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International
Business and Security

Geostrategy in Perspective

jiye kim
a r pi t r a s wa n t
 International Business and Security

“This is an impressive book about international business and security issues for
two reasons: first, it is a comprehensive book, making it relevant for all interna-
tional business scholars, and second, the intersection of international business
and security is very novel and important. As such, this book is a must-read for
scholars and practitioners likewise.”
—Professor Florian Bauer, Sir Roland Smith Chair in Strategic Management,
Lancaster University, United Kingdom

“An excellent and timely read for managers, policymakers, and researchers.”
—Dr Christopher Hoy, The World Bank, United States

“A very insightful and well-rounded take on international business and security

and how it shapes the rising powers in the Asia-Pacific. An essential read for
policymakers, researchers, scholars, and journalists.”
—Wella Andany, CNN, Indonesia
 Jiye Kim • Arpit Raswant

International
Business and Security
Geostrategy in Perspective
Jiye Kim Arpit Raswant
Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University Deakin University
Beppu, Japan Melbourne, Australia

ISBN 978-3-031-05632-1    ISBN 978-3-031-05633-8 (eBook)

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-05633-8

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature
Switzerland AG 2022
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether
the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of
illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and trans-
mission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or
dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication
does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant
protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book
are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or
the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any
errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional
claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
 Preface

The world is currently facing the re-configuration of the global supply

chain, intensifying nationalism and protectionism. Globalization and
open market are confronted by significant challenges in the world’s larg-
est economies. This book, International Business and Security-Geostrategy
in Perspective, addresses the international business-security nexus through
the lens of geostrategy. The book examines the implications of interna-
tional business (IB) for international security (IS) and what implications
IS has for IB.
Recently, the IB literature has shown interest in the impact of politics
and national security policies on multinational enterprises (MNEs).
Similarly, the IS literature needs research on the impact of international
business activities of MNEs and the interactions between MNEs, host,
and home countries on national security policies. The book adopts the
perspective of geostrategy that provides variables to analyze the behavior
of national and non-national players in IB and IS. The book argues that
the concept of geostrategy is useful in explaining the cross-level interac-
tion among IB and IS players. Most importantly, the book applies a com-
mon concept—geostrategy—to analyze the mutual implications of
IB and IS.
There has been a growing momentum to employ an interdisciplinary
approach in facilitating critical thinking among our students in the rap-
idly evolving international business and management environment. The
v
vi Preface

IS scholarship is a study of threats and expanded by the securitization

model, and the IB domain examines the phenomenon of globalization
and multinational corporations. Both disciplines evaluate the problems
in the individual, national, and global realms. Notably, both fields navi-
gate the ever-so-challenging geostrategic issues in the Indo-Pacific region,
which is home to a significant portion of current economic activity and
future economic growth.
We expect that this book will be demanded among scholarly commu-
nities of international business and management, international relations,
international security, and international political economy research
domains. Further, this book is likely to be a useful resource for advanced
coursework (in Honor, MSc, MPhil, and PhD degrees). Selected chapters
from this book are likely to be used in more extensive undergraduate and
postgraduate courses covering international business and security issues.
We dedicate this book to everyone working towards achieving peace in
the world.

Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, Beppu, Japan Jiye Kim

Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia  Arpit Raswant
 Acknowledgments

This book project was made possible with the continuing support of edi-
torial and professional services staff at Palgrave Macmillan and Springer
Nature. It is imperative to acknowledge the importance of all the support
received from loved ones and well-wishers, especially during the pan-
demic period. The authors are eternally grateful to everyone who sup-
ported their writing journey of this book.

vii
 Contents

1 International
 Business and Security Perspective  1
1.1 Finding the Intersection   3
1.2 Structure of the Book   8
References 11

2 Emerging
 Economies and Powers 15
2.1 Mapping the Stories: China and India  16
2.2 Geostrategy in Focus  23
2.3 National-Subnational Interactions  28
References 30

3 International
 Business and Security Nexus in China 35
3.1 Geostrategy: The Overview  36
3.2 IB-IS Nexus with Chinese Characteristics  59
3.3 Belt and Road Initiative and Its Performers  75
References105

ix
x Contents

4 International
 Business and Security Nexus in India117
4.1 Geostrategy: The Overview 118
4.2 Evolving Foreign Policies 125
4.3 IB-IS Nexus and the Global Security Order: The Quad
Story139
References154

