Old Wine in New Bottles? British Policy towards Czechoslovakia, 1938–1939 and 1947–1948

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vít Smetana
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
British Foreign Policy ◽  
British Policy ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Impact

Britain's policy towards Czechoslovakia, ironically and tragically, twice fell victim to the geo-strategic realities of the time. While the general approach to foreign policy conducted by Neville Chamberlain and Edward Halifax, the prime minister and his foreign secretary, was very different from that of Clement Attlee and Ernest Bevin, neither the government in 1938–1939 nor that in 1947–1948 could find the resources or will to overcome these strategic constraints. However, the impact of the crucial events in Czechoslovakia upon British foreign policy was remarkable. This chapter compares the two Czechoslovak crises from a British governmental perspective. It shows remarkable parallels between 1938 and 1948, in terms both of British attitudes and of their wider international significance. The juxtaposition itself is revealing, in that the extent of British interest and sympathy appears to have been greater post-1945 than before 1938.

BRITISH POLICY TOWARDS EUROPE, 1919–1939 Neville Chamberlain and appeasement. By R. Caputi. London: Susquehanna University Press, 2000. Pp. 271. ISBN 1-57591-027-6. £35.00. The Paris Peace Conference, 1919: peace without victory? Edited by M. Dockrill and J. Fisher. Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2001. Pp. xvi+97. ISBN 0-333-77630-5. £40.00. British foreign policy, 1919–1939. By P. W. Doerr. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1998. Pp. xi+291. ISBN 0-7190-4672-6. £14.99. Neville Chamberlain. By D. Dutton. London: Edward Arnold, 2001. Pp. xii+245. ISBN 0-340-70627-9. £12.99. Austen Chamberlain and the commitment to Europe: British foreign policy, 1924–1929. By R. S. Grayson. London: Frank Cass, 1997. Pp. xviii+318. ISBN 0-7146-4758-6. £37.50. Lloyd George and the lost peace: from Versailles to Hitler, 1919–1940. By A. Lentin. Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2001. Pp. xvii+182. ISBN 0-333-91961-0. £40.00. Peacemakers: the Paris Conference of 1919 and its attempt to end war. By M. Macmillan. London: John Murray, 2001. Pp. xii+574. ISBN 0-7195-5939-1. £25.00. ‘The Times’ and appeasement: the journals of A. L. Kennedy, 1932–1939. Edited by G. Martel. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. Royal Historical Society, Camden Fifth Series. Pp. xvii+312. ISBN 0-521-79354-8. £40.00. Britain and the Ruhr crisis. By E. Y. O'Riordan. London: Palgrave, 2001. Pp. x+237. ISBN 0-333-76483-8. £40.00. The Neville Chamberlain diary letters,I: The making of a politician, 1915–1920. Edited by R. Self. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2000. Pp. ix+423. ISBN 1-84014-691-5. £75.00. The Neville Chamberlain diary letters, II: The reform years, 1921–1927. Edited by R. Self. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2000. Pp. x+461. ISBN 1-84014-692-3. £75.00.

2003 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 479-492
Author(s):  
GAYNOR JOHNSON
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Interwar Period ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
British Foreign Policy ◽  
The First World War ◽  
British Policy ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Times ◽  
First World

In the last eighty years, an enormous amount of scholarly attention has been devoted to explaining why Europe was at the centre of two cataclysmic conflicts in the first half of the twentieth century. The books considered here represent part of a resurgence of interest in British foreign policy in the interwar period and are primarily concerned with the policy of reconciliation towards the former Central Powers after the First World War, especially the appeasement of Germany. They offer a further opportunity to challenge the still-held misapprehension that appeasement was a strand of British policy that only appeared after Hitler's rise to power. They also offer a means of examining British foreign policy through sources inside and outside the government. Gordon Martel's volume illustrates the amount of journalistic pressure that was put on the British government to recognize and act on the likely threats to international peace. Austen and Neville Chamberlain, the sons of the great nineteenth-century Conservative politician, Joseph Chamberlain, were at the centre of the British foreign policy making process during the interwar period. Indeed, Robert Self's two volumes of letters written by Neville Chamberlain to his sisters illustrate how steeped in foreign and domestic politics the whole Chamberlain family was. Richard Grayson sees a long, unbroken attempt to accommodate Germany diplomatically starting with Austen Chamberlain and the treaty of Locarno. The importance of Neville Chamberlain's contribution to the history of British foreign policy is offered further recognition through surveys of the historiography of his premiership by David Dutton and Robert Caputi.

