scholarly journals THE PEACE TREATY OF BREST-LITOVSK IN HISTORICAL RETROSPECTIVE

2018 ◽  
pp. 12-19
Author(s):  
Sergii Pyvovar
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Historical Perspective ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Peace Treaty ◽  
Independent State ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Central Council ◽  
Future Loss ◽  
The Right

The topic of study is important due to the expediency of drawing the attention of historians to the facts showing that separated Peace Treaty between the Ukrainian People’s Republic and the states of the Fourth Alliance was a strategic defeat of Ukraine. The Bolshevik October coup of 1917 created a unique opportunity for Ukraine to become an independent state. The solution to this problem rested in hands of people and nation leaders of Ukraine in extremely tough and crucial times. However, no talented strategists assessed Ukraine’s position from the point of view of the state prospects and off ered the right historical choice. Not wishing to support the “imperialist” plans of the Entente, sheltering behind demagogic slogans of universal peace, the socialist leaders of the Ukrainian Central Council decided, it would be better to withdraw Ukraine from the war ensuring stability and peace in its territory. Under such circumstance the Ukrainian People’s Republic signed a separate peace treaty with the states of the Fourth Alliance and in fact became its ally. Consequently, the Entente started treating Ukraine as a country of a hostile camp and corresponding policy was pursued at the Paris Peace Conference. The fatal decision led to the future loss of national statehood of Ukraine, which in the historical perspective had tragic consequences to the Ukrainian people. Our study in a long run calls for a thorough historical analysis of all circumstances associated with a change in foreign policy of the Ukrainian Central Council and its consequences, critical rethinking of past experience in connection with current problems of the implementation of Ukraine’s foreign policy, as well as consideration of mistakes and miscalculations of the diplomatic struggle.

scholarly journals Central Council of Ukraine: Introduction to Foreign Policy Activity

2018 ◽  
pp. 31-44
Author(s):  
Vladyslav Verstiuk
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Peace Treaty ◽  
Political Strategy ◽  
World War ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Central Council ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Russian Empire

The article describes the time when after the fall of autocracy in the Russian Empire, the power was taken by the Central Council of Ukraine emerged in Kyiv. The fall of autocracy gave a chance for change, the newly formed Provisional Government declared its inclination to renewal and democratization processes. Ukrainians enthusiastically met the revolution. The Central Council of Ukraine emerged in Kyiv to head the national liberation movement. It based the political strategy on the slogan of gaining national-territorial autonomy of Ukraine in the Federal Democratic Republic of Russia. The strength of the federalist-autonomous model was that in the First World War it made it possible to legitimately put the “Ukrainian question” to the Provisional Government and the Russian political elite without being accused of separatism. Signing of the Brest Peace Treaty testified to the success of young non-professional Ukrainian diplomacy. This was the first earnest act of the UPR on the international scene. However, given the circumstances Ukraine experienced, it had small effect. The difference could have been made only by a third-party military aid from countries of the Fourth Alliance, which later resulted in the occupation of Ukrainian lands. Unfortunately, it turned into the occupation of Ukrainian lands. The weakest side of the Central Council was its Foreign policy. It was started with a considerable delay, it was a late reaction to the actions of the Bolsheviks. As a result, the Central Council failed to achieve recognition among the Entente countries, and a peace treaty with the Fourth Alliance in the long run, after the end of the World War, compromised Ukrainian statehood in the eyes of the victors. The author emphasizes that wartime occupations acquire take the form of colonial exploitation and subordination regimes, which is clearly illustrated by the Central Powers’ presence in Ukraine in 1918. It is also concluded that the Central Council, willing to rescue Ukraine from one disaster, brought it new challenges. Keywords: Central Council, General Secretariat, Ukraine, occupation, international scene, Brest Peace Treaty, Fourth Alliance.

scholarly journals “...COMING TO COMMON PEACE TOGETHER WITH OUR ALLIES”: ROMANIA’S FOREIGN POLICY BALANCING DURING WORLD WAR I

Skhid ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 36-44
Author(s):  
Yaroslav POPENKO ◽  
Ihor SRIBNYAK ◽  
Natalia YAKOVENKO ◽  
Viktor MATVIYENKO
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
World War I ◽  
First World War ◽  
Peace Treaty ◽  
Final Decision ◽  
World War ◽  
National Interests ◽  
The First World War ◽  
The Right ◽  
First World

