Popular consent and foreign policy choices : war against the Philippines and covert action in Chile

It is usually assumed that US policymakers need to generate popular consent in order to undertake regime change against another state. This article explores the ways in which contextual factors such as the joint democracy effect, popular values and public moods influenced efforts by elites in the United States to generate popular consent for regime change in the Philippines and Chile. Against the backdrop of the Vietnam War, the United States undertook covert action in Chile due to public recognition of the target state\u27s democratic credentials and a public mood opposed to further military ventures. In contrast, the absence of a strong joint democracy effect, a national mood infused with romantic nationalism qua militarism and social Darwinism facilitated efforts by US elites to generate consent for the invasion and occupation of the Philippines. Subsequently, this article contributes to understandings of the domestic-level factors that influence foreign policy decisions.<br /

Competing notions of regionalism in South Korean politics

In the past decade, ASEAN has been the primary driver of East Asian regionalism, and Korea has been an active supporter of ASEAN plus Three. Korea has explored the idea of an East Asian Community, and has been relatively open to notions of Asia&ndash;Pacific regionalism. The ROK has involved itself comparatively heavily in regional projects as both an initiator and a participant, but its notion of &lsquo;region&rsquo; has oscillated between more and less inclusive forms of regionalism. This article examines how competing conceptions of region have influenced Korea\u27s pursuit of regional initiatives. By revisiting historical understandings of Korea\u27s regional identity, we explore the normative bases and material interests which motivate Korean regional initiatives, and assess the impact of its proposals

Democratic Peace and Covert War: A Case Study of the U.S. Covert War in Chile

A body of scholarly work organized around Democratic Peace demonstrates that democracies rarely if ever wage war against other democracies, although occasionally they may do so against non-democracies. The United States (U.S.), however, has engaged in covert wars against other democratically-elected governments. Do the so-called Democratic Peace findings carry over to the somewhat murkier realm of covert war? By analyzing the U.S. covert war against Chile in the early 1970s, this paper looks for implications of covert wars waged between democracies for Democratic Peace scholarship. Arguably, there are two strands of causal logic to Democratic Peace. One attributes the absence of war among democracies to democratic institutional constraints: the restraining effects of public opinions or those of the checks and balances embedded in a democratic states domestic political institutions (institutional/structural explanation). Other theories posit that democratic norms and culture peaceful conflict resolution norms and culture shared by elites account for the absence of war between democratic states (normative/cultural explanations). If the nonviolent norms of elites in democracies were sufficient, the U.S. should not have resorted to covert war as well as overt war to resolve conflict with democratic Chile. The paper demonstrates that the findings on the U.S. covert war against Chile undermine the cultural/normative explanation of Democratic Peace

Turco-Iranian Alignment: Balancing or Bandwagoning with the US?

Turkey and Iran has had a long history of rivalry and cooperation. However, the advent of the Arab Spring and the Syrian conflict escorted unprecedented tensions between these two non-Arab states. Syria epitomizes the geopolitical tensions between Turkey and Iran amongst a host of regional issues, in which they are at loggerheads over regional influence at the expense of each other. At pernicious odds over Syria, Turco-Iranian relations seemed inexorably precarious going forth. That is until Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogans January 29th, 2014 visit to Iran signaled a thawing and growing alignment toward Iran. The alignment behavior of Turkey and Iran presents something of a puzzle. This paper investigates the nature of the current Turco-Iranian alignment by adopting structural realist theory of alliance. The choice of grand strategy that the U.S. adopted and its actions in the Middle East resulted in Turkeyand Iran bandwagoning with the U.S. instead of balancing against it, which in turn made Turkey and Iran cooperate. Even though Turkey is a NATO ally of the U.S., both Turkey and Iran had limited options due to the actions of the U.S

Impact of International System on Democratic Transitions: A Comparative Study between Democratization in Post-Cold War Serbia and Post-Arab Spring Libya

This research investigates the impact of international system on the democratic transitions of Post- Cold War Serbia and Post-Arab Spring Libya. Adopting Steven Levitsky and Lucan Ways Linkage and Leverage model as an analytical point of departure, exogenous structural factors such as ties with the West and susceptibility to Western democratizing influence are assessed and compared in the two cases. The research suggests that nascent democracies such as Serbias are far more likely to succeed in a unipolar system where the West, as the global hegemonic force, opts to genuinely engage in active and persistent democracy promotion so long as it serves the Wests own interests. By contrast, more recent democratic transitions in cases such as Libyas, which transpired in an increasingly multipolar system with waning Western influence and the rising clout of authoritarian powers, must depend far more heavily on favorable domestic factors as well as local political dynamics in order to successfully democratize. Additionally, the study builds upon Levitsky and Ways framework by exploring the causality of linkage and leverage effects, which is brought about by change in polarity that is created in part by a shift in the US and Western foreign policy towards offshore balancing

Regionalism and Rice Trade in Southeast and Northeast Asia: Making Liberalization Work

