Velvet fists: The paradox of defence diplomacy in Southeast Asia

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 332-349
Author(s):  
Jun Yan Chang ◽  
Nicole Jenne
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Southeast Asia ◽  
The Other ◽  
Military Power ◽  
Theoretical Discussion ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Cooperative Activity ◽  
The One

AbstractDefence diplomacy represents a notable paradox. On the one hand, it is a cooperative activity to build strategic and moralistic trust between states and thus positively shape the environment in which foreign policy is made. On the other hand, defence diplomacy also involves competition and demonstrations of military power, which may contravene its goal of building moralistic trust and undermine confidence between states. This article deals with the latter competitive realpolitik elements of defence diplomacy in terms of secrecy, swaggering, and shows of force that have largely been ignored in the literature. Building on a theoretical discussion of whether defence diplomacy works, the case of peacekeeping in Southeast Asia is analysed to illustrate how defence diplomatic activities produce effects contrary to their stated aims.

“Sovereign Democracy” Discourse in the Russian Foreign Policy

2018 ◽  
pp. 178-200
Author(s):  
Neziha Musaoğlu
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Russian Federation ◽  
The Other ◽  
Russian Foreign Policy ◽  
The West ◽  
Policy Practice ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The Russian Federation ◽  
The One

Many important changes occurred in the Russian Federation's foreign policy since 2000s with Putin's coming to power. Although the foreign policy is defined as pragmatic during this period, it is in fact ideologically constructed on the basis of the concept of “sovereign democracy.” The concept constitutes in the same time the source of loyalty of the Russian reelpolitik towards the West, especially the USA and of the Russian anti-globalist policies. The aim of this chapter is to analyze the intellectual, normative, and conceptual dimensions of the “sovereign democracy” concept that could serve to conceive the foreign policy practice of the Russian Federation, on the one hand, and on the other hand its dialectical relationships with the West in the era of globalization.

A Political Theory of Foreign Aid

1962 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 301-309 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans Morgenthau
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Foreign Aid ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Other ◽  
Modern Age ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The Many ◽  
The One

Of the seeming and real innovations which the modern age has introduced into the practice of foreign policy, none has proven more baffling to both understanding and action than foreign aid. The very assumption that foreign aid is an instrument of foreign policy is a subject of controversy. For, on the one hand, the opinion is widely held that foreign aid is an end in itself, carrying its own justification, both transcending, and independent of, foreign policy. In this view, foreign aid is the fulfillment of an obligation of the few rich nations toward the many poor ones. On the other hand, many see no justification for a policy of foreign aid at all. They look at it as a gigantic boon-doggle, a wasteful and indefensible operation which serves neither the interests of the United States nor those of the recipient nations.

The Relevance of Latin America to the Foreign Policy of Commonwealth Caribbean States

1969 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 245-271 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roy Preiswerk
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Ivory Coast ◽  
The Other ◽  
Economic Order ◽  
Recent Past ◽  
Geographic Proximity ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
The One

For the leaders and people of every new state of Asia, Africa and the Caribbean, independence has brought about a dramatic awakening with respect to the conceptualization of their position in world affairs. The loosening of ties with the metropolis, which had been the primary aim of the struggle for independence, suddenly appears in a double perspective. On the one hand, it contains the threat of distintegration of the established social and economic order and, on the other hand, it opens prospects for new bonds and opportunities. After decades or centuries of predominantly bilateral relationships between colony and metropolis, historical links are confronted with the pressures resulting from geographic proximity .The diversification of foreign contacts is a phenomenon of the very recent past. The leaders and inhabitants of Ghana and the Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Niger, Trinidad and Venezuela, or Guyana and Brazil are only now realizing the full impact of their relationship as neighbours.

King Arthur and the Tudor Dynasty

2020 ◽  
pp. 21-33
Author(s):  
Philip Schwyzer
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
The Other ◽  
Faerie Queene ◽  
King Arthur ◽  
Major Work ◽  
Arthurian Literature ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The One ◽  
The Middle Ages

The reception of the legend of Arthur in the Tudor era presents something of a paradox. On the one hand, Arthur featured prominently in pageants and public spectacles throughout the period, and at times played a surprisingly important role in foreign policy. On the other hand, chroniclers found it increasingly difficult to defend Arthur’s historicity, and the period failed to produce a major work of Arthurian literature beyond Spenser’s Faerie Queene, in which the British prince cuts a perplexingly elusive figure. With its complex and conflicting attitudes to the Arthurian tradition, the Tudor era seems to constitute a bridge or way-station between the Arthur of the Middle Ages and the Arthur of more securely post-medieval (and, hence, medievalist) eras.

Transfer of military power in Mauritania: from Ecouvillon to Lamantin (1958–1978)1

2013 ◽  
pp. 90-104
Author(s):  
Camille Evrard
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
The Other ◽  
Military Power ◽  
Military Officers ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
History Of ◽  
Experimental Process ◽  
The One ◽  
History Of Institutions

Camille Evrard discusses the transfer of military power in Mauritania during a long process of decolonization (between 1956 and 1977). Her approach links the history of institutions and politics, defined through state and system, with the perspectives held by individuals, notably by former military officers who served in the Sahara. The Mauritanian example, where French troops were over two decades actively engaged in counter-insurgency at the service of and in partnership with the Mauritanian government, is particularly instructive for an interpretation of the direct consequences of military decolonization. Evrard’s interpretation offers a scenario that had implications for actors on both sides, Mauritanian and French. On the one hand, French officials had to interact with local issues, and entered into what may be described as an experimental process of reorganizing their presence on the ground. On the other hand, they contributed to the Mauritanian vision of their own independence, to the ‘national identity’ of Mauritania, and to Mauritanian relations with neighbouring Morocco.

