India and Peaceful Change

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manjeet S. Pardesi
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
World Politics ◽  
The Other ◽  
Nuclear Disarmament ◽  
Structural Factors ◽  
Hindu Nationalism ◽  
Peaceful Coexistence ◽  
Indian Experience ◽  
Over Time

In spite of India’s self-conception as a uniquely peaceful state and civilization, it has been involved in a number of wars and militarized crises. Nevertheless, the Indian leadership has genuinely aspired to the pursuit of peaceful change in international politics. This chapter explains why India has pursued various peaceful strategies at different points in its modern history. More specifically, five strategies of peaceful change pursued by India are analyzed here: India’s decolonization and independence, the pursuit of the policy of Panchsheel or the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence with China, the advocacy of nuclear disarmament, India’s “Look/Act East” strategy, and region transformation through the idea of the “Indo-Pacific.” Two limited generalizations can be drawn from the Indian experience. First, peaceful change needs to be understood as a process as opposed to an event, as both India and the targets of such peaceful strategies mutually respond to the other side’s endeavors (while also pursuing other goals in world politics). Second, the process of peaceful change requires that the momentum of peaceful strategies be maintained over time as peaceful change emerges out of an interaction of fortuitous structural factors and conscious agential strategies. The chapter concludes by noting that rising Hindu nationalism will create challenges for any Indian attempt at peaceful change due to the links between domestic politics and foreign policy.

Of Friends and Foes

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Crescenzi
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
International Conflict ◽  
World Politics ◽  
The Other ◽  
Cycle Of Violence ◽  
Conflict And Cooperation ◽  
Security Challenges ◽  
War And Conflict ◽  
Global Arena ◽  
Over Time

Reputations abound in world politics, but we know little about how reputations form and evolve: namely, how do countries form reputations? Do these reputations affect interstate politics in the global arena? In this book, Crescenzi develops a theory of reputation dynamics to help identify when reputations form in ways that affect world politics, both in the realms of international conflict and cooperation. A reputation for honoring one’s obligations in a treaty, for example, canmake a state a more attractive ally; on the other hand, a reputation for war and conflict can triggermore of the same, leading to a cycle of violence that exacerbates security challenges. These processes of cooperation and conflict are linked by a common use of the information held in each state’s reputation. In each case, states use reputational information in an attempt to resolve the uncertainty they face when crafting foreign policy decisions. Crescenzi usesablendof historical andempirical analysis to show how reputations matter in world politics, demonstrating that over time and across the globe, reputations for conflict exacerbate crises, while reputations for cooperation and reliability make future cooperation more likely.

Iran

2019 ◽  
pp. 80-96
Author(s):  
Robert R. Bianchi
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Crisis Management ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Transnational Relations ◽  
Security Forces ◽  
Silver Bullet ◽  
Rule Out

The recent uprisings in Iran provide a poignant example of a common dilemma in authoritarian regimes. The mullahs and security forces can contain the blazes with Chinese-inspired controls over the internet and social media, but they cannot prevent future ignitions or rule out a wider conflagration. On the other hand, reformers have little hope of winning meaningful freedoms or promoting a less adventurous foreign policy. There is no sign of an authoritarian silver bullet to quash unrest or of a revolutionary breakthrough that could propel the country in a new direction. As Beijing expands the New Silk Road, it confronts similar problems in one country after another. Stronger linkages between domestic politics and transnational relations promote ongoing turmoil and crisis management across interdependent regions and cultures. Although this represents an important surge in transcontinental connectivity, it is hardly the kind that Chinese planners anticipated.

Economic Sanction as Foreign Policy

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoshiharu Kobayashi
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
Economic Sanctions ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
The Other ◽  
Economic Sanction ◽  
Large N ◽  
Growing Body ◽  
Economic Relationship ◽  
The 1960S

Economic sanctions are an attempt by states to coerce a change in the policy of another state by restricting their economic relationship with the latter. Between, roughly, the 1960s–1980s, the question dominating the study of sanctions was whether they are an effective tool of foreign policy. Since the 1990s, however, with the introduction of large-N datasets, scholars have turned to more systematic examinations of previously little explored questions, such as when and how sanctions work, when and why states employ sanctions, and why some sanctions last longer than others. Two dominant perspectives, one based on strategic logic and the other on domestic politics, have emerged, providing starkly different answers to these questions. A growing body of evidence lends support to both strategic and domestic politics perspectives, but also points to areas in which they fall short. To complement these shortcomings, a new direction for research is to unite these perspectives into a single theoretical framework.

