by H Kissinger · Cited by 1677 — emphasis on and the use of barzakh goes too far in Cooke’s work so that the notion nearly turns out to be an empty-signifier. Most observers of the Arab Gulf are
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183PERCEPTIONS, Spring 2014, Volume XIX, Number 1, pp. 183-198. On China By Henry Kissinger New York: ˜e Penguin Press, 2012, 586 pages, ISBN: 9781594202711.it is in good measure because Kissinger has been striving to ˚nd fistrategic conceptsfl that could be made to alleviate con˛ict, mutual grievance and fear. Prior to the publication of this book the de˚nitive resource on China was Jonathan Spence™s ˜e Search of Modern China (New York, Norton, 1990). It is still indispensable to a modern understanding of China. Kissinger™s book, according to Spence, tries to fimake sense of China™s diplomacy and foreign policies across two and a half millennia, and to bring China™s past full circle in order to illuminate the present– it is part reminiscence, part re˛ection, part history, and part intuitive explorationfl. 1Kissinger™s portrait of China goes well beyond the stereotype of the proud, ancient civilisation humiliated by the West and now rising again. Because it has been for millennia the central country of Asia and has the largest population and resource base, China™s situation is fundamentally di˝erent from that of the West™s numerous great powers. With the Every book on China is a potential bestseller these days. Literature on the topic is abundant, growing as we speak and not easy to follow. ˜emes on the political, economic and social development of China have been monopolising policy and academic debates. Henry Kissinger™s On China is as interesting as it can be, and contributes to this trend. Not only because he personally orchestrated the most dramatic diplomatic initiative of the Cold War in which the US succeeded in establishing a working strategic relationship with Maoist China, but also because of China™s meteoric rise to superpower status within a generation. Kissinger was not only the ˚rst o˙cial American emissary to Communist China, he can truly claim to be the chief architect of one of the pillars of the post- war international system. He advised and directed the White House™s China policy for four decades, and on almost 50 visits to China consulted with every one of its leaders. To the degree that Washington and Beijing now understand each other, Book Reviews
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184good; direct con˛ict: bad); an ancient board game called wei qi (or go, which stresses fithe protracted campaignfl); and China™s ficentury of humiliationfl in the 1800s. Early China was plagued by internecine con˛ict that threatened the empire™s sustainability. Confucius (551-479 BC), an itinerant philosopher largely ignored in his lifetime, provided the figluefl that has both kept the empire together since, while uniting its people, and providing much of Asia™s fi‚state religionfl. Expertise in Confucian thought became the key to advancement after the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220) adopted Confucius™ thinking. In doing so, the state assumed a moral obligation to provide virtue and harmony, and its people took on an obligation to obey the state as well as honour their ancestors and emphasise learning.Between 1405-1433, China™s Admiral Zheng sent out a ˛eet of large, technically advanced ships to Africa, the Middle East, India and other closer locales. ˜e purpose of the voyages is unclear to historians, and the next Emperor ordered the ˛eet destroyed, along with Zheng™s records of those voyages. ˜e withdrawal from contact with Western nations limited access to new ideas and led to China being physically and economically dominated by others building of the Great Wall, China became the world™s largest gated community, protecting itself from neighbours that it could not eliminate. Traditional China™s greatest accomplishment was not its vastness but rather its constant re-emergence from periods of disunity and conquest. Kissinger points out that China™s diplomacy mirrors the game of wei qi , also known as go, in which players try to encircle one another, rather than the Western strategic game of chess in which the goal is to eliminate the adversary. ˜ere are 18 chapters plus an epilogue. ˜e ˚rst three chapters are devoted to China™s history. ˜e book deftly traces the rhythms and patterns in Chinese history (its cycles of turning inward in isolationist defensiveness and outward to the broader world) and underlines the fact that China™s exceptionalism is cultural: China does not proselytise or claim that its institutions fiare relevant outside China,fl yet it tends to grade fiall other states as various levels of tributaries based on their approximation to Chinese cultural and political formsfl. According to Kissinger there are four key elements to understanding the Chinese mind: Confucianism (fia single, universal, generally applicable truth as the standard of individual conduct and social cohesionfl); Sun Tzu (outsmarting:
