The Role of the Academia in Foreign Policymaking: International Practices and Perspectives as Lessons for Namibia

2018 ◽  
Vol 74 (2) ◽  
pp. 215-233
Author(s):  
Peya Mushelenga
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Best Practices ◽  
Academic Discipline ◽  
Geographic Region ◽  
Small States ◽  
Small State ◽  
Ir Studies ◽  
Un Security Council ◽  
Policy Making Process

Academics for international relations (IR) studies as an academic discipline have over the years contributed to the process of foreign policymaking. Their contribution has been made through research and publications and providing advisory services to policymakers. Other platforms existing for academics are platforms for debates on foreign policy and providing training to foreign policymakers. The article discusses international experiences and perspectives, from all geographic regions, covering large states of the UN Security Council, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) and at least one small state from each geographic region. The lecture analyses the gaps existing between academics and foreign policymakers and explores methods that can be adopted to close the gaps and create a working relationship between the two stakeholders, with a view to make positive contributions to the making of foreign policy. It highlights the challenges facing academics in making an impact on foreign policy and the approach of foreign policymakers to the contribution by academics. The article propounds that, generally, academics are more influential in large states’ foreign policy-making process, compared to small states where the process of foreign policymaking includes a few stakeholders. Further, the appointment of policymakers from the academia background impacts on inclination to the role of the academia in foreign policymaking. There are no many platforms where debates on Namibia’s foreign policy are held and a limited number of Namibian academics play a role on foreign policymaking. The article provides a framework of best practices as lessons for Namibian academics and foreign policymakers.

scholarly journals Being a Small State: Discussion on the Role of Size

2019 ◽  
pp. 73-91
Author(s):  
Justinas Lingevičius
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Empirical Analysis ◽  
Theoretical Perspective ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Small States ◽  
Small State

This paper discusses theoretical debates regarding small states and their foreign policy and also argues that research should include more analysis of small states’ identities and the dominant meanings related to being a small state. Using poststructuralistic theoretical perspective and discourse analysis, two empirical cases – Lithuania and New Zealand – are analysed with attention paid to the meanings of smallness and the ways these meanings are constructed. Empirical analysis follows with suggestions for how future research of small states could be improved.

scholarly journals Small States and the Struggle for Power in the Arctic Region: A Case Study of Denmark

Politologija ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 94 (2) ◽  
pp. 81-108
Author(s):  
Gabija Lukšaitė
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Arctic Region ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Small States ◽  
Small State ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
International Environment ◽  
Foreign Policy Strategies ◽  
The Arctic Region

This paper examines the specifics of foreign policy strategies used by Denmark as a small state in the Arctic region. Based upon a number of theoretical approaches in terms of analyzing small state foreign policy, this study is primarily focused on how small states manage to pursue their goals in an international environment typically dominated by large powers.

The Sociology of Diplomats and Foreign Policy Sector: The Role of Cliques on the Policy-Making Process

2020 ◽  
pp. 147892992090195
Author(s):  
Rahime Süleymanoğlu-Kürüm
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Career Path ◽  
Policy Decision ◽  
Foreign Affairs ◽  
Policy Making Process ◽  
Ruling Elites ◽  
Organisational Process ◽  
Governmental Politics

This paper studies the sociology of elites and the role of cliques on the foreign policy-making process through an exploratory case study of Turkish Ministry for Foreign Affairs. It identifies elite sociology as the independent variable triggering a policy-making process in the Turkish Ministry for Foreign Affairs in line with organisational process or governmental politic approaches. It shows that until the 1980s, the Turkish Ministry for Foreign Affairs was marked by strong hierarchical tradition triggered by a certain career path and cliqueism leading to the homogeneity in the sociology of elites. This in turn triggered a foreign policy-making process based on organisational process. The role of cliqueism weakened along with the incremental circulation of elites in the post-1980s and particularly in the post-2005 period as the elite structure in the Turkish Ministry for Foreign Affairs became even more heterogeneous, foreign policy-making process moved towards governmental politics which allowed taking into account diverse schools of thought. Nevertheless, newly emerging programmatic elites employed deliberate efforts for elite circulation by altering the dominant career path and relying on political appointments. The resulting outcome was the emergence of a new clique of ruling elites subordinate to political elites which led to the politicisation of the foreign policy decision-making process in the post-2011 period.

