Democracy under Fire: An Interview with Ambassador Dean R. Hinton
Prospects for Negotiation: An Interview with Ambassador Sol M. Linowitz
The Nicaraguan Balance Sheet: A Pragmatic Appraisal
L. Ronald Scheman
U.S. Economic Aid Policy in Central America
Lawrence E. Harrison
Nuclear Weapons and International Law
Alfred P. Rubin
In an atmosphere of growing public concern over the morality and politics of nuclear weapons, leading to claims that international law should restrict their possession and use, a careful legal analysis of this issue is helpful. In this article, Professor Alfred P. Rubin points out the similarities and the differences between concepts of morality, law and policy. He addresses the question of whether the mere possession of nuclear weapons is forbidden under existing law, and finds that it is not. Disagreeing with the U.S. government’s official position that international law does not apply to the actual use of nuclear weapons, Rubin explains how policymakers should, and inevitably must, incorporate the rules of general international law into their decisions on the potential employment of nuclear weapons.
Japanese Offshore Banking: Toward a World Financial Center in Tokyo
Dario F. Robertson
As part of a movement toward deregulation and internationalization of the Japanese financial system, policymakers in Japan are preparing to establish an offshore banking unit (OB U), similar to those already operating in New York, London, Singapore and Hong Kong. In this article, Dario F. Robertson examines (1) the probable institutional form of the Tokyo OBU; (2) its macroeconomic implications; and (3) suggestions for appropriate changes in Japanese policies to be pursued after the establishment of the OBU. He argues that the creation of an offshore banking facility in Tokyo is a feasible and desirable intermediate policy that will move the Japanese financial system significantly, if not inexorably, closer to complete deregulation. Robertson concludes that institution of an OBU in Tokyo will establish Japan in its rightful place as the predominant Asian financial center.
Voice of America’s Radio Station to Cuba
Jeffrey Feltman
In the fall of 1983, Congress passed legislation establishing a new U.S.-funded radio station aimed at broadcasting the “truth” about the Castro regime to the Cuban people. Feltman argues that Congress may have made a costly mistake. A Congressional compromise resulted in the creation of a specialized service aimed solely at Cuba, based on the examples of Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty. Not only is this model inappropriate to the Cuban situation, Feltman asserts, but for the same broadcasting expense an expanded Voice of America could reach many more people, both in Cuba and in other Latin American nations far more likely to be influenced by the American viewpoint.
Alliance Energy Security: 1945-1983
Ethan B. Kapstein
In this article Ethan Kapstein traces the history of the Atlantic Alliance’s efforts to develop a collective, viable policy for energy security from 1945 to 1983. Although he generally believes that Alliance cohesiveness in this area appears to have suffered with the decline of U.S. hegemony and the oil shocks of the 1970s, there is still strong potential for maintenance of a coordinated policy. In his review of the postwar era Kapstein provides an interesting portrayal of the various methods by which the United States and Western Europe have cooperated to deal with the major supply crises of those years. He characterizes the present rules and norms governing alliance energy policy as an insurance regime, rather than a control regime, and concludes that the past achievements of alliance energy policy encourage hope for the future.
The Prophet As Statesman: Kissinger, SALT and the Soviet Union
D. Brent Hardt
Throughout his career as an academic and a statesman, Henry Kissinger has been an articulate advocate of a conceptually-based approach to foreign policy. In this article, D. Brent Hardt explores the relationship between ideas and action in U.S. foreign policy in the Nixon White House. The author focuses on the areas of central concern both to Kissinger the academic and statesman – negotiations, arms control and the Soviet threat. In evaluating Kissinger’s efforts in these areas, he concludes that theoretical approaches to foreign policy can be effective only if their limits are explicitly recognized.
Ballistic Missile Defense: Capabilities and Constraints
Alwyn Young
Numerous proposals for Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) are receiving serious policy consideration, both in and out of government. In this article Alwyn Young examines such proposals and the advantages and disadvantages of different BMD systems in terms of the possible missions they are meant to perform. While not trying to offer judgments on the overall desirability of BMD from a strategic or arms control perspective, Young does review the current status of BMD technology and he focuses on the critical conditions that will determine BMD mission-performance capabilities.
Law and Development Theory: A Case Study of the Chilean Land Reform Efforts
Jennifer M. Toolin
In this article Jennifer Toolin takes a thought-provoking look at law and development by analyzing the breakdown of land reform efforts in Chile as a failure of the Chilean legal system to function as an effective instrument of change. She argues that in Chile, despite the ascendancy of elected governments dedicated to land reform, legal institutions traditionally opposed to change – such as the judiciary – were able to thwart actual legislated reform. As a result, she asserts, the legal institutions themselves must undergo a transformation if popular demands for change are to be accommodated and stable development is to occur. Theorists of law and development must go beyond the instrumental and the culture-specific view of the role of law in change and recognize the need for fundamental changes in the legal thinking in contemporary Latin American society to better reflect the real customary law dictated by human needs and better facilitate the inevitable process of change.
An Issue for the People: Civil Defense in the Nuclear Age
Jonathan Mostow
Does the United States need a civil defense system? In the following article, Jonathan Mostow emphatically argues against the Reagan Administration’s attempts to revive a national civil defense program and the false security which it engenders. The “city evacuation” concept is a mere update of the bomb shelter mentality of the 1950s, and no more effective now than it was then. Implementation of this policy would risk economic collapse, tempt the Soviets in the dangerous game of nuclear brinkmanship and undermine rather than contribute to national security. Speculating on potential scenarios and responses, Mostow unmasks the fatal logic of civil defense and reaffirms the validity of mutually assured destruction doctrine as a basis for preventing nuclear war.
The Third World: Premises of U.S. Policy
edited by W. Scott Thompson
The Threat: Inside the Soviet Military Machine
by Andrew Cockburn
The Status of Gibraltar
by Howard S. Levie