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185˚rst encounters with Nixon, himself and the Chinese leadership. It is a fascinating portrayal of a head-to-head meeting where Kissinger recounts in minute- by-minute detail the secret mission in 1971 that prepared the way for President Nixon™s historic visit and the personal interactions with Premier Zhou Enlai and Mao. What is interesting is Kissinger™s confession that the Nixon- Kissinger visits 1971-72 turned out to have been the easy part. fi˜at China and the United States would ˚nd a way to come together was inevitable given the necessities of the timefl, he writes. fiIt would have happened sooner or later whatever the leadership in either countryfl. Both nations were exhausted from war (Vietnam, clashes on the Soviet border) and domestic strife (anti- war protests in Nixon™s case, the Cultural Revolution in Mao™s). Kissinger was and still is overwhelmed by Mao™s stature. He describes him as fithe philosopher kingfl. All Mao™s decisions are based on meticulous planning; informed by the millennia of China™s culture; and with long term considerations. fiMao enunciated the doctrine of ‚continuous revolution™, but when the Chinese national interest required it, he could be patient and take the long viewfl, he writes. fi˜e manipulation of ‚contradictions™ was his proclaimed strategy, yet it was in the service of an ultimate goal from the mid-1800s until the 1990s-its fiCentury of Humiliation.fl (China™s share of the world™s GDP was about 25% in 1500, grew to approximately 30% in 1820, and fell to about 4% in 1950).Chapter four is about Mao™s Continuous Revolution. ˜is chapter is superb and superbly written. If you study American China relations, the question that is always asked is whether or not America lost China in 1949. Kissinger correctly reminds Americans that China might never have been theirs to lose, and so they have been asking the wrong question all along. Mao always believed that the Confucian order of harmony had resulted in a weak China. He therefore believed that progress could only come from brutal confrontations both within and with outside adversaries for China to advance. After a chapter on the Korean War, chapter six is an excellent analysis of China™s strategy of confronting the Soviet Union and creating the Sino- Soviet split, and the United States with the Taiwan Strait Crisis. ˜e chapter is riveting, and immensely contributes to our understanding of history. Following a chapter on the great domestic turmoil in the 1960s and the Cultural Revolution, the author takes us through the Road to Reconciliation in chapter eight, and, in chapter nine, the
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186as practitioners of power politics that enabled China, fidespite its insistent Communist propaganda, to conduct itself as essentially a geopolitical ‚free agent™ of the cold war,fl making a tactical partnership with the United States in order to contain the Soviet Union. In chapters 11 and 12 we see the end of the Mao Era. Zhou Enlai falls and Deng™s ˚rst return to power begins. When at the end of the book Kissinger discusses present trends and challenges he deals with the essential question of the future of Sino-American relations: With no common enemy to bind them, what will keep the peace and cooperation between them? China has become an industrial powerhouse with global ambitions and continues to grow. ˜e radical shift in the balance of power turned the two nations into mutually dependent economic giants, but it left them without an overarching strategic design that could sustain a working partnership. While both governments o˙cially emphasise cooperation, Kissinger is not yet ready to rule out a return to strategic competition and con˛ict. Kissinger addresses this question by looking to the fiCrowe Memorandumfl of 1907.2 Crowe argued that it was in Germany™s interest to fibuild as powerful a navy as she can a˝ordfl and that this drawn from the Confucian concept of da tong, or the Great Harmonyfl. Also, Kissinger™s portraying of Mao™s successors is indicative of an appreciative intimacy. He remembers Zhou Enlai as conducting ficonversations with the e˝ortless grace and superior intelligence of the Confucian sagefl. He adds that the elegant Zhou-who would be ficriticized for having concentrated on softening some of Mao™s practices rather than resisting them-faced the classic quandary of the fiadviser to the princefl, who must balance fithe bene˚ts of