Review of Alexis Rappas' Cyprus in the 1930s: British Colonial Rule and the Roots of the Cyprus Conflict

Review of Alexis Rappas, Cyprus in the 1930s: British colonial rule and the roots of the Cyprus conflict, London: IB Tauris, 2014. 320 pp

The Construction of Secret Intelligence as a Masculine Profession

The vast majority of intelligence history focuses on operations and executive decisionmaking rather than attending to, among other topics, analytical work or day-to-day organizational activities in the full (hierarchical) breadth of agencies. Especially in the studies on the Cold War period, one of the major implications of this research focus is that women, in so far as they are not part of top leadership or critical to operations, are excluded from analysis. This article argues that, during the Cold War period, security and intelligence services were constructed as a masculine profession. The article advances three professional standards that were constructed as masculine: a sense of responsibility, female support, and full-time availability. Empirically, this research focuses on the Dutch Security Service (in-depth interviews and archival research)

Between a Rock and a Hard Place: The Precarious State of a Double Agent during the Cold War

While scholarly literature has paid attention to human intelligence professionalism from the perspective of the agent handler, we know relatively little about the precarious positions in which (double) agents often find themselves and what their ensuing needs from their handlers consist of. This article suggests that (double) agents desire a reciprocal, affect-based relationship with their handlers, involving trust and gratitude, more than just a negotiated relationship based on (financial) agreements. This article explains the importance of such a relationship. The main source of this research consists of original, in-depth oral history interviews with former double agent “M.” He operated from the 1960s through the 1990s for the Dutch Security Service and the Central Intelligence Agency against the East German Ministerium für Staatssicherheit. The article analyzes the varying degrees of appreciation that these services showed for his work, and it investigates their consequences on the psychological well-being of the double agent

Review of Paul Genoni and Tanya Dalziell, Half the Perfect World: Writers, Dreamers and Drifters on Hydra, 1955–1964

Review of Paul Genoni and Tanya Dalziell, Half the Perfect World: Writers, Dreamers and Drifters on Hydra, 1955–1964. Clayton: Monash University Publishing, 2019. 432 pp. To view the full text, click on the button "HTML"

Disarmament, neutrality and colonialism: Conflicting priorities in the Netherlands, 1921-1931

Defence date: 24 November 2008Examining Board: Prof. Heinz-Gerhard Haupt (European University Institute) - supervisor Prof. Georges Dertilis (École des hautes études en sciences sociales) Prof. Kiran Patel (European University Institute) Prof. Henk te Velde (Universiteit Leiden)PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digital archive of EUI PhD thesesThe decade after World War I saw the daring creation of the League of Nations: West European security had to be preserved through cooperation in transnational networks instead of through traditional multilateral expedients, and a new generation of diplomats had to enhance open diplomacy, push away the international, aristocratic elite, and democratize politics. Peace movements appeared on the international stage, and blew a fierce ideological wind over Europe. This hopeful change experienced its halcyon days around 1925-1928, when Europe as well as the Pacific encountered a true détente. This thesis deals with these changes in international security matters, incited by World War I and the subsequent creation of the League of Nations, and their consequences for Dutch foreign policy

Restrained democracy and its radical alternatives after 1989: The threefold crisis of democracy in the 'Former West'

This part introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters. The part argues that the fall of communism did not mean the end of radical left-wing politics. It analyzes in more detail the notion shared by the editors and the contributors to this section that democracy is actually in crisis. The part examines the victory of democracy is about to be undone. By all means, the fall of the Berlin Wall was a triumph of democracy. After 1989, it was repeatedly confirmed that liberal democracy was ‘the only game in town.’ The wave of democratization in Eastern Europe not only caught up with the development of democracy in the West, but actually contributed to the innovation of democracy beyond the confirmation of the uncontested dominance of liberal democracy. In the wake of the crisis in parliamentary and party democracy, new forms of political engagement have emerged

Intelligence Accountability in a Globalizing World: Towards an Instrument of Measuring Effectiveness

This chapter discusses the ‘accountability gap’ with regard to international intelligence cooperation. As a result of globalisation, and especially after 9/11, this cooperation has become vital for national security. But as mechanisms of oversight and accountability are national only, they have had trouble keeping track of these developments. The chapter discusses the reasons why intelligence accountability is problematic, and proposes an innovative analytical instrument for closing this gap