5 International
 Business and Security: Present and Future161
References171

I ndex173
 About the Authors

Jiye Kim is an award-winning Assistant Professor at Ritsumeikan Asia

Pacific University in Japan and a researcher affiliated with the University
of Sydney in Australia
Arpit Raswant is an award-winning Assistant Professor at Deakin
University in Australia and a Visiting Researcher at Lancaster University
in the United Kingdom

xi
 Abbreviations

AAGC Asia-Africa Growth Corridor

ADMM ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting
ADMM Plus ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting Plus
AIIB Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank
AOIP ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific
ARF ASEAN Regional Forum
ASEAN Association of Southeast Asian Nations
BIMSTEC Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and
Economic Cooperation
BRI Belt and Road Initiative
CASS Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
China-CEEC China and Central and Eastern European Countries
Cooperation
CICA Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building
Measures in Asia
CPC Communist Party of China
CPEC China-Pakistan Economic Corridor
EAS East Asia Summit
EEU Eurasian Economic Union
FICCI Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry
FIPIC Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation
FOIP Free and Open Indo-Pacific
IB International Business

xiii
xiv Abbreviations

IBS International Business and Security

IONS Indian Ocean Naval Symposium
IORA Indian Ocean Rim Association
IPOI Indo-Pacific Ocean Initiative
IS International Security
JETRO Japan External Trade Organization
MNE Multinational Enterprise
NDRC National Development and Reform Commission
NGO Non-governmental Organization
ODA Overseas Development Assistance
SAARC South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation
SAGAR Security and Growth for All in the Region
SCO Shanghai Cooperation Organisation
SCS South China Sea
SDG Sustainable Development Goals
SLOC Sea Lines of Communication
UNCLOS United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
WTO World Trade Organization
 1
International Business and Security
Perspective

Abstract The introductory chapter provides an overview of the book and

introduces the concept of geostrategy to the reader in relation to our
research context. The discipline of international business (IB) studies the
dynamics in the global business environment and opportunities.
Meanwhile, the international security (IS) discipline examines the causes
of threats, conflicts, and wars. This monograph chooses geostrategy as a
concept to look for the interactions among the players of international
business and international security.

Keywords International business • International security • Geostrategy

• China • India • Multilevel analysis

The interests in international business (IB) discipline from scholars in

other disciplines are growing as globalization becomes a routine feature
in our everyday lives (Caves, 2007). Coinciding with IB, the interna-
tional security (IS) studies is becoming prominent in multiple research
domains as unfolding IS-linked developments such as rising geopolitical
uncertainty, changing the global balance of power, the influence of

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 1

J. Kim, A. Raswant, International Business and Security,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-05633-8_1
2 J. Kim and A. Raswant

nationalism on foreign and security policies, urgent issues concerning

climate change, and pandemics have severely impacted business as usual
(Alvarez & Rangan, 2019; Buzan & Hansen, 2009; Doern et al., 2019).
What do the IB inquiries imply to the IS issues? What are the implica-
tions of IS issues to the IB phenomenon? This book examines the inter-
national business-security nexus through the lens of geostrategy and
discusses how an interdisciplinary study contributes to the research puz-
zle raised in each discipline and the usefulness of a geostrategic lens with
model examples of cross-level interactions among players in IB and IS.
The momentum in public debate and policy focus on urgent issues
such as climate change and exogenous shocks such as the COVID-19
pandemic has increased the scholarly attention from IB and IS disciplines
to comprehensively understand the impact of such developments on
business and our society. For instance, in the IB literature, exogenous
shocks are recognized as an underlying attribute of the global economy,
which concerns firms, in general, and particularly impacts multinational
firms (MNFs). However, exogenous shocks remain underexplored in the
IB research domain as most studies focus on business continuity and
statistically rule out extreme events (Andriani & McKelvey, 2007). In the
spirit of contributing to scholarly efforts in bringing a framework to
timely and adequately consider emergent critical issues such as conflicts
(Oh & Oetzel, 2017), disasters (Oh & Oetzel, 2011), and public health
crises (Ahen, 2019), the international business and security (IBS) nexus
requires close examination, and the lens of geostrategy helps these studies
to be integrated. Further, the organization level is considered using the
institution-based view to account for the influence of the institutional
environment (Peng et al., 2009), because the differences in institutional
characteristics between regions would significantly impact organizational
structure and behavior (DiMaggio & Powell, 1983; Kostova, 1999;
Kostova & Zaheer, 1999), including firms’ internationalization strategies
(Ahmadjian, 2016; Peng, 2003; Xu & Shenkar, 2002), thus contributing
to the limited literature on the IBS perspective.
 1 International Business and Security Perspective 3