the ability to alter events against the possibility of exclusion, should he bring his objections to any one policy to a headfl. Of Deng Xiaoping, Kissinger reminds us that he and his family su˝ered greatly during the Cultural Revolution – he was exiled to perform manual labour, and his son was fitormented by Red Guards and pushed o˝ the top of a building at Beijing Universityfl and denied admission to a hospital for his broken back. Upon his return to government, Deng worked to replace the Revolution™s emphasis on ideological purity with the values of fiorder, professionalism and e˙ciencyfl, and Kissinger credits him with fashioning the modernisations that would transform fiMao™s drab China of agricultural communesfl into a bustling economic giant. Overall, the author describes Chinese leaders
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187argues that if America™s drive to spread democratic values is made the main condition for a functioning strategic interaction between Washington and Beijing, fideadlock is inevitablefl. For Kissinger, fiforeign policy must de˚ne means as well as objectives, and if the means employed grow beyond the tolerance of the international framework or of a relationship considered essential for national security, a choice must be madefl. He is not explicit but we know what he advocates and it is unnerving. Kostas Ifantis, Professor, Kadir Has University Endnotes 1 Jonathan D. Spence, fiKissinger and Chinafl, New York Review of Books, 9 June 2011.2 On the Crowe Memorandum see, J.S. Dunn, ˜e Crowe Memorandum: Sir Eyre Crowe and Foreign O˚ce Perceptions of Germany: 1918-1925, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2013. would itself lead to fiobjectivefl con˛ict with the British Empire, no matter what German diplomats said or did. ˜ere is today a fiCrowe school of thoughtfl in the United States, Kissinger observes, which sees China™s rise fias incompatible with America™s position in the Paci˚cfl and therefore best met with pre- emptively hostile policies. He perceives growing anxieties in both societies and fears they are exacerbated by Americans who claim that democracy in China is a prerequisite for a trusting relationship. He warns that a new resulting Cold War would arrest progress in both nations and cause them to fianalyse themselves into self-ful˚lling propheciesfl when in reality their main competition is more likely to be economic than military. Rather than preparing for a showdown with China, Kissinger suggests building a Paci˚c Community along the lines of the Atlantic Community to promote security through inclusivity and mutual respect. For Kissinger, firelations between China and the United States need not- and should not-become a zero-sum gamefl. Finally, what about human rights and China™s poor record? As a true student and practitioner of realpolitik he
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188Tribal Modern: Branding New Nations in the Arab Gulf By Miriam Cooke Berkeley and Los Angeles, California: University of California Press, 2014, 214 pages, ISBN: 9780520280106.Tribal Modern: Branding New Nations in the Arab Gulf is a comprehensive volume speci˚cally dedicated to understanding and evaluating the contemporary identity-building and nation-branding practices in the Arab Gulf countries. As the title of the book reveals, in this work, renowned Duke University Professor Miriam Cooke essentially tries to address the question of how peoples of the Arab Gulf negotiate the complexities of the modern world with their tribal values. While answering this question, Professor Cooke rules out binary assumptions, e.g. the fimodern vs. traditionalfl duality, and argues that the tribal and the modern must be thought of together. In her understanding the tribal is not the traditional and certainly not the primitive. Instead, the tribal- as it appears in the Arab Gulf today- is integral to the modern and constitutes a crucial element in the Arab Gulf™s modernity. Miriam Cooke reminds us about the return of the tribal where it signals racial privilege, social status and exclusive entitlement to a share in national pro˚ts. By examining the trends and social dynamics in the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait, Cooke traces the emergence of national brands that combine the spectacle of tribal and modern identities.To explain the convergence of the tribal and the modern Cooke heavily focuses on the Qur™anic notion of the barzakh which actually has two di˝erent meanings:1 ˜e ˚rst one designates the metaphysical space between life and the hereafter and the second one describes the physical space between sweet and salty waters. ˜e latter signi˚es an undiluted convergence. Although an original metaphor to explain the relation between the tribal and the modern, the emphasis on and the use of barzakh goes too far in Cooke™s work so that the notion nearly turns out to be an empty-signi˚er. Most observers of the Arab Gulf are well aware that the drastic transformation the region is undergoing reveals the tensions shaped by the modern vs. traditional dichotomy. Cooke snubs this binary opposition and claims to ˚nd a way out by employing the concept of barzakh ;
