‘The way we were’: the social construction of Italian security policy

Modern Italy ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 217-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pietro Pirani
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Security Policy ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Theoretical Contribution ◽  
Continuity And Change ◽  
Cultural Considerations ◽  
The Social ◽  
Full Explanation ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Power Position

Italian security policy literature reveals, usually implicitly rather than explicitly, two distinct strains of analysis. One set of explanations, rooted in realist theory, views Italian foreign policy behaviour by reference to its power position. A second set of arguments, rooted in liberalism, assumes that policy-makers are ultimately influenced by domestic institutional factors in deciding foreign policy issues. The purpose of this article is to offer a theoretical contribution to the ongoing debate on continuity and change in Italian foreign policy. While neorealist and liberal theories have been widely used to explain the development of Italian international behaviour, neither approach has yet provided a full explanation of Italian security policy since the end of the Cold War. In contrast to these theories, it is argued that Italy has built its foreign policy on the basis of cultural considerations involving conflicting strategies of action.

Continuity and Change in British Thinking about Nuclear Weapons

1994 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 228-242 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stuart Croft
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Nuclear Weapons ◽  
Security Policy ◽  
Policy Debate ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Post Cold War ◽  
Continuity And Change ◽  
Mind Set ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Constant Argument

For almost fifty years there has been constant argument between those who have supported the development and possession of nuclear weapons by Britain and those opposed to those policies. This article argues that there has been a continuity in the arguments made by policy-makers and their critics, both operating within an unchanging series of linked assumptions forming a paradigm or mind-set. This article sets out the character of the assumptions of the orthodox and alternative thinkers, as they are termed in the article, examining their coherence and differences, particularly during the cold war. It concludes by attempting to draw out some implications for the British security policy debate in the post-cold war period.

The New Imperialism? On Continuity and Change in US Foreign Policy

2005 ◽  
Vol 37 (9) ◽  
pp. 1527-1544 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jim Glassman
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Us Foreign Policy ◽  
Post Cold War ◽  
Continuity And Change ◽  
Us Imperialism ◽  
The Social ◽  
New Imperialism ◽  
The Cold War

The unilateral militarism of the George W Bush administration has rekindled interest in imperialism within geography and elsewhere in the social sciences, leading some authors to refer to a new imperialism, or neo-imperialism. This paper critically interrogates the notion that the foreign policy of this administration represents a significant break from past US practices, with the use of concepts from Gramsci and Poulantzas to analyze the class and class-fractional bases of US foreign policy both during and after the Cold War. It is argued that there are certain important continuities in contemporary US imperialism and that there are also differences that owe to the present, post-Cold-War context. It is suggested that if this analysis of continuities is correct then the problems and dangers posed by the “new imperialism” may not be as readily resolvable within a capitalist framework as is suggested by various contemporary commentators.

The Clinton Administration and Africa: White House Involvement and the Foreign Affairs Bureaucracies

1998 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 8-13
Author(s):  
John F. Clark
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Clinton Administration ◽  
The United States ◽  
Policy Formulation ◽  
Central Intelligence Agency ◽  
Intelligence Agency ◽  
White House ◽  
Continuity And Change ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
The U.S

Both continuity and change capture the evolving role of the Clinton White House in the formulation and implementation of U.S. foreign policy toward Africa. Elements of continuity are reflected in a familiar pattern of relationships between the White House and the principal foreign policy bureaucracies, most notably the U.S. State Department, the U.S. Department of Defense (Pentagon), the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and more recently the U.S. Department of Commerce. As cogently argued in Peter J. Schraeder’s analysis of U.S. foreign policy toward Africa during the Cold War era, the White House has tended to take charge of U.S. African policies only in those relatively rare situations perceived as crises by the president and his closest advisors. In other, more routine situations—the hallmark of the myriad of U.S. African relations—the main foreign policy bureaucracies have been at the forefront of policy formulation, and “bureaucratic dominance” of the policymaking process has prevailed. Much the same pattern is visible in the Clinton administration, with the exception of President Clinton’s trip to Africa in 1998. Until that time, events in Somalia in 1993 served as the only true African crisis of the administration that was capable of focusing the ongoing attention of President Clinton and his closest advisors. Given that the United States is now disengaged from most African crises, Africa has remained a “backwater” for the White House and the wider foreign policymaking establishment.

scholarly journals The CNN effect: can the news media drive foreign policy?

1999 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 301-309 ◽  
Author(s):  
PIERS ROBINSON
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Real Time ◽  
News Media ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Berlin Wall ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Tiananmen Square ◽  
Time News ◽  
Tv News ◽  
The Cold War

During the 1980s the proliferation of new technologies transformed the potential of the news media to provide a constant flow of global real-time news. Tiananmen Square and the collapse of communism symbolised by the fall of the Berlin Wall became major media events communicated to Western audiences instantaneously via TV news media. By the end of the decade the question was being asked as to what extent this ‘media pervasiveness’ had impacted upon government – particularly the process of foreign policy making. The new technologies appeared to reduce the scope for calm deliberation over policy, forcing policy-makers to respond to whatever issue journalists focused on. This perception was in turn reinforced by the end of the bipolar order and what many viewed as the collapse of the old anti-communist consensus which – it was argued – had led to the creation of an ideological bond uniting policy makers and journalists. Released from the ‘prism of the Cold War’ journalists were, it was presumed, freer not just to cover the stories they wanted but to criticise US foreign policy as well. The phrase ‘CNN effect’ encapsulated the idea that real-time communications technology could provoke major responses from domestic audiences and political elites to global events.

