interest. In the dawn of the independence of Bangladesh in the early 1970’s Canada revised its policy, immediately recognized the new nation and supported Bangladesh’s admission in to the Commonwealth, the United Nations and other international organizations. Since the threshold of Bangladesh’s journey Canada emerged as a development partner of the new nation. Apart from significant aid, Canada also provided immigration facilities to the Bangladeshis. All these are consistent with its national interest. I also focus on the Canadian concerns over the violation of human rights and poor governance that gradually eroded the image of Bangladesh among the Canadian policy makers. Finally, I suggest a way out to improve relations between the two countries of the ‘North’ and ‘South’.

scholarly journals North–South relations and human rights

2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Soosaipillai Keethaponcalan
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Sri Lanka ◽  
National Interest ◽  
The United States ◽  
Economic Assistance ◽  
The South ◽  
The North ◽  
The Us ◽  
Human Rights Standards ◽  
North And South

There are apparent differences between the developed North and the economically weak South. The relations between the North and South are marked by dichotomies and in order to deal with the challenges posed by the South, the North choses control and cooperation. The North uses several instruments including economic assistance to achieve its objectives. One of the new tools that is increasingly taken advantage of is human rights. Although there exists a genuine concern about human rights standards in the South, action on these issues almost always depends on national interest of the states in the North. This paradigm is proved true by the present human rights campaign the United States is undertaking against Sri Lanka in the United Nations Human Rights Council. The US and its Western allies believe that serious human rights violations have been committed during the last phase of the war in Sri Lanka. Promoting accountability and insisting on an international investigation, the US has successfully presented three resolutions on Sri Lanka since 2012. This paper argues that the US action is motivated primarily by its national interest. At the secondary level the US is interested in curtailing what is called the Sri Lanka model of conflict resolution and promoting reconciliation.

Reluctant Cold Warriors

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vladimir Kontorovich
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
National Security ◽  
Soviet Economy ◽  
Accurate Analysis ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
The Us ◽  
Comprehensive Survey ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
The Military

The academic study of the Soviet economy in the US was created to help fight the Cold War, part of a broader mobilization of the social sciences for national security needs. The Soviet strategic challenge rested on the ability of its economy to produce large numbers of sophisticated weapons. The military sector was the dominant part of the economy, and the most successful one. However, a comprehensive survey of scholarship on the Soviet economy from 1948-1991 shows that it paid little attention to the military sector, compared to other less important parts of the economy. Soviet secrecy does not explain this pattern of neglect. Western scholars developed strained civilian interpretations for several aspects of the economy which the Soviets themselves acknowledged to have military significance. A close reading of the economic literature, combined with insights from other disciplines, suggest three complementary explanations for civilianization of the Soviet economy. Soviet studies was a peripheral field in economics, and its practitioners sought recognition by pursuing the agenda of the mainstream discipline, however ill-fitting their subject. The Soviet economy was supposed to be about socialism, and the military sector appeared to be unrelated to that. By stressing the militarization, one risked being viewed as a Cold War monger. The conflict identified in this book between the incentives of academia and the demands of policy makers (to say nothing of accurate analysis) has broad relevance for national security uses of social science.

scholarly journals North Koreans’ Public Narratives and Conditional Inclusion in South Korea (In Press)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Hough ◽  
Markus Bell
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
South Korea ◽  
Social Status ◽  
Korean Peninsula ◽  
Social Benefits ◽  
Korean Society ◽  
The Public ◽  
South Korean ◽  
The North ◽  
North And South

This article draws on the public testimonies of North Koreans living in South Korea (t’albungmin) and analyzes the role that these narratives play in South Korean society as mechanisms of inclusion and exclusion. North and South Korea technically remain at war, with South Korea claiming sovereignty over the entire Korean peninsula. While t’albungmin are eligible for South Korean citizenship, they describe feeling excluded from full social membership. Although some t’albungmin seek anonymity, this paper considers those who gain social status by speaking publicly about their lives and denouncing the North Korean regime. In so doing, they distance themselves from North Korea and align themselves with the “good” discourse of human rights. However, their actions reinforce a logic of exclusion, implying that t’albungmin who prefer anonymity are “sympathizers,” and consequently restricting their access to social benefits and resources. This case of conditional inclusion illuminates tensions that arise when a sovereignty claim entails the incorporation of people from an enemy state. It also highlights the carefully delineated boundaries of publicly acceptable behavior within which “suspect” citizens must remain as a condition for positive recognition.

National Report for the United States

2012 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
The United States ◽  
Economic Productivity ◽  
Section 8 ◽  
North American Continent ◽  
Us Congress ◽  
The North ◽  
The Us ◽  
Us Constitution ◽  
State And Local ◽  
New Nation

The ‘New World’ on the North American continent was founded in the 1600s on colonists’ willingness to take substantial risks. The notion of relieving at least some of the burdens of inevitable failure, in order to encourage productive risk-taking, has been part of the fabric of US law almost from the very beginning. After discovering that jailing debtors did very little to encourage fulfilment of debts, and it in fact depressed the economic productivity on which the colonies’ survival depended, several of the colonies experimented with limited insolvency and bankruptcy laws in the mid-1700s. After the Revolution, the issue of providing uniform and nationwide bankruptcy relief was enshrined in the US Constitution as part of the very foundation of the new nation. While the new US Congress was granted only limited rights to regulate general economic matters (the most significant such rights being reserved to the state and local legislative bodies), Article I, section 8, clause 4 of the US Constitution explicitly vested the federal Congress with the power to regulate bankruptcy.