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190Endnotes 1 ˜e barzakh mentioned in the Holy Qur™an three times. In Surat Al- Mu™minˆn (23:100), Surat Al-Furqˇn (25:53) and Surat Ar-Rahman (55:19- 22).2 Hobsbawm de˚nes fiinvented traditionsfl as follows: fi ‚Invented tradition™ is taken to mean a set of practices, normally governed by overtly or tacitly accepted rules and of a ritual or symbolic nature, which seek to inculcate certain values and norms of behaviour by repetition, which automatically implies continuity with the past. In fact, where possible, they normally attempt to establish continuity with a suitable historic past. However, insofar as there is such reference to a historic past, the peculiarity of ‚invented™ traditions is that the continuity with it is largely ˚ctitious. In short, they are responses to novel situations which take the form of reference to old situations, or which establish their own past by quasi-obligatory repetition.fl See, Eric Hobsbawm & Terence Ranger (eds.), ˜e Invention of Tradition , Cambridge University Press, 1983, p. 1. the above-mentioned topics, she brings gender issues into the picture, too. An important shortcoming which Cooke™s book su˝ers is the lack of analytical and methodological subtlety. Having produced in˛uential pieces on gender and Middle East studies and being very much familiar with the Gulf region, throughout her book Cook displays an abundance of useful material on contemporary social dynamics of the Arab Gulf. However, overusing the concept of barzakh weakens the theoretical strength of the book. Overall, Professor Cooke™s book is a timely and interesting contribution to the ˚elds of nation-branding and Arab Gulf studies. However, more systematic work on nationalism and identity building in this region remains much needed. Let™s hope Cooke™s volume paves the way for further research. Erdem Tunçer, Ministry of Foreign A˛airs of the Republic of Turkey, Chief of Section, Deputy Directorate General for Northern Europe and the Baltic States, and Ph.D. candidate at Sciences-Po Lyon and the Middle East Technical University.
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191A ˜reat Against Europe? Security, Migration and Integration By J.P. Burgess and S. Gutwirth (eds.) Brussels: Brussels University Press, 2011, 224 pages, ISBN: 9054879297. A ˜reat Against Europe? Security, Migration and Integration provides a theoretical and empirical understanding of security, border control and the management of migration practices within Europe using up-to-date research. It discusses how the concepts of security, migration and integration relate to the European setting while expanding the understanding of security. ˜e subject of the book is highly relevant to current discussions and developments on migration that are shaping policy and politics within Europe and the European Union (EU). ˜reat perception and the understanding of security have fundamentally changed meaning all around the world after the terrorist attack of 9/11, followed by London and Madrid bombings. As the editors of this book point out, it is essential to provide a wide-ranging revision and broadening of the notion of security in order to understand the interconnectedness of security, migration and integration.˜e control and management of migration have become important topics for most of the states that are experiencing migration, either as a transit or destination country, gradually moving towards to the top of political agendas around the globe. Realising that limiting the international movement of people is di˙cult, if not impossible, the US and European states are becoming innovative in terms of developing policies, methods and institutions for border management, control and surveillance. In addition, a range of legal or juridical control mechanisms are used. ˜e perceived understanding of insecurity and threat as a result of migratory movements brings Europe to the dilemma of either promoting its moral values of protection fundamental rights or advancing security measures. Looking at various aspects of this dilemma, the contributors to this volume cover comprehensive range of topics including trends in European immigration policies, the strategies used by European states to reduce fiunwantedfl migration, de˚ning the legal and fidigitalfl borders of Europe, the understanding of citizenship within
