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4. Constructivism and foreign policy
Abstract
This chapter examines the basic assumptions and foreign policy relevance of constructivism. Using European security as an illustrative example, it shows that constructivism is a valuable tool not only for understanding foreign policy, but also as a guide for prescribing foreign policy. The chapter first explains what constructivism is, outlining the constructivist view that anarchy exists in different forms with major implications for how agents act. It then considers some of the main propositions and conceptual tools of constructivism, with particular emphasis on its arguments regarding identity, social construction, rules, and practice. It also analyses constructivism’s alternative understandings of NATO’s role after the end of the Cold War and in present-day European security. It asserts that theory is important in foreign policy making — including constructivism — because different theories imply different policies and may make alternative policy options visible which would otherwise easily have been overlooked.
... El constructivismo brinda una aproximación alternativa a conceptos centrales dentro de las RRII como la anarquía, identidad e intereses (Onuf, 1989;Wendt, 1992). Hace énfasis en su construcción social, los procesos y la relación entre estructura y agencia (Flockhart, 2012;Hurd, 2008). Alejándose de la tradición realistas y liberal de las RRII, los constructivistas consideran que el agente 5 y la estructura son un conjunto inseparable y, por ende, no se le debe dar prioridad a uno sobre el otro (Kubálková, 2001a, p. 19). ...
... Particularmente, el constructivismo ayuda a comprender la forma en que las identidades y las preferencias de los Estados se construyen socialmente, por qué cambian y cómo dichos cambios afectan la política global. La identidad determina cuáles son los intereses del Estado y sus preferencias en un conjunto de acciones posibles y, quiénes son los "otros" y, cuáles y cómo son sus relaciones interestatales (Flockhart, 2012;Hopf, 1998). Así, los Estados perciben a los otros de acuerdo a la identidad que le atribuyen y la reflejan a través de su práctica estatal (Hopf, 1998): "states act differently toward enemies than they do toward friends because enemies are threatening and friends are not" (Wendt, 1992, p. 397). ...
... Así, los Estados perciben a los otros de acuerdo a la identidad que le atribuyen y la reflejan a través de su práctica estatal (Hopf, 1998): "states act differently toward enemies than they do toward friends because enemies are threatening and friends are not" (Wendt, 1992, p. 397). Por lo anterior, la construcción de identidades no se entiende exclusivamente a partir de las fuerzas materiales, también deben abordarse los factores ideacionales (Flockhart, 2012;Hurd, 2008). ...
El Análisis de Política Exterior (en adelante APE) representa un área de estudio importante y especializada en la disciplina de las Relaciones Internacionales (Hudson, 2002, 2012). Busca identificar a través de diferentes niveles de análisis, teorías y estudios de caso, los factores y procesos que inciden en la toma de decisiones en materia de política exterior de los Estados. Los trabajos pioneros se enfocaron en: procesos de toma de decisión (Snyder, Bruck, & Sapin, 1954), el contexto de la política exterior (Sprout & Sprout, 1956) y, en la Política Exterior Comparada (Rosenau, 1966). Desde entonces, las principales investigaciones del APE se han centrado en: procesos cognitivos, la personalidad de los líderes, dinámicas de grupos pequeños, procesos organizacionales y burocráticos, la cultura, la agenda doméstica, los atributos de los Estados y los efectos del sistema internacional (Halperin & Clapp, 2006; Hudson, 2007, 2012; Neack, 2019).
... El constructivismo brinda una aproximación alternativa a conceptos centrales dentro de las RRII como la anarquía, identidad e intereses (Onuf, 1989;Wendt, 1992). Hace énfasis en su construcción social, los procesos y la relación entre estructura y agencia (Flockhart, 2012;Hurd, 2008). Alejándose de la tradición realistas y liberal de las RRII, los constructivistas consideran que el agente 5 y la estructura son un conjunto inseparable y, por ende, no se le debe dar prioridad a uno sobre el otro (Kubálková, 2001a, p. 19). ...
... Particularmente, el constructivismo ayuda a comprender la forma en que las identidades y las preferencias de los Estados se construyen socialmente, por qué cambian y cómo dichos cambios afectan la política global. La identidad determina cuáles son los intereses del Estado y sus preferencias en un conjunto de acciones posibles y, quiénes son los "otros" y, cuáles y cómo son sus relaciones interestatales (Flockhart, 2012;Hopf, 1998). Así, los Estados perciben a los otros de acuerdo a la identidad que le atribuyen y la reflejan a través de su práctica estatal (Hopf, 1998): "states act differently toward enemies than they do toward friends because enemies are threatening and friends are not" (Wendt, 1992, p. 397). ...
... Así, los Estados perciben a los otros de acuerdo a la identidad que le atribuyen y la reflejan a través de su práctica estatal (Hopf, 1998): "states act differently toward enemies than they do toward friends because enemies are threatening and friends are not" (Wendt, 1992, p. 397). Por lo anterior, la construcción de identidades no se entiende exclusivamente a partir de las fuerzas materiales, también deben abordarse los factores ideacionales (Flockhart, 2012;Hurd, 2008). ...