Metaphorical incarnations of the “other” and Iranian International Relations discourses

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 748-771
Author(s):  
Heidarali Masoudi
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
International Relations ◽  
World Politics ◽  
The Other ◽  
Metaphor Analysis ◽  
Policy Issues ◽  
Academic Texts ◽  
Nodal Points ◽  
The Us ◽  
Arab States

Iranian International Relations academics have impacted both the official and public discourses on foreign policy issues, and vice versa. More specifically, how the “other” is constructed in Iranian International Relations discourses has an important role in determining how Iran acts in world politics. Assuming that International Relations discourses in Iran are inextricably intertwined with the construction of the “other,” this article aims to investigate how Iranian International Relations scholars use metaphors as linguistic tools for the representation of the “other.” Specifically, this article analyzes the metaphorical construction of the “other” in Iranian International Relations academic texts. Applying metaphor analysis, instances of the “other” have been selected and analyzed. The hypothesis was that there are two different categories of metaphors representing the “other”: first, there are context-oriented metaphorical incarnations that attempt to construct Iran’s “relationship” with others in foreign arenas, considering internal and external opportunities and limitations; and, second, there are essentialist metaphorical incarnations of particular actors, such as the US, Israel and Arab states as the “other.” The analysis shows that body and religion can be regarded as nodal points around which context-oriented and essentialist International Relations metaphorical discourses, respectively, have been articulated. The context-oriented discourse is inspired by realist insights into home-grown Iranian International Relations while the essentialist discourse is influenced by official foreign policy rhetoric and Iranian historical culturalism.

No War Pact

2020 ◽  
pp. 99-116
Author(s):  
Pallavi Raghavan
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
The Other ◽  
Refugee Crisis ◽  
World Views ◽  
The World ◽  
The 1950S ◽  
Jawaharlal Nehru ◽  
The Relationship

The No War Pact correspondence between Jawaharlal Nehru and Liaquat Ali Khan is interesting for several reasons: its timing, the personalities, the possibilities it seemed to offer for the relationship ship, and the glimpses it offered into the world views of India and Pakistan during the 1950s. The Evacuee Property Conferences, as well as the refugee crisis in Bengal formed the immediate context in which Liaquat Ali Khan and Nehru opened negotiations on a possible No War Pact. In many ways, moreover, the correspondence also shows how deeply connected the shaping of foreign policy was with domestic politics—India’s and Pakistan’s international relations were shaped out of the domestic concerns of both nation. One reason that the correspondence was taking place at all was that it could offer the possibility of some movement on the questions of water and evacuee property. The correspondence offered an opportunity for India and Pakistan to clarify their positions internationally as mutually exclusive entities: at the same time, it was also for progress in leading to more accommodative outcomes for talks around the agenda of separation. This chapter shows that the business of going about disentangling oneself from the other did not in fact necessarily mandate international stances that had to be hostile to one another: they could also be built upon an attempt at dialogue.

Conspiracy and foreign policy

2018 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 165-182 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Aistrope ◽  
Roland Bleiker
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Significant Role ◽  
War On Terror ◽  
World Politics ◽  
The Other ◽  
Weapons Of Mass Destruction ◽  
Mass Destruction ◽  
Arab Muslim ◽  
The One

Conspiracies play a significant role in world politics. States often engage in covert operations. They plot in secret, with and against each other. At the same time, conspiracies are often associated with irrational thinking and delusion. We address this puzzle and highlight the need to see conspiracies as more than just empirical phenomena. We argue that claims about conspiracies should be seen as narratives that are intrinsically linked to power relations and the production of foreign policy knowledge. We illustrate the links between conspiracies, legitimacy and power by examining multiple conspiracies associated with 9/11 and the War on Terror. Two trends are visible. On the one hand, US officials identified a range of conspiracies and presented them as legitimate and rational, even though some, such as the alleged covert development of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, are now widely considered false. On the other hand, conspiracies circulating in the Arab-Muslim world were dismissed as irrational and pathological, even though some, like those concerned with the covert operation of US power in the Middle East, were based on credible concerns.

China–Turkey Relations from the Perspective of Neoclassical Realism

2021 ◽  
pp. 234779892110626
Author(s):  
Mustafa Cüneyt Özşahin ◽  
Federico Donelli ◽  
Riccardo Gasco
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
Middle Eastern ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Strategic Culture ◽  
Extensive Literature ◽  
Neoclassical Realism ◽  
Middle Power ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Middle Powers

There is plenty of studies focusing on China’s global outreach through its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). In tandem with this, the extensive literature on China depicts it as the next hegemon to succeed in the USA. Along this line, flourishing ties with various Asian nations, including the Middle Eastern countries, as a result of China’s recent foreign policy activism has been addressed extensively. While most research has been stressing the rising assertiveness of China in world politics, only a limited number of studies have touched upon the responses from middle or small powers against China’s ascent. Drawing from neoclassical realism, this article contends two levels of analysis for delineating the interaction between Turkey, a middle power, and China, a rising great power. First, the exchange between Turkey and the USA is vital in determining the cordial relations between Turkey and China. Alteration in the American policy vis-à-vis Turkey in the wake of the Arab Spring is relevant to Turkey’s growing relations with China. Second, is the rising anti-Westernism of foreign policy elites as part of the alteration in the strategic culture of Turkish politics, which makes Turkey’s rapprochement with China possible. Nevertheless, it should be noted that these two levels are intertwined and feed each other. Consequently, employing a neoclassical realist approach, the article argues that the middle powers’ stance against a rising hegemon is conditional upon the bilateral relations with the current hegemon and peculiarities of domestic politics.

