Abstract
While the concept of friendship has been largely invisible within Western political debate, in the international political domain, ‘friendship’ and the language of friends have been prominent in treaties and alliances between nations. Database searches on the topic of ‘politics and friendship’ locate predominantly references concerning relationships between states. However, it has been war and enmity rather than friendship that has dominated analysis in international relations literature. In this article we provide a history of international treaties, focusing in particular on those named as friendship treaties. We will discuss the use of concepts and terminology related to friendship and the nomenclature associated with international alliances. It will be argued that friendship is more a tool of public relations and spin, rather than diplomacy and peace-building, and the cynical use of friendship does not sit easily with the Nehruvian concept of friendship as an important method of diplomacy that can act as a path to peace, goodwill and understanding between states and nations.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Ironically, the first formal enunciation of these principles, in the Agreement on Trade and Intercourse between the Tibet region of China and India, signed on 29 April 1954, was followed less than 10 years later by the Indo-China border war (Gupta et al, 1993).
‘Joshua was deceived in 1451 BC into making a treaty of peace with the Gibeonites …’ (Bunn-Livingston, 2002, p. 79).
Both versions of the peace treaty have survived and a reproduction of the treaty has been on display in the United Nations headquarters.
The Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean, south of Hawaii, also served as the ‘Pacific proving ground’ for US nuclear testing, including Bikini Atoll.
Attempts are still being made to find the original wording of the Treaty title. In relationships between states the words used in German are more often ‘gutes Einvernehmen’ (perfect amity, harmony) rather than Freundschaft (friendship).
Shuuko is the more common Japanese word for ‘friendship’, also translated as amity or goodwill, and washin, used to translate friendship in the treaty title, is not usually used for ‘friendship’, but is closer to ‘harmony’. See also Devere and Pakenham (2006).
International leagues and organizations.
Treaties can also be entered into by other subjects of international law, such as international organizations, and this is reflected in the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties between States and International Organizations or between International Organizations 1986. This Convention is not yet in force.
The Chinese version is named Zhong-Su Youhao Tongmeng Huzhu Taioyue, where youhao means ‘friendship’ (Thanks to Peilin Yang for assistance with translation).
The last trusteeship in the Pacific was Palau, which was granted independence in 1994.
The Samoan translates as ‘Covenant of Friendship’, indicating a very close, almost spiritual, relationship, similar to that between a minister of religion, his village and congregation.
Personal communication with New Zealand's foreign affairs negotiator.
Roshchin (2010), in this volume, details the series of treaties and agreements between the Soviet Union (later the Russian Federation) and the United Kingdom as an example of friendship between ideological ‘enemies’.
References
List of Treaties
Treaty of Westphalia; 24 October 1648, http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/westphal.htm, accessed 5 June 2007.
(1778) Treaty of Amity and Commerce (Le Traité de Commerce et d’Amitié), http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18thcentury/fr1788-1.asp, accessed 27 June 2007.
Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Navigation between the United States of America and his Majesty the King of the Hawaiian Islands 1849, http://www.hawaii_nation.org/treaty1849.html, accessed 15 January 2007.
(1879) Treaties of Friendship between Great Britain and Tonga, Treaties and Agreements with Great Britain, http://www.vanuatu.usp.ac.fj/library/online/Texts/Pacific_archive/, accessed 27 January 2010.
(1939) The German-Soviet Boundary and Friendship Treaty, http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/nazsov/gsbound.htm, accessed 15 January 2007.
Turkish–German Friendship Treaty, signed in Ankara, 18 June 1941, http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/timeline/410618awp.html, accessed 15 January 2007.
The Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance between the People's Republic of Albania, the People's Republic of Bulgaria, the Hungarian People's Republic, the German Democratic Republic, the Polish People's Republic, the Rumanian People's Republic, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the Czechoslovak Republic 14 May 1955, http://www.isn.ethz.ch/php/documents/collection_3/PCC_docs/1955/Treaty550514.htm, accessed 15 January 2007.