El manual que el lector tiene en sus manos constituye una herramienta fundamental para estudiar la Ciencia Política y las Relaciones Internacionales. Recoge el trabajo del equipo docente de la Escuela de Política y Relaciones Internacionales de la Universidad Sergio Arboleda. El texto hace parte de una iniciativa institucional que busca promover publicaciones que faciliten el aprendizaje de los alumnos de pregrado y posgrado en diversos temas de su formación académica.
... This is argued along the theoretical lines of international relations (IR) scholarship that focus on the ideational role of small states in the post-Cold War international political economy (see Bishop, 2012, pp. 942-960;Flockhart, 2016). Current literature agrees that the UN climate negotiations have been influenced by small island diplomacy (Ashe, Lieropb, & Ashe, 1999;Betzold, 2015, Betzold et al., 2012Grecequet et al., 2017;Parry, Canziani, Palutikof, Linden, & Hanson, 2007;UN, 2010;UNFCCC, 2005). ...
... Constructivist ideas can be utilized in a methodological context to explain the climate politics of SIDS. The underlying notion is that ideas can have a causal power to shape foreign policy purposes of states and influence structural changes (Blyth, 2002;Flockhart, 2016;Wendt, 1992). Ideas generated, shared and agreed between actors (or states) can shape their political and policy interests, and (re) construct their policy structures. ...
... This ideational process can establish the UN climate system as a social construction or an intersubjective structure of climate foreign policy of negotiating states. This forms a process of temporal interplay between states involving continuous exchange of climate foreign policy interests (see Flockhart, 2016). This means that despite the pre-existing institutional conditions, ideas tend to shape interests as they are shared among negotiating states during the processes of dispute resolution, crisis management and policymaking. ...
This article is about small island developing states (SIDS) and their role in the United Nations (UN) climate negotiations. It presents a discussion about how a constructivist model of foreign policy analysis and international system design can be used to explain the impact of climate ideas of SIDS on UN climate system. The SIDS have been in the UN climate negotiations since the 1980s, committed to a climate agenda with clear ideas about the challenges they face and the type of solutions they seek from the international policy community. In this respect, this article seeks to explain that climate ideas shared among SIDS have established an intersubjective understanding to promote a compelling common voice at international climate negotiations, which is based on an island vulnerability identity. These ideas have shaped the policy thinking and interests of climate negotiators to design institutional frameworks that have given special consideration to SIDS. It concludes that this observation represents a disproportionate impact of SIDS. Despite the weak material powers for being small islands, their climate agenda has influenced the UN system design to address their concerns.
... Fluctuaciones de política exterior en tiempos de transición y crisis identitaria: instrumento de evaluación El interés nacional se construye en función de la identidad de un Estado (Finnemore, 1996) y los factores identitarios de sus representantes, como sus tradiciones, historia, cultura, normas y emociones, juegan un rol importante en la toma de decisiones de política exterior (Flockhart, 2012;Mintz y DeRouen, 2010). No obstante, la diversidad, la heterogeneidad social, la geografía, la multiculturalidad y la plurinacionalidad parecen haber impactado en la consolidación de la identidad del Estado ecuatoriano hasta nuestros días. ...
... Las transformaciones usualmente tienen lugar cuando existe un "evento disruptivo" en el que "las estructuras existentes y los conceptos compartidos lucen inadecuados ante la nueva situación" (Flockhart, 2012, p. 89). Es ante dicho escenario que se deben adquirir nuevas formas de estructura e identidad, y es donde Flockhart (2012) sugiere que es el agente, el hacedor de política exterior, quien tiene la capacidad de llevar a cabo un cambio intencional para plantear nuevas identidades e intereses frente a una situación desconocida. ...
El capítulo hace una valoración de los balances de potenciales militares entre Colombia y Venezuela para hacer posteriormente un análisis de las razones por las que una confrontación militar directa o indirecta para propiciar una transición política del régimen en Venezuela, puede no ser la mejor idea. En tal sentido se formulan recomendaciones militares, políticas y económicas en el marco del contexto dictatorial venezolano
... The theory is, therefore, a fundamental framework for understanding the mechanisms of policy processes and the role of stakeholders. Flockhart (2016) identifies four key constructivist propositions: ...
Ethical guidelines and policy documents destined to guide AI innovations have been heralded as the solution to guard us against harmful effects or to increase public value. However, these guidelines and policy documents face persistent challenges. While these documents are often criticized for their abstraction and disconnection from real-world contexts, it also occurs that stakeholders may influence them for political or strategic reasons. While this last issue is frequently acknowledged, there is seldom a means or a method provided to explore it. To address this gap, the paper employs a combination of social constructivism and science & technology studies perspectives, along with desk research, to investigate whether prior research has examined the influence of stakeholder interests, strategies, or agendas on guidelines and policy documents. The study contributes to the discourse on AI governance by proposing a theoretical framework and methodologies to better analyze this underexplored area, aiming to enhance comprehension of the policymaking process within the rapidly evolving AI landscape. The findings underscore the need for a critical evaluation of the methodologies found and a further exploration of their utility. In addition, the results aim to stimulate ongoing critical debates on this subject.