1.1 Finding the Intersection

In a time of rapid transformation, understanding the triggers of change
and enhancing strategic responses are essential for organizations and
institutions. It is envisaged that using the IBS perspective could provide
a much-needed comprehensive approach to appreciating and compre-
hending the challenges endured by business and society. The IS studies
focus on the sources of traditional and non-traditional security threats
and their consequences and have expanded the scope of security through
the securitization model. The IB domain examines the phenomenon of
globalization and multinational corporations. The IB scholarly commu-
nity continues to advance institutional perspectives in explaining deci-
sions taken by profit-making organizations. In doing so, IB and
management researchers have accounted mainly for advanced market
firms (AMFs) originating from home countries with robust institutions.
Both disciplines evaluate the problems in the individual, national,
regional, and global realms. Notably, both fields navigate the ever-so-­
challenging geostrategic issues in the Indo-Pacific region, which is home
to a significant portion of current economic activity and future eco-
nomic growth.
The significance of security and political issues has become a popular
topic in IB literature. Global shocks such as the 9/11 terrorist attacks
have provoked the need for research on a systematic theory on the
security-­business nexus (Suder, 2004). The recognition that the IB can-
not exist independently from the global power politics led by the super-
power and the security issues associated with this superpower has also
been set in the IB scholarship. Without exception, business schools and
corporations were called into studying international security, global secu-
rity threats, and geopolitics. More recently, Buckley et al. (2017, 1045)
argue that “IB can play a more constructive and vital role by tackling
expansive topics at the business–societal interface.” Chase-Dunn et al.
(2000), Jones (2007), O’Rourke and Williamson (2014), and Witt
(2019) from the IB discipline agree that politics plays a critical role for
firms and individuals to benefit from technology, transportation, and
communication. Witt (2019, 1054) argues that “the centrality of politics
4 J. Kim and A. Raswant

stems from its role as a key driver of (de-)globalization” and suggests

implications for the IB research. Recently, the IB literature has also shown
interest in the impact of politics and national security policies on multi-
national enterprises (MNEs). In conjunction with stakes in security and
political issues, IB researchers have considered the influence of state con-
trol on firms and their strategic considerations and financial performance
(Aguilera et al., 2021; Wright et al., 2021)
IB studies recently further demonstrate interest in the impact of IS and
global political issues on IB and extended their scope into studying and
applying international political theories to IB research problems. There is
a research trend of explaining the IB phenomenon using IS-related para-
digms such as realism and liberalism. It is pointed out in the IB literature
that major paradigms in international politics, political realism and liber-
alism focus on the nation-state as the primary level of analysis, while
staying away from the influence of international business players, that is,
business sectors, market, and MNEs, on world politics (Luo, 2022).
Meyer and Li use major international relations theory, realism, liberal-
ism, and constructivism, to explain the disruptions in the global econ-
omy (Meyer & Li, 2022). They focus on disruptions such as
anti-globalization populism, divergent national regulatory institutions,
and reduced people mobility and argue that the international relations
paradigms are useful in predicting the disruptions and the capability of
MNEs to influence them in the political process. The realism paradigm
of international relations, for example, views that travel barriers causing
reduced people’s mobility during the global pandemic are driven by polit-
ical power rather than by public health considerations. On the contrary,
the liberalism paradigm explains that travel barriers are instituted by
global health concerns, and multilateral cooperation would minimize the
impact on business. Constructivism, meanwhile, focuses on the role of
perceptions and ideas of risks that drive travel barriers. The disruptions
affect the strategies of multinational enterprises and the role of their for-
eign subsidiaries, and the international relations theories offer views on
the subsidiary scope. It is suggested by Meyer and Li (2022) that MNEs
and their subsidiaries are integral actors in the international relations dis-
cipline. To explain how techno-nationalism constrains IB, Luo (2022)
employs the realism theory of international politics. Techno-nationalism
 1 International Business and Security Perspective 5

brings risks to international business and MNEs by portraying the world

as a zero-sum competition and marginalizing technological interconnec-
tivity, resource complementarity, and the global technology supply chain
(Luo, 2022). Luo views the risks coming from today’s techno-­nationalism
that denounces globalization and advocates imposing restrictions against
technology inflows from and outflows to other countries, which is differ-
ent from traditional techno-nationalism that espoused globalization as a
means to improve local economies.
A factor that has emerged as a challenge to the status quo in interna-
tional security order over the past decade is the rise of China. Since China
became the second-largest economy in the world in 2010 by superseding
Japan which maintained the second-largest economy status over the past
decades, China’s rise has been the subject of theoretical and empirical
debate in both IB and IS scholarships. From the realist perspective in IS,
John Mearsheimer (2001, 401–402) posits that “a wealthy China would
not be a status quo power but an aggressive state determined to achieve
regional hegemony.” On the contrary, questioning what changes the rise
of China has brought to international company strategies, Grosse et al.
(2021) suggest that the rise of China did not cause the decline of global-
ization; in other words, it did not fundamentally alter the existing global
economic order. China’s rising has been affecting the global distribution
of economic and military power and appears to collide with the current
US status as a superpower. However, China claims that it has maintained
its interests in advocating the open economic order and globalization,
and it agrees to the principle of sharing global public goods as a leading
power that encourages other countries in the world to open their econo-
mies as well. This particular view implies that international company
strategies should prioritize managing risk related to policy changes due to
China’s rise rather than achieving the least-cost global supply chains
(Grosse et al., 2021).
Research on the impact of international business activities of MNEs
and the interactions between MNEs, host, and home countries on
national security policies is in demand within the IS literature. Discussions
on economy-driven power politics and geo-economics are some exam-
ples. In history, geo-economics and geopolitics constitute the dimensions
of national grand strategies of great powers (Baracuhy, 2019).
6 J. Kim and A. Raswant

