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原題目題號：DSE-2019-Essay-07
「國家利益導致戰爭；國家利益導致合作。」闡釋此句說法。
國家利益即金錢、人命、權力等各方面的滿足國家需求及欲望的事物。國家利益對於塑造國際局勢有著舉足輕重的影響力，不但會驅使國家之間爆發戰爭，同時也能夠使其互相合作。以下，將以國家利益導致二次大戰爆發和導致歐洲國家在二次大戰後進行經濟合作為例子，闡釋此說。
國家利益導致了二次大戰的歐洲戰線爆發。一次大戰後，德國在《凡爾賽條約》的苛刻條款下，被迫賠款330億美元、損失超過10%領土和人口，利益大損。同時，英、法在1915年倫敦會議中承諾給予阜姆、達爾馬西亞等地予意大利以引誘意大利倒戈攻打德國，但事後卻只提予提洛爾及伊斯特尼亞，令意大利深感國家利益受損。德、意兩國在戰後受到不同程度的利益剝削及損失，國民的不滿成為納粹希特拉和法西斯墨索里尼上台的最佳溫床。上台後，兩人積極實行對外擴張政策，以奪回國家利益。意大利方面，其於1924年就迫南斯拉夫交出阜姆及1939年侵佔阿爾巴尼亞等，獲得了大量的領土利益。德國方面，希特拉上台後積極尋求「生存空間」，大幅擴張領土，包括1938年合併奧地利和1939年吞併捷克全境。最終，大戰在德國突襲波蘭的情況下爆發。另一邊廂，英法兩國於一次大戰及經濟大蕭條後陷入了經濟困窘，為避免再次陷入戰爭以損害國家利益，兩國對侵略國採取了綏靖政策，例如1938年在慕尼黑會議中將蘇台德區割讓予德國，結果助長了侵略者的野心，大戰也在綏靖政策的不斷退讓下爆發。可見，國家利益導致了歐洲戰線的爆發。
國家利益導致了亞洲戰線的觸發。於1929年經濟大蕭條後，世界各國大多實施貿易保護主義，提高關稅，形成貿易壁壘，日本的出口量受到波及而銳減，大量工廠因而倒閉，日本在1930年代初的失業人數更高達300萬人。在經濟不景氣的情況下，日本軍人主張以對外擴張方式以攫取別國利益，振興國力。於是，日本自1930年代初起頻頻侵略別國，例如於1931年發動「九一八事變」侵略中國東北地區和1932年發動「一二八事變」侵略中國上海一帶。及後，更於1937年發動「七七事變」，全面侵略中國，以獲取中國龐大的領土、資源、人力及市場等，使中日戰爭爆發，點燃起二次大戰的亞洲戰火。除了中國外，日本為取得更多的資源，將野心染指至東南亞各國，於1940年提出「大東南共榮圈」，以從歐美列強手上解放東南亞為藉口，實際是侵略東南亞，視東南亞為日本發展的資源區，剝削東南亞國家的利益以自肥，包括石油、橡膠等。結果，東南亞的戰火四起，印度、緬甸、泰國等無一幸免，亞洲戰線因而進一步擴張。可見，日本為國家利益而挑起二次大戰的亞洲戰線，驅使戰爭出現。
國家利益也使美蘇捲入戰爭，觸發起多的戰事。蘇聯方面，蘇聯早於1939年8月，因恐怕自己受到德國攻擊及意圖取得波蘭領土而與德國簽訂《互不侵犯條約》，為保國家利益而解除了德國腹背受敵的憂慮，使德國在無所顧慮的情況下突襲波蘭，導致大戰的爆發。雖然蘇聯在戰爭初期能夠處之泰然，避免國家利益受損。然而，隨著蘇聯國力不斷壯大，蘇聯對德國的威脅日增，希特拉在權衡利害之下，認為共產蘇聯的國力膨脹會令德國往後需要面對更棘手的對手，於是在1941年實行「巴巴羅薩作戰計劃」，偷襲蘇聯。最終，由於蘇聯對納粹德國的國家利益構成威脅，德蘇戰爭因而爆發，蘇聯也無法再置身事外。美國方面，美國同樣在戰前基於國家利益而拒絕介入戰爭，只是隔岸觀火。但是，隨著美國在戰爭初期不斷借貸及提供軍事援助予同盟國，加上美國聯同英國停止向日本出口石油。由於石油是日本持續作戰的重要資源，此舉將對日本的利益構成嚴重打擊。日本在保障國家利益，爭取最後戰爭勝利的考量下，於1941年12月突襲美國珍珠港。結果，美國也被迫捲入戰事，太平洋戰爭爆發。可見，國家利益使更多二次大戰的戰事爆發，愈來愈多國家被迫參戰。
由上可見國家利益導致二次大戰的爆發，以下將討論國家利益導致了歐洲國家在經濟方面相互合作。