... A diferencia de otras teorías de las Relaciones Internacionales, el constructivismo no ofrece soluciones a los problemas existentes en el sistema internacional, ni aborda las razones detrás de ciertas acciones llevadas a cabo por actores estatales y no estatales. No obstante, sigue siendo una teoría sistémica que conjuga la relevancia de la estructura, la realidad y el discurso en el campo (Flockhart, 2008). El constructivismo surge de las teorías críticas y los enfoques posmodernos en las Relaciones Internacionales, lo que explica su naturaleza descriptiva. ...
La investigación aborda la complejidad de conflictos contemporáneos, centrándose en la detonación de la guerra ruso-ucraniana de 2022. Utilizando los abordajes de la Escuela de Análisis de Política Exterior, se aplica una metodología empírico-descriptiva para conectar la teoría con el caso práctico. Se fusionan enfoques constructivistas con modelos de Análisis de Política Exterior, como Identidad Social y Modelo Conductista, para analizar las políticas exteriores. El Enfoque de Guerra de Distracción y el Modelo Burocrático exploran la influencia de construcciones identitarias y el control social. El Enfoque de Gran Estrategia y Modelo Organizacional evalúan la eficiencia histórica de las políticas exteriores.
... The core assumption underlying the school of constructivism emphasises that the world is a "coming into being" rather than a pre-given entity [6,16]. In this way, states, through interactions with each other, form their respective understandings and interpretations of social realities, e.g., distinguishing between "friends" and "enemies", identifying themselves as belonging to a particular group, and differentiating who are "others" [6,[17][18][19]. ...
The traditional interrelation of theories in the discipline of International Relations (IR) could essentially be deemed as one of tension, which has arguably trumped the academic development of the discipline by impeding theories from dialoguing with each other. Fortunately, following the promotion of theoretical pluralism by scholars, a pathway towards the harmonious consolidation of theories has potentially been constructed. This essay appreciates the value of theoretical pluralism to IR and henceforth aims to further promote its ideas in the discipline. It makes this case by empirically demonstrating the utility of theoretical pluralism in IR through the case of realism and constructivism. It shows that while the two theories are both unable to provide a comprehensive account of state behaviour if applied in perfect isolation, they can nevertheless jointly form a more comprehensive account of state behaviour if dialogued under the light of pluralist ideas.
... This debate gained importance in IR with the rise of social constructivism and the assumption that foreign policy is the result of the individual ideas, as well as institutional actors' cultures and normative structures that influenced the socio-cultural dynamics of decision-making (Smith 2001;Houghton 2007;Flockhart 2016;Mendes 2020a). The A-S problem allowed IR and foreign policy analysis (FPA) to deepen inquiries into ontological and epistemological questions about the world's constituent elements and the best ways of studying them (Onuf 1989;Dessler 1989;Wendt 1999;Klotz and Lynch 2007). ...
This article examines the dialectical relationship between continuity and change in the foreign policy of the United States, a hegemonic power. The article begins by exploring the agent-structure problem and the factors that affect changes in foreign policy and the legitimacy of hegemony. It compares the hegemonic leadership styles of three former United States Presidents: George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump. The article aims to contrast the foreign policy approaches of the three presidents and present two main arguments. In order to gain a comprehensive understanding of foreign policy, it is imperative to analyse dynamic components such as contextual factors and leadership. This includes the leaders' worldviews and their ability to adapt to unanticipated crises. The gradual decline of the United States' hegemony in the international order can be attributed to structural transformations within the international order and the erosion of its social capital and its role as hegemon. Yet, the leadership styles adopted by American presidents have a significant impact on the erosion of the nation's hegemonic leadership.
... El tercer supuesto es la consecuencia de lo anterior: la anarquía del sistema internacional es una construcción que, como sugiere Wendt (1999), podría ser superada con una cultura de cooperación entre los actores de la política internacional, en este caso entre los Estados. Por tanto, conceptos como identidad, normas y factores culturales son centrales para un enfoque constructivista en el APE (Flockhart 2012), sobre todo por su rol en la construcción del interés nacional que es fundamental para la construcción y ejecución de la política exterior (Weldes 1996). ...
... For long, the CP literature studying the influence of populism on policy-making has failed to consider the foreign policy domain while, by contrast, migration or more recently health have received attention (Schain 2006;Zaslove 2012;van Ostaijen and Scholten 2014;Albertazzi and McDonnell 2015;Falkenbach and Greer 2018;Lasco 2020). On its part, the IR literature had largely ignored the populist phenomenon altogether, including the liberal and constructivist works studying, respectively, domestic preference formation and ideational factors (Doyle 2016;Flockhart 2016). ...
... Esto puede apreciarse hoy en día con la paz separada (Doyle, 2016:59) Un ejemplo clásico del análisis constructivista de política exterior es el caso de la OTAN, los realistas habían dado por muerta cualquier iniciativa de este tipo una vez concluida la Guerra Fría y los liberales únicamente abordaron los ideales y su influencia en la acción política. Sin embargo, este no ha sido el caso y la institución lleva más de 20 años en pie, este acontecimiento -finalización de la Guerra Fríapermitió a la OTAN generar una nueva identidad, nuevas prácticas especialmente en el aspecto del conocimiento compartido (Flockhart, 2016). ...
