scholarly journals Sailing Together or Ships Passing in the Night? India and the U.S. in Southeast Asia

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Walter Ladwig ◽  
Anit Mukherjee

Political leaders and analysts have described U.S.-India relations as a globalpartnership with the potential to shape the future security architecture of theIndo-Pacific. As is widely acknowledged, the two countries’ extraregional interestsalign most closely in Southeast Asia. Accordingly, this article examines thepotential for and limitations of U.S. and Indian cooperation in the region to achieveshared aims. It argues that extensive diplomatic consultations between the twocountries have led to a significant convergence in their positions on regionalsecurity challenges. Active cooperation, however, remains constrained by anumber of factors, including India’s need to prioritize foreign policy challengescloser to home, concerns about provoking China, and a discomfort among countriesin Southeast Asia regarding the idea of a joint U.S.-India approach toward theregion. Due to these limitations, U.S.-India policies in Southeast Asia are expectedto operate in parallel instead of becoming a joint endeavor.

2020 ◽  
pp. 125-146
Author(s):  
Ayfer Erdogan ◽  
Lourdes Habash

The 2017 inauguration of Donald Trump as the U.S. president opened a new chapter in U.S. policy making toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Several developments that have taken place under the Trump Administration mark a clear rupture from the Oslo Accords in favor of support for Israeli plans to annex a large fraction of the West Bank and design a new settlement of the conflict according to its interests. While the U.S. policy toward the Palestinian issue is not radically different under Trump, he does break from former presidents in that he overtly indicates a sharp pro-Israel tilt and has been more transparent about the U.S. position in the conflict. In this context, in light of the developments that have taken place in the last three years, this article aims to investigate the main pillars of the U.S. foreign policy toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and to analyze how far the Trump Administration’s policies toward the conflict indicate a shift from those of his predecessors. It also offers some insights into the future of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by providing three prospective scenarios and discussing their repercussions.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 39-51
Author(s):  
Yulia S. Timofeeva ◽  

Sanctions constitute one of the most demanded instruments of the U.S. foreign policy agencies in affecting foreign adversaries. The use of sanctions is also a challenge for commercial companies, given the growing use of financial sanctions and enforcement measures by the U.S. government. Banks have been increasingly vulnerable to these risks; they are among the most frequent targets of restrictive and enforcement measures by the U.S. and tend to pay much more in comparison with other sectors in terms of financial penalties. This study is based on the analysis of 54 cases of US financial penalties against banks as well as individual cases of US sectoral and blocking sanctions. The article aims at understanding the reasons why this type of financial organizations is vulnerable to US sanctions, the key features of US sanctions against them, and possible application of US sanctions in this direction in the future. The results of the study demonstrate that the heightened sanctions risks that banks face are attributed to their functional connections with the governments under sanctions, the nature of banking business and some intraorganizational factors. Moreover, the inclination of financial companies pressured by sanctions to accept requirements of the U.S. indicates the effectiveness of application of sanctions against commercial ventures.


2004 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce Reynolds

Abstract During the late 1930s a political style, generally called 'fascist,' aimed at mobilising nations in the pursuit of expansionist aims had a profound impact around the world. Based on the apparent success of Germany, Italy, and Japan and the impending victory of Francisco Franco's forces in the Spanish Civil War, by early 1939 many observers saw fascism as the wave of the future. Among the Asian political leaders strongly influenced by the success of the fascist states was Phibun Songkhram, the military strongman of Thailand, the lone independent nation in Southeast Asia. Phibun and his adviser Wichit Wathakan promoted a jingoistic version of Thai nationalism, sought to militarise the nation, and adopted an aggressive policy towards neighbouring French Indochina in the wake of France's defeat in June 1940. In the short term these actions gave momentum to Phibun's efforts to consolidate his power and his plans to transform Thai society. Phibun's involvement with Japan and the arrival of Japanese troops in Thailand in December 1941, however, would lead to his temporary political eclipse in 1944 and modification of the more extreme elements of his program.


2020 ◽  
pp. 79-92
Author(s):  
Burhanettin Duran

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the domestic and foreign policy agendas of all countries have been turned upside down. The pandemic has brought new problems and competition areas to states and to the international system. While the pandemic politically calls to mind the post-World War II era, it can also be compared with the 2008 crisis due to its economic effects such as unemployment and the disruption of global supply chains. A debate immediately began for a new international system; however, it seems that the current international system will be affected, but will not experience a radical change. That is, a new international order is not expected, while disorder is most likely in the post-pandemic period. In an atmosphere of global instability where debates on the U.S.-led international system have been worn for a while, in the post-pandemic period states will invest in self-sufficiency and redefine their strategic areas, especially in health security. The decline of U.S. leadership, the challenging policies of China, the effects of Chinese policies on the U.S.-China relations and the EU’s deepening crisis are going to be the main discussion topics that will determine the future of the international system.


2015 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-38
Author(s):  
Michael J. Golec

In analysing Lester Beall's posters for the U.S. government between 1937-1941, Michael Golec demonstrates the twofold character of facts in art and design appearing even when they are applied to guarantee distinct messages. Commissioned by the governmental agencies to develop a series of posters to increase the electrification of rural farms, Beall introduces pictograms in his first series to represent electrification as “facts of the future.” Its simple forms facilitate the travelling of this facts without loss of their integrity. The same holds true for the use of photographic images for the second campaign of 1939. Following the revaluation of photography as a means for the documentation of social reality, as represented by the FSA photographers under the guidance of Roy Stryker, the medium served here as the authentication of facts. Golec holds, that Beall by reducing the complexity of the photographic images, to create a pictorial integrity of his posters, even despite of the use of a seemingly documentary medium, reinforces the ambivalent factual character of the pictures. So, paradoxically by heightening the communicative character of the design and hence stressing the idea of facts as integral realities outside of artworks, Beall's posters reveal the ambiguous character of pictorial facts creating their own specific qualities. Golec concludes, that facts in works of art and design have a twofold character resulting from their belonging to different spaces, which although meant to accomplish and address different facts, inevitably travel, overlap and bleed into each other. Thus oddly these facts refer or represent reality and simultaneously are a thing made (factum) that present and hold their own pictorial reality.


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