The Red Affair: FMLN–Cuban relations during the Salvadoran Civil War, 1981–92
This paper examines the relationship between the leftist Salvadoran revolutionary organisation FMLN and the Cuban regime throughout the Salvadoran civil war in the 1980s. In light of interviews conducted by the author in 2007 and 2008 with some of the highest-ranking leaders of the FMLN, it re-evaluates existing primary and secondary sources on the topic. This study demonstrates that despite its autonomous roots, the FMLN's development, growth, and achievements throughout the Salvadoran civil war were indissolubly linked to its relationship with Cuba. By placing Cuba as a nodal point in the Salvadoran civil war, the idea of ‘unilateralist’ US hegemony in the region throughout the Cold War is brought into question, as is the notion that the Soviet Union fashioned Havana's foreign policy. Furthermore, this analytical paradigm begins to shed light on the importance of transnational historical analyses.
The United States and Nicaragua: Understanding the Breakdown in Relations
Although the United States and Nicaragua maintained cooperative relations for a period after the Sandinista revolution of 1979, ties between the two states deteriorated. What explains the shift from cordial to hostile relations? The two dominant explanations have been that the aggressive policies of the new Reagan administration forced the Sandinista regime into a defensive position of hostility or that a downward spiral occurred based on the security dilemma. This paper rejects both and offers an alternative: The Sandinistas for ideological and domestic political reasons chose antagonistic relations when they opted to arm and support the rebels in El Salvador in violation of an earlier agreement between the two states. Drawing on research that shows the aggressive tendencies of revolutionary states, the article contrasts this theory with the spiral model. Moreover, analysis of the archives of the early Reagan administration shows that it wanted to find an accommodation with Managua. Although the revolutionary Sandinistas were motivated by ideology, Washington was more influenced by geopolitical concerns.
Asymptotic Properties of Solutions to Second-Order Difference Equations of Volterra Type
<jats:p>We consider the discrete Volterra type equation of the form <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M1"><mml:mi mathvariant="normal">Δ</mml:mi><mml:mo stretchy="false">(</mml:mo><mml:msub><mml:mrow><mml:mi>r</mml:mi></mml:mrow><mml:mrow><mml:mi>n</mml:mi></mml:mrow></mml:msub><mml:mi mathvariant="normal">Δ</mml:mi><mml:msub><mml:mrow><mml:mi>x</mml:mi></mml:mrow><mml:mrow><mml:mi>n</mml:mi></mml:mrow></mml:msub><mml:mo stretchy="false">)</mml:mo><mml:mo>=</mml:mo><mml:msub><mml:mrow><mml:mi>b</mml:mi></mml:mrow><mml:mrow><mml:mi>n</mml:mi></mml:mrow></mml:msub><mml:mo>+</mml:mo><mml:mrow><mml:msubsup><mml:mo stretchy="false">∑</mml:mo><mml:mrow><mml:mi>k</mml:mi><mml:mo>=</mml:mo><mml:mn mathvariant="normal">1</mml:mn></mml:mrow><mml:mrow><mml:mi>n</mml:mi></mml:mrow></mml:msubsup><mml:mrow><mml:mi>K</mml:mi><mml:mo stretchy="false">(</mml:mo><mml:mi>n</mml:mi><mml:mo>,</mml:mo><mml:mi>k</mml:mi><mml:mo stretchy="false">)</mml:mo><mml:mi>f</mml:mi><mml:mo stretchy="false">(</mml:mo><mml:msub><mml:mrow><mml:mi>x</mml:mi></mml:mrow><mml:mrow><mml:mi>k</mml:mi></mml:mrow></mml:msub><mml:mo stretchy="false">)</mml:mo></mml:mrow></mml:mrow></mml:math>. We present sufficient conditions for the existence of solutions with prescribed asymptotic behavior. Moreover, we study the asymptotic behavior of solutions. We use <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M2"><mml:mi mathvariant="normal">o</mml:mi><mml:mo stretchy="false">(</mml:mo><mml:msup><mml:mrow><mml:mi>n</mml:mi></mml:mrow><mml:mrow><mml:mi>s</mml:mi></mml:mrow></mml:msup><mml:mo stretchy="false">)</mml:mo></mml:math>, for given nonpositive real <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M3"><mml:mrow><mml:mi>s</mml:mi></mml:mrow></mml:math>, as a measure of approximation.</jats:p>