scholarly journals Defending the Faith? Assessing the Impact of State Religious Exclusivity on Territorial MID Initiation

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 465-491
Author(s):  
Ariel Zellman ◽  
Jonathan Fox
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
International Conflict ◽  
Territorial Disputes ◽  
Identity Salience ◽  
Policy Goals ◽  
Interstate Conflicts ◽  
Symbolic Value ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Religious Actors ◽  
Do So

AbstractInterstate conflicts involving religion are commonly argued to be more severe and more protracted than other forms of conflict. Although various arguments have sought to explain religion's apparent contributions to global violence, few consider the foreign policy goals over which religious actors actually fight. This article does so by examining whether religiously-exclusive states tend to militarize interstate territorial disputes (MIDs) over issues of strategic material or identity salience. Insofar as religiously-exclusive states seek to “defend the faith” against internal and external challengers, identity-salient disputes should be a particularly attractive target for militarization. We however find the opposite. Although religiously-exclusive states do initiate territorial MIDs more frequently than their secular counterparts, they are significantly more likely to do so owing to disputed territories' strategic rather than symbolic value. These results challenge accepted wisdom regarding religion's influence on international conflict and suggest critical new avenues for research.

Can we do what we say we will do? Issue salience, government effectiveness, and the legislative efficiency of Council Presidencies

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 657-679
Author(s):  
James P Cross ◽  
Austė Vaznonytė
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
The State ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Issue Salience ◽  
Policy Area ◽  
Government Effectiveness ◽  
Policy Goals ◽  
Issue Attention ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Do So

Although agenda-setting dynamics in the European Union are a well-studied phenomenon, there is a gap in the literature between the current focus on issue attention dynamics (a policy input) and the impact attention dynamics have on policy outputs. This study examines how the rotating Council Presidency’s stated policy goals for their term in office affect EU decision-making efficiency. We show that the salience the rotating chair of the Council attaches to a given policy area affects legislative efficiency in that policy area. We also demonstrate how this effect is conditioned on government effectiveness in the state of the Presidency in question, and is independent of Commission policy priorities. This suggests that the Presidency can drive EU policy outputs and push for its priorities when it holds the chair, but that its ability to do so is contingent on the domestic organisation and effectiveness of the state.

The End of Innocence: Peruvian Foreign Policy and the United States, 1919–1942

1976 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 325-344
Author(s):  
Ronald Bruce St John
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
The United States ◽  
United States Government ◽  
Territorial Disputes ◽  
United States Foreign Policy ◽  
States Government ◽  
Do So

From 1919 to 1942, Peruvian foreign policy focused on two interrelated issues: the resolution of Peru's territorial disputes with Chile, Colombia and Ecuador, and the reconciliation of an expanding and deepening relationship with the United States government. The two issues were entwined since the Peruvian government and people, for part of the period, expected the support and assistance of the United States government in resolving the three territorial issues. Partially in an attempt to respond to these expectations, the United States government was aggressively and extensively involved, albeit sometimes in a manner contrary to Peruvian desires, in the resolution of all three disputes. On the whole, United States foreign policy seldom equaled Peruvian expectations throughout the period, and its failure to do so precipitated or accelerated the growth of major new tenets in Peruvian foreign policy.

Religion in Foreign Policy

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey Haynes
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Focal Point ◽  
The United States ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
Nonstate Actors ◽  
Foreign Policies ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Religious Actors

Most states’ foreign policies are secular in orientation and focus. A few make religion a prominent component of their ideological approach to foreign policy. States whose foreign policies are consistently or irregularly informed by religion include Egypt, Iran, India, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the United States. In each case, these states’ foreign policies feature domestic religious actors seeking to have regular or intermittent involvement in foreign policymaking. The impact and capacity of such religious actors is linked to the ideological and/or national interest priorities of incumbent governments. That is, religious actors may have an input into foreign policymaking, which reflects a concern more generally with the association between material concerns—including national security issues—and religious and ethical ideas, norms, and values. In addition to states with input from religious actors in foreign policymaking, there are several important nonstate actors whose religious beliefs centrally inform their foreign policies, which often focus on activities in the United Nations, the world’s largest and most comprehensive organization with near-universal state membership. The United Nations is a key focal point to pursue such policies, and three such actors are discussed: the Holy See/Vatican (and, more generally, the Roman Catholic Church), the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), and the World Council of Churches (WCC), whose religious orientations are, respectively, Roman Catholicism, Islam, and non-Catholic Christianity. The importance of religious actors in foreign policy, in relation to both selected states and nonstate actors, is explored.