Geo-economics is the term that describes the power politics and rivalry
among countries driven by economic rather than military capability
(Luttwak, 1990). Geo-economics in international security has gained
increasing significance. State-centric analysis of geo-economics, particu-
larly, broadens our understanding of how institutionalized and organized
political powers use a tool of economic means to achieve their political
goals. Theories on economic statecraft result in policy implications of
how effectively political leaders employ economic tools. From a geo-­
economics perspective, Scholvin and Wigell (2019) argue that power and
security are coupled to commanding and manipulating economic ties,
and the economic connectivity binds countries together. Thus, in addi-
tion to military means, economic statecraft with various means such as
sanctions, investment, and trade shapes the new dimension of power
politics. While the role of the economy has increasingly been more stud-
ied in IS literature, the state-centric analysis and implications focusing on
national foreign policy tend to dominate the field, particularly in tradi-
tional security studies. The phenomenon of interstate war also continues
to be the focus of security studies.
Where do IB and IS scholarships intersect? IB research’s primary topics
are firm internationalization and the interactions between MNEs, host,
and home countries. The IB discussion has implications for the diversifi-
cation of IS research’s referent object and expansion of the scope of secu-
rity. IS scholars are interested in three common questions: whose security
(the referent object), security from what (the scope of security), and how
to secure (the approach to security) (Wallis & Carr, 2016). For example,
if the referent object is a country, that is, national level, the scope of secu-
rity is a threat originating from outside the country. The approach to
security results at the national level as well, for instance, increasing
national defense expenditures, adopting foreign and security policies, and
reinforcing interstate diplomacy. The referent objects of the IS literature
further include non-state actors, such as international organizations,
interstate organizations, subnational interest groups, ethnic groups, and
individuals. The scope of security has been extended through the concept
of securitization to economic security, environmental security, and
human security by Buzan et al. (1998), that is, the Copenhagen School
(McSweeney, 1996). The Copenhagen School of security studies is
defined as “an approach broadly consistent with constructivist thought
 1 International Business and Security Perspective 7

that tries to bridge traditional and critical security studies by understand-

ing security as a ‘speech act,’” and securitization refers to the “process by
which issues become part of the security agenda” (Nyman, 2018, 101).
These scopes of security were marginalized in traditional security studies,
nevertheless, are gaining significance as non-traditional security threats
are intensifying and national governments proactively prioritize them.
The IS discussion on the balance of power (Waltz, 1979), the balance
of threat (Walt, 1987), and the balance of interest (Schweller, 1994) adds
value to the IB literature. The IS scholars analyze threats caused by the
imbalance of power, threat, or interest, and the resulting international
security issues, giving direct implications to IB scholars’ research on risks
of firm internationalization. The non-business interruptions and oppor-
tunities of MNEs’ interactions with home and host countries are related
to the common IS questions—“security from what” and “how to secure.”
The IB literature’s interest in political risks grows in the era of uncertainty,
and non-traditional referent objects and scopes of security are rapidly
expanding beyond the traditional security paradigm in the IS literature.
Building on both disciplines’ trends, the book suggests that the interna-
tional business and security nexus is an urgent interdisciplinary inquiry.
Subnational and transnational forces have been influential in shaping
emerging powers like China and India for many years (Duara & Perry,
2018). Municipal governments, international organizations, and local
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have had a critical role in
building a national government’s policy and strategy making. While the
referent objects of the IS studies have enlarged the boundary beyond
national borders, the major IB actors and the role of firms-based initia-
tives are not critical considerations of IS scholars as yet (Luo, 2022). IB
literature provides critical actors, including internationalizing firms, that
have been largely treated peripheral in the study of IS. However, multina-
tional non-state actors, including international firms and entrepreneurs,
are an inseparable part of public diplomacy in addition to traditional
state-to-state relations.
The need for multilevel analysis has come with the increasing complex-
ity of problems that often cross boundaries of related authorities that
coordinate political decisions at different levels (Benz et al., 2021).
Furthermore, diversified challenges, including new kinds of violent con-
flicts, climate change, migration, and pandemics, require multilevel
8 J. Kim and A. Raswant