Esta investigación analiza la toma de decisión en dos eventos de la Política Exterior de Estados Unidos en Afganistán, el inicio de la guerra en 2001 y la escalada en 2009. Se utilizará la Teoría Poliheurística considerando que abarca elementos teóricos de los dos enfoques prominentes del análisis de la toma de decisiones en Política Exterior, racional y cognitivo. El énfasis de la teoría en el método no compensatorio de decisión permite profundizar en las opciones que fueron presentadas para los presidentes Bush y Obama, que son los principales tomadores de decisión. Se presenta el círculo de asesores y su relación con el presidente, esto aporta un elemento de influencia previo a la decisión.
Se utiliza una matriz donde se comparan las dimensiones y opciones, que serán política, militar y diplomática como dimensiones junto a las 3 opciones generadas por los asesores. Esta metodología permite claridad en el análisis de los resultados, que tendrán sus respectivas características ya que el contexto de las decisiones es diferente. La comprensión de los estilos de liderazgo brinda elementos complementarios a la decisión, junto a su visión del mundo y valores como determinantes psicológicos, esto complementa el análisis y balance de las opciones desde una óptica racional que busca la máxima utilidad. Se pretende evaluar si dentro de la información que tenían disponible, tomaron la mejor decisión posible. El análisis provee herramientas teóricas para futuros análisis de Política Exterior, al considerar tanto el proceso, los actores como el resultado haciéndolo más completo.
... 12 In light of space limitations, this section focuses on neorealism (or structural realism), "conventional" constructivism (Hopf, 1998) and liberalism, arguably the most prominent systemic IR theories. 13 Although primarily designed to explain general patterns of state interaction (Waltz 1996;Wendt 1999, p. 11), scholars have used, or argued for the use of, systemic theories to try to explain foreign policy (Baumann et al. , 1999;Elman, 1996;Flockhart, 2012;Houghton, 2007;Mearsheimer, 2001;Rittberger, 2001;Wivel, 2005). Although a rejection of systemic theories' utility for foreign policy studies per se seems premature, they do have significant problems with the inclusion of non-state actors. ...
The rise of non-state (international, private, and transnational) actors in global politics has far-reaching consequences for foreign policy theory and practice. In order to remain able to explain foreign policy also in the 21 st century, foreign policy research needs to take into account the growing importance of nonstate actorss. A good way to do this would be to engage the literature on globalization and global governance. Both fields would benefit from such an exchange of ideas because their respective strengths could cancel out each other's weaknesses. Foreign policy research on one hand has a strong track record explaining foreign policy outcomes, using a broad range of theoretical concepts but almost completely ignores non-state actors. This is highly problematic for at least two reasons: Firstly, foreign policy is increasingly made in international organizations and intergovernmental and transnational governance networks instead of national institutions like foreign ministries. Secondly, also the latter increasingly open up to, and involve, non-state actors in their policymaking procedures. Thus, if foreign policy research wants to avoid becoming marginalized in the future, it needs to take into account this change. However, especially systemic approaches like neorealism or constructivism have difficulties adapting to the new reality of foreign policy. Not only do they explicitly stress the importance of states at the expense of non-state actors, which are only of marginal interest to them, as is global governance. Moreover, they also conceptualize states unitary actors which forecloses the possibility of examining the involvement of non-state actors in states' decision-making processes. Agency-based approaches such as Foreign Policy Analysis (FPA) fare much better, at least in principle. FPA scholars stress the improtance of disaggregating the state and looking at the individuals and group dynamics that influence their decision making. However, while this commitment to opening up the state allows fro a great deal more flexibility vis-à-vis different types of actors, FPA research has so far remained state-centric and only very recently turned to non-state actors. On the other hand, non-state actors' involvement in policymaking is the strongsuit of the literature on globalization and global governance, which has spent a lot time and effort analyzing various forms of " hybrid " governance. At the same time, however, this literature has been rather descriptive, so far mainly systematizing different governance arrangements and the conditions under which non-state actors are included in governance arrangements. This literature could profit from foreign policy research's rich theoretical knowledge in explaining policy outcomes in hybrid governance networks and IOs. Foreign policy researchers should take non-state actors seriously. In this regard three avenues in particular are relevant for future research : (1) comparative empirical research to establish the extent of non-state actors' participation in foreign policymaking across different countried and governance arrangements (2) explanatory studies that analyze the conditions under which non-2 state actors are involved in states' foreign policymaking processes and (3) the normative implications of increased hybrid foreign policymaking for democratic legitimacy.
Why are certain state actors actively promoting their cultural and historical heritage to others?. While many scholars in the field of international relations (IR) often stress the importance of national interest in understanding a state or country's behaviour, IR is a multifaceted field that cannot be fully comprehended from a single perspective. Therefore, this article explores the significance of culture and history within international relations by examining key concepts of Constructivism, an IR theory, with Johor, a prominent southern state of Malaysia, as a case study. The primary objective of this article is to explore the Constructivism perspective on the role of Johor's culture and history in its international relations. Additionally, the article comprehensively discusses the role of the Johor Heritage Foundation (JHF), a statutory body under the state government, in preserving the culture and history of this state. For findings, Johor through JHF is a significant state which highly emphasized on the importance of culture and history within its rapid development. The qualitative methodology and relevant themes were analysed and categorised to illustrate the different components of the role of Johor's culture and history within international relations from the perspective of Constructivism.