Part 1 The Cold War Era (1945–89), 26 The US Hostage Rescue Operation in Iran—1980

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Forteau Mathias ◽  
Ying Xiu Alison See
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
International Law ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Present Contribution ◽  
Rescue Operation ◽  
Customary International Law ◽  
Self Help ◽  
The Us ◽  
Cold War Era ◽  
The Cold War

The present contribution discusses the US hostage recuse operation in Iran in 1980. After the presentation of the relevant facts and context of the (eventually aborted) operation, including the official positions of the US and Iran as publicly expressed at that time, the present contribution assesses the legality of the operation, taking into account the reactions of other states and competent international organizations. The legality of the operation is assessed under Article 2(4) and 51 of the UN Charter and other possible exceptions under customary international law such as self-help. It concludes that it is doubtful that the operation was in conformity with international law.

“Restoring hope where all hope was lost”: Nelson Mandela, the ICRC and the protection of political detainees in apartheid South Africa

2016 ◽  
Vol 98 (903) ◽  
pp. 799-829
Author(s):  
Andrew Thompson
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Cold War ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
African Country ◽  
International Committee ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
The Past ◽  
Nelson Mandela ◽  
The Cold War

AbstractAmidst the violent upheavals of the end of empire and the Cold War, international organizations developed a basic framework for holding State and non-State armed groups to account for their actions when taking prisoners. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) placed itself at the very centre of these developments, making detention visiting a cornerstone of its work. Nowhere was this growing preoccupation with the problem of protecting detainees more evident than apartheid South Africa, where the ICRC undertook more detention visits than in almost any other African country. During these visits the ICRC was drawn into an internationalized human rights dispute that severely tested its leadership and demonstrated the troubled rapport between humanitarianism and human rights. The problems seen in apartheid South Africa reflect today's dilemmas of how to protect political detainees in situations of extreme violence. We can look to the past to find solutions for today's political detainees − or “security detainees” as they are now more commonly called.

Sectionalism and Policy Formation in the United States: President Carter's Welfare Initiatives

1996 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 337-367 ◽  
Author(s):  
Desmond King
Keyword(s):  
Family Support ◽  
The United States ◽  
Policy Formation ◽  
Jimmy Carter ◽  
Archival Material ◽  
The North ◽  
Family Support Act ◽  
The Family ◽  
The Us ◽  
North And South

President Jimmy Carter twice attempted to enact major reforms of the US welfare system. Using archival material from the Carter Presidential Library, this article argues that one major reason for the failure of both initiatives was the persistence of regional divisions between representatives from the north and south in the Congress. This factor is as germane to the welfare failure as poor presidential-congressional relations and changes to the committee seniority system in the Congress. American welfare programmes were institutionalized in such a way that, from the 1930s, building a coalition across sectional interests (as represented by members of the Congress) was nearly impossible: gains to one region constituted losses to the other. The consequence of the way Carter pursued and failed to achieve welfare reform was to enhance the priorities, particularly ‘working for welfare’, exploited by Reagan in the final year of his administration when the Family Support Act was enacted.

scholarly journals Field Diplomacy: A New Conflict Prevention Paradigm?

1997 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luc Reychler
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Conflict Prevention ◽  
Conflict Zones ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
The North ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
Religious Extremism ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
North And South ◽  
Very High

One of the most important challenges facing the global community in the next decade, is the prevention of destructive conflicts. Listening to the discourse in the United Nations and other governmental and non governmental organizations this may sound like kicking in wide open doors (Bauwens and Reychler, 1994). But the failure of conflict prevention and the high number of conflict zones, indicates that we still have a long way to go. A global survey of contemporary conflicts counts 22 high-intensity and 39 lowerintensity conflicts, and 40 serious disputes (PIOOM, 1995). In 1995 five groups were victims of genocides or politicides. The risks of future victimization of 47 communities in different parts of the world is assessed as high of very high (PIOOM, 1995). The growth of nationalist feelings at the end of the Cold War is only the beginning of more suffering. More conflicts are expected, with old and new causes, such as the unequal or unfair trade balances between North and South, unemployment in the North, the environmental pollution, religious extremism, mass immigration and the growing number of failed states. These problems could hurt people so much that they would be prepared to fight for them.

Part I General Framework, 3 Multinational Military Operations

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fleck Dieter ◽  
Newton Michael A ◽  
Grenfell Katarina
Keyword(s):  
International Organizations ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Military Operations ◽  
The North ◽  
The Us ◽  
The North Atlantic ◽  
And Control ◽  
Military Units

This chapter discusses the use of multinational military units. Some European States, such as Germany, have incorporated large, if not most, parts of their national military forces in permanent multinational units. Many other States including the US are forming ad hoc military units for specific operations. The UN, NATO, and other international organizations are pursuing standby arrangements and high readiness commitments to allow for rapid response. In all these situations command and control issues are to be considered. While there are many different forms of multinational military cooperation, and Sending States will avoid regulating these matters in status-of-forces agreements (SOFAs) with the Receiving State, they are nevertheless relevant for the law and practice of Visiting Forces. This chapter draws some conclusions on the concept of multinational military operations for the North Atlantic Alliance, the European Union, and beyond.

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