Minimizing Loss: Explaining Russian Policy Choices during the Ukrainian Crisis

2017 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael E. Aleprete
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
Policy Decision ◽  
Political Stability ◽  
Military Interventions ◽  
Policy Choices ◽  
Policy Decision Making ◽  
Ukrainian Crisis ◽  
Russian Military ◽  
Sphere Of Influence

Realist and liberal scholars of international relations offer very different interpretations of Russia’s decision to militarily intervene in Ukraine. While liberals describe the Russian actions as part of a new, more aggressive foreign policy resulting from increasing authoritarianism within Russia itself, realists view these actions as largely defensive; a reaction to persistent Western efforts to peel Ukraine from the Russian sphere of influence. Applying insights from the foreign policy decision making literature to a close examination of events from late 2013 through the Russian military interventions in Crimea and Eastern Ukraine reveals weaknesses in both these explanations. Consistent with the realist view, Russian behavior does appear to have been motivated more by geopolitical interests than by the domestic politics considerations. However realist accounts underestimate the extent to which prior Russian policy choices, rather than Western efforts, contributed to the undermining of Ukraine’s political stability.

American commitments in the Third World: theory vs. practice

1987 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 667-704 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce W. Jentleson
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Third World ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
American Foreign Policy ◽  
Policy Decision ◽  
The United States ◽  
Four Dimensions ◽  
The Third ◽  
Policy Decision Making ◽  
The Third World

Amidst their other differences, the defeats suffered by the United States in Vietnam, Iran, and Lebanon have a common explanation. In all three cases American strategy was based on “global commitments theory.” Interests were to be defended and global credibility strengthened by the making, maintaining, reinforcing, and sustaining of American commitments to Third World allies. However, the core assumptions on which the logic of global commitments theory rests are plagued with inherent fallacies. These fallacies can be identified analytically as patterns of dysfunction along four dimensions of foreign policy: decision-making, diplomacy, military strategy, and domestic politics. They also can be shown empirically to have recurred across the Vietnam, Iran, and Lebanon cases. The central theoretical conclusion questions the fundamental validity of global commitments theory as it applies to the exercise of power and influence in the Third World. Important prescriptive implications for future American foreign policy are also discussed.

Aid, Peacebuilding, and Human Security: Japan’s Engagement in South Sudan, 2011–2017

2021 ◽  
pp. 154231662110148
Author(s):  
Maria Thaemar C. Tana
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
South Sudan ◽  
Human Security ◽  
Policy Decision ◽  
Strategic Orientation ◽  
Critical Element ◽  
Policy Choices ◽  
External Variables ◽  
Policy Decision Making

The article examines the case of Japan’s peacebuilding in South Sudan from 2011 to 2017 and asks how Japan’s shift towards a more proactive defence posture affects the place of human security in its foreign policy agenda. Using the framework of neoclassical realism, the article argues that human security remains a critical element of Japanese foreign policy despite changes in its strategic orientation because, international predicaments notwithstanding, Japan’s foreign policy decision making is still significantly constrained by domestic variables such as state–society relations, elite perceptions, elite consensus, and domestic institutional arrangements. Changes in Japan’s overall foreign and security policies do not diminish the importance of human security. Despite the shift to a more assertive foreign policy, Japan still retains the essential features of its diplomacy. External variables influence policymakers’ decision making, but domestic variables constrain policy choices and outcomes.

scholarly journals Comparative Foreign Policy Analysis

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey S. Lantis ◽  
Ryan Beasley
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Nongovernmental Organizations ◽  
Policy Analysis ◽  
Role Theory ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
Policy Decision ◽  
Comparative Perspective ◽  
Foreign Policy Analysis ◽  
Policy Decision Making

Comparative foreign policy analysis (CFP) is a vibrant and dynamic subfield of international relations. It examines foreign policy decision making processes related to momentous events as well as patterns in day-to-day foreign interactions of nearly 200 different states (along with thousands of international and nongovernmental organizations). Scholars explore the causes of these behaviors as well as their implications by constructing, testing, and refining theories of foreign policy decision making in comparative perspective. In turn, CFP also offers valuable lessons to government leaders. This article surveys the evolution of CFP as a subfield over time, with special attention to its contributions to academic understanding and policymaking. It begins with a review of the characteristics and contributions of CFP, followed by acknowledgment of early works that helped establish this area of study. The next section of the article reviews major thematic focuses of CFP, including theories of international pressures and factors that may drive state foreign policy as well as strong foundations in studies of domestic politics. Key internal actors and conditions that can influence state foreign policies include individual leaders, institutions and legislatures, bureaucratic organizations and government agencies, and public opinion and nongovernmental organizations. Following this survey of actors and contemporary theories of their role in foreign policy decision-making, the article develops two illustrations of new directions in CFP studies focused on political party factions and role theory in comparative perspective.

scholarly journals Why did Rwanda join British Commonwealth?

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Ali Muhammad ◽  
Amalia Nurul Hutami
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Policy Decision ◽  
International Context ◽  
News Reports ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Policy Decision Making ◽  
British Commonwealth

This article aims to examine Rwanda's foreign policy decision to join the British Commonwealth. Rwanda was former French colony and has historic association with Francophone countries. But the country decided to join the British Commonwealth in 2009. Using theory of foreign policy decision making, it argues that the shift of Rwanda’s foreign policy was caused by the political transition in Rwanda’s domestic politics, its economy condition in the post-genocide epoch as well as the international context which included Rwanda’s geographic position and the role of the United Kingdom in aiding Rwanda’s state-building in the aftermath of the genocide. This research uses qualitative method and uses secondary data such as, books, articles, journals, e-news, reports and other library sources.

Domestic Political Incentives, Congressional Support, and U.S. Mediation

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 333-366
Author(s):  
James P. Todhunter
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
Policy Decision ◽  
Policy Options ◽  
Policy Decisions ◽  
Political Incentives ◽  
Policy Decision Making ◽  
Mediation Processes

Abstract Powerful states have numerous resources that can be mobilized in mediation processes. However, evidence suggests that such states are not more likely to be successful than other mediators. This article examines U.S. mediations through the lens of foreign policy decision making and argues that leaders make foreign policy decisions primarily with their domestic consequences in mind. Further, it contends that presidential administrations seek to build a record of success in order to improve their domestic political fortunes based on the policy options available to them. The study tests two explanations of foreign policy substitution based on domestic conditions and institutional configurations, the “party cover” and “policy availability” arguments, for U.S. mediations from 1945–1999. Results for the party cover argument are more robust, suggesting that domestic conditions play an important role in the decision to engage in mediation and imply that successful mediation is secondary to domestic politics.

Modeling Foreign Policy Decision Making

1970 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 136, 138
Author(s):  
RICHARD L. MERRITT
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Policy Decision ◽  
Policy Decision Making

Three Looks at German Foreign Policy before September 11: A Landscape Shifts

2002 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 73-81
Author(s):  
Karen Donfried
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Policy Decision ◽  
The Political ◽  
German Foreign Policy ◽  
State University ◽  
European Monetary ◽  
Monetary Cooperation ◽  
Policy Decision Making ◽  
The Eu

Wolf-Dieter Eberwein and Karl Kaiser, Germany’s New Foreign Policy: Decision-Making in an Independent World (Hampshire: Palgrave, 2001)Adrian Hyde-Price, Germany & European Order: Enlarging NATO and the EU (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2000)Matthias Kaelberer, Money and Power in Europe: The Political Economy of European Monetary Cooperation (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2001)

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