This article's primary objective is to answer the question of what is the semantic language of identity and interests of Turkey and Georgia. In addition, it analyzes the connotative quotes that were exchanged between the two countries during diplomatic visits. Because the article concentrated on the remarks that were stressed during visits and meetings that took place between the years 2002 and 2022, it was necessary to search through 150 news on civil.ge site and filter down to 35 news before applying the content analysis. The AntConc corpus analysis was used to comprehend the nature of the political conversation between both countries. According to the findings, the constructivism of the core theme that claims states view each other via identity through interaction was verified. The purpose of the research is to contribute to the study of the identities and interests of Georgia and Turkey who are good neighbors.
The purpose of this study is to analyze the relationship between Islam and ideology through the thoughts and works of Ayatollah Khomeini and Hassan al-Banna, who led Islamic movements with their writings and ideas. Ayatollah Khomeini, in his Revolution, garnered the support of the religious community by utilizing the resources of Shia theology, while he owed the support of the secular community to his strong stance against the Shah through his actions. In the process leading to the Revolution, Khomeini constructed societal opposition through religious concepts, and his post-revolutionary efforts to export the regime are operated through the system of guardianship of the jurist (Walayat-i Faqih) that he established. Hassan al-Banna, on the other hand, contributed institutionally through the Muslim Brotherhood organization and theoretically through his conferences and books, by developing the line of thought of renewal movements in religious thinking, represented by figures like Afghani, Abduh, and Rashid Rida. His evaluation of Islam as a "system" in his works has led to the interpretation of Islam as an ideology and the direct establishment of a connection between Islamic identity and ideology. Both thinkers' endeavors, primarily conducted in the name of "Islamic" ideals during their respective eras, have transformed into ideologies that propel the movements of subsequent religious groups.
This article explores the evolution of the ‘Indo-Pacific’ as a concept and geopolitical social construct. Since 2007, the concept has been framed predominatly to fit the geostrategic concerns of global North powers, however, contrary to this slant taken by an array of recent Indo-Pacific strategies, the concept itself is historically rooted in ideas of anti-colonial politics, social justice, developmentalism and cooperation. Regional Security Complex (RSC) theory is applied as a useful conceptual framework and demonstrates how security problems and concerns are intimately tied to others and is thereby relational. Indeed such a theory will need to increasingly account for ocean regions, away from a terra-centric focus. Finally the article explores the role of political geography. While the security complex in this mega-region is defined by particular states, the physical boundaries remain open to interpretation, based on a state’s view of itself and its geography, as well as how it makes sense and projects its changing interests. It is for these menrtioned reasons that the western Indo-Pacific and African littoral states remain unevenly accounted for.
This research deals with an important and recent topic that has not yet received proper theoretical attention, and here lies its importance which is electronic diplomacy in the perspective of the main theories of international relations, especially realism, liberalism, and constructivism, in order to inform researchers and decision-makers on how to address this new topic in these theories. The problem here lies in the question, to what extent are these theories interested in electronic diplomacy? How do we find theoretical approaches to it? By following the descriptive and comparative approach, the research attempted to branch out from the validity of its hypothesis, which says: Despite the fact that realism is not interested in electronic diplomacy, there are intellectual approaches in my liberal and constructivist theories to theorize the importance of electronic diplomacy and its role in global relations. The research reached a major conclusion that despite neglecting the realism of electronic diplomacy, my liberal and constructivist theories have intellectual approaches to explain the role of electronic diplomacy, which is based on a complex relationship between public diplomacy, soft power, and identity, and thus the research proved the validity of its hypothesis.
This article argues that the dialog between Critical Geopolitics (CGP) and Foreign Policy Analysis (FPA) could deepen FPA’s engagement with theoretical discussions and present a new research agenda for FPA’s middle-range theorizing. CGP’s emphasis on agency-centrism, its ability to transcend the inside-outside dichotomy, critique of natural law-like generalizations in foreign policy, preoccupation with how-possible type questions, and interdisciplinarity can all have an impact on FPA. According to this study, the conversation between CGP and FPA could strengthen the connection between FPA and IR theories in a number of ways. Thus, the theoretical foundations of CGP, which are largely derived from post-structuralism, have a significant potential to strengthen the connection between FPA studies and IR thinking.
When evaluating ‘energy security’, contemporary analytical paradigms aim for a comprehensive picture that takes into account a range of interrelated dimensions, including economics, national security, development, physical infrastructure, and climate change.
This research focuses on the relationship between Latin America and China. The authors try to answer the question of why the countries of the region have been passive in the context of their interaction with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). The relevance of the topic stems from the gradual increase in China’s importance and presence in the Latin American region. Today, China is one of the key economic partners of several Latin American countries. To date, however, countries in the region have not been very active in their engagement with the AIIB, despite the existence of specific material incentives. Methodologically, the study is based on a constructivist approach. According to the authors, alternative paradigms of international relations, such as liberalism and realism, fail to explain the paradox of stubborn inaction by the countries of the region. This is due to the fact that the historically rooted and culturally bound procedural nature of international relations allows constructivism to uncover the individual facts that led to this result. The authors conclude that governments in the Latin American region have “constructed” between themselves quite a few customary modes of behaviour which debilitate their demonstrated capacity for agency in international affairs. This has created a vacuum of effective strategy in relations with China in the region. Moreover, this pattern of engagement is not limited to China and is evident in the relations of regional countries with the US and other extra-regional powers.