Economic diplomacy: pandemic effect

2021 ◽  
pp. 84-97
Author(s):  
Tatyana Leonidovna Musatova
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Public Diplomacy ◽  
New World ◽  
Economic Security ◽  
Economic Diplomacy ◽  
Foreign Countries ◽  
The World ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Impact

The article analyzes the impact of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic crisis on the foreign policy and diplomacy of states, including economic diplomacy. ED is interpreted as a multi-sided multi-faceted activity, an integral part of foreign policy aimed at protecting the national interests and economic security of the country. Given the interdepartmental nature of the ED, the presence of numerous actors and agents, not only state, but also public and business structures, political and foreign economic coordination on the part of the Foreign Ministries is of great importance, and this role of foreign policy departments is increasing during the pandemic crisis. The activity of the ED of Russia in 2020 was generally successful, among the main results: active participation of diplomats in the anti-epidemic work of the Government of the Russian Federation, including export flights, provision of emergency assistance by compatriots abroad, assistance to foreign countries; measures to promote the Russian vaccine in the world, establish its production abroad, and thus win new world markets for medicines; settlement of the pricing crisis on the world oil market with the leading role of Russia and Saudi Arabia; adjustment of double taxation agreements with a number of foreign countries, taking into account the domestic economic needs of the country; the growing experience of BRICS, this interstate association, which did not know the crisis, including its fight against epidemiological diseases, during the period of Russia’s presidency in the BRICS; further steps to deepen integration within the EAEU; Russia’s success in the eastern direction of foreign policy, in the development of trade exchanges and epidemiological cooperation with the ASEAN and APEC states. The new world crisis has become a catalyst for the convergence of ED methods with scientific and public diplomacy, with other diplomatic cultures that can be combined under the general name of civil diplomacy. Such a separation is required to protect the legacy of professional diplomacy, the popularity and use of which methods is growing significantly. ED, as an integral part of official diplomacy, is presented as a mediator between classical and civil diplomacy. It provides civil society with an example of the more rigorous, pragmatic, resultsoriented work that the current pandemic crisis requires.

The origins of Canada’s feminist foreign policy

2019 ◽  
Vol 74 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Chapnick
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Foreign Minister ◽  
International Community ◽  
Minor Role ◽  
The Past ◽  
Canadian Foreign Policy ◽  
The Government ◽  
A Minor

In January 2019, a leading Canadian foreign policy blog, OpenCanada.org, declared that “[u]nder the government of Justin Trudeau, Canada has embraced a feminist foreign policy—gradually at first, and with fervor over the past year.” Although critics have debated the policy’s effectiveness, the embrace, if not also the fervor, was indisputable. By 2019, the Trudeau government’s second foreign minister, Chrystia Freeland, was proclaiming Canada’s feminist approach to international relations openly and regularly. The international community had also noticed. This article investigates the origins of the new Canadian foreign policy “brand.” It finds that, contrary to popular thinking, the prime minister himself played at most a minor role in the initiation of what became a full-fledged transformation of Canada’s global image.

scholarly journals Reconsidering the Grenada revolution

1995 ◽  
Vol 69 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 121-126
Author(s):  
Jay R. Mandle
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Second Generation ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Political Regime ◽  
Extensive Literature ◽  
Historical Experience ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
The Government

[First paragraph]Caribbean Revolutions and Revolutionary Theory: An Assessment of Cuba, Nicaragua and Grenada. BRIAN MEEKS. London: Macmillan Caribbean, 1993. ix + 210 pp. (Paper n.p.)The Grenada Invasion: Politics, Law, and Foreign Policy Decisionmaking. ROBERT J. BECK. Boulder: Westview, 1993. xiv + 263 pp. (Cloth US$ 49.95)The Gorrión Tree: Cuba and the Grenada Revolution. JOHN WALTON COTMAN. New York: Peter Lang, 1993. xvi + 272 pp. (Cloth US$ 48.95)These three books might be thought of as a second generation of studies concerned with the rise, rule, and destruction of the People's Revolutionary Government (PRG) in Grenada. The circumstances surrounding the accession to power in 1979 of the government led by Maurice Bishop, the nature of its rule, and its violent demise in 1983 resulted in the appearance during the mid-1980s of an extensive literature on the Grenada Revolution. Some of these works were scholarly, others polemical. But what they all had in common was the desire to examine, either critically or otherwise, something which was unique in the historical experience of the English-speaking Caribbean. Never, before the rule of the New JEWEL Movement (NJM) in Grenada, had a Leninist party come to power; never had a violent coup initiated a new political regime; never had a Caribbean government so explicitly rejected U.S. hegemony in the area; and never, before October 1983, had a government experienced quite so dramatic a crisis as that in Grenada, one which resulted in the killing of the Prime Minister and numerous others of his supporters.