國家利益導致了西歐國家在二次大戰後進行經濟合作。二次大戰後，惡劣的經濟環境成為共產主義滋長的溫床，對西歐資本主義國家構成嚴重的利益威脅，怕共產主義不斷赤化更多國家，使資本主義的自由貿易市場不斷收縮。因此，為了阻止共產主義蔓延及恢復經濟，西歐國家向美國借貸[馬歇爾計劃]，並為了分配馬歇爾計劃的130億美元貸款而成立「歐洲經濟合作組織」(1948年)，成為了西歐的經濟合作基礎。此外，為了刺激經濟發展，比、荷、盧三國早於1948年也成立了「比荷盧聯盟」，透過降低關稅以刺激相互之間資源互通，推動經濟發展。比荷盧聯盟的成功使啟示了法國，法國希望仿傚並擴大經濟合作，以刺激區內經濟發展，聯同比、荷、盧、西德和意大利建立起「內六國」的合作，成立了「歐洲煤鐵共同體」(1952年)、「歐洲經濟共同體」(1958年)及「歐洲共同體」(1967年)等持續進行合作。再者，英國雖然在1960年與奧地利、瑞士等成立了「歐洲自由貿易聯盟」，組成「外七國」的合作，但由於外七國的經濟成果遠不及歐共體，結果外七國成員國陸續加入歐共體。往後，西歐國家進一步擴大合作，於1993年加成立歐盟，歐盟也於1999年成為了僅次於美國的全球第二大經濟體系。可見，國家利益驅使西歐國家進行經濟合作。
國家利益也促使了東歐國家進行經濟合作，並往後參與西歐的合作。隨著美國於1947年提出「馬歇爾計劃」，援助西歐國家以對抗共產主義。蘇聯有感馬歇爾計劃會對東歐國家產生吸引力，從而動搖蘇聯對東歐國家的控制，損害蘇聯的利益。為了對抗馬歇爾計劃，以及促進相互之間的經濟發展，蘇聯於1947年就推出莫洛托夫計劃，與東歐國家簽訂一連串的貿易及經濟協定，例如向阿爾巴尼亞提供600萬美元的貸款援助，以供其購買農業及輕工業機器；蘇聯向波蘭提供棉花、鐵礦及石油產品等資源，波蘭則向蘇聯提供紡織品及焦炭等資源，以刺激經濟發展。往後，為進一步加強東歐的經濟合作以帶來更多的利益，蘇聯與東歐國家於1949年成立了「經濟互助委員會」，使東歐的合作變得更加緊密。往後，至1980年代末東歐開始脫離蘇聯控制後，由於東歐經濟遠落後於西歐，為了獲取更多的經濟利益，包括外國在東歐的投資、提高貿易額及促進旅遊業等，東歐國家也開始參與西歐的經濟統合，東歐多國陸續於1991年後與歐洲共同體簽訂協議，包括《歐共體—波蘭協定》、《歐共體—匈牙利協定》，獲得加入西歐經濟統合的候補資格，加強經濟往來，為東、西歐的經濟統合鋪路。可見，國家利益也締造了東歐國家的經濟合作，並推動往後的歐洲經濟一體化。
總括而言，水能載舟，亦能覆舟。國家利益一方面能夠驅使國家之間爆發戰爭，使世界性戰事出現，同時也能促使國家之間相互合作，締造緊密互助的關係。
‘National interest leads to war as well as cooperation.’ Elaborate this statement.
National interest refers to money, life or power, things that can satisfy the demand and desire of countries. National interest has a significantly high influence in shaping the international situation. Not only would it lead to war, but also contributing to mutual cooperation. Below, this essay will illustrate this statement by showing how national interest led to the outbreak of the Second World War, and fostered European countries in reaching economic cooperation after the WWII.