The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) was established in 2014 to fund infrastructure plans and enhance economic development in Asia. As a founding member, China's strong presence raises the question of whether Beijing is selectively using institutions to promote its interests, or if it genuinely sees itself as a responsible power in the international community. This also leads to an empirical puzzle: What are China's strategies in maintaining a new institution? How can Beijing assure others and gain more influence in global economic governance? This study challenges the views on China's hegemonic ambitions in creating the AIIB, and suggests that Beijing's experience of socialisation in international organisations has positively contributed to China's institutional strategy. The author engages the current "China threat" debates in the literature of international relations and highlights that China's maintenance of both its benign image and its institutional strategy remains an understudied area. The author proposes a normative perspective to highlight Beijing's strategy in responding to the "China threat" theory. China's rise indeed offers both challenges and opportunities to the current world order.
(Thanks to the courtesy of China: An International Journal (CIJ) and
the East Asian Institute, National University of Singapore.)
Foreign policies of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in post-Soviet decades have been prominent for their continuity and consistency. Since identity is usually considered as one of the major factors of consistency and continuity of politics, the goal was set to examine the role of different identity factors in formation of foreign policies of the three Baltic states in the period from international recognition of their independence in August 1991 to the Ukrainian Crisis of spring 2014 in European politics. The analysis of literature and sources suggests some assumptions on how identity-related factors influenced foreign policies of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, They could be summarized in a hypothesis that making of the Baltic foreign policies was deeply influenced by “ethnocratic” nature of political regimes, establishedin Baltic states, ideological constructs based on their historical memories and memory politics as well as geopolitical identities of being “small states” and being influenced by the “Baltic unity” idea. Examining of these assumptions allows to conclude that effects of some identity factors, like ethnic identities, are often overestimated, while others really played very important, sometimes decisive, role in developments of major foreign policy vectors of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.The deterioration of their relations with Russia in the period under review was largelydetermined by ideological constructs of legal state continuity and Soviet occupation deeply rooted in the XX century historical memories of Baltic states. While Western vectors of their foreign policies and first of all their relations with the USA developed in line with the logic of securitization based on self-perception of Baltic political elites of being “small states”.
The national awakening of the Southern Slavs resulted in the concurrent rise of distinct national identities, on the one hand, and the collective perception of the need for pan-Slav unity, on the other. Their distant ‘kin’—tsarist Russia—was also embroiled in two opposing approaches to the issue: pro-Europeanism and pan-Slavism, of whom the latter envisaged a Russian-led pan-Slavic federation. Although of cultural characteristics, the pan-Slav movement became political as Russia sought to increase its dominance in the Balkans. By stoking a common identity, increasing groupness, and propagating rhetoric of ‘us versus them,’ Russia attempted to gain leverage over its Southern Slav brethren; however, the movement saw its ultimate decline with the dissolution of both Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union. Nevertheless, the question remains whether the appeals to pan-Slav symbols and ideas espouse a greater feeling of groupness among Russia and Bosnia and Herzegovina today. To answer this question, a theoretical framework of constructivism and symbolic politics theory is employed, with content analysis and review of the relevant literature as the analytical method.
Multiple IR theories have sought to understand international conflicts among states, and notably, the role of identity has gained momentum in theoretical debate (Berenskoetter, 2017). This essay compares poststructuralism, constructivism and neorealism and argues that, in understanding the role of identity in international conflicts, poststructuralism provides the most compelling account. Significantly, poststructuralism explores the constitution of a state’s identity, how identity can “make possible” for foreign policies to carry out in international conflicts and the mutually constitutive effects between foreign policies and identity (Campbell, 2013). Neorealism lacks these components, and although constructivism discusses identity, its explorations are not as comprehensive as those of poststructuralism. This paper adopts the Cuban Missile Crisis to justify its argument, as this seminal event led to “the brink of nuclear war” (Allison, 1971: 39) and caused “a higher probability that more human lives would end suddenly than ever before in history” (Allison, 1969: 689). The essay first critically explores the three theories above and then examines my empirical case study.
The policy significance of climate change was realised by the international community in the 1980s. As some of the countries most affected by climate change, Small Island Developing States (SIDS) have influenced the United Nations (UN) climate negotiations from the very beginning. This chapter analyses the climate foreign policy purposes of SIDS and their early impacts on the UN climate governance system. It is argued that, despite their weak material capabilities to shape international affairs, SIDS have made a notable and disproportionate impact on the UN climate negotiations to address their special case. Using constructivist approach to foreign policy analysis, this chapter explains how the ideas about common but differentiated responsibilities promoted in international climate negotiations have shaped SIDS’ climate agenda during pre-and post-UNFCCC negotiations in driving climate governance for them. It is argued that an understanding of this disproportionate impact helps to better understand present and future trends in SIDS climate politics.