governance, while multilevel governance does coexist with the security

order in which the major powers, such as the US, China, and Russia, still
aim at shaping hierarchical order within the international system (Lake,
2013). One of the areas where the influence of non-state actors is treated
seriously in traditional, particularly military-related, international secu-
rity research is the study of the gray zone. In terms of multilevel study,
gray zone research stands out in security studies and strategic studies. The
gray zone concept has been applied predominantly in the study of mili-
tary strategy. Scholars define the gray zone concept in various ways. It
refers to the spectrum of competition to be played out primarily below
the threshold of a major war (Morris et al., 2019). According to Morris
et al., the term gray zone is associated with gray zone aggression, coer-
cion, and challenge from two particular countries—China and Russia.
They conclude with a policy implication that Chinese and Russian gray
zone coercion opens the space for the US to rally with its allies and part-
ners to address such threats.
An article published in Special Warfare, the official quarterly magazine
of the U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School
(SWCS), defines gray zone security challenges as “competitive interac-
tions among and within state and non-state actors that fall between the
traditional war and peace duality” (Kapusta, 2015, 20). Therefore, gray
zone challenges are particularly vague in terms of the nature of the con-
flict (why the conflict occurred), the parties involved (who are fighting in
the conflict), and, lastly, the legality question that frames the conflict—
whether the conflict-related actions are legal or illegal. This type of chal-
lenge differs from interstate conflicts in which national defense forces
fight one another in traditional battlefields to seize superiority.

1.2 Structure of the Book

IB and IS scholarships have been actively interacting with each other’s
agendas, and the multilevel analysis in each scholarship has widened the
intersection between them. There has been a growing momentum to
employ an interdisciplinary approach in facilitating critical thinking
among scholars in the rapidly evolving international business and
Another random document with
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considered very humble ones—show virtues quite as valuable. Few etchers are Gof equals,
fewer still go beyond him, in composition of line, in arrangement of light and shade; and as
he firmly possesses this science, it is natural that very many of his plates, and not only one
or two of them, should satisfactorily display it. “Norfolk Bridge, Shoreham”—of which a
reproduction is given here—displays it delightfully. The unity of impression is complete;
the grouping well-nigh faultless—there is the light arch of the bridge and the dark mass of
clustered town behind it; church and houses and timbered sheds set amidst the winding of
tidal waters; muddy shores, from above whose low sky-line there rises now and again the
mast of a fishing-smack.
In “Winchester”—a little plate of great simplicity and reticence—there is the note of a
mood and of an hour, as well as of a place. Behind the flat meadows and the nameless
stream that small trees bend over, there is the long line of the cathedral; and one feels over
all the quiet of Autumn. Not a whit less admirable—a complete and satisfying picture,
wrought with strength and delicacy—is “Pine Trees, Christchurch.” Then there is the peace
of “Itchen Abbas Bridge”—the little dry-point with the mille house, the waving poplar, the
granary, and the slow stream. In another plate, less personal, and perhaps less happy, but
still good, there is the picturesqueness of the Lewes street; in the “Ford, Shoreham,”
complex activity, fullness of theme. In the “South Cone,” the great broad waves that swing
about the base of Brighton Pier, not only suggest the wind and moving waters that the title
implies, but have a certain decorative quality, possible only when the process of “selection”
has been just, and the visible labour somewhat sternly simplified. “The Chain Pier,
Brighton,” combines in high degree the charms of elegance and mystery. See the
foreshortening of the steep, high wall, the delicacy of the Chain Pier and little fleet of
skiffs, the reticent, suggestive touch in those grouped houses by the “Albion.” “Charing
Cross Bridge,” by reason of its subtle arrangement, its victory over difficult material—
more even than the “Métropole,” with the dark cliff of masonry and the lighted lamps along
the Brighton “front”—is perhaps the best of all the several plates which are deliberately
devoted to the treatment of such things as
 COLONEL GOFF. “PINE TREES, CHRISTCHURCH.”

seem prosaic to the person whose poetry is conventional.

Most of Gof plates give proof of thorough draughtsmanship, to the discerning; though
nowhere is such draughtsmanship paraded or made obvious. In one most recent plate,
however, devoted to a subject of which the inartistic, unimaginative mind, and the
insensitive hand, would have made mere pattern—I mean the etching of the bared boughs
of a weird apple tree—the draughtsmanship is, of necessity, and happily, conspicuous. But
the thing is not pattern at all, and though we follow with delight the intricate line, there is
the charm of an impression as well as the fidelity of a record. There is accent about the
etching; emphasis, vitality; an atmosphere plays, as it were, amongst the boughs; the tree is
not the tree only, but a part of Nature and the day.
Gœthe said to that disciple to whom he most fully unveiled himself,—to the privileged
Eckermann,—“All my poems are ‘occasional’ poems.” In that resided their freshness, and
Gœthe knew it well. “All my etchings are ‘occasional’ etchings,” could be said by nearly
every fine etcher, too wise to set forth upon the picturesque tour with the deliberate
resolution to perpetrate particular prints. For the art of etching, if it is to yield you its
peculiar charm, must have been exercised—I cannot say this thing too often—only upon
spontaneous promptings. There are very few exceptions. Méryon himself—that greatest
genius, perhaps, in original engraving whom our Nineteenth Century has known, and one
of the most elaborate of artists,—was not really an exception; for, slow as his work must
have been, the unity of impression preserved throughout so long a labour—the original
impulse—was there, which the circumstance created. The spontaneity is essential. And few
men better than Colonel Goff have executed spontaneous work with the resources of a
firmly-held knowledge.
D. Y. CAMERON. “BORDER TOWERS.”
D. Y. CAMERON. “THE PALACE,
STIRLING CASTLE.”
D. Y. CAMERON. “WINDMILLS, ZANDAAM.”
 XVIII.