(1962) Treaty of Friendship between the Government of New Zealand and the Government of Western Samoa (Feagaiga Fa’auoo), http://www.vanuatu.usp.ac.fj/library/online/Texts/Pacific_archive/, accessed 29 January 2010.
Exchange of Letters: Termination of United Kingdom responsibility for the external relations of Tonga (1970) between the Premier of the Kingdom of Tonga to Her Majesty's Commissioner and Consul in Tonga, on 19 May 1970, http://www.vanuatu.usp.ac.fj/library/online/texts/Pacific_archive/, accessed 15 January 2007.
(1979) Treaty of Friendship between the United States of America and the Republic of Kiribati, http://www.trussel.com/kir/treaty.htm, accessed 5 June 2007.
Treaty Reference Guide. (1999) United Nations Treaty Collection, http://untreaty.un.org/English/guide.asp, accessed 21 May 2007.
(2001) Treaty of Good-neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation between the People's Republic of China and the Russian Federation, http://www.shaps.hawaii.edu/fp/russia/r_c_treaty_20010716.html, accessed 15 January 2007.
Treaties and Agreements with Great Britain, http://www.vanuatu.usp.ac.fj/library/online/Texts/Pacific_archive/, accessed 27 January 2010.
List of References
Almond Jr, H.H. (1964) The Anglo-Japanese commercial treaty of 1963. International and Comparative Law Quarterly 13 (3): 925–968.
Ashbrook, T. (1986) Challenge to US in Pacific: Islander's ill-feeling toward Washington is Soviets’ gain. Boston Globe, 3rd edn. 28 September: 1.
Barash, D. and Webel, C. (2002) The meanings of wars. In: D. Barash and C. Webel (eds.) Peace and Conflict Studies. California: Sage Publications, pp. 56–84.
BBC News World Edition. (2003) Euro-allies mark 40 years of friendship, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2681923.stm, accessed 22 January
Bederman, D. (2001) International Law in Antiquity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Berenskoetter, F. (2007) Friends, there are no friend? An intimate reframing of the international. Millenium Journal of International Studies 35 (3): 647–676.
Best, A. (2006) The ‘ghost’ of the Anglo-Japanese alliance: An examination into historical myth-making. The Historical Journal 49 (3): 811–831.
Brownlie, I. (1990) Principles of Public International Law, 4th edn. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Bunn-Livingston, S. (2002) Juricultural Pluralism Vis-A-Vis Treaty Law. The Hague: Kluwer Law International.
Canada in the Making. 1492–1779: From first contact to the peace and friendship treaties, http://www.canadiana.org/citm/themes/aboriginals/aboriginals2_e.html, accessed 15 January 2007.
Chandra, B., Mukharjee, A. and Mukharjee, M. (2003) India after Independence, 1947–2000. New Delhi, India: Penguin.
Chinese People's Daily. (2001) Chinese, Russian presidents meet, friendship treaty to be signed. 16 June, http://english.peopledaily.com.cn and http://www.mail-archive.com/stopnato@listbot.com/msg00469.html, accessed 15 January 2007.
Deudney, D. (2004) Publius before Kant: Federal-republican security and democratic peace. European Journal of International Relations 10 (3): 315–356.
Devere, H. (2000) Reviving Greco-Roman friendship: A bibliographical review. In: P. King and H. Devere (eds.) The Challenge to Friendship in Modernity. London and Portland: Frank Cass, pp. 149–187.
Devere, H. et al (2005) Cross-cultural conversations of friendship: Collaboration, collegiality and comradeship in diversity. Paper presented at the 33rd Joint Sessions of Workshops of the European Consortium for Political Research; 14–19 April, Granada, Spain.
Devere, H. and Pakenham, Y. (2006) The language and politics of friendship: English and Japanese compared. Paper presented at the Sociological Association of Aotearoa New Zealand (SAANZ) Annual Conference, University of Waikato; 22–24 November, Hamilton, New Zealand.