Chinese Civilian Foreign Policy Research Institutes: Evolving Roles and Increasing Influence

2002 ◽  
Vol 171 ◽  
pp. 597-616 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bonnie S. Glaser ◽  
Phillip C. Saunders
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Policy Process ◽  
Policy Research ◽  
Policy Formulation ◽  
Chinese Foreign Policy ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Research Institutes ◽  
Traditional Research ◽  
Policy Making Process

A more pragmatic Chinese foreign policy and a more bureaucratic policy-making process have increased the opportunities for China's civilian research institutes to affect foreign policy. Beijing's growing involvement in the international community has created increased demand for research and analysis to aid Chinese leaders in making informed decisions. A more pluralistic and competitive policy environment has given analysts at think tanks more influence, but has also created new competition from analysts and authors working outside the traditional research institute system. This article examines the evolving role of Chinese civilian foreign policy research institutes, their relationships to policy makers, and the pathways through which they provide input into Chinese foreign policy formulation. It provides an overview of the key civilian research institutes, identifies important trends affecting them, and examines the roles and functions they play. The article concludes with an assessment of sources of policy influence within the Chinese foreign policy process.

The Case for Multiple Advocacy in Making Foreign Policy

1972 ◽  
Vol 66 (3) ◽  
pp. 751-785 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander L. George
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Harmful Effect ◽  
Role Conflicts ◽  
Personal Power ◽  
Policy Making Process ◽  
Effective Advocacy ◽  
Security Affairs ◽  
Do So

The system of multiple advocacy attempts to convert intraorganizational conflicts over policy into a balanced system of policy analysis and debate. This requires the executive to (1) structure and manage the policy-making system to ensure that there are advocates to cover the range of interesting policy options on a given issue; (2) equalize or compensate for disparities among the actors in the resources needed for effective advocacy; (3) identify and correct possible “malfunctions” in the policy-making process before they can have a harmful effect on the executive's choice of policy. Nine types of malfunctions are identified in this paper via critical diagnosis of U.S. foreign policy making in cases in which the executive had to decide questions of commitment, intervention, or escalation. Responsibility for identifying and correcting such malfunctions and for managing multiple advocacy effectively should be clearly fixed with the Special Assistant for National Security Affairs. However, the Special Assistant should not combine the role of “custodian-manager” of the policy-making system with the additional tasks of (a) policy adviser to the President; (b) public spokesman for existing policies; (c) “watch-dog” of the President's personal power stakes; or (d) implementer of policy decisions already taken. The attempt to do so invites serious role conflicts that can undermine the Special Assistant's performance of the all-important task of custodian.

scholarly journals Foreign policy positioning issue of small States (on the example of the Republic of Belarus relations with the Russian Federation and People’s Republic of China)

2020 ◽  
Vol 133 (4) ◽  
pp. 113-128
Author(s):  
E. D. Salmygina ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
The Political ◽  
Small States ◽  
Small State ◽  
Independent State ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
The Russian Federation ◽  
Policy Strategies ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Foreign Policy Strategies

Small states are very weak in the political area. That is why there is a need for them to try to choose the various foreign policy strategies to defend themselves. Belarus is a small state that needs to survive in our rapidly developing and politically unstable world. Having emerged as a newly independent state as the result of the collapse of the USSR, Belarus faced a difficult choice in the decision where it was going to move further and on whom it could rely. In particular, in recent years, Belarus needs to make a subtle strategic calculation as to how to manage its relations with two important partners: Russia and China. This article considers the theory of small states’ foreign policy strategies in detail. It analyzes the choice of Belarus’s foreign policy strategies towards China and Russia. It shows that Belarus combines some characteristics from the classic small states’ foreign policy strategies, and it does not fully follow any of them.

Policy Entrepreneurs and Foreign Policy Change: The Greek–Turkish Rapprochement in the 1990s

2012 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 597-617 ◽  
Author(s):  
Spyros Blavoukos ◽  
Dimitris Bourantonis
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Policy Change ◽  
Domestic Policy ◽  
Candidate Country ◽  
Policy Entrepreneurs ◽  
Policy Making Process ◽  
The Status ◽  
Policy Objectives ◽  
Foreign Policy Change

AbstractBesides systemic changes that lead to the re-prioritization of foreign policy objectives, foreign policy change is also a result of domestic policy entrepreneurs’ pursuit of a political return. Their potential to orchestrate change depends on the existing entry barriers that emanate from the political and institutional features of the domestic policy-making process. It is accentuated by system-wide developments and security crises that illustrate old policy failure. This article discusses the role of policy entrepreneurs in foreign policy change by reference to the Greek–Turkish rapprochement in the late 1990s that resulted in Turkey receiving the status of EU candidate country in 1999.

The accession of the Second Republic of Austria to the UN after the end of World War II (1955)

2021 ◽  
pp. 254-261
Author(s):  
Nataliya S. Kozyakova
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Security Council ◽  
Source Analysis ◽  
Main Body ◽  
World War ◽  
Second Republic ◽  
Social Council ◽  
Un Security Council

We examine the problems that occupied the main place in Austria’s foreign policy in the mid-1950s of 20th century and characterized its role in international relations during the specified period. The role of Austria in the international arena has increased the country’s entry into the path of neutrality. It also opened up wide opportunities for it to participate in the activities of vari-ous international organizations extensively. Using the method of source analysis, the active partic-ipation of Austria in the work of the UN is considered, its authority and support for the sufficient work of this organization, which allowed it to be elected for three years as a member of the main body of the UN – a member of the Economic and Social Council in 1963 and 1976, in 1973 and 1974 – a member of the UN security, and in 1972 it became a permanent member of the UN Security Council. According to Austria’s first statement to the Security Council, the country planned to provide the widest possible extent of its impartial services to the UN’s main political body, using the wide opportunities given to it by its independence and neutrality. Having analyzed the main directions and aspects of Austrian foreign policy in the second half of the twentieth century, we conclude that, having adopted a justified course in foreign policy in 1955, based on permanent neutrality, the Second Austrian Republic further has provided the guarantee and basis of its independence.

Agile small state agency: heuristic plays and flexible national identity markers in Finnish foreign policy

2011 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 257-276 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mika Aaltola
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
National Identity ◽  
Cultural Models ◽  
State Agency ◽  
Added Value ◽  
Illustrative Case ◽  
Small State ◽  
Historical Approach ◽  
Identity Markers

Studies of small state foreign policy tend to draw relatively bleak conclusions when it comes to small state agency. However, I will examine alternative and more positive modalities of small state agency. One such modality is agility, the strategic maneuverability to take advantage of a chancy environment. Besides leading to dangerous rigidities and biases, particular types of foreign policy imageries and heuristics may also facilitate experimental and agile agency. In studying this possibility, Finland is chosen as an illustrative case because historically Finland has faced a particularly constraining geopolitical context and because it has managed to adapt to multiple upheavals and to different geopolitical contexts. The emphasis is on the heuristic dynamics inherent in Finnish foreign policy culture that have allowed it to actively meet the emerging challenges. Instead of taking a detailed historical approach, I seek to understand the role of the relatively flexible and combinable embodied cultural models, i.e. thick images. They allow for agency-related experimentation that may bring added value that allows Finland to exceed the constraints of the brute geopolitical position. After reviewing multiple embodied foreign policy images, I will use them to analyse New Year's speeches by the Finnish Presidents Ahtisaari and Halonen in order to see how the fickle present is made to resonate innovatively with the known, commonplace, and mythical.

Domestic Sources of Foreign Policy Change: Kyrgyzstan’s U-Turns on the U.S. Air Base at Manas Airport

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 175-202
Author(s):  
Shairbek Dzhuraev
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Policy Change ◽  
Risk Taking ◽  
Small States ◽  
Small State ◽  
Foreign Policies ◽  
Foreign Policy Change ◽  
External Incentives ◽  
The U.S

Abstract Mainstream theories of international relations explain the foreign policies of small states based on the function of external incentives and pressures. This article challenges such explanations and analyzes Kyrgyzstan’s decisions concerning the U.S. air base at Manas between 2005 and 2010, which was a curious case of risk-taking in foreign policy by a small state. Applying a framework of “ideas, interests and institutions,” the article shows how changes in Kyrgyzstan’s foreign policy reflected a shift in the domestic context of policymaking.

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