The article covers the course of negotiations between the plenipotentiaries of Romania and the leading states of the Entente and the Quadruple Alliance during the First World War. Facing the dilemma of determining its own foreign policy orientation – by joining one of the mentioned military-political blocs, the Romanian government was hesitating for a long time to come to a final decision. At the same time, largely due to this balancing process, official Bucharest managed to preserve its sovereign right to work out and make the most important decisions, while consistently defending Romania's national interests. By taking the side of the Entente and receiving comprehensive military assistance from Russia, Romania at the same time faced enormous military and political problems due to military superiority of the allied Austrian and German forces at the Balkan theater of hostilities. Their occupation of much of Romania forced official Bucharest to seek an alternative, making it sign a separate agreement with the Central Block states. At the same time, its ratification was being delayed in every possible way, which enabled Romania to return to the camp of war winners at the right time. At the same time, official Bucharest made the most of the decline and liquidation of imperial institutions in Russia and Austria-Hungary at the final stage of the First World War, incorporating vast frontier territories into the Kingdom. Taking advantage of the revolutionary events in Russia, the Romanian government succeeded, in particular, in resolving the “Bessarabian problem” in its favor. In addition, Romania included Transylvania, Bukovina and part of Banat. An important foreign policy achievement of Romanian diplomacy was signing of the 1918 Bucharest Peace Treaty, as well as its participation in the Paris Peace Conference.

A Problem from Washington: Samantha Power Enters the Foreign Policy Bureaucracy

2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 241-254
Author(s):  
Michael Barnett
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Obama Administration ◽  
Award Winning ◽  
The Right

AbstractIn her new memoir, The Education of an Idealist, Samantha Power reflects on her eight years in the Obama administration. Although she claims that the experience did little to change her views, there is a considerable disjuncture between her point of view in her award-winning earlier book “A Problem from Hell,” in which she criticizes U.S. officials for not doing the right thing, and her point of view in The Education of an Idealist, in which she defends indifference of U.S. officials under somewhat similar circumstances during the Obama years. The author of Problem could not have written Education, and the author of Education could not have written Problem. What does this tell us about the possibility for ethics in foreign policy?

scholarly journals China’s Soft Power in Tanzania: Opportunities and Challenges

2017 ◽  
Vol 03 (01) ◽  
pp. 79-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhidin J. Shangwe
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Soft Power ◽  
Historical Perspective ◽  
International Politics ◽  
Initial Step ◽  
The West ◽  
Political Values ◽  
Hard Power ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Chinese Diplomacy

In recent years, China has embraced the idea of soft power with ever more keen interest. Today, soft power is Beijing’s key strategy in international politics, albeit not in the way the concept is understood and applied in the West. However, this strategy can hardly be said to have yielded fruit in Africa despite China’s growing visibility and presence over the last two decades. This article aims at probing this issue by examining how China’s soft power is manifested in Tanzania. In an attempt to show that soft power is not entirely a new practice in international politics, the article first applies a historical perspective to illustrate that it has been part and parcel of Chinese diplomacy, long before the term was coined by Joseph Nye in 1990. The article then analyzes Chinese activities in Tanzania and how they have shaped perceptions of Tanzanians of China in the era of globalization. These activities are structured in line with three traditional sources of soft power as postulated by Nye, namely culture, political values and foreign policy. As a supplement to Nye’s definition, however, elements of hard power are also included in the article, such as the use of economic inducements to produce, bolster and wield soft power. In general, China has made headway in its soft power ambitions by gaining positive reviews in Tanzania. While the current achievement is crucial as an initial step, there is still a long way to go for China in consolidating its soft power. Although China has earned admiration in some quarters of Tanzanian society, it is still premature to assume that in the long run Beijing will continue to enjoy increasing soft power in the country. Indeed, in some cases, such admiration only exists in verbal recognition. In the meantime, activities that damage China’s image have further complicated matters and undermined China’s soft power in Tanzania.

scholarly journals Serhiy Shelukhyn (1864―1938): an intellectual and statesman in the service of Ukraine

2019 ◽  
pp. 367-375
Author(s):  
Olga Katola
Keyword(s):  
Political Life ◽  
Political Organizations ◽  
Graduate Studies ◽  
Independent State ◽  
Political Activities ◽  
Political Sciences ◽  
Political Work ◽  
Central Council ◽  
Creative Talent ◽  
The Right