China’s Relations with Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East

2020 ◽  
pp. 291-312
Author(s):  
Joshua Eisenman ◽  
Eric Heginbotham
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Security Policy ◽  
Developing World ◽  
World Order ◽  
Political Support ◽  
Policy Tools ◽  
Policy Makers

Over the last two decades, developing countries have become central to China’s increasingly ambitious foreign policy makers. This chapter begins by explaining China’s conceptualization of the developing world and its position in Beijing’s geostrategy. After describing the three characteristics of China’s approach—asymmetry, comprehensiveness, and its interlocking structure—the chapter then explains the various economic, political, and security policy tools that comprise it. China works to bring the separate strands of its foreign policy together in a comprehensive whole and to build synergies between component parts. Ultimately, the chapter concludes that Beijing’s primary objectives—regime survival and advancing China’s position in an increasingly multipolar world—are probably insufficient to engender widespread political support among developing countries for a China-led world order.

18. Diplomacy and Foreign Policy

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie Lawson
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Soft Power ◽  
Security Policy ◽  
Public Diplomacy ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Global Politics ◽  
Power Politics ◽  
Foreign And Security Policy ◽  
Political Communities ◽  
The Cold War

This chapter discusses diplomacy and the conduct of foreign policy, both of which are fundamental to relations between political communities worldwide. It first considers diplomacy and its related concept, statecraft, in global history, focusing on some important concepts such as raison d'état (reason of state) and machtpolitik (power politics). It then examines diplomatic practice in contemporary global politics, with particular emphasis on track-two diplomacy and third-party mediation, along with developments in diplomacy during the Cold War. It also looks at public diplomacy, which may be understood as an instrument of ‘soft power’ in contrast with the methods of power politics. It concludes with an overview of the European Union's common foreign and security policy.

Conclusion

After Victory ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 257-274
Author(s):  
G. John Ikenberry
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
International Institutions ◽  
American Foreign Policy ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
The United States ◽  
American Power ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Global Power ◽  
The Cold War

This concluding chapter evaluates the implications that emerge from this book's theoretical and historical analysis for American foreign policy. The United States begins a new century as an unrivaled global power. American foreign policy makers need to be reminded what characteristics of the postwar order have made American power reasonably acceptable to other states and peoples during and after the Cold War. American power is not only unprecedented in its preponderance, but it is also unprecedented in the way it is manifest within and through institutions. This helps explain why it has been so durable. If American policy makers want to perpetuate America's preeminent position, they will need to continue to find ways to operate within international institutions, and by so doing restrain that power and make it acceptable to other states.

20. Diplomacy and Foreign Policy

2020 ◽  
pp. 464-486
Author(s):  
Stephanie Lawson
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Soft Power ◽  
Security Policy ◽  
Public Diplomacy ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Global Politics ◽  
Power Politics ◽  
Foreign And Security Policy ◽  
Political Communities ◽  
The Cold War

This chapter discusses diplomacy and the conduct of foreign policy, both of which are fundamental to relations between political communities worldwide. It first considers diplomacy and its related concept, statecraft, in global history, focusing on some important concepts such as raison d’état (reason of state) and machtpolitik (power politics). It then examines diplomatic practice in contemporary global politics, with particular emphasis on track-two diplomacy and third-party mediation, along with developments in diplomacy during the Cold War. It also looks at public diplomacy, which may be understood as an instrument of ‘soft power’ in contrast with the methods of power politics. It concludes with an overview of the European Union’s common foreign and security policy.

From Demilitarization to Remilitarization

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Glenn D. Hook
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Security Policy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Security Treaty ◽  
External Pressures ◽  
Military Facilities ◽  
The One ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Internal Pressures

This chapter explores the transition from demilitarization to remilitarization following Japan's defeat in war and foreign occupation from 1945 to 1952. It focuses on the external and internal pressures on security policy at crucial historical junctures in the process of remilitarization. By revisiting the early postwar period, the chapter looks at two contested views of security policy. These views revolved around the option of a security treaty with the United States, on the one hand, and unarmed neutrality, on the other. The chapter then addresses the external pressures on Japanese policy makers arising from the major historical juncture represented by the end of the Cold War. Meanwhile, the internal pressures involve the costs to Okinawans arising from the concrete manifestation of the alliance with the United States: the basing of US military facilities.

Cultural Influences on Foreign Policy

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huiyun Feng
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Cold War ◽  
International Relations ◽  
National Security ◽  
Security Policy ◽  
Cultural Influences ◽  
Cultural Approach ◽  
Cultural Variables ◽  
Foreign And Security Policy ◽  
The Cold War

Scholars have heatedly debated whether and how culture impacts and shapes a state’s foreign and security policy in particular as well as international relations (IR) in general. The cultural approach to the studies of foreign policy has experienced two major waves since the end of the Cold War. We saw a revival of cultural studies in national security and foreign policy with the rise of constructivism in international relations in the 1990s, while into the 2000s, the culture approach focused on terrorism and globalization. Despite its achievement, the cultural approach continues to face theoretical and methodological challenges in conceptualization, measurement, and generalizability. Therefore, the cultural approach to foreign policy needs to work on demarcating the boundary of “cultural variables,” focusing on mid-range theorizing and placing the cultural variables within a context.

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