scholarly journals Jakub Eberle: Discourse and Affect in Foreign Policy. Germany and the Iraq War

2019 ◽  
Vol 54 (4) ◽  
pp. 66-68
Author(s):  
Zuzana Buroňová
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Security Policy ◽  
Security Studies ◽  
Military Force ◽  
Critical Security Studies ◽  
Security Issues ◽  
Complex Process ◽  
Foreign And Security Policy ◽  
Lacanian Theory ◽  
The Individual

Foreign and security policy have long been removed from the political pressures that influence other areas of policymaking. This has led to a tendency to separate the analytical levels of the individual and the collective. Using Lacanian theory, which views the subject as ontologically incomplete and desiring a perfect identity which is realised in fantasies, or narrative scenarios, this book shows that the making of foreign policy is a much more complex process. Emotions and affect play an important role, even where ‘hard’ security issues, such as the use of military force, are concerned. Eberle constructs a new theoretical framework for analysing foreign policy by capturing the interweaving of both discursive and affective aspects in policymaking. He uses this framework to explain Germany’s often contradictory foreign policy towards the Iraq crisis of 2002/2003, and the emotional, even existential, public debate that accompanied it. This book adds to ongoing theoretical debates in International Political Sociology and Critical Security Studies and will be required reading for all scholars working in these areas.

Public Opinion on Foreign Policy Issues

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard C. Eichenberg
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Security Policy ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
Individual Characteristics ◽  
Military Force ◽  
Major Focus ◽  
Attitudes Toward War ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Impact

Scholars and governments are interested in four sets of questions concerning public opinion on foreign policy and national security policy. First, what do public opinion polls measure? How do citizens, who are generally uninformed about foreign policy and world affairs, form opinions on these matters? Second, how rational is public opinion? Is it stable or volatile? Are opinions coherent? Do opinions plausibly reflect the flow of world events? Third, what factors influence the formation of citizen opinions? Specifically, what is the impact of fundamental attitudes toward war and military force, partisanship, ideology, and gender? Finally, how universal are the determinants of citizen opinion, especially on crucial issues of war and peace? Are the findings in global comparisons the same as those in the American or European contexts? Considerable scholarship has been devoted to these four questions. Scholars now characterize public opinion as rational, in the sense that it is fairly stable, coherent, and responsive to real world events. Attitudes toward war and military force are a major focus of the research literature because many specific policy attitudes flow from fundamental views of war. Gender has also become a major focus of research because many studies find that women are less supportive of the use of military force for most purposes. Finally, scholars are beginning to discover that some opinion patterns are universal across societies, while others are more affected by the individual characteristics of national societies. Studies of global public opinion have expanded greatly, with recent scholarship focusing on global attitudes toward gender equality, immigration, and climate change.

Human Security

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward Newman
Keyword(s):  
Security Policy ◽  
Security Analysis ◽  
Human Security ◽  
Security Studies ◽  
Ethical Orientation ◽  
Critical Security Studies ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Negative Rights ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Individual

Human security suggests that security policy and security analysis, if they are to be effective and legitimate, must focus on the individual as the referent and primary beneficiary. In broad terms, human security is “freedom from want” and “freedom from fear:” positive and negative rights as they relate to threats to core individual needs. Human security is normative; it argues that there is an ethical responsibility to (re)orient security around the individual in line with internationally recognized standards of human rights and governance. Much human security scholarship is therefore explicitly or implicitly underpinned by a solidarist commitment to moral obligation, and some are cosmopolitan in ethical orientation. However, there is no uncontested definition of, or approach to, human security, though theorists generally start with human security challenges to orthodox neorealist conceptions of international security. Nontraditional and critical security studies (which are distinct from human security scholarship) also challenges the neorealist orthodoxy as a starting point, although generally from a more sophisticated theoretical standpoint than found in the human security literature. Critical security studies can be conceived broadly to embrace a number of different nontraditional approaches which challenge conventional (military, state-centric) approaches to security studies and security policy. Human security has generally not been treated seriously within these academic security studies debates, and it has not contributed much either.

German Foreign and Security Policy after Kohl and Kosovo

2002 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 250-270 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steve Wood
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Political Culture ◽  
Security Policy ◽  
Military Force ◽  
Foreign And Security Policy ◽  
History Of ◽  
Political Left ◽  
Instructive Case

What Does A Government New To Office Do When The Idealistic principles that guided its members in opposition face the hard realities of power? Recent German experience in the realm of foreign policy provides an instructive case study – not least because Germany's history in the first half of the twentieth century has created tremendous sensitivities in this sphere. Following a history of opposition to German military participation in actions beyond the NATO area, the parties of Germany's political left were immediately confronted with the need to make decisions on foreign and security policy when they were elected to govern in 1998. Pacifist principles or aspirations proved unsustainable in practice, and a policy consistent with that pursued by the outgoing conservative-liberal coalition was adopted. The new government developed a pragmatic foreign policy, incorporating the use of military means, notwithstanding the existence of a domestic political culture suspicious of the employment of military force.