National interest led to the outbreak of the WWII in the European warfront. After the First World War, under the harsh terms of the Versailles Treaty凡爾賽條約, Germany was forced to pay an indemnity of USD 330 billion, lose 10% of territory and population. Her interest was sharply hindered. At the same time, despite Britain and France’s promise of ceding the territories of Fiume阜姆 and Dalmatia達爾馬西亞 to Italy in the London Conference倫敦會議 of 1915 in the hope of luring Italy to betray her German ally, Italy only received the land of Tyrol提洛爾 and Istria伊斯特尼亞. This also greatly harmed the national interest of Italy. Germany and Italy respectively suffered from the loss of national interest to a different extent. As such, the widespread of national discontent became the best hotbed that paved to the rise of Nazi Hitler and Fascist Mussolini. As both of them rose to power, they actively adopted an expansionist policy to regain their national interest. In terms of Italy, it coerced Yugoslavia南斯拉夫 to cede the port of Fiume and attacked Albania阿爾巴尼亞 in 1939, gaining substantive territorial interest. In terms of Germany, Hitler actively seek for “living space生存空間”, and greatly expanded its territory, as exemplified by the reunification of Germany and Austria奧地利 in 1938, and the occupation of the whole of Czechoslovakia捷克 in 1939. Eventually, the Second World War broke out as Germany launched a sudden attack on Poland波蘭. Meanwhile, Britain and France suffered from economic turmoil after the WWI and the Great Depression. In avoidance of getting into another war which would harm their national interest, the two countries adopted the appeasement policy綏靖政策 against the aggressors. For example, in the Munich Conference慕尼黑會議 of 1938, they agreed to cede the area of Sudetenland蘇台德區 to Germany, which ultimately boosted the ambition of the aggressors. The WWI broke out as a result of the unlimited concession made by the appeasement policy. This reflected that national interest led to the outbreak of war in Europe.
National interest also led to the outbreak of war in the Asian war-front. After the Great Depression經濟大蕭條 in 1929, most countries in the world adopted protectionism in trade, raising tariff and forming trade barriers. The export volume of Japan was subsequently affected and plummeted, leading to the closure of many factories. By early 1930s, the unemployment population rose to a stunning number of 3 million in Japan. Due to economic devastation, Japan militants proposed to obtain interest from neighbor countries by expansion in the hope of revitalizing the nation. Therefore, since early 1930s, Japan had frequently attacked other countries, for example, in 1931, it launched the September 18th Incident九一八事變in assault of the Chinese Northeastern region, and initiated the January 28th incident一二八事變 in 1932 in assault of Shanghai. Furthermore, it put forward the July 7th Incident七七事變 in 1937, planning to occupy the whole of China to gain access to the huge territory, resource, human capital and market initially owned by China. This ignited the fire of war in Asia as the Sino-Japanese War broke out. Apart from China, Japan further extended her ambition to other countries in Southeast Asia. In 1940, she proposed the idea of establishing the “Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere大東南共榮圈”. Despite the pretext of liberating Southeast Asian countries from the Western powers, Japan hoped to invade Southeast Asia, seeing it as a resource zone that could facilitate Japan’s national development. Japan exploited the interest of Southeast Asian countries over petroleum and plastics to strengthen itself. As a result, war spread all of over the region, engulfing India印度, Myanmar緬甸 and Thailand泰國 into the fire of war. The Asian war-front further extended . This showed that Japan provoked the Asian warfront of the WWII because of national interest, leading to the outbreak of war.
National interest also drew the US and USSR into war, provoking multiple conflicts. In terms of the Soviet Union, back in August, 1939, fearing that the Soviet would subject to Nazi German attack, while intending to obtain part of the Polish territory, the USSR reached the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact互不侵犯條約 with Germany. While Soviet hoped to preserve her national interest, her behavior has facilitated Germany to launch a sudden assault on Poland波蘭 by easing German concern of being subjected to a two-front war. It was true that the USSR was preserved in the early phase of war, which prevented any harm of her own national interest. However, Hitler soon observed that the USSR’s national strength was incrementally rising, and the danger posed by the Soviet was increasing. By weighing the pros and cons, Hitler believed that the rising Soviet Union would become a perspective opponent to Germany. As such, in 1941, he put forward the Operation Barbarossa巴巴羅薩作戰計劃, assaulting the Soviet Union. Since the USSR posed a threat to Nazi Germany’s national interest, the war between Germany and the Soviet Union consequently broke out. The USSR, thus, could no longer be neutral in times of war. In terms of the US, US adopted an isolationist policy based on her national interest. However, as US continuously offered loaned and military assistance to the allied powers, coupled with the fact US imposed a petroleum embargo on Japan alongside with the Soviet Union, Japanese national interest was fatally harmed-Petroleum was a major resource that enabled Japan to fight in long term. In the hope of protecting her national interest and hoping to secure a final victory, Japan launched a sudden attack on the US Pearl Harbour珍珠港 in December, 1941. Consequently, the US was also drawn into war, leading to the outbreak of the Pacific War. This reflected that national interest led to more conflicts during the Second World War, drawing more and more countries to reluctantly participate in the war.