Çalışma, Sovyet ardılı devletlerin - Azerbaycan, Belarus, Ermenistan, Estonya, Gürcistan, Kazakistan, Kırgızistan, Letonya, Litvanya, Moldovya, Özbekistan, Rusya Federasyonu, Tacikistan, Türkmenistan ve Ukrayna- kimlikleri ve dış politikaları arasındaki ilişkiye odaklanmaktadır. Devletlerin dış politika yapım sürecinde kimliklerinin önemli rolü olduğunu öne süren Uluslararası İlişkiler teorilerinden inşacılığın temel tezlerinin Sovyetler Birliği’nin yıkılması ile ortaya çıkan 15 devletin dış politikalarını aydınlatmada ne derece başarılı olduğunu ortaya koymak amaçlanmaktadır. Bu amaca yönelik olarak hem inşacılığın kimlik ile ilgili temel tezleri hem de eski Sovyet cumhuriyetlerinin dış politikaları incelenmiştir. Yapılan inceleme sonucu, Sovyet sonrası dış politika yapım sürecinde kimliğin mutlaka göz önünde bulundurulması gereken bir sosyal yapı olduğu ama bunun yanında güvenlik ve ekonomi gibi maddesel yapıların da açıklayıcı güçlerinin göz ardı edilmemesi gerektiği kanısına varılmıştır.
What drives alliances to tremble? Even longstanding alliances could be frustrated by the jamming mechanism by a gray actor. When an enemy pretends to take a friendlier posture, a state under alliances seems likely to regard its posture as a window of opportunity towards better relationship and wishfully permanent peace. Too much emphasis on this window prevents a state from recognizing how four characteristics of a gray actor – resourceful, ambiguous, temporal and gradual – could risk throwing even an ironclad alliance into chaos. This analysis sheds light on how the ironclad ROK‐U.S. alliance could be jammed by China as a gray actor. These insights contribute to the alliance literature in international relations by focusing on an exogeneous variable to explain weakening alliance cohesion. These outcomes also encourage policymakers to develop a fine counter‐strategy efforts to offset jamming by a gray actor and even alliance decoupling.
This paper has looked at the impact of social components in building up the comprehensive orientations of European countries' policies in the affairs of immigration and asylum, and specifically aimed at monitoring the social factors responsible for the inconsistency state in the adopted attitudes and policies towards the two issues. It took place in that context that the European policies were classified in two major categories based on the indicator of moderation and / or militancy and examining its main features.This paper has examined the existence of many social contradictions between the European countries, and the inconsistencies in attitudes between Eastern and Western European countries reflected a difference in the prevailing social elements in both sides, especially those related to the difference of the widespread identity pattern, levels of value-liberation, and community experiences in coexistence with expatriate foreigners and Muslims particularly.
Traditionally seen as an interlocutor between Europe and the US in transatlantic security relations, the UK’s engagement with the training of the Afghan National Police (ANP) through the concurrent EU and NATO missions presents an interesting case of foreign policy decision-making. Although a logic based on broader British orientations about the roles of the two organisations expect that the UK’s primary institution of choice would be NATO, London supported both missions in providing international policing assistance to Afghanistan. Adopting an operational overlap perspective, this article seeks to explain the UK’s strategic behaviour vis-a-vis the EU and NATO training missions that have been simultaneously involved in overlapping tasks, despite the initial intention that the two missions would undertake different and complementary roles. Analysing evidence from the UK Parliament and Government, US diplomatic missions, the EU and NATO, as well as interviews with former UK and NATO officials, this article argues that while providing training to the Afghan police, London focused on these missions’ practical outputs rather than preferring an organisation of choice as such. This strategy is mainly guided by the UK’s concern to uphold counter-narcotics enforcement in Afghanistan and to fulfil transition tasks during the incremental withdrawal of British troops.
This chapter introduces the paradigm of Constructivism in international relations to show how it may account for the conundrum of Latin American and Caribbean inertia in a case wherein action should be both easy and profitable. Other international relations paradigms cannot begin to explain the paradox of persistent do-nothingism in the teeth of every rational motive and material incentive to act. The peoples of the region have “constructed” between themselves quite a few customary modes of behaviour which debilitate their demonstrated capacity for agency in international affairs, squandering the opportunities that fortune and destiny have presented to them time and again. The net result is a vacuum of effectual strategy across the region in their relations with China as in their relations with the United States and other extra-regional powers.
Upcoming [16 March 2020]: The book explores the ways in which Latin American states are capitalizing or failing to capitalize on the initiatives of China in world affairs. The authors hypothesize that a dearth of regional agency and social construction, and a consequent institutional deficit in foreign relations, characterizes Latin America and its inadequate reaction to Chinese agency. The volume includes multiple case studies from eight Latin American countries and discusses the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank’s initiatives and policies. The book will interest scholars, researchers, policy-makers, foreign policy analysts, and graduate students in Latin American and Asian politics as well as development studies and political economy.