The Government and the Prime Minister

2020 ◽  
pp. 106-123
Author(s):  
Martin Ejnar Hansen
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Social Democrats ◽  
Coalition Governments ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Government

The formation of Danish governments and their governance continues to be of interest both on their own and comparatively. Minority coalition governments are the norm in Denmark, increasing the importance of support parties for the government to pass its policies. Danish politics can increasingly be seen as two blocs: the ‘red’ bloc led by the Social Democrats and the ‘blue’ bloc led by the Liberals (although it was the Conservatives in the 1980s). This division may have increased the tendency of the presidentialization of Danish politics, not least with the prime minister’s increasing engagement in the day-to-day running of the government, especially with regard to foreign policy. Similarly, the minister of finance is ever more important as well for the day-to-day running of other departments. Ministerial turnover through reshuffles happens during the tenure of most governments, but portfolio redesign mostly occurs when governments are formed. The distribution of portfolios is proportional, but there is much variation in which portfolios parties prefer, with some valuing importance over number of portfolios. Overall, the Danish government and prime minister is a well-researched area, although there is still significant scope for research innovation.

Prospects for India in 2016

2015 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Bharatiya Janata Party ◽  
The Government

Subject Prospects for India in 2016. Significance Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has accelerated its agenda of piecemeal and sequential reform following his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s defeat in the Bihar elections last month. As difficult state elections approach in the first half of 2016, the government is banking on these reforms and headline growth to secure voter and investor support. In foreign policy, the government is likely to focus on regions of strategic importance, especially Russia and the Middle East.

Watershed Thai election is unlikely

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Public Investment ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Popular Appeal ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Military

Significance The next election will be the first since the military, led by then general, now Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, deposed Yingluck Shinawatra’s administration in May 2014. Impacts The prime minister’s Washington visit later this month will be portrayed as a pre-election display of foreign policy strength. The government will increase public investment for the remainder of this year, at least. This, it hopes, will maintain economic momentum, and strengthen the junta’s popular appeal. The post-election possibility of fresh political interventions by the military will concern investors.

scholarly journals Une ouverture sur le monde: la nouvelle politique étrangère canadienne du gouvernement Chrétien

2005 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 257-279 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Kirton
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Important Change ◽  
Pierre Trudeau ◽  
Strategic Process ◽  
Canadian Foreign Policy ◽  
Central Elements ◽  
Liberal Government ◽  
The Government ◽  
Substantial Change

When the Liberal government of Jean Chrétien was elected with its strong majority mandate in October 1993, there were few prospects of any substantial change in the long established liberal-internationalist foundations of Canadian foreign policy. As the government moves into the second half of its mandate, however, it is clear that important change has taken place. Both Pearsonian internationalism and Trudeauvian nationalism have been swept away as the central elements in Canadian foreign policy, in favour of an assertive globalism. Although many of these changes were introduced by the Mulroney government and flourished in its later years, under Chrétien the transformation has acquired new strength and speed. Yet because it is largely a reactive rather than strategic process, devoid of the vision which Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau brought into office, there mil continue to be periodic]'allures, difficult adjustments and opportunities missed.

A Comparative Study on the Attitudes of Foreign Correspondents in Korea: Focusing on Their Views on North Korea

2009 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 85-110
Author(s):  
Byung Jong Lee
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
North Korea ◽  
Editorial Policy ◽  
Government Policies ◽  
Controversial Issues ◽  
Foreign Correspondents ◽  
The North ◽  
Foreign Countries ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Impact

Because newspaper readers or television viewers cannot directly experience or witness events that are happening in foreign countries, they have to rely heavily on foreign correspondents for their perspectives on the world. But the views of foreign correspondents can never be fully objective. Their views are often shaped by the government policies of the countries their companies belong to. Also, their attitudes are affected by the editorial policies of the companies they work for. Particularly for such controversial issues as North Korea, foreign correspondents' viewpoints are highly influenced by their government and company policies. The question is how foreign correspondents react when their government foreign policy is different from their company editorial policy. To examine the impact of government and company policies on the attitudes of foreign correspondents, this paper interviewed eight foreign correspondents covering North Korea. The results show government foreign policy and company editorial policy strongly influence the foreign correspondents' attitudes toward the North.

The Small State Alone: Jamaican Foreign Policy, 1977-1980

1983 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vaughan A. Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Labour Party ◽  
The United States ◽  
Main Element ◽  
Small State ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
Foreign Policies ◽  
Election Manifesto ◽  
The Government

This study is a sequel to one done by this writer on the foreign policy of Jamaica from 1972 to 1977 (Lewis, 1981) and covers the remaining period during which the People's National Party (PNP), led by Prime Minister Michael Manley, presided over the government of the country.In elections held on October 30, 1980, the PNP government was decisively defeated by the opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP). The latter had, in the previous elections of December 15, 1976, retained only 13 seats in Jamaica's parliament. When the Jamaica Labour Party administration took office, as the party had promised in its election manifesto, it reversed the central planks of the domestic and foreign policies of the PNP administration and reestablished a close relationship with the United States as the main element of its domestic and foreign policies.

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