This book, first published in 1975, analyses the three tools which the Russians used for attaining their political objectives: war, peace and neutrality. This study shows how they have evolved a clear-cut view, based on Marxism-Leninism, of the origins of war, the categories of war, the ways in which it can be made to serve the Marxist revolutionary interest, and the circumstances in which it is profitable to use it. As for peace, both Lenin and Khrushchev described it as a ‘temporary, unstable armistice between two wars’. In the Leninist view, peace is a tool for attaining political objectives just like war, while neutrality is essentially ridiculous: ‘he who is not with me is against me’. Nevertheless, there are occasions when neutrality is a concept acceptable to the Soviet leaders, and this study examines instances of this, alongside war and peace.

Drawing on recently declassified Soviet archival sources, this book sheds new light on how the division of Europe came about in the aftermath of World War II. The book contravenes the notion that a neutral zone of states, including Germany, could have been set up between East and West. The Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin was determined to preserve control over its own sphere of German territory. By tracing Stalin's attitude toward neutrality in international politics, the book provides important insights into the origins of the Cold War.

The neutrality pact between Japan and the Soviet Union, signed in April 1941, lapsed only nine months before its expiry date of April 1946 when the Soviet Union attacked Japan. Japan's neutrality had enabled Stalin to move Far Eastern forces to the German front where they contributed significantly to Soviet victories from Moscow to Berlin. Slavinsky suggests that Stalin's agreement with Churchill and Roosevelt to attack Japan after Germany's surrender allowed him to keep Japan in the war until he was ready to attack and thus avenge Russia's defeat in the war of 1904-1905. The Soviet Union's violation of the pact and the detention of Japanese prisoners for up to ten years after the end of the war created a sense of victimization in Japan to the extent that there is still no formal Peace Treaty between the two countries to this day. Slavinsky draws on recently opened Russian archival material to demonstrate that the Soviet Union was passing information about the Allies to Japan during the Second World War. He also persuasively argues that vengeance and the (re)acquistion of land were the primary motives for the attack on Japan. The book contains empirical data previously unavailable in English and will fascinate anyone with an interest in the history of Japan, the Soviet Union and the events of the Second World War.

The law of neutrality - the corpus of legal rules regulating the relationship between belligerents and States taking no part in hostilities - assumed its modern form in a world in which the waging of war was unconstrained. The neutral State enjoyed territorial inviolability to the extent that it adhered to the obligations attaching to its neutral status and thus the law of neutrality provided spatial parameters for the conduct of hostilities. Yet the basis on which the law of neutrality developed - the extra-legal character of war - no longer exists. Does the law of neutrality continue to survive in the modern era? If so, how has it been modified by the profound changes in the law on the use of force and the law of armed conflict? This book argues that neutrality endures as a key concept of the law of armed conflict. The interaction between belligerent and nonbelligerent States continues to require legal regulation, as demonstrated by a number of recent conflicts, including the Iraq War of 2003 and the Mavi Marmara incident of 2010. By detailing the rights and duties of neutral states and demonstrating how the rules of neutrality continue to apply in modern day conflicts, this restatement of law of neutrality will be a useful guide to legal academics working on the law of armed conflict, the law on the use of force, and the history of international law, as well as for government and military lawyers seeking comprehensive guidance in this difficult area of the law.

... dedicated to the advancement and understanding of those principles and practices, military and political, which serve the vital security interests of the United States.

This title was first published in 2002: Roisin Doherty provides an innovative insight into European security policy by concentrating on Ireland through an analysis of compatibility of Irish neutrality with security integration. She also analyzes the factors influencing security integration. This contemporary analysis of neutrality also deals with the development of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and examines the factors pushing forward the development of EU security policy. A specialized text suitable for undergraduate and post-graduate courses in international relations, European studies and administrative studies, this stimulating volume will appeal to those interested in the European Union, Irish foreign policy, neutrality and the CFSP in general.