In Southeast and Northeast Asia rice is not just a staple food but a fundamental part of livelihood and also a matter of national security. As such opening the rice market has been a continuously thorny issue for trade negotiations in this region. Although the region has trended toward free trade agreements and economic integration in recent decades, the analysis illustrates that most countries have established a set of robust institutions to safeguard their rice markets. Given the apparent benefits that the rice liberalization could bring to the region, countries should exert concerted efforts to break impasse in rice trade negotiations. This research suggests that efforts to build regional community and rice trade liberalization move in tandem. In order to materialize the benefits of an integrated and liberalized rice market, a regional governance framework that would instill confidence in regions rice market needs to be established

Protective effect of the DNA vaccine encoding the major house dust mite allergens on allergic inflammation in the murine model of house dust mite allergy

BACKGROUND: Vaccination with naked DNA encoding antigen induces cellular and humoral immunity characterized by the activation of specific Th1 cells. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effects of vaccination with mixed naked DNA plasmids encoding Der p 1, Der p 2, Der p 3, Der f 1, Der f 2, and Der f 3, the major house dust mite allergens on the allergic inflammation to the whole house dust mites (HDM) crude extract. METHODS: Three hundred micrograms of these gene mixtures were injected into muscle of BALB/c mice. Control mice were injected with the pcDNA 3.1 blank vector. After 3 weeks, the mice were actively sensitized and inhaled with the whole house dust mite extract intranasally. RESULTS: The vaccinated mice showed a significantly decreased synthesis of total and HDM-specific IgE compared with controls. Analysis of the cytokine profile of lymphocytes after challenge with HDM crude extract revealed that mRNA expression of interferon-γ was higher in the vaccinated mice than in the controls. Reduced infiltration of inflammatory cells and the prominent infiltration of CD8+ T cells were observed in histology of lung tissue from the vaccinated mice. CONCLUSION: Vaccination with DNA encoding the major house dust mite allergens provides a promising approach for treating allergic responses to whole house dust mite allergens

Anaphylaxis to husband's seminal plasma and treatment by local desensitization

Hypersensitivity to human seminal fluid is rare but can be life threatening. We report a case of IgE-mediated anaphylaxis to seminal plasma that was diagnosed by skin prick tests and successfully treated by local desensitization. A 32-year-old woman suffering from angioedema and hypotension after exposure to semen was treated with epinephrine upon admission. Skin prick tests and immunoblotting for IgE binding components showed that she was sensitized to her husband's seminal plasma. Local desensitization, which persisted for six months, was achieved by intravaginal administration of serial dilutions of her husband's seminal plasma

Comparison of Clopidogrel and Ticlopidine/Ginkgo Biloba in Patients With Clopidogrel Resistance and Carotid Stenting

Background and Purpose: Patients undergoing carotid artery stenting (CAS) who show low responsiveness to clopidogrel may have a higher risk of peri-procedural embolic events. This study aimed to compare the effectiveness and safety of clopidogrel and ticlopidine plus Ginkgo biloba in clopidogrel-resistant patients undergoing CAS.Methods: In this multi-center, randomized, controlled trial, we used platelet reactivity test to select patients undergoing CAS who showed clopidogrel resistance, and compared treatments using clopidogrel and ticlopidine plus ginkgo. The primary outcome was the incidence of new ischemic lesion in the ipsilateral hemisphere of CAS. Detection of microembolic signal on transcranial Doppler was the secondary outcome. The clinical outcomes were also monitored.Results: This trial was discontinued after 42 patients were randomized after preplanned interim sample size re-estimation indicated an impractical sample size. The primary endpoint occurred in 12/22 patients (54.5%) in the clopidogrel group and 13/20 patients (65.0%) in the ticlopidine–ginkgo group (P = 0.610). No significant differences in the presence of microembolic signal (15.0 vs. 11.8%, P = 0.580), clinical outcomes (ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack, 0.0 vs. 5.5%; acute myocardial infarction 0.0 vs. 0.0%; all-cause death, 4.5 vs. 0.0%), or incidence of adverse events were found in the two groups. In terms of resistance to clopidogrel, treatment with ticlopidine–ginkgo significantly increased the P2Y12 Reaction Units (difference, 0.0 [−0.3–3.0] vs. 21.0 [6.0–35.0], P &lt; 0.001).Conclusions: In patients who showed clopidogrel resistance, ticlopidine–ginkgo treatment was safe and increased P2Y12 Reaction Units; however, compared to clopidogrel, it failed to improve surrogate and clinical endpoints in patients undergoing CAS. This multimodal biomarker-based clinical trial is feasible in neurointerventional research.Clinical Trial Registration:http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT02133989

Korean Foreign Policy & Korea-Kazakhstan Relations

Major Contents of the Lecture: -Strategic Environment of Korea, -Strategic Challenges of Korea, -Foreign Policy Response of Park Geun-Hye Government, -Geopolitics of Central Asia and Kazakhstan, -Policy Response of Kazakhstan, -Foreign Policy Cooperation of Korea and Kazakhstan