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Copyright of Romanian Journal for Baltic & Nordic Studies/Revista Romana de Studii Baltice si Nordice is the property of Sciendo and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this paper, I argue that the “Middle East” is an ideational construct maintained by geographical, intellectual, and ideological representations. I assert that the geographical boundaries of the area called the Middle East have shifted over the past century to reflect the strategic interests of the major hegemonic power in the region, initially Britain and later the United States. Drawing on published and archival sources, I trace the etymology of the “Middle East” and its accompanying geographical representations and their relationship to key American and British foreign policy decisions and declarations. I also discuss how the Arabic translation of the “Middle East,” or al-Sharq al–Awsaṭ, has been adopted and contested by scholars and journalists in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper reviews Brazil's pursuit for international insertion by: discussing its search for new partners; presenting an overview of the historical, cultural, and political features that render it the most Western of the emerging nations; and analyzing its participation in the management of two major international crises, the Honduran constitutional crisis and the Iranian nuclear crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reinterprets the Jay treaty by taking seriously the Republican criticism of the treaty’s western provisions, which created a porous border between the United States and British-Canada. It argues that Laurentine merchants—entrepreneurs interested in the trade of the extended St. Lawrence River valley—used the Jay treaty as a charter, protecting their commercial and political rights as British subjects residing and trading in the United States. By exploring the conflicts between Laurentine merchants and federal officials over the terms of the Jay charter, this article opens a window on the complex process of state formation in the Anglo-American borderland between 1796 and 1819. It argues that state formation involved a wide array of activities and innovations at both the center and the periphery. More specifically, the article points to the important role that diplomacy, Republican commercial policy, and legal definitions of citizenship played in the creation of an American national state. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper explores Hanoi's diplomatic strategy during the early stage of the so-called Vietnam War. It draws from Vietnamese, Western, and other materials to elucidate the meanings and usages Hanoi attached to diplomacy in those years, to describe the related maneuverings of North Vietnamese leaders, and to identify the forces shaping those maneuvers. Following the onset of war Hanoi rejected negotiations with Washington, but that did not mean that the so-called 'diplomatic struggle' was non-existent, or unimportant. State and party organs used diplomacy to manipulate and mobilize world opinion, to mitigate the effects of the Sino-Soviet dispute, and to secure necessary material assistance from socialist allies to sustain the war until 'final victory' over the United States. Diplomacy thus served as a veritable instrument of war for Hanoi. Admittedly, diplomatic priorities changed over time, but diplomatic struggle itself remained at the heart of its 'Anti-American Resistance.' [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines South Vietnam's global diplomacy after constitutional government was restored in 1967. Far from an American puppet, the Saigon government showed considerable initiative spanning the globe for prospective allies. But its bid for international legitimacy ended in failure, with increased global exposure only underscoring its collapsing domestic support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Between 1959 and 1962, children played a highly visible role in the dramatic realignment of revolutionary Cuba’s diplomatic relations. This article demonstrates that Fidel Castro’s government consistently deployed discourses and images of childhood as well as actual children within a broader campaign to liberate themselves from U.S. domination even as it sought to strengthen ties between Cuba, the U.S.S.R. and the socialist world. At the same time, the Castro regime also made use child-centered images, texts and speeches in order to negotiate the contradictions between the Revolution’s claims to have fulfilled the islands’ long-frustrated aspirations towards national sovereignty even as it sought to justify its reinvention as “la niña adorada del mundo socialista,” dependent for its survival on the protection and largesse of the Soviet Union. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses United States foreign relations with South Africa over the issue of nuclear nonproliferation from 1965 to 1967. The author states that America's advocacy of nonproliferation in the Cold War era was often difficult to negotiate with other countries amidst the threat of nuclear war. The author begins his history with the 1957 treaty the U.S. signed with South Africa concerning the sale of uranium. While concerns over South Africa's uranium sales existed, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty was of ultimately of more importance to have ratified.