From the above argument, it is observed that national interest led to the outbreak of the Second World War. This essay would further illustrate how national interest fostered mutual cooperation between European countries economically below.
National interest encouraged Western European countries to engage in economic cooperation. After the Second World War, economic devastation became a hotbed for the emergence of communism. The spread of communism would potentially communise more countries, resulting in a contraction of free trade market自由貿易市場 under the principle of capitalism, which ultimately pose a grave danger to the interest of capitalist Western European countries. Therefore, in the hope of curbing the spread of communism and revive the economy, Western European countries successfully obtained USD 130 Billion from the US under the Marshall Plan馬歇爾計劃. The Organisation for European Economic Cooperation歐洲經濟合作組織(1948) was established to allocate the loan between member states, laying the foundation for economic cooperation in Western Europe. Besides, Belgium, Netherland and Luxembourg established the Benelux Union比荷盧聯盟 in 1948 so to stimulate economic development by lowering tariff, encouraging free flow of resource. The success of the Benelux Union enlightened France. Introducing a similar model, and expanding the scale of economic cooperation, France, along with Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Western Germany and Italy established the Inner Six內六國 to stimulate regional economic development. They set up the European Coal and Steel Community歐洲煤鐵共同體(1952), the European Economic Community歐洲經濟共同體(1958) and the European Community歐洲共同體(1967), which allowed them to continuously cooperate with each other. On top of that, though the UK established the European Free Trade Association歐洲自由貿易聯盟 with Austria and Switzerland in 1960, which was later known as the Outer Seven外七國, the effectiveness of Outer Seven cooperation was far below than that of the EEC. As a result, member states of the Outer Seven respectively joined the EEC. Afterwards, Western European countries further expanded the scale of cooperation. In 1993, the European Union歐盟, which became the second largest economy in the world, second only to the US, was set up. This showed that national interest encouraged Western European Countries to engage in economic cooperation.
National interest also encouraged economic cooperation between Eastern European countries, and urged them to part in Western Europe’s integration effort. Following the proposal of the Marshall Plan馬歇爾計劃 in 1947 by the US, which aimed to aid Western European countries in against to communism, the USSR feared that Marshall Plan would be attractive to Eastern European countries, and ultimately affected Soviet control of the Eastern European nations, harming her interest. In response to the Marshall Plan, while contributing to mutual economic development, the USSR put forward the Molotov Plan莫洛托夫計劃 in 1947, and signed a series of trade and economic agreement with Eastern European countries. For example. It offered 6 million USD of loan aid to Albania阿爾巴尼亞 for purchase of agricultural and light industry machineries; USSR provided resources like cotton, steel mine, petroleum products to Poland波蘭, while Poland provided textiles products, coal to the USSR. All of these efforts effectively stimulated economic development. Afterwards, in order to further strengthen economic cooperation in Eastern Europe so as to bring about more interest, the USSR formed the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON) 經濟互助委員會 in 1949 with other Eastern European countries. This greatly strengthened the bonding of countries within Eastern Europe. Afterwards, as Eastern Europe gradually got rid of the grip of USSR in 1980s, Eastern European countries realised their economy were not on par with that of the West. Therefore, in the hope of obtaining more economic interest, such as foreign investment in the region, boosting trade volume and fostering the development of tourism, Eastern European countries also started participating in economic integration with the West. Several Eastern European countries respectively reached agreements with the European Community, such as the Europe Agreement between EC and Poland波蘭, and EC and Hungary匈牙利 respectively. They became eligible候補資格 to join the economic integration effort initiated by Western Europe. Economic interaction increased, paving way to economic integration between the entire Western and Eastern Europe. This clearly suggests that national interest became the basis of economic cooperation between Eastern European countries, and facilitated the unification of European economy.
In conclusion, water is a boon in the desert, but the drowning man curses it. On the one hand, national interest propelled countries going into war with each other on a global level. On the other hand, it was also national interest that facilitated mutual cooperation between nations, constructing partnership between different states.
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