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"East-West relations"
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Hybrid interference as a wedge strategy
‘Hybridity’ is in vogue these days. Yet, the utility of the hybrid label is often contested in security studies. A problem relates to how the concept of hybrid warfare has been extended to cases that have little in common with the cases from which the concept was originally derived. This article suggests making a conceptual distinction between hybrid warfare and hybrid interference. The article is devoted to developing this latter, new strategic concept. In essence, hybrid interference is conceptualized as a ‘wedge strategy’, namely a policy of dividing a target country or coalition, thereby weakening its counterbalancing potential. By drawing particularly on recent practices by China and Russia, the article shows how hybrid interference uses a panoply of state-controlled, non-kinetic means, which are more or less concealed in order to provide the divider with plausible deniability and to control targeted actors without elevating their threat perceptions. Three main bundles of means are central to hybrid interference: 1) clandestine diplomacy; 2) geoeconomics; and 3) disinformation. The article shows how western democracies are vulnerable to hybrid interference. Hybrid interference makes use of the liberal values that characterize western democracy, exploiting them as opportunities to drive wedges through democratic societies and undermine governability. The article argues that this sort of external interference has been overlooked in the debate on democratic deconsolidation, that it is becoming more common, and discusses some counter-measures to defend against it.
Journal Article
Faith and power : religion and politics in the Middle East
\"Bernard Lewis is recognized around the globe as one of the leading authorities on Islam. Hailed as \"the world's foremost Islamic scholar\" (Wall Street Journal ), as \"a towering figure among experts on the culture and religion of the Muslim world\" (Baltimore Sun ), and as \"the doyen of Middle Eastern studies\" (New York Times ), Lewis is nothing less than a national treasure, a trusted voice that politicians, journalists, historians, and the general public have all turned to for insight into the Middle East. Now, Lewis has brought together writings on religion and government in the Middle East, so different than in the Western world. The collection includes previously unpublished writings, English originals of articles published before only in foreign languages, and an introduction to the book by Lewis\"--Provided by publisher.
Book
The 1972 Memorandum to the United Nations and its repercussions: Émigré politics and Soviet Estonian dissent during the 'era of stagnation'
The Estonian dissidents' Memorandum to the United Nations, drafted as a call for national self-determination in 1972, set new standards for the émigré community's campaigns. Although its political message was initially dismissed as utopian, the subsequently emerging cooperation between émigré and homeland activists via intricate courier networks significantly strengthened the authority of Estonian voices in the West. By the early 1980s, the political alliances across the Iron Curtain eventually bore fruit. The Memorandum's core demands reappeared in political debates on Baltic issues on both sides of the Atlantic, foreshadowing the massive Western support for the Baltic cause during the Singing Revolutions.
Journal Article
East-West relations in the civil aviation sector between 1945 and 1963
The present article addresses East-West relations in the civil aviation sector - a subject largely neglected and overlooked in current historiography of the Cold War. The article's main objective is to fill this lacuna by describing the major developments affecting East-West civil aviation diplomacy from the end of the Second World War up to the early 1960s, when the Soviet bloc airline companies launched their first inter-continental operations. This article seeks both to explore the rationale for Eastern bloc aviation inroads into Western Europe and the developing countries of Asia and Africa, and to explain why reactions to the 'Eastern air offensive' were different in Washington and other NATO capitals. From a methodological viewpoint, the article shifts from a predominantly Western-oriented narrative of existing studies to a more transnational approach that draws on evidence from both Western and Eastern archives.
Journal Article
Mutual Mirroring between East and West: An Imagological Analysis of phrase omitted
The novel [phrase omitted] (Mr. Ma and Son) by Lao She, the only one of his works set in a foreign country, offers Chinese readers a portrayal of 1920s Britain from various perspectives. However, these portrayals should not be seen as objective representations of Britain, but rather as Lao She's own interpretation and reflection of what he saw and thought, influenced by his creative motivations and attitudes. The primary objective of the novel is to use the exotic image of Britain as a benchmark or reference point to critically examine Chinese society and its national character. By employing an imagological lens, this article reevaluates Mr. Ma and Son, focusing on the images of British citizens, scenes, and social ethos depicted in the novel. It argues that the deliberate shaping of these images serves to highlight the stark disparities in development and modernization between China and Britain. Through this comparison, Lao She aims to reflect the state of Chinese society and national character. Furthermore, Lao She's portrayal of Britain as a utopia suggests that he views it as an idealized model for comparison with the challenges faced by Chinese society in its modernization process. In doing so, Lao She reveals a complex mix of resentment and envy toward the British society. Keywords: Britain, complex of resentment and envy, image, imagology, Mr. Ma and Son
Journal Article
The light of Asia : a history of Western fascination with the East
From the time of the ancient Greeks onwards the West's relationship with Asia consisted for the most part of outrageous tales of strange beasts and monsters, of silk and spices shipped over vast distances and an uneasy sense of unknowable empires fantastically far away. By the 20th century much of Asia might have come under Western rule after centuries of warfare, but its intellectual, artistic and spiritual influence was fighting back. 'The Light of Asia' is a wonderfully varied and entertaining history of the many ways in which Asia has shaped European and North American culture over centuries of tangled, dynamic encounters, and the central importance of this vexed, often confused relationship. This is a rich, involving story of misunderstandings and sincere connection, of inspiration and falsehood, of geniuses, adventurers and con-men.
Book
Pilgrimage to the West
Since the mid-nineteenth century, Chinese intellectuals turned to the West for truth. China's modern education system has since been built upon Western experience, with little space for China's vast indigenous intellectual traditions. Meanwhile, Chinese traditions remain omnipresent and ubiquitous in the society. Due to many fundamental differences, Chinese and Western traditions are not compatible with each other. Constant tensions between them have led to Chinese people's loss of spiritual homeland. Universities are both part of the reason for and a result of such a historical development. The shift of knowledge system from traditional learning to Western intellectual formation symbolizes the establishment of modern disciplines in Chinese universities. A better understanding of how traditional Chinese intellectual traditions were driven out of their homeland as Western knowledge became institutionalized is much needed in the literature. This article intends to fill the gap by exploring how the Chinese mind was transformed through the lens of institutionalization of social sciences. It focuses on internationalization and indigenization of China's social sciences with particular attention to the interactions between Chinese and Western intellectual traditions. (HRK / Abstract übernommen).
Journal Article