CAMERON.

T HE amateur has had the opportunity of looking lately a good deal at the prints of a
young Scottish artist, Mr. D. Y. Cameron, who has himself, to do him justice, looked
long and much at the prints of the masters. Though young, he has already been prolific,
and has wrought not only many plates, but in various methods. Of course, I like his work as
against that of men who, however gifted in other mediums of expression, are not essentially
etchers. For Mr. Cameron is essentially an etcher—a fine engraver on the copper, above all
things. Yet I cannot feel that any great proportion of his work, thus far, has quite enough
originality or freedom; and if he is to live and last as an original engraver—as I believe he
may—he will have to acquire these virtues in yet larger measure. Meanwhile, here are a
few comments on certain of the best of his most studiously wrought pieces, of which even
the least attractive do not lack a workmanlike accomplishment.
“The Arch,” a composition of curious shape—a tall, narrow plate—is a performance of
solidity and brightness, although it shows that Mr. Cameron is apt to finish to the corners
with a thoroughness too uniform or obvious—to be, indeed, like Mr. C. J. Watson, a little
too positive and too material. In the “Flower Market,” with its fleeting lights and shades, he
leaves in part this positiveness. He makes an interesting experiment, but, after all, recalls
the theme to which he addresses himself, only enough to assure you that the experiment has
not been made in the medium that is fittest for it. “Colour, colour, colour!” you say. “The
Palace, Stirling”—a dark forbidding interior—has certainly about it a grim Celtic
imagination, and is individual in that. The oppositions of light and shade are at once
strongly marked and skilful—their distribution quite successfully studied—in “White
Horse Close.” “The Dolphins” (1892) is full of vigour and vitality. Even better, perhaps, is
“St. John Street, Stirling;” because its draughtsmanship is at once freer and more hesitating
—not fixed and petrified, that is, but trembling with the semblance of life. And in the
background of “A Rembrandt Farm,” Mr. Cameron has wonderful reminiscences, both of
the maste touch and of his way of looking at the wide-stretched landscape that he cared for
the most. Nor does the plate suffer perhaps from being for once a deliberate imitation,
successfully accomplished. Yet I admire Mr. Cameron more—my hope for his Future is
more certain—when I hold in my hand a good impression of his “Border Towers”—a
composition of his own North country—a thing in which the inspiration has been very
personal, and the fine work of detail has been obtained at no sacrifice of noble breadth.
 XIX.

PENNELL.

M R. PENNELL is an extremely clever, energetic, dexterous American, who has found

profitable employment in our English land. He has shown himself to be a ready
journalist in draughtsmanship. Drawing architecture and the scenes of the street, he
has produced not a little art that is at once popular and tolerable; and he has even written
about Art, dealing sometimes with far profounder people than his own order of mind
permits him thoroughly to fathom. “Critic,” therefore, I cannot call him, but able
draughtsman, in a limited field, he unquestionably is.
A somewhat small proportion of Mr. Pennel work has consisted of etching, and in this
he has shown, first, it appears, the influence of Seymour Haden, and next, the influence of
Whistler. Had he but brought a personality to be enriched and fructified by great traditions!
That, however, has been denied him; and, possessed
 JOSEPH PENNELL. “LE PUY EN VELAY.”

well of the grammar of his art, and of some of the best of its methods, he yet, as his own
work reveals him, is, at times, uninteresting, since he is always unimaginative. Vista he has
none. Yet, how good can his work be when the subject comes easily to help him! Nor is
that seldom. The plate of “Le Puy en Velay,” of which I give a reproduction, and which I
like so much, recalls a noble Dürer background—takes our thoughts to those great elder
masters who, from certain remarks that he has made about them, I judge that Mr. Pennell
scarcely likes at all. It is the irony of circumstance.
 XX.

MENPES.