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192border control. ˜is combination of theory and practice, as well as legal and technical studies, are di˙cult to ˚nd in a single volume. ˜us, its scope and depth is an important asset of this book. ˜rough its 11 chapters this book tries to look at both sides in that it focuses on migrants in terms of their perception of insecurity as well as on the receiver side of migration in the destination countries. In the European destination countries, the understanding of the threat perception is shaped by the movement of people that resonates though the development of policies to respond to society™s profound feeling of insecurity. ˜e policies and mechanisms at the EU and member state level are instruments to respond to these challenges. ˜e chapters on EU™s border agency FRONTEX, the EUROSUR and databases for digital surveillance show the EU™s need for better coordination and management of migration. ˜ey also demonstrate the struggle to keep a balanced approach in terms of respect of fundamental rights, an individual™s right to privacy and the legal protection under the rule of law. With its comprehensive coverage of concepts of migration, security and integration this volume, with its theoretical and empirical studies, delivers the editors™ goal. It de˚nitely undertakes the revision and broadening the notion of the context of Europe, the link between the international ˚ght against terrorism and individual rights, the development and ethnics of European border practices with the European Border Surve˘llance System (EUROSUR), the impact of the development-security-environment- nexus (DESNEX), the legal authority of immigration laws and policing the Schengen area. Taking migration and the movements of people as its main subject, this volume looks at the concept of security from a di˝erent perspective than its traditional understanding. It analyses security from three di˝erent points of view. It ˚rstly argues that insecurity can happen at the country of origin where economic, health, nutritional and military insecurity can motivate migrants to move. Secondly, in a country of transit or during their journey migrants can expose themselves to insecurity through people smugglers or tra˙ckers, or at risky border crossings. Finally, in the country of destination insecurity can result from irregularity, marginalisation, discrimination, exploitation or xenophobia. Looking at both at theoretical background and empirical ˚ndings, this well-structured and well-researched book also provides the reader with technical operational details as well as the judicial aspects of migration management and
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193with a general scope or specialised on these topics.Ba˜ak Kale, Assistant Professor, Middle East Technical University, Department of International Relations security through a mapping and analysis of the link between these concepts and is a valuable addition to literature on these topics. It is a must read for researchers and practitioners working on these areas and a great addition to libraries either Debating Security in Turkey: Challenges and Changes in the Twenty-First Century By Ebru Canan-Sokollu Plymouth: Lexington Books, 2013, 347 pages, ISBN: 9780739148716. Debating Security in Turkey: Challenges and Changes in the Twenty-First Century, edited by Ebru Canan-Sokullu, is an analysis of security challenges and prospects facing Turkey at the beginning of the 21st century. It is an edited book composed of four parts inclusive of chapters written by di˝erent authors, each one of whom focus on di˝erent loci of Turkish domestic and international politics. ˜e ˚rst part, fiApproaches to Security and Challenges in the Twenty-First Centuryfl, includes three chapters which cover mostly the theoretical perspectives of the term fisecurityfl, its changing meaning, and what has been its e˝ects. On a theoretical basis, security is analysed under the context of the shift in Turkey™s security policies after the Cold War and then during the JDP government. As Snyder argues in the ˚rst chapter, in Turkey geo-political changes have been enormous and have directly a˝ected the security policies adopted. Consequently Turkey has found itself with the need to develop a firegionalfl reference to tackle the challenges that it is facing as it is on the frontline between the West and radical Islamic forces. Moreover Diez tries to challenge the fiRegional Security Complex ˜eoryfl, which sees Turkey as an fiinsulatorfl. Diez argues that Turkey should be seen as fia meeting ground of security dynamics that result in domestic political struggles about the legitimate orderfl. Additionally Öner covers the
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