Suchergebnisse

While the field of foreign policy has generated an impressive amount of research, there is still much to be explored and explained of the way in which regime types (totalitarian and democratic) influence the dynamics of state behavior at the international level. The present study examines in a comparative way the characteristics that influence the process of foreign policy making in totalitarian and democratic states. This can help achieve a better understanding of their foreign policy decisions and also help reveal valuable patterns in their decision making process. For the purpose of the present study, the United States of America and the People`s Republic of China were chosen as representative cases of the above mentioned highly contrasting regimes. The foreign policy and diplomatic relationship of the two countries is analyzed on the period between the 1940s and the 1970s using comparative foreign policy analysis, their differences providing a fertile ground for comparison.

The unpublished archive collection of despatches by Agostino Pinelli, Genoese resident minister at the papal court provides invaluable first-hand material for the study of the 1656-57 plague in Rome. The Genoese diplomat covered several aspects attaching to the crisis, including the widening of social inequality, the rise in crime, scientific disputes among physicians, good practices in plague control, and the personal role of pope Alexander VII Chigi. At the peak of the epidemic, Pinelli duly monitored the mortality and morbidity data, relating to his government the figures of the deceased, infected, and suspect cases from the three plague hospitals in Rome. From the cultural angle, Pinelli stands for a sceptical patriciate, unlikely to explain the infection away as negative astral influence or a conspiracy of plague spreaders, and conversely most attentive to its effects on trade and to policies of prevention.

The essay discusses theoretical and practical aspects of politics, war and diplomacy in late fifteenth-century Italy, using Machiavelli's works as an example of theory, Venetian foreign policy as an example of practice. The attempt to present Machiavelli as a founding father of the Realist school of International Relations is considered and dismissed. Major features of Machiavelli's thought are treated: his vision of the intimate connections between foreign affairs, war and political life; his distinguishing power from force; and his grasp of the importance of reputation. The value of these as a guide to the politics of Italy between 1454 and 1494 is assessed, with particular reference to Venice, and to the merits and defects of Machiavelli's famous comparison between ancient Rome and Venice. The career of Roberto di Sanseverino is examined to show that one premise upon which that comparison was based, that condottieri were unreliable, was sometimes well founded.

Mediation of violent political conflicts in Africa: "A niche diplomacy" for Burkina FasoOne of the main obstacles to the development of African countries is the recurring presence of political conflicts of different intensity. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the way to resolve conflicts has changed by favouring an approach closer to the mediation model. Specifically, in this article we will examine the idea of "niche diplomacy" linked in particular to the country's international experience in neighbouring conflict theatres, in order to explain the strategic reasons of such mediation activity by outlining its potential and contradictions.

This volume addresses the major themes that marked the complex relations between the Medici Grand Dukes and the Levant. For over two centuries (1532-1737), the Medici, as Dukes of Florence and Grand Dukes of Tuscany, ruled over a western Mediterranean state, which had a mainly European geopolitical sphere of influence. However, the transformation of the House of Medici, from republican "primi interpares" of Quattrocento Florence to dynastic rulers, occurred at the same moment when the Ottoman Empire rose to the rank of early modern superpower, polarizing Mediterranean politics. The Italian Peninsula became the arena where the cultural forces of the eastern and western Mediterranean converged. As a result, from the early days of their rule, the Medici Grand Dukes became enmeshed in a power dynamic which encompassed war, religion, diplomacy, and economic interests. This collection of essays addresses these very themes and sheds new light on key aspects of the complex relationships between the Medici Grand Dukes and the Levant

After the beginning of the experience of the center-left government in the early sixties, Italy proposes an independent and original foreign policy, consistent with its position in the Mediterranean, across the border between East and West. The preferred partner within the Warsaw Pact is Romania, considered the vanguard of a political process of internal liberalization and of political emancipation of Eastern Europe from Soviet-communism. So far, the limited historiography on the Italo-Romanian relationships has taken into account almost exclusively the economic and trade agreements. This paper, on the basis of largely unpublished documentation at the Senato della Repubblica and at the Central State's Archive in Italy, analyzes instead the main international issues of the meetings between Bucharest and Rome, namely the Détente, the Sino-Soviet conflict, the peace building in the South-East Asia, the Middle-East, the CSCE. The unpublished diary of statesman Amintore Fanfani, Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1965 to 1968, reveals how the Italian ruling class has a substantial confidence in Ion Gheorghe Maurer and Corneliu Mănescu and high expectations around an alleged non-alignment of Romania. On the other hand, the correspondence from the Italian Embassy in Bucharest for Aldo Moro (Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1969 to 1972 and from 1973 to 1974), describes the violent and authoritarian temper of the regime established by Ceauşescu in his country. In any case the Italian strategy seems then to reappraise the special partnership with Romania, in favor of a multilateral approach to the problem of Détente within the continental conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe.

The author examines the creation and functioning of the Romanian propaganda office at the General Commission of Romania for the New York World's Fair (1939-1940). He analyses two previously unpublished documents from the Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, relevant to the topic under scrutiny. The activity of the office was coordinated by the diplomat Andrei Popovici. His subordinates were the press attach. from the Romanian Legation in the USA, Horia Babeş, Paul Sterian, economic councillor, and Petre Neagoe, writer. The monthly budget was 750 $ (the rate of those years) for the daily expenses and salaries. The propaganda office started its activity in January 1939. It used to publish a bulletin, to help issuing stamps, to prepare propaganda posters, to publish and translate brochures. It also used to send presentations of Romania to journals, such as Cleveland News , Chicago Tribune, Detroit Free Press, New York World Telegram etc., and articles on Romania to newspapers (Annalist, Journal of Commerce etc.), or to occasional publications (Going to the Fair, a Preview, International Guide etc.). The images the propaganda office used to handle were reproducing usual elements of the domestic and foreign official discourse of Charles II: Romania was a totally new country, based on a new social contract ("the royal revolution"), that was looking persistently towards "tomorrow's world" (the slogan of the American fair); this future was build with Romanian resources and strengths, mobilized by "the king of young people and of the peasants".

A review essay on a book by the Minister Foreign Affairs, Commission for the Publication of Diplomatic Documents, I Documenti Diplomatici Italiani, Ottavo Serie 1935-1939 ([Italian Diplomatic Documents, Series VIII 1935-1939. Vols. IX and X] Rome: Instit Poligrafico & Zecca Stato, 2003).