Grand Strategy of the Master Class

2021 ◽  
pp. 106-122
Author(s):  
Matthew Karp
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
American Foreign Policy ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Grand Strategy ◽  
Strategic Culture ◽  
Antebellum Era ◽  
Fugitive Slave

This chapter discusses the role of Southerners and slavery in US foreign policy from the antebellum era to the Civil War. Studies that explore slavery's specific impact on foreign policy have generally confined themselves to the ways that slaveholders worked to secure fugitive slave laws, enact restrictions on black sailors, or, at most, fight to add new slave states to the Union. However, the kind of domination that slaveholders desired went beyond the need to reinforce their narrow property rights, or even the desire to expand the amount of territory under slave cultivation. Antebellum slaveholders assumed national Cabinet posts to command the power of the entire United States, and then, crucially, to use that power to strengthen slavery in world politics. If grand strategy is “the intellectual architecture that gives form and structure to foreign policy,” slaveholding leaders were not merely provincial sectionalists but bold and cosmopolitan strategic thinkers. Their profound ideological commitment to slavery did not merely affect domestic politics within a divided republic; it left a deep imprint on the “strategic culture” of American foreign policy.

The influence of Confucianism on Chinese politics and foreign policy

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 321-328
Author(s):  
Quansheng Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Chinese Government ◽  
Chinese Politics ◽  
Chinese History ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
Chinese Policy ◽  
The Impact

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to understand the role Confucianism has in affecting domestic and foreign policy which is accomplished by looking at historical trends and contemporary developments and arguments posed by leading scholars. This paper finds that Confucianism has had a significant impact on current Chinese policy; however, it has been a selective application. In particular, the Chinese Government has focused on the traditional Confucian moral framework and the mandate to rule, which has allowed the Chinese Government to work toward further securing their right to rule and enhance a more assertive foreign policy abroad.Design/methodology/approachThis study based on historical, theoretical and empirical discussions.FindingsIt is clear that Confucianism has had profound influence on Chinese politics and foreign policy. As rulers in the past of Chinese history, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has also utilized Confucianism to enhance nationalist sentiments among the people. Confucianism, therefore, has been served as the codifying ideology to further secure the CCP’s right to rule domestically, and to enhance a more assertive foreign policy abroad. With confidence, one can argue that Confucianism will continue to serve as a leading source of ideas in China for its effort to pursue modernization.Originality/valueThis paper focuses on the impact of Confucianism on Chinese politics and foreign policy. In the field of international relations and foreign policy analysis, it is well known that ideas are always critical to any changes of a country’s foreign policy. That is to say, a country’s politics and foreign policy would be heavily influenced not only by the changes of tide in contemporary world politics, but also heavily influenced by its traditional thinking and heritage. In this paper, the author will examine the influence of Confucianism on Chinese domestic politics and foreign policy. The analysis will cover recent arguments about the role of Confucianism from several leading contemporary thinkers. It will also make some brief comparisons between China and other East Asian societies, including Japan and Korea.

Mr. Toynbee and World Politics: War and National Security

1956 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 374-391 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth W. Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
National Security ◽  
International Society ◽  
Social Factors ◽  
International Politics ◽  
Philosophy Of History ◽  
World Politics ◽  
The Other ◽  
Modern War

IHE problem of war and national security, at one time conceived of as the province of almost anyone but the peace-minded international relationist, has come increasingly to occupy scholars and researchers. Arnold J. Toynbee, whose major concern is the philosophy of history, preserves a lively interest in international politics and particularly in the problem of war, the principles of foreign policy, and the quest for an applicable body of theory concerning international society. With the publication of the last four volumes of his famed A Study of History, it may be appropriate to call attention to the other side of his work, especially as he brings to the discussion a clarity, simplicity, and concreteness refreshing by contrast with the pompous tautologies of much of modern scholarship. This article reviews Mr. Toynbee's contribution to knowledge on the first of the problems mentioned, namely, war and national security. It seeks to present his conception of the crisis in modern war, social factors underlying the transformation of warfare, and prevailing theories on the nature and inevitability of war.

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