Dunne, T. (2005) Liberalism. In: J. Baylis and S. Smith (eds.) The Globalisation of World Politics: An Introduction to International Relations, 3rd edn. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Durie, M. (1998) Te Mana, Te Kawanatanga: The Politics of Maori Self-Determination. Auckland, New Zealand: Oxford University Press.
Etherington, N. (2001) Blainey revisited: Has peace broken out in the twenty-first century? In: B. Hindness and M. Jolly (eds.) Thinking Peace, Making Peace. Canberra, Australia: Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, Occasional Paper Series 1/2001, pp. 7–20.
Griffiths, M. (1999) Fifty Key Thinkers in International Relations. London: Routledge.
Gupta, D., Raina, J.L., Jauhari, H.M. and Jauhari, B.M. (eds.) (1993) Nehru and Planning in India: Proceedings of the National Seminar on Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Planning Commission and Planned Development in India. Ghaziabad, India: Indian Centre for Socialist Studies.
Heater, D. and Berridge, G. (1992) Introduction to International Politics. New York: Harvester & Wheatsheaf.
Henderson, C. (1998) International Relations: Conflict and Cooperation at the Turn of the Twenty-first Century. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill.
Hotta-Lister, A. (2002) The Anglo-Japanese Alliance. Discussion Paper No. IS/02/432, delivered at the Symposium to Commemorate the Centenary of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance, Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines, in association with Japanese Society, London, http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/6884/1/Anglo-Japanese_alliance.pdf, accessed 15 January 2007.
Hotta-Lister, A., Nish, I. and Steeds, D. (April 2002) Anglo-Japanese Alliance. LSE STICERD Research Paper No. IS432, http://ssrn.com/abstract=1162038, accessed 10 June 2010.
Howard, M. (2001) The Invention of Peace: Reflections on War and International Order. London: Profile Books.
Korosenyi, A. (2005) Politics of friendship versus politics of enmity. Paper presented at the 33rd Joint Sessions of Workshops of the European Consortium for Political Research; 14–19 April, Granada, Spain.
Krishna, G. (1984) India and the international order – Retreat from idealism. In: H. Bull and A. Watson (eds.) The Expansion of International Society. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Lawson, S. (1996) Tradition versus Democracy in the South Pacific: Fiji Tonga and Western Samoa. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Mark, S. (2007) A comparative study of the cultural diplomacy of Canada, New Zealand and India. PhD thesis, University of Auckland, New Zealand.
Mayo, M.J. (1967) A catechism of Western diplomacy: The Japanese and Hamilton Fish, 1872. The Journal of Asian Studies 26 (3): 389–411.
Mitchell, J.M. (1986) International Cultural Relations. London: Allen and Unwin.
Nish, I. (2002) The first Anglo-Japanese Alliance Treaty. Discussion Paper No. IS/02/432, delivered at the Symposium to Commemorate the Centenary of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance, Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines, in association with Japanese Society, London, 22 February, http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/6884/1/Anglo-Japanese_alliance.pdf.
Oelsner, A. (2007) Friendship, mutual trust, and the evolution of regional peace in the international system. Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy 10 (2): 257–280.
Oelsner, A. and Vion, A. (2011) Friends in the region: A comparative study on friendship building in regional integration. International Politics 48 (1): 129–151.
Papp, D. (2002) Contemporary International Relations: Frameworks for Understanding, 6th edn. New York: Longman.
Paul, N.D. (1993) We were not the savages: First nation history. Chapter 8 ‘The Futile Search for a Just Peace 1752–1761, http://www.danielnpaul.com/chptr8.html, accessed 15 January 2007.
Peace and Friendship Treaties, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, http://www.ainc-inac.gc.ca/ps/clm/atr/pft_e.html, accessed 27 January 2010.
Rajan, D.S. (2006) China: Revisiting the 2005 Friendship Treaty with Pakistan. Paper No. 2058, South Asia Analysis Group, http://www.southasiaanaly, accessed 10 June 2010.