scholarly journals Migration issues in the EU’s common foreign and security policy – selected aspects

2021 ◽  
pp. 43-59
Author(s):  
Tomasz Dubowski
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Security Policy ◽  
Migration Policy ◽  
External Action ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Eu Foreign Policy ◽  
Foreign And Security Policy ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Eu

In the discussion on the EU migration policy, it is impossible to evade the issue of the relation between this policy and the EU foreign policy, including EU common foreign and security policy. The subject of this study are selected links between migration issues and the CFSP of the European Union. The presented considerations aim to determine at what levels and in what ways the EU’s migration policy is taken into account in the space of the CFSP as a diplomatic and political (and subject to specific rules and procedures) substrate of the EU’s external action.

Democratic Politics and Foreign Affairs

2020 ◽  
pp. 13-36
Author(s):  
Wolfgang Wagner
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Security Policy ◽  
Foreign Affairs ◽  
Democratic Politics ◽  
Democratic Peace ◽  
Modern Democracy ◽  
Role Of Government ◽  
Foreign And Security Policy

Whether foreign policy should be exempted from democratic politics has been discussed since the early days of modern democracy. While this debate has oscillated between executive-friendly and democracy-friendly positions, it has neglected the role of political parties as essential actors in democratic decision-making and in providing cues to the public more broadly. Institutionalist and ideational theories of the so-called Democratic Peace in particular have neglected political parties, even though they silently assume that foreign and security policy is a matter of party-political contestation. Therefore, the theoretical framework outlined in this chapter also draws on scholarship in Foreign Policy Analysis that examined the role of ‘government ideology’. It suggests two propositions to inform the empirical analyses, namely 1) that foreign affairs are systematically contested, rather than shielded from democratic politics; 2) that party-political contestation is structured along the left/right dimension.

Realizm i liberalizm w badaniach nad bezpieczeństwem i polityką bezpieczeństwa państwa

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-54
Author(s):  
Marzena Czernicka
Keyword(s):  
General Theory ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Security Policy ◽  
Security Studies ◽  
Methodological Foundation ◽  
Security Issues ◽  
Points Of Interest ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Theoretical Paradigms

Security issues have always been one of the main points of interest of all states. Scientifically, this issue can be researched using a wide range of perspectives. Security studies use much from the general theory of international relations. The field uses theoretical paradigms and concrete methods of research. In this article, a wide approach to the issue of security and security policy is presented. In accordance with the theoretical-methodological foundation of realist and liberal theories, this article inquires in what way research concerning the issues of security and security policy of contemporary states can be conducted.

Critical human security studies

2010 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
EDWARD NEWMAN
Keyword(s):  
International Security ◽  
Security Analysis ◽  
Human Security ◽  
The State ◽  
Security Studies ◽  
Critical Security Studies ◽  
External Threats ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Distinct Approach

AbstractFrom a critical security studies perspective – and non-traditional security studies more broadly – is the concept of human security something which should be taken seriously? Does human security have anything significant to offer security studies? Both human security and critical security studies challenge the state-centric orthodoxy of conventional international security, based upon military defence of territory against ‘external’ threats. Both also challenge neorealist scholarship, and involve broadening and deepening the security agenda. Yet critical security studies have not engaged substantively with human security as a distinct approach to non-traditional security. This article explores the relationship between human security and critical security studies and considers why human security arguments – which privilege the individual as the referent of security analysis and seek to directly influence policy in this regard – have not made a significant impact in critical security studies. The article suggests a number of ways in which critical and human security studies might engage. In particular, it suggests that human security scholarship must go beyond its (mostly) uncritical conceptual underpinnings if it is to make a lasting impact upon security studies, and this might be envisioned as Critical Human Security Studies (CHSS).

scholarly journals Was something rotten in the state of Denmark? Three narratives of the active internationalism in Danish foreign policy

2017 ◽  
Vol 53 (4) ◽  
pp. 449-466
Author(s):  
Rasmus Pedersen
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Security Policy ◽  
The State ◽  
Great Powers ◽  
Small State ◽  
Academic Interest ◽  
Foreign And Security Policy

The Danish decision to enter US-led coalitions in Afghanistan and Iraq significantly consolidated and strengthened the Atlantic dimension in Danish foreign policy in the period 2001–2009. The period has attracted considerable academic interest, but there seems to be a lack of consensus about how to interpret the Danish decision, which has been characterised as everything from an indication of adaptation, to continuation of the Danish acquiescence to great powers, to path-breaking change in Danish foreign policy to an expression of small state independence. Part of the confusion in the literature is due to the lack of clear conceptual awareness regarding the concepts in use. This article identifies three frames in the literature and contributes to our understanding of the question of change and continuity in small state foreign and security policy by identifying the analytical implications of adopting a clearer understanding of analytical concepts such as adaptation, determinism, activism and internationalism in the Scandinavian context in general and the Danish context more specifically.

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