T HOUGH Mr. Mortimer Menpes had etched not a few coppers before he gave us the
long series which recorded his impressions of Japan—and though, no doubt, he has
etched from time to time since then—it is by the forty plates which constitute that
Japanese set that he establishes his best claim to be regarded as an artist, serious and
interesting. Traces of the Whistlerian vision, if not of the Whistlerian method, are
perceptible in these memoranda of the people and the theatre, and of the long and low-built
towns that stretch themselves sometimes along the edge of sleeping waters. But the art of
Mr. Menpes is not all of it derivative. Something there is that is of himself alone, in the
impression received and in the manner of its registration. He has economy of means, and
yet abundance of resource. He is not merely a draughtsman
 MORTIMER MENPES. “JAPANESE
GIRLS.”

who has chosen to etch: he is an etcher whose feeling for the capacity of his particular
medium has in it much that is instinctive.
 XXI.

RAVEN-HILL.

M R. RAVEN-HILL—the artist who adds piquancy to comic newspapers—is little known

as an etcher; but his work upon the copper is delicate, rightly precise and rightly free—it
is in the best etche manner—and if it is as yet so little recognized, that is only because it
is so scanty and has been so seldom exhibited. From several points of view the small array of
Mr. Raven-Hil etched work is interesting and valuable; it is, almost invariably, observant
record and admirable craftsmanship; and not the least legitimate of its sources of interest lies
in the fact that in it the presence of the refined artist, as distinct from that of the smart comic
illustrator, is markedly asserted. Hereafter it may be that Mr. Raven-Hill will choose to etch,
and to etch ably, scenes from the life of which, in other mediums, he has been, deservedly, a
popular exponent. Tom, Dick, and Harry—Harriet,

L. RAVEN-HILL. “THE WANDLE RIVER.”

too, by all means—will then have their day upon the copper, nor will clown and cabotin be
left out of the account. But, hitherto, the best of Mr. Raven-Hil few etchings record scenes
Whistler might have chosen, and do so with a touch and choice of line which, it may well be,
that master might not desire to disown.
 XXII.

MACBETH AND HERKOMER AND AXEL HAIG.

S O much said, and yet nothing said of men a dozen times more popular than the generally
single-minded etchers are wont to be, of whom in chief I have spoken. But to the large
public, Macbeth and Herkomer and Axel Haig appeal without need of introduction—
Macbeth and Haig appeal especially by treatment, and Herkomer especially by subject.
Herkome theme is generally a dramatic one, and into it he introduces such obvious interest of
line and of expression as may be found in a woman with the picturesqueness of age, a man
comely and vigorous, a girl with Anne Pag “eyes of youth.” Mr. Herkomer has a story to tell
us—sometimes the story of a life as it is told in portraiture, and he tells it with no absence of
ability. But attractive as he well may be, clever as he most surely is, he rarely reaches
exquisiteness; nor is there reason to think that the plate, the needle, and the aquafortis
constitute in any special way his proper
 HUBERT HERKOMER, R.A. “GWENDYDD.”

medium. Still, one who is, as everybody knows, so spirited and energetic an artist—the author
of so many a valiant experiment, the winner of an occasional triumph in the art of Painting,
from the day of the “Pensioners” to the day of the “Burgomasters”—can be a graceful
sketcher on the copper, when he likes, or from time to time, at all events.
Robert Macbet inventive work in etching does not want originality; but it is not the
originality of an etcher, in method or vision of the world, but rather the originality of his own
painted pictures. These, or the effects of them, elaborate and interesting, he reproduces, as far
as may be, in the print. For nearly twenty years he has, from time to time, etched his own
conceptions, and during much of this long period the public has surely benefited by his able,
dexterous translations of great or charming masters, from Velasquez to Mason. A certain
proportion of his original work upon the copper was performed—and not indeed unnaturally
—before Mr. Macbeth became familiar with the technical resources of the craft. Thus, the
“Potato Harvest”—an interesting subject, and treated, as to its composition, very
characteristically—is, as an etching, grey and colourless. “The Cambridgeshire Ferry” (of
1881), with that free, swinging, rustic girl he likes to paint, has excellent points about it, and
would be called “important” by a dealer. Later, “A Cast Shoe” is luminous as well as
elaborate. “Flora”—a print of 1882—is very spirited and rich, and has the sentiment of the
morning. But I am not sure whether the purist in the etche art would not like most of all the
rapid and indicative sketch of “A Flood in the Fens.” It is a slight study, with the rare note of
action and of tragedy—a free dramatic record.
Mr. Axel Haig, the third of these popular and long accepted artists, has no painted pictures
by whose method he may be inspired—he is unlike Robert Macbeth in this respect—but his
able etchings of architectural subjects are nearly all of them, nevertheless, finished up to the
corners. So much is actually set forth, with such elaborate and skilled pains—all the work
being perfectly evident, no labour of omission having been undertaken, and little labour of
choice—that the imagination of the spectator has hardly a chance of exercising itself. His
intelligence, alas! is well-nigh unnecessary. And yet, as you look at the long record of
buildings whose aspect has been grasped and presented by Mr. Haig with diligence and skill,
you must respect, in the artist, much of his craftsmanship, and his great German quality of
untiring and sagacious effort.
E. A. ARMSTRONG (STANHOPE-FORBES).
“THE OPEN WINDOW.”
 XXIII.

