scholarly journals Why do we need a multi-level approach to the analysis of Russian foreign policy? Role theory and the Ukraine crisis?

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 (56) ◽  
pp. 213-230
Author(s):  
Damian Strycharz
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Role Theory ◽  
Russian Foreign Policy ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
International Environment ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
Role Conceptions ◽  
Ukraine Crisis ◽  
National Role Conceptions

This article presents the main theoretical approaches to the analysis of Russian foreign policy and assesses their contributions. I argue that although Russia’s international behaviour has been broadly analysed, realism, liberalism, and constructivism leave much unexplained and do not pay enough attention to the understanding of Russia’s perceptions and interactions between domestic and foreign factors. As such, the application of multi- level frameworks is advocated and role theory is proposed as an alternative approach which unites individual and state levels through a focus on state’s top leadership. Furthermore, it is uniquely positioned to examine the interplay between foreign policy makers and the constraints imposed by domestic and international environment. In second part of the article role theory is applied to the Russian annexation of Crimea. The analysis shows that the leadership mainly saw Russia as an advocate of states’ sovereignty and defender of compatriots living abroad. The close examination of sources of these national role conceptions demonstrates that the combination of various external and internal as well as ideational and material factors influenced leaders’ perceptions of Russia’s duties and responsibilities and determined Russian foreign policy decisions during the Ukraine crisis.

Far-right populism and foreign policy identity: Jair Bolsonaro's ultra-conservatism and the new politics of alignment

2021 ◽  
Vol 97 (2) ◽  
pp. 345-363
Author(s):  
Feliciano De Sá Guimarães ◽  
Irma Dutra De Oliveira E Silva
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Role Theory ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Far Right ◽  
New Politics ◽  
The World ◽  
Role Conceptions ◽  
National Role Conceptions

Abstract In the last two decades, far-right populists have formed governments all over the world. However, systematic analyses on how far-right leaders recreate their countries' foreign policy identity are still underdeveloped. In this article, we analyse how far-right populist leaders use their conservative identity-set to align with other right-wing governments and how they use the same conservative repertoire to deal with ideological rivals. More precisely, we argue that these leaders tend to overemphasize a deep conservative identity-set towards other far-right populist governments, something we call ‘thick conservative identity’. This profoundly conservative identity-set is composed of three national role conceptions: anti-globalism, nationalism and anti-foe. However, they do not repeat this identity-set towards ideological rivals, preferring to use a more nuanced and contradictory one, something we call ‘thin conservative identity’. The trigger of such difference is the anticipated mutual expectation of conservatism between Ego and Alter, in which Ego mimics Alter's deep conservatism. We use Jair Bolsonaro's alignment with Donald Trump and Bolsonaro's relationship with China as illustrative cases. We use the main concepts of role theory to understand both how conservative alignments are created and how far-right governments deal with ideological rivals.

Role Conceptions and Belligerent Foreign Policy: Why Russia is Remaking the International Order

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 112-135
Author(s):  
Andrew M. Akin
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Role Theory ◽  
World Order ◽  
International Community ◽  
Western World ◽  
Russian Foreign Policy ◽  
Aircraft Carrier ◽  
Foreign Policies ◽  
Russian President ◽  
Role Conceptions

An ever-growing body of scholarship on Russian foreign policy focuses attention to redefining concepts such as sovereignty and power. Aggressive and successful Russian foreign policy initiatives in the last decade give urgency and relevancy to such initiatives, from invading Georgia to deploying an aircraft carrier to support ground operations in Syria. While these proactive Russian foreign policies may characterize a reclamation of Russia’s great power status in the international community, I argue that the goal of Russia’s foreign policy is to create a new system, not beholden to the u.s.-led Western world. By undermining the legitimacy of Western style democracy and pushing the boundaries of existing norms in the international community, Russian President Vladimir Putin offers a new construct for international relations: the polycentric world order. Using Role Theory, I discuss the domestic and international pressures on the Russian state to create its identity and the evolution of Russian roles in previous international systems. Formal leader statements and official policy documents provide evidence of the changing roles Russia plays in the international arena, while role theory provides an explanatory context for the purpose of new Russian foreign policy.

Role conceptions, crises, and Georgia’s foreign policy

2018 ◽  
Vol 54 (4) ◽  
pp. 445-465
Author(s):  
Niklas Nilsson
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Policy Decision ◽  
Role Expectations ◽  
Reference Points ◽  
Role Conflicts ◽  
Appropriate Behavior ◽  
New States ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Role Conceptions ◽  
National Role Conceptions

This article explores the scope conditions of national role conceptions as reference points for foreign policy decision making during crises. It aims to contribute to a refined perspective of the agency of new states undergoing socialization processes in relations with significant others. Drawing on a primary material consisting of interviews with Georgian and US officials, the article analyzes the significance of Georgia’s role conceptions in the country’s relations with the USA in relation to two major crises: the 2007 riots in Tbilisi and the 2008 war with Russia. The article posits that crises provide situational circumstances where the requirements of appropriate behavior associated with role expectations may enter into conflict with the demands of the immediate situation. In order to resolve ensuing role conflicts, actors face the need to both rationalize role expectations, and to compensate for departures from them. In turn, these strategies relate to the possibility for change and stability in role conceptions, and by extension their enactment in foreign policy. The analysis of the Georgian government’s management of the two crises demonstrates actions that implied both rationalization and compensation, aiming to retain the credibility of its existing role conceptions in the eyes of its US counterparts.

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.

7. America in the 1990s: searching for purpose

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Dumbrell
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
American Foreign Policy ◽  
External Environment ◽  
The United States ◽  
Bill Clinton ◽  
First Year ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
International Environment ◽  
The Us ◽  
Internal Pressures

This chapter examines how the external environment of US foreign policy and internal pressures on policy makers both shifted radically in the 1990s. Internationally, the ‘long 1990s’ were characterized by intense democratic possibility. Yet they were also years of atavistic negativity and irrationality, as seen in Rwanda and Bosnia. Two questions arise: First, how should the United States respond to a world which was apparently both rapidly integrating and rapidly disintegrating? Second, was it inevitable, desirable, or even possible that the US should provide global leadership? Before discussing various approaches to these questions, the chapter considers the wider international environment of apparent unipolarity and globalization. It also analyzes the development of American foreign policy under presidents George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton, focusing in particular on the so-called ‘Kennan sweepstakes’ during the first year of Clinton’s presidency as well as Clinton’s turn towards unilateralism and remilitarization.

The Europeanization of Swedish Foreign Policy and Beyond

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas Brommesson
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Role Theory ◽  
Multiple Roles ◽  
Primary Sources ◽  
Role Change ◽  
Role Conception ◽  
Role Conceptions ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Point Of Departure

This chapter analyzes the role conceptions of Swedish foreign policy since the end of the Cold War. The chapter’s point of departure is a theoretical framework based on role theory, including the scope conditions for role change and the possibility of the Europeanization of foreign policy roles. Based on a reading of previous studies of Swedish foreign policy and primary sources, the chapter first analyzes how Swedish foreign policy role conception was Europeanized during the 1990s and early 2000s. Secondly, it examines how this Europeanized role was subsequently complemented by a reemerging Nordic one. The conclusion of the chapter is that Sweden’s foreign policy role conception today is characterized by multiple roles.

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