The Strategy of Foreign Subversion

2020 ◽  
pp. 46-63
Author(s):  
Melissa M. Lee
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Pivotal Role ◽  
The Political ◽  
Theoretical Argument ◽  
Target State ◽  
The Core ◽  
State Authority ◽  
Policy Objectives ◽  
Target States ◽  
Policy Lever

This chapter presents the core theoretical argument of this book: states with incompatible policy interests subvert state authority in the pursuit of foreign policy objectives against their adversaries. This conflictual behavior weakens state authority and impedes state consolidation. The chapter then describes the use of subversion as an instrument of statecraft and the political benefits of delegating disruption to local proxies in the target state. It explores the strategic and operational advantages of subversion, and considers how this foreign policy lever can help states increase the probability that they will prevail in their disputes with adversaries. Because subversion is not costless, the chapter also examines the constraints that would-be sponsors face when considering this tool of statecraft. Finally, it introduces three mechanisms through which subversion undermines state authority, showing how foreign support plays a pivotal role in these processes. Target states are hardly passive victims of subversion, yet their efforts to respond to foreign subversion rarely recapture the authority losses imposed on them by the sponsor state.

Freedom Tide? Ideology, Politics, and the Origins of Democracy Promotion in U.S. Central America Policy, 1980–1984

2014 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 60-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evan McCormick
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Central America ◽  
Reagan Administration ◽  
Democracy Promotion ◽  
The Political ◽  
History Of ◽  
Policy Objectives ◽  
Dramatic Shift

The Reagan administration came to power in 1981 seeking to downplay Jimmy Carter's emphasis on human rights in U.S. policy toward Latin America. Yet, by 1985 the administration had come to justify its policies towards Central America in the very same terms. This article examines the dramatic shift that occurred in policymaking toward Central America during Ronald Reagan's first term. Synthesizing existing accounts while drawing on new and recently declassified material, the article looks beyond rhetoric to the political, intellectual, and bureaucratic dynamics that conditioned the emergence of a Reaganite human rights policy. The article shows that events in El Salvador suggested to administration officials—and to Reagan himself—that support for free elections could serve as a means of shoring up legitimacy for embattled allies abroad, while defending the administration against vociferous human rights criticism at home. In the case of Nicaragua, democracy promotion helped to eschew hard decisions between foreign policy objectives. The history of the Reagan Doctrine's contentious roots provides a complex lens through which to evaluate subsequent U.S. attempts to foster democracy overseas.

scholarly journals Post-Soviet Revolutions and Post-Revolution Discourses: Explaining the Construction of Political Identities in Post-Rose Revolution Georgia and Post-Velvet Revolution Armenia

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aram Terzyan
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Identity Construction ◽  
Political Discourse ◽  
Political Order ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Identities ◽  
Political Discourses ◽  
The Core ◽  
Velvet Revolution ◽  
The Eu

The 2018 “Velvet Revolution” in Armenia has renewed scholarly interest in post-Soviet revolution studies. This paper explores the core narratives underlying post-Rose Revolution and post-Velvet Revolution identity construction in Georgian and Armenian political discourses. More specifically, it examines the core narratives employed by the Georgian and Armenian revolution leaders Mikheil Saakashvili and Nikol Pashinyan in constructing the political identities of “New Georgia” and “New Armenia.” The findings suggest that the core narratives dominating Saakashvili’s discourse on post-revolution Georgia are as follows: “democratic Georgia” and “laboratory of democratic reforms,” “stereotype breaker,” “European Georgia,” “peaceful Georgia,” “powerful Georgia” and “security contributor,” determined to homecoming to Europe. Pashinyan’s discourse has revolved around the notion of “proud Armenians,” who established “people’s government” capable of carrying out an “economic revolution.” In contrast to Saakashvili’s emphasis on escaping post-Soviet geopolitical space and gaining centrality in the EU-driven socio-political order, Pashinyan’s discourse does not suggest foreign policy U-turns. It concludes that while the 2003 “Rose Revolution” marked fundamental shifts in self-other conceptions within the Georgian political discourse, the post-revolution Armenian discourse has not experienced dramatic identity-driven transformations.