Este trabajo de investigación busca comprender la conducta de un Estado pequeño ante un Estado vecino y un grupo armado no estatal en una coyuntura de búsqueda de paz. Además, permite analizar cómo los roles de política exterior de un Estado se configuran en un doble sentido a través de las motivaciones nacionales y de las percepciones de los actores involucrados. Este estudio confirma el argumento avanzado por muchos autores de que los Estados pequeños, al no tener capacidades materiales prominentes, utilizan la facilitación de paz como herramienta de política exterior para acrecentar su influencia en el sistema internacional. En este caso se encuentra además que la seguridad interna es otra motivación que tuvo el Ecuador para participar como garante en el proceso de negociaciones de paz entre el gobierno colombiano y el ELN, debido a que se espera que la firma de la paz del gobierno colombiano con los actores armados del país vecino contribuya a una mejora de su seguridad en las fronteras. Asimismo, el refugio colombiano en el Ecuador fue otro motivo para que el país estuviese interesado en facilitar una salida pacífica al conflicto armado en Colombia, pues este, además de ser un problema de seguridad, involucra costos económicos importantes. Este rol, a más de partir de una concepción nacional, fue aceptado por otros actores como el gobierno colombiano, el ELN y la sociedad ecuatoriana, los cuales percibían que el rol de garante era adecuado para el Ecuador.
Palabras clave: Estados pequeños, proceso de paz, roles, Ecuador, Colombia
Previous studies on foreign policy have documented the proliferation of actors in addition to those focusing on the role of identities in shaping preferences and behavior of actors. This study aspires to address a void in the literature; the role of sectarian identities in foreign policy making by bringing sectarian groups into foreign policy studies as sub-state actors. In doing so, the dissertation adopts constructivist approach as a theoretical framework and assesses its merits for exploring the nexus of identity and the construction of interest in foreign policy and its implications on foreign policy behavior.
The thesis initially explores the evolution of foreign policy studies by giving specific emphasis on the emergence of multiple actors and the concept of identity in the literature. Then, it focuses on the analysis of Lebanese history and two case studies –Israel-Hezbollah War and Syrian civil war- through a close scrutiny of the emergence and the consolidation of foreign policy orientations, preferences and behavior of Maronite, Sunni, Shia and Druze communities in Lebanon.
As a qualitative work, the dissertation draws its sources from both primary and secondary sources in addition to a field work in Lebanon.
Through case studies together with a historical analysis of Lebanon based on a constructivist insight, this thesis responds to the necessity of further questioning the unitary actor model, the role of sectarian identity in interest-building processes and tries to present behavioral patterns of sub-state sectarian actors in foreign policy making.
This chapter is based on salience and framing analysis of German news media coverage. We conceptualize fiascos as extreme subcase of mistakes and hypothesize that influential foreign policy norms trigger a fiasco framing in German media coverage. Our empirical results show a stable consensus about what can be regarded major foreign policy fiascos: Germany’s Yugoslavia policy in the 1990s, the failed referendums on the European Constitution in 2005, the decision on Libya in 2011 and, finally, the transatlantic crisis over Iraq in 2003. These findings as well as a qualitative analysis of a puzzling negative case confirm that a perceived violation of the norm of multilateralism is indeed almost a necessary condition for fiasco framing. Other findings relate to blame attribution and authorship of fiasco framing.
Some commentators note that much of the literature on South Africa’s foreign policy behaviour is marked by clash of concepts, arguments and normative convictions. This clash has mainly been between two dominant intellectual traditions: realism and liberalism. Works based on each of the perspectives incline towards particular preferences, values and prescriptions–a single vision or a universalising organising principle guides the framing of policy problem, interpretation of empirical observations and prescriptions. The limitation of this mode of enquiry is that it fails to take account of the complexity of the social world and that there are many ways of looking at it. The article argues that neither of the two dominant perspectives ‘comprehensively and persuasively’ explains South Africa’s foreign policy behaviour and practice. Beyond parsimony the paper advocates scholarship grounded in ‘analytic eclecticism’. It is an approach that integrates ideas and variables associated with different theoretical perspectives. This approach is preferable because it ensures that the scholarly endeavour is sufficiently close to the experience of real world actors. It leads to deeper insights into policy behaviour and how to holistically deal with the problems associated with it.
This article offers three arguments outlining the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank's significance and to help policy planners navigate the complex relationship between China, the Bank and themes of sustainability. First, there is little uncertainty that China is serious about development and sustainability. The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank is but one extension of China's increasing commitment to sustainability and should therefore be embraced by development stakeholders. Second, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank's commitment to infrastructure development complements other multilateral development banks and should not be considered a challenger to the existing order of development lending practices. Rather, China's interest in establishing the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank points to competitive pluralism and poses no threat to the existing international order. Finally, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank's sustainability guidelines are not unique and fall in line with similar policy of other large development banks. The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank therefore reinforces sustainability norms while posturing itself as a partner for development.
The most challenging task in creating peace in the South China Sea is how to deal with Chinese assertive behavior. This is important since many proposals of the regional security architecture have failed to engage China in order to establish a long-lasting peace in the region. This paper seeks to explain the failure of security management in the South China Sea. Using the concept of strategic culture deriving from constructivism in International Relations, this paper argues that China’s strategic culture is the main factor behind the aggressive behavior in the South China Sea. This culture is rooted from the pre-modern China’s history that has distinct perspective from the Westphalian international law with regard to territorial disputes. This cultural dimension, not the material one, is the key to rethinking security management in the region.
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