Thematic Priorities For Sustainable Development of Ukraine-Romania Cross-Border Cooperation (The Case Study of Chernivtsi Region)

2020 ◽  
pp. 205-219
Author(s):  
Valentyna Bohatyrets ◽  
Liubov Melnychuk ◽  
Yaroslav Zoriy
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Quantitative Research ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Cultural Development ◽  
Cross Border ◽  
Strategic Orientations ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Further Development ◽  
Cross Border Cooperation ◽  
The Eu

This paper seeks to investigate sustainable cross-border cooperation (CBC) as a distinctive model of interstate collaboration, embedded in the neighboring borderland regions of two or more countries. The focus of the research revolves around the establishment and further development of geostrategic, economic, cultural and scientific capacity of the Ukrainian-Romanian partnership as a fundamental construct in ensuring and strengthening the stability, security and cooperation in Europe. This research highlights Ukraine’s aspirations to establish, develop and diversify bilateral good-neighborly relations with Romania both regionally and internationally. The main objective is to elucidate Ukraine-Romania cross-border cooperation initiatives, inasmuch Ukraine-Romania CBC has been stirring up considerable interest in terms of its inexhaustible historical, cultural and spiritual ties. Furthermore, the similarity of the neighboring states’ strategic orientations grounds the basis for development and enhancement of Ukraine-Romania cooperation. The authors used desk research and quantitative research to conclude that Ukraine-Romania CBC has the impact not only on the EU and on Ukraine multi-vector foreign policy, but it also has the longer-term global consequences. In the light of the current reality, the idea of introducing and reinforcing the importance of Cross-Border Cooperation (CBC) sounds quite topical and relevant. This research considers a number of explanations for Ukraine-Romania Cross-Border Cooperation as a key element of the EU policy towards its neighbors. Besides, the subject of the research is considered from different perspectives in order to show the diversity and complexity of the Ukraine-Romania relations in view of the fact that sharing common borders we are presumed to find common solutions. As the research has demonstrated, the Ukraine-Romania cross border cooperation is a pivotal factor of boosting geostrategic, economic, political and cultural development for each participant country, largely depending on the neighboring countries’ cohesion and convergence. Significantly, there is an even stronger emphasis on the fact that while sharing the same borders, the countries share common interests and aspirations for economic thriving, cultural exchange, diplomatic ties and security, guaranteed by a legal framework. The findings of this study have a number of important implications for further development and enhancement of Ukraine-Romania cooperation. Accordingly, the research shows how imperative are the benefits of Romania as a strategic partner for outlining top priorities of Ukraine’s foreign policy.

Social and Economic Public Policy Goals and Their Impact on Defense Acquisition—A 2019 Update

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 208-228
Author(s):  
Moshe Schwartz
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Defense Acquisition ◽  
Procurement Process ◽  
Defense Procurement ◽  
Policy Goals ◽  
The Impact

This article explores the evolution of social and economic public policy goals and programs embedded in the defense procurement process and explores the impact of these policies on acquisition.

Reconstituting the International, 1918–1923

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Talbot C. Imlay
Keyword(s):  
Seismic Events ◽  
Great War ◽  
Bolshevik Revolution ◽  
Meaning And Purpose ◽  
Post War ◽  
The Impact ◽  
First Time ◽  
The Great War ◽  
Do So ◽  
Lengthy Process

This chapter examines the post-war efforts of European socialists to reconstitute the Socialist International. Initial efforts to cooperate culminated in an international socialist conference in Berne in February 1919 at which socialists from the two wartime camps met for the first time. In the end, however, it would take four years to reconstitute the International with the creation of the Labour and Socialist International (LSI) in 1923. That it took so long to do so is a testimony to the impact of the Great War and to the Bolshevik revolution. Together, these two seismic events compelled socialists to reconsider the meaning and purpose of socialism. The search for answers sparked prolonged debates between and within the major parties, profoundly reconfiguring the pre-war world of European socialism. One prominent stake in this lengthy process, moreover, was the nature of socialist internationalism—both its content and its functioning.

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