Go West: Georgia's European identity and its role in domestic politics and foreign policy objectives

2014 ◽  
Vol 42 (6) ◽  
pp. 923-941 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donnacha Ó Beacháin ◽  
Frederik Coene
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Management Strategy ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
The Political ◽  
European Identity ◽  
Construction Process ◽  
Policy Goal ◽  
Changing Trends ◽  
Policy Objectives

This article sheds light on the Euro-Atlantic discourse in Georgia by situating it in a wider frame. It provides an analysis of its Euro-Atlantic orientation by presenting it as a continuation of past efforts to involve European powers in Georgian affairs and highlights changing trends in this aspect of contemporary foreign policy. Far from determining whether or not the Georgians are European, the different arguments that have been used to support Georgian “Europeanness” are evaluated to assess its role in the national identity construction process. Focusing primarily on the United National Movement government led by Mikheil Saakashvili, we demonstrate how the Euro-Atlantic discourse has been employed domestically by the political elite as a legitimacy management strategy and explore its function in seeking Western patronage, a key foreign policy goal.

scholarly journals National Security Strategy Geopolitical Threats and Risks "Libya as an example"

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-30
Author(s):  
Ehab NAAS
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
National Security ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Political ◽  
Security Strategy ◽  
The Core ◽  
National Security Strategy ◽  
Foreign Intervention ◽  
The World ◽  
National Reality

National security is one of the most important components of the state’s entity to preserve its role and position and ensure its progress. Therefore, it is noted that most countries of the world give priority to issues related to national security. On the other hand, it can be said that Libyan national security has not received sufficient attention at the practical and academic levels, and this may be due to more than reason; The political data were not aware of the importance of the matter intentionally or unintentionally, and with the succession of events and developments in Libya in recent years, the issue began to take serious dimensions affecting the Libyan national security in its broad sense at the core, which requires concerted official, informal and academic efforts to address and address this. Topic. Libya is going through conditions and events that are not appropriate for stability and national security cohesion. Indeed, Libya is now living in a vacuum and a national reality characterized by many indicators of disintegration, conflict and violence. This is evident in the criticism of citizens, but in phenomena and events that negatively affect the coherence of national security, and this situation will inevitably lead to Citizens' lack of confidence in their state, but rather to the dissolution and disintegration of the structure of society, and the transformation of this building into groups, tribes, or regions in conflict and even warring with weapons, and this conflict will increase the disintegration of national cohesion and create a national political vacuum that helps foreign intervention in the Libyan affairs under the pretext of helping to maintain security and stability. This intervention may conceal foreign interests and agendas, and lead the country to the unknown and all the possibilities and political and security scenes whose far-reaching goals Libyans are ignorant of. Therefore, everyone in Libya is walking on a road that they do not know its end, and this requires thinking, planning and action to preserve national security and increase the degree of cohesion of all its components, whether Be it tribes, groups, or political and ideological centers, all Libyans are in one boat sailing towards the shore of safety, and it may sink in a sea that does not know the end of its end, and in view of these considerations, we saw the need to address the problems and repel the greedy in the wealth of Libya, to preserve the Libyan national security and make recommendations to strengthen it And maintain it. With our knowledge of the broadening aspects of national security in its broadest sense, we can begin to root this issue by examining its foundations and the current challenges it faces. Keywords: National Security, Geopolitics, Strategy, Foreign Policy, Threats and Risks.

scholarly journals Republic of Moldova in 2016-2020: Domestic Situation and Foreign Policy Objectives

2021 ◽  
Vol 103 (3) ◽  
pp. 94-105
Author(s):  
Ephim Pivovar ◽  
◽  
Alexandr Guschin ◽  
Alexandr Levchenkov ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Political Development ◽  
Political Polarization ◽  
Soviet Period ◽  
The Political ◽  
Policy Objectives ◽  
Recent Trends ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Key Events ◽  
Near Future

The post-Soviet period of Moldova's history was complex and ambiguous. It was characterized by a difficult socio-economic situation, important transformations of the foreign policy, malign influence of corruption, mass departure of the able-bodied population outside the republic. Recent years have not been an exception. The turbulent events of 2016‒2020, which are analyzed, became a new important stage in the life of Moldova, solidifying the trends of its development in the next decade. The authors analyze the key events of this period, of its domestic and foreign policy: the issues of the creation and functioning of a broad coalition in the summer of 2019, its collapse, the formation of a new coalition between socialists and democrats, the presidential elections in Moldova and their impact on the political situation. The authors note that the recent trends in the political development of Moldova and its foreign policy show that in the near future political instability in the republic will continue. The question is if, in the context of internal political polarization in the country, it will be possible to reach a geopolitical consensus around Moldova and prevent the acute political confrontation in the country from turning into a long-term political and institutional crisis.

Untimely Development, Ugly History:A Drama in Muslinand the Rejection of National-Historical Time

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 161-183
Author(s):  
Mary L. Mullen
Keyword(s):  
Everyday Life ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
Nation State ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Historical Time ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
The Core

This article considers the politics and aesthetics of the colonial Bildungsroman by reading George Moore's often-overlooked novel A Drama in Muslin (1886). It argues that the colonial Bildungsroman does not simply register difference from the metropolitan novel of development or express tension between the core and periphery, as Jed Esty suggests, but rather can imagine a heterogeneous historical time that does not find its end in the nation-state. A Drama in Muslin combines naturalist and realist modes, and moves between Ireland and England to construct a form of untