Discourses and Ethics: The Social Construction of British Foreign Policy

This chapter examines the role of identity in constructing U.S. foreign policy. Using a critical social constructivist approach, it argues that particular conceptions of U.S. identity constitute U.S. interests, thus providing the foundations for foreign policy. After providing an overview of the influence of interests on foreign policy, the chapter considers the basic assumptions of critical social constructivism, taking into account the social construction of reality and the concepts of discourse and articulation. It then analyses discourses as sites of power, identity, and representation, along with the importance of identity in U.S. foreign policy. It also looks at U.S. presidents’ articulations of state identity and foreign policy over the last six decades.

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POLITIK LUAR NEGERI CHINA TERHADAP ZIMBABWE

FACTUM: Jurnal Sejarah dan Pendidikan Sejarah ◽

10.17509/factum.v8i1.20920 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

pp. 141-152

Author(s):

Nurdiani Fathiraini

Keyword(s):

Foreign Policy ◽

Social Identity ◽

Social Construction ◽

Logical Consequence ◽

Identity Transformation ◽

Development Cooperation ◽

Peaceful Rise ◽

The Social ◽

China’S Foreign Policy

This article aimed to elaborate China’s foreign policy towards Zimbabwe under Hu Jintao’s leadership. Based on the “social construction” logic, it was a logical consequence influenced by intersubjective factors and also formed and defined based on the actor’s social identity. In this case, historical power influenced a positive intersubjective and form an established structure of China “amity” towards Zimbabwe. It can be understood how China perceived Zimbabwe as a “friend”. Besides, China’s identity transformation as a “peaceful rise” country, defined the interest formation towards economic and development cooperation manifested through strengthening cooperation in the China-Zimbabwe Strategic Partnership’s scheme. Thus, Hu Jintaos foreign policy towardsZimbabwe was not only determined by the material dimension, but strongly determinedby the ideational dimension where China under Hu Jintao’s leadership was strivedto represent of a “peaceful rise” identity that cannot be separated from the values of“friendship, peace, cooperation, and development.

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America and the British Foreign Policy-Making Elite, from Joseph Chamberlain to Anthony Eden, 1895–1956

The Review of Politics ◽

10.1017/s0034670500004241 ◽

1963 ◽

Vol 25 (1) ◽

pp. 3-33 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

D. C. Watt

Keyword(s):

Foreign Policy ◽

Social Structure ◽

Policy Making ◽

Political Power ◽

Mass Movements ◽

Political Society ◽

British Foreign Policy ◽

The Social ◽

Anglo American

This study suggested itself to the author when he noticed that such work as had been done on British attitudes to America fell into two main divisions: (a) studies, usually of American origin, of movements in the mass of British opinion; (b) studies of the radical and politically “nonconformist” elements in British political society. Both of these seemed to the author to be vitiated as contributions to the understanding of the various developments of Anglo-American relations, the former because the social structure of British political power does not weigh mass movements of opinion very highly, the latter because in the 61 years from 1895–1956, radical elements have controlled British foreign policy for a mere eight years and disputed control only for a further six.

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INTRODUCTION: APPEASEMENT AND ALL SOULS COLLEGE

Camden Fifth Series ◽

10.1017/s096011630400003x ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 24 ◽

pp. 1-19

Keyword(s):

Foreign Policy ◽

Close Association ◽

Nazi Germany ◽

Clearing House ◽

British Foreign Policy ◽

The Social ◽

Foreign Office ◽

The Times

Appeasement and All Souls College, like Neville Chamberlain and Munich, The Times and Geoffrey Dawson, or the Astors and the ‘Cliveden Set’ appear synonymously in any discussion of British foreign policy in the 1930s. They have been firmly associated since 1961 when A.L. Rowse, the historian, poet, and Shakespearean scholar published All Souls and Appeasement. Rowse denigrated appeasement as the foreign policy of ‘a class in decadence’ that reduced Britain to a second-rate power. Rowse asserted that All Souls was an important clearing-house for politicians, academics, intellectuals, and other establishment figures who supported appeasement as the only policy which could attain a settlement with Nazi Germany. The same claims also surrounded the social gatherings hosted by Waldorf and Nancy Astor at Cliveden, their country home in Berkshire, and the close association between The Times and the Foreign Office.

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