Switzerland and Détente: A Revised Foreign Policy Characterized by Distrust

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra Bott ◽  
Janick Marina Schaufelbuehl
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Cold War ◽  
International Relations ◽  
The Other ◽  
Global Context ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The Face ◽  
The One

This chapter illustrates how Switzerland aimed to redefine its neutrality in international relations in the first half of the 1970s. On the one hand, Switzerland maintained its traditional Cold War maxims of armed defense, neutrality, and solidarity. On the other hand, in the face of détente and the perception of a new global context, the Swiss Federal Council, inspired by the Federal Political Department, embarked on a more active foreign policy that aimed to rebrand Swiss neutrality by renewing “goodwill” and trust toward it. Although this reorientation was not entirely successful, it was driven by a profound distrust of previous alliance systems and the process of détente, which eventually led Switzerland to a more globally oriented and defensive posture in international relations.

The UAE

2020 ◽  
pp. 183-202
Author(s):  
Islam Hassan
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Cold War ◽  
The Other ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The One ◽  
Middle Powers ◽  
The Cold War

Middle powers rise at times of instability in the international or regional orders. Two sets of middle powers, namely the traditional and the so-called “emerging” middle powers, came to being during and after the Cold War, respectively. On the one hand, traditional middle powers, such as Australia and Canada, emerged during the Cold War. On the other hand, emerging middle powers ascended after the Cold War, and are not the traditional “good citizens” but controversial reformists with independent foreign policy portfolios, and they are becoming increasingly vocal in world affairs.

scholarly journals Transformation of the Political Discourse of the Ukrainian Elite in the Context of Competition between the Russian Federation and the West: 2004–2014

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 100-103
Author(s):  
D. I. Yefremov
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Russian Federation ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
Hybrid Regimes ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The Russian Federation ◽  
The One

The article establishes the relationship between the interests of the Ukrainian establishment and the foreign policy vector of Kyiv. The author identified the main actors who determined the specifics of the transformation of the strategic course of Ukraine. On the one hand, the author revealed the critical problems of European integration and on the other hand, the improvement/ degradation of relations with the Russian Federation. The author evaluated the strategic doctrines used by the Ukrainian elite and analysed main changes in the approaches of the Ukrainian establishment. This article considers the reaction of Russian and Ukrainian political elites to the correction of the foreign policy imperatives of the Russian Federation and Ukraine, respectively. Also, the author, using the theory of the “heavy” and “light” fractions of Ukrainian political elites as an example, identifies specific features of the correlation between the replacement/renewal of key elite groups and the adaptation of the strategic vector, including a qualitative rethinking of the approaches inherent in the replaced establishment. On the other hand, the author compared between the declared positions/slogans and specific doctrines/concepts, initiated, for example, by individual actors of the political elite. The author analyses the main reasons for the soft dismantling of the so-called multi-vector diplomacy in favour of the Euro-Atlantic course. Also, in the article, concerning the realities of Ukraine, the influence of the political model of “shapeless pluralism” of hybrid regimes on the transformation of the foreign policy’ agenda.

scholarly journals Augustan Poets on the Roman-Parthian Treaty of 20 BC

2018 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 5-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomasz Babnis
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Roman Republic ◽  
The Other ◽  
Peace Treaty ◽  
Politics And Literature ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The Moment ◽  
The One ◽  
Artistic Skill ◽  
Frag Ments

From the moment Rome established contacts with the Parthian empire in the 1st century BC, its relations with the eastern neighbour became one of the most important points of Roman foreign policy. Attempts to subjugate Parthia ended in Rome’s crushing defeat at Carrhae in 53 BC. Having taken over power in the Roman Republic, Octavian Augustus became much more active in his oriental  policy, wishing to erase the shame brought upon Rome by the defeat. The peace treaty signed in 20 BC was the Emperor’s diplomatic success and was presented as a great triumph by the Roman propaganda. In this paper, I analyse several frag-ments referring to this agreement in the works of the Augustan poets Horace, Propertius and Ovid. The works, written over almost three decades, present this event from various perspectives. On the one hand, they show a strong intermixture of politics and literature, and on the other hand, great talent and artistic skill of the poets writing creatively about issues which were current in Rome at the time.

Franco-German Defence and Security Cooperation

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ulrich Krotz ◽  
Katharina Wolf
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
The Other ◽  
Policy Preferences ◽  
Military Deployment ◽  
European Politics ◽  
Nuclear Forces ◽  
Security Cooperation ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The One

Bilateral Franco-German cooperation in security and defence is characterized by a paradox. On the one hand, France and Germany are closely connected institutionally, and consult across all key areas of foreign policy, security, and defence in highly regularized ways. On the other hand, the countries’ general orientations in security and defence, as well as their strategic postures and numerous policy preferences in these domains, often are disparate and, not infrequently, deeply divergent. This chapter outlines both the institutional underpinnings of the robust Franco-German bilateral connection and the enduring differences between France and Germany. It then explores how this ‘double logic’ of institutional cohesion versus preference divergence plays out across key areas in security and defence, including armament cooperation; nuclear forces; the Franco-German brigade and the Eurocorps; and military deployment. The chapter concludes by discussing where the Franco-German relationship may be heading, and the implications of these developments for European politics.

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