Range, W. (1961) Jawaharal Nehru's World View: A Theory of International Relations. Athens, USA: University of Georgia Press.
Rose, G.L. (2008) Australia's treaty activity in the Asia-Pacific: A sub-regional trends analysis. International Relations of the Asia-Pacific 8: 103–124.
Roshchin, E. (2006) The concept of friendship: From princes to states. European Journal of International Relations 12 (4): 599–624.
Roshchin, E. (2009) Friendship in international relations: A history of the concept. PhD thesis, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland.
Roshchin, E. (2011) Friendship of the enemies: 20th century friendship treaties of the United Kingdom and the USSR. International Politics 48 (1): 71–91.
Sharp, A. (1990) Justice and the Maori: Maori Claims in New Zealand Political Argument in the 1980s. Auckland, New Zealand: Oxford University Press.
Shaw, M. (1997) International Law, 4th edn. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Slomp, G. (2007) Carl Schmitt on global terrorism and the demise of the ‘true friend’. Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy 10 (2): 199–214.
Smith, G.M. (2011) Friendship and the world of states. International Politics 48 (1): 10–27.
Smith, G.M. and King, P. (eds.) (2007) Friendship in politics. Special Issue of Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy 10 (2).
Spenneman, D.H.R. (2004) An example of mail fraud in 19th century Samoa. Journal of South Pacific Law 8 (2), http://golum.riv.csu.edu.au/~dspennem/PDF-Articles/JPSL_v8_i2_2004.pdf, accessed 1 February 2010.
Steeds, D. (2002) The second Anglo-Japanese Alliance and the Russo-Japanese War. Discussion Paper No. IS/02/432, delivered at the Symposium to Commemorate the Centenary of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance, Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines, in association with Japanese Society, London, 22 February, http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/6884/1/Anglo-Japanese_alliance.pdf.
Stewart, D.B. (1997) The Russian-Ukrainian Friendship Treaty and the search for regional stability in Eastern Europe. Masters thesis, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey CA, http://www.stormingmedia.us/20/2001/A200143.html.
Tabak, D.H. (1995) Friendship treaties and discriminatory practices. Columbia Journal of Law and Social Problems 28 (3): 475–518.
Te Ao Hou (The New World) Magazine. National Library of New Zealand, http://teaohou.natlib.govt.nz/journals/teaohou/issue/Mao61TeA/c6.html.
Television New Zealand. (2002) NZ a ‘very very very close friend’. One News, 27 March, http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/425825/90126.
United Nations Treaty Reference Guide. (1999) http://untreaty.un.org/English/guide.asp Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties 1969, http://untreaties.un.org/ilc/texts/instruments/English/conventions/1_1_1969.pdf.
Vion, A. (2007) The institutionalization of international friendship. Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy 10 (2): 281–297.
Walker, R. (1968) South Pacific countries. Te Ao Hou: The New World, 63:50–55, http://teaohou.natlib.govt.nz/teaohou/Mao63TeA/c31.html, accessed 11 June 2010.
Walker, R. (1990) Ka Whawhai Tonu Matou: Struggle without End. Auckland, New Zealand: Penguin Books.
Wills (1994) New Zealand's nuclear free status. Paper presented at the Peace Studies Association Sixth Annual Conference: Rebuilding Security; 7–10 April, University of San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA.
Wiseman, G. (2005) Pax Americana: Bumping into diplomatic culture. International Studies Perspectives 6 (4): 409–430.
World Statesman. (n.d) Samoa, http://www.worldstatemen.org/Samoa.html, accessed 12 November 1910.
Yi, K.J. (2002) In search of a panacea: Japan-Korea rapprochement and America's ‘Far Eastern problems’. Pacific Historical Review 71 (4): 633–662.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Devere, H., Mark, S. & Verbitsky, J. A history of the language of friendship in international treaties. Int Polit 48, 46–70 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1057/ip.2010.34
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/ip.2010.34