SOME OTHER ETCHERS.

I CANNOT pretend that the artistic individuality of Elizabeth Armstrong and Minna
Bolingbroke (now Mrs. Stanhope Forbes and Mrs. C. J. Watson) is yet sufficiently marked
to allow either to be the subject of a critical essay; but in the record of an Art in which—as
in so many others—it seems generally to be decreed to women, “Thus far, and no further,” it
is useful and satisfactory to note the closeness of observation and the skill of hand possessed
by these two ladies. In Miss Armstrong the world some time ago recognized a particularly
dainty draughtswoman; and the little print which is submitted here as an example of her talent,
is a refined Genre picture. To Genre, too, belongs that which, so far as I have had the
opportunity of knowing, is the happiest effort of Miss Bolingbroke. It is singularly good; the
subject chosen pluckily, where only a Modern would have ventured to find it; and then the
theme pictorially conceived, in the true etche spirit—this admirable little dry-point is a vision
of the factory, broad, luminous, and rich. One or two other dry-points by the same artist—dry-
points of plump birds, and live stock of the farmyard—suggest the possibility that in her quest
for themes Miss Bolingbroke may follow in the track of a great Frenchman, and may meet
with a success akin to some extent to that of Bracquemon masterpiece, “Le Haut n battant de
Porte.”
Mr. Percy Thomas—a graceful draughtsman of ancient English buildings, and of the
incidents of the River—must be reckoned almost as of the Old Guard, amongst the etchers of
the present generation. He etched before Etching became fashionable; and now that he has
long been beset with friendly and accomplished rivalry, he yet proceeds to make additions to
the bulk, and perhaps even to the range, of his labours. An inequality more marked than any
we are wont to perceive in the work of an important master, tells, perhaps, to some extent,
against his position. And though his manner is often pretty, and is generally refined, it is but
seldom distinguished. He has worked, it may be, too much, and, it may be, not always in
obedience to the spontaneous prompting. Yet his methods
M. BOLINGBROKE. “AT THE
LOOM.”
 PERCY THOMAS. “DORKING.”

have ever been legitimate, and he has attained grace. His “Dorking”—with its long
perspective of the sunny street in some hour of the summer afternoon—is a piece of agreeable
and capable, and even of elaborate, sketching; and his “Old Lighthouse, Hastings”—one of
the most entirely satisfactory of his coppers—has the charm of an admirable composition
conveyed by simple and certain means.
Among the other aquafortists practising from time to time amongst us—not to speak of
the more recent of the promising recruits to the Society of Painter-Etchers, who have yet to
make their history—mention should not be altogether omitted of Mr. W. L. Wyllie, whose
popular marine subjects need evoke no opposition, even where, as exhibitions of the etche art,
they scarcely deserve to attract.
Again, there is Dr. Arthur Evershed, a ready and sensitive draughtsman with the needle,
whose “Marsh Farm” is only one out of a score of evidences of his refined enjoyment of the
quiet lines of uneventful lowland landscape. Sir Charles Robinson and Dr. Propert need by no
means be forgotten. Mr. J. P. Heseltine has not perhaps exhibited much of late; but he, as long
ago as when he wrought that series of Etchings Mrs. Noseda published—it was some twenty
years since—gave ample proof of his placid, sympathetic observation of the ordinary land,
and of his ability to record the charm he was not tardy in feeling. The etched work of Mr.
Holmes May is, most of it, I think, more recent. It is a vigorous, independent sketching of
landscape. It notes tree-form with energy and sky effects with refinement.
That potent, brilliant, but eccentric Spaniard, fashionable naturally among the younger
men for his unquestioned audacity of talent—I mean, of course, Goya—has been, it would
appear, the chief inspirer of a few clever prints done recently by Mr. Rothenstein, in frank,
fantastic illustration of Voltair “Pucelle rléans.” In Mr. Rothenstei few things—too few as yet
to permit us to really judge him as an etcher—we see, along with some inventiveness which is
the artis own, not only Goy style, but Goy method—an effective, dexterous mingling of the
etched line with aquatint.
Again, the Whistlerian spirit finds appropriate expression in the vivacious prints of Mr.
Walter Sickert and of Monsieur Roussel—many of them engaging, interesting, and
unconcealed impromptus, towards which any word of adverse criticism would be but ill-
addressed. And, lastly, ere I turn to treat at greater length the work of one who is a born
etcher, and an etcher

W. HOLMES MAY. “SUNRISE IN WALES.”