The paper seeks to explore main stages of the lifeline of S. Shelukhyn as well as characterize his public and political activities, the scholarly achievements, literary and publicistic legacy of the scholar and politician. His classical graduate studies, professional and career background of the lawyer-practician, a shaping of his social and political views and scholarly interests are revealed in the historical circumstances of that time. A particular attention has been paid to his public activities. He was an active founder and member of the socio-political organizations signi ficantly contributing into a development of the national movement. With the beginning of the Ukrainian Revolution, S. Shelukhyn as a delegate, a leading member of the Ukrainian Party of the Socialists-Federalists to the Ukrainian parliament, the Ukrainian Central Council (Rada), was particularly engaged in social and political work. After the proclamation of the UNR, holding high-ranking state posts, he opposed the federation with Russia. The positive aspects of his political life are establishment and activities of the public organi zations, scientific institutions, teaching at the Ukrainian high schools, a fruitful collaboration with the press. The S. Shelukhyn’s scholarly heritage is represented here. Specifically, the studies in history and origin of the Rus-Ukraine, history of the Ukrainian law (in particular, in the field of the criminal and civil law), political sciences and so on, are presented here. The article distinguishes a particularly active scholar ship of S. Shelukhyn in the émigré period. One of the biggest achieve ments of this historian and scholar is the making of argumentation basis for legitimization of the right of the Ukrainian people at restoration and building of the independent state. His beloved interest to literature and creative talent fostered poetry printing on the pages of many press publi cations, mainly of the citizen and patriotic motifs as well as translations of the belles lettres. His publicistic texts were a continuation of his social and political work. They conveyed to the readers his views, senti ments and beliefs shaping the self-consciousness of the Ukrainian nation and broadening horizons of knowledge. Keywords: Serhiy Shelukhyn, the Ukrai nian Central Council (Rada), social and political work, etatist ideology, the Ukrai nian law, emigration, scholarship, publicism, literary works.

Rawlsians, Pluralists, and Cosmopolitans

1996 ◽  
Vol 40 ◽  
pp. 147-161
Author(s):  
Attracta Ingram
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Moral Theory ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Justice As Fairness ◽  
Theory Of Justice ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Rawlsian Justice ◽  
Just Society ◽  
The Right

Some of us were introduced to political philosophy as an activity of identifying, criticising, and revising the moral basis of existing social institutions. We asked questions about the nature of the good or the just society, and some few of us thought that once we knew and advocated the truth, it would win out. We, or some appropriate revolutionary or reforming group or class, would with reason, truth, and history on our side, bring about the society of our ideals. When we first read John Rawls's A Theory of Justice we read it as continuing the traditional tasks of political philosophy. Justice as Fairness was a moral theory which addressed a political subject matter. From the moral point of view it told us what any just society aiming to realise the values of liberty and equality would be like. This comported nicely with liberal cosmopolitanism, and also with more widely shared philosophical views that the task of political philosophy is to construct a vision of an ideal society, perhaps more sensitive to justice in implementation than would be required in pre-modern, pre-democratic societies, but nevertheless an ideal which in the long run we would hope to see all societies converge on. That kind of liberalism gave those of us who think that Rawlsian justice is the right or true justice a license to go on the offensive in promoting liberal ideals and practices in our own society, and, at the very least, a critical vantage point from which to judge other societies.

scholarly journals Photography Reframed

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-19
Author(s):  
Anna Dahlgren
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Historical Perspective ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Media Culture ◽  
Media Archaeology ◽  
Visual Aesthetics ◽  
Illustrated Press ◽  
Media Systems ◽  
A Chain

This article discusses the benefits of analysing photography as mediated, reproduced and entangled in media systems, and consequently as part of a larger media culture. Moreover it combines technological considerations drawn from media archaeology with art historical analysis focusing on visual aesthetics. It considers two mediating devices for photography in the nineteenth century, the photo album and the illustrated press. As displayed, a media historical perspective airs new interpretations and understandings of processes and practices in relation to photography in the period. Thus what from a photo historical point of view might appear as an important, paradigmatic invention or a critical technical delimitation might from a media historical perspective seem to have been merely a small adjustment in a chain of gradual improvements and experiments in the dissemination and consumption of images. Thus photographic media specificity delimited by technical procedures and certain materials outputs, which was so strongly emphasized in the twentieth century, was evidently not fixed to materiality and rather opened and negotiated in the nineteenth century. Accordingly, responsiveness to the literal and figurative framing of photography as mediated, discloses other photo histories.

