Domestic Constraints, German Foreign Policy and Post-Conflict Peacebuilding

2013 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 43-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katy A. Crossley-Frolick
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Role Identity ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
Post Cold War ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Policy Goals ◽  
International Peacebuilding ◽  
Kultur Der Zurückhaltung ◽  
Culture Of Restraint

Since the end of the Cold War, Germany has assumed a greater profile in addressing global security concerns. This article analyzes the evolution of Germany's approach to peacebuilding in the post Cold War era. It argues that while Germany could play a unique and important role in such missions, it has largely demurred. The muted quality of German leadership in international peacebuilding reveals a foreign policy role identity that remains circumscribed by a culture of restraint (Kultur der Zurückhaltung). From a constructivist perspective, this “culture of restraint” acts as a cognitive map for political leaders and policy makers, privileging a set of norms that guide policy-making. Peacebuilding missions present opportunities for Germany to operationalize the most fundamental tenets undergirding Germany's postwar foreign policy identity: the preference to cooperate with other states through multilateral institutions, the use of economic instruments to obtain foreign policy goals, and support for supranational institutions to address global problems. But such opportunities are not seized due to the absence of political elite consensus, inter-party, and inter-ministerial dissensus, institutional fragmentation and insufficient material support for international peacebuilding endeavors.

scholarly journals Challenges to Pakistan’s Foreign Policy in the Post-Cold War Era: 1991-2001

2019 ◽  
Vol IV (I) ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Ahmad Ali ◽  
Khurshaid Ahmad ◽  
Zahir Shah
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Nuclear Program ◽  
Post Cold War ◽  
Freedom Struggle ◽  
Policy Choices ◽  
Policy Goals ◽  
Strategic Position ◽  
Global Cold War ◽  
New Phase

Pakistans geo-strategic position determined her foreign policy choices and directions during the global cold war conflict. The dawn of the new global system brought new phase of challenges and constraints for Pakistan. This new unipolar power structure obliged Pakistan to think in terms of reorientation of her foreign policy because it had lost her importance and opportunities after the Afghan war. Pakistan has faced the challenge of increasing isolation mainly because of these factors in the decade of 90s. Firstly, security secondly, her nuclear program and sanctions, thirdly, political uncertainty and inconsistency in determining foreign policy goals, fourthly, regional constraints like Afghan Taliban factor, fifthly, Nuclear tests and finally, her support of Kashmir freedom struggle.

scholarly journals The Sino-Russian Relationship: Fellow Travellers in the West-dominated World

2018 ◽  
Vol 236 ◽  
pp. 1197-1205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcin Kaczmarski
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Cold War ◽  
East Asia ◽  
Developing World ◽  
Grand Strategy ◽  
The West ◽  
Post Cold War ◽  
Dividing Line

A decade ago, Beijing's relations with Moscow were of marginal interest to China scholars. Topics such as growing Sino-American interdependence-cum-rivalry, engagement with East Asia or relations with the developing world overshadowed China's relationship with its northern neighbour. Scholars preoccupied with Russia's foreign policy did not pay much attention either, regarding the Kremlin's policy towards China as part and parcel of Russia's grand strategy directed towards the West. The main dividing line among those few who took a closer look ran between sceptics and alarmists. The former interpreted the post-Cold War rapprochement as superficial and envisioned an imminent clash of interests between the two states. The latter, a minority, saw the prospect of an anti-Western alliance.

HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE ORIGIN OF MYTHS OF POST-APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICAN FOREIGN POLICY

2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pablo De Rezende Saturnino Braga
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Cold War ◽  
South African ◽  
World Order ◽  
African National Congress ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
Post Cold War ◽  
Iconic Image

The foreign policy narrative of South Africa is strongly grounded in human rights issues, beginning with the transition from a racial segregation regime to a democracy. The worldwide notoriety of the apartheid South Africa case was one factor that overestimated the expectations of the role the country would play in the world after apartheid. Global circumstances also fostered this perception, due to the optimistic scenario of the post-Cold War world order. The release of Nelson Mandela and the collapse of apartheid became the perfect illustration of the victory of liberal ideas, democracy, and human rights. More than 20 years after the victory of Mandela and the first South African democratic elections, the criticism to the country's foreign policy on human rights is eminently informed by those origin myths, and it generates a variety of analytical distortions. The weight of expectations, coupled with the historical background that led the African National Congress (ANC) to power in South Africa, underestimated the traditional tensions of the relationship between sovereignty and human rights. Post-apartheid South Africa presented an iconic image of a new bastion for the defence of human rights in the post-Cold War world. The legacy of the miraculous transition in South Africa, though, seems to have a deeper influence on the role of the country as a mediator in African crises rather than in a liberal-oriented human rights approach. This is more evident in cases where the African agenda clashes with liberal conceptions of human rights, especially due to the politicisation of the international human rights regime. 

Conclusion

After Lavinia ◽  
2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Watkins
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Cold War ◽  
International Relations ◽  
First Century ◽  
European Countries ◽  
The West ◽  
Post Cold War ◽  
Northern European ◽  
Global Peace ◽  
Legal Rationality

This concluding chapter reflects on marriage in the contemporary West, noting that it has become an affective arrangement. In Britain and the northern European countries that still retain a constitutional form of monarchy, twenty-first-century royalty now prefer their own subjects as marriage partners, even if it means marrying a commoner like Kate Middleton. To the extent that these marriages to indigenous commoners have any bearing on foreign policy, they reaffirm the nationalist sentiments of the post-Westphalian state. The chapter argues that, despite all the legal rationality, global peace remains as elusive now as it was when Europeans tried to settle their quarrels through interdynastic marriage. It suggests that the opposition between the West and its post-Cold War enemies has brought the matter of gender and the place of women once more to the center of international relations.

Of Power and Promises

The NGO Game ◽  
2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrice C. McMahon
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Post Cold War ◽  
International Assistance ◽  
The Past ◽  
Post Conflict

This chapter provides evidence of what can only be called the “NGO revolution.” It documents the growth of NGOs and measures their power. This chapter not only describes how NGOs have changed as they have grown in number, but it explains what is new about their behavior in the post-Cold War period and how their involvement in post-conflict countries differs from the past. This chapter also exposes the disjuncture between the discourse Western actors use when they talk about peacebuilding and international assistance and the realities on the ground. With their numbers, money, and access, it is clear that NGOs had significant sway in Bosnia's rebuilding. Yet, there is little evidence that the NGO boom had much to do with empowering locals or advancing peace.

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