The Politics of Repressed Guilt

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Leeb
Keyword(s):  
Historical Analysis ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
National Socialist ◽  
Theoretical Concepts ◽  
Political Consequences ◽  
Critical Scholarship ◽  
Important Addition ◽  
Defensive Mechanisms ◽  
The Right

Through a critical appropriation of Hannah Arendt, and a more sympathetic engagement with Theodor W. Adorno and psychoanalysis, this book develops a new theoretical approach to understanding Austrians’ repression of their collaboration with National Socialist Germany. Drawing on original, extensive archival research, from court documents on Nazi perpetrators to public controversies on theater plays and museums, the book exposes the defensive mechanisms Austrians have used to repress individual and collective political guilt, which led to their failure to work through their past. It exposes the damaging psychological and political consequences such failure has had and continues to have for Austrian democracy today—such as the continuing electoral growth of the right-wing populist Freedom Party in Austria, which highlights the timeliness of the book. However, the theoretical concepts and practical suggestions the book introduces to counteract the repression of individual and collective political guilt are relevant beyond the Austrian context. It shows us that only when individuals and nations live up to guilt are they in a position to take responsibility for past crimes, show solidarity with the victims of crimes, and prevent the emergence of new crimes. Combining theoretical insights with historical analysis, The Politics of Repressed Guilt is an important addition to critical scholarship that explores the pathological implications of guilt repression for democratic political life.

Otherness in More’s Utopia

Moreana ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 53 (Number 205- (3-4) ◽  
pp. 73-94
Author(s):  
Guillaume Navaud
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Major Part ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Old World ◽  
Self Sufficiency

Utopia as a concept points towards a world essentially alien to us. Utopia as a work describes this otherness and confronts us with a world whose strangeness might seem disturbing. Utopia and Europe differ in their relationship to what is other (Latin alienus) – that is, that which belongs to someone else, that which is foreign, that which is strange. These two worlds are at odds in regards to their foreign policy and way of life: Utopia aspires to self-sufficiency but remains open to whatever good may arrive from beyond its borders, while the Old World appears alienated by exteriority yet refuses to welcome any kind of otherness. This issue also plays a major part in the reception of More’s work. Book I invites the reader to distance himself from a European point of view in order to consider what is culturally strange not as logically absurd but merely as geographically remote. Utopia still makes room for some exoticism, but mostly in its paratexts, and this exoticism needs to be deciphered. All in all, Utopia may invite us to transcend the horizontal dialectics of worldly alterity in order to open our eyes to a more radical, metaphysical otherness.

Basic principles of Russian foreign policy under Vladimir Putin

Upravlenie ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 116-122
Author(s):  
Sadeghi Elham Mir Mohammad ◽  
Ahmad Vakhshitekh
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
International Relations ◽  
World Order ◽  
Policy Decision ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Russian Foreign Policy ◽  
National Interests ◽  
Basic Principles ◽  
Interstate Relations ◽  
The Moment

The article considers and analyses the basic principles and directions of Russian foreign policy activities during the presidency of V.V. Putin from the moment of his assumption of the post of head of state to the current presidential term. The authors determine the basic principles of Russia's foreign policy in the specified period and make the assessment to them. The study uses materials from publications of both Russian and foreign authors, experts in the field of political science, history and international relations, as well as documents regulating the foreign policy activities of the highest state authorities. The paper considers the process of forming the priorities of Russia's foreign policy both from the point of view of accumulated historical experience and continuity of the internal order, and in parallel with the processes of transformation of the entire system of international relations and the world order. The article notes the multi-vector nature of Russia's foreign policy strategy aimed at developing multilateral interstate relations, achieving peace and security in the interstate arena, actively countering modern challenges and threats to interstate security, as well as the formation of a multipolar world. The authors conclude that at present, Russia's foreign policy activity is aimed at strengthening Russia's prestige, supporting economic growth and competitiveness, ensuring security and implementing national interests. Internal political reforms contribute to strengthening the political power of the President of the Russian Federation and increasing the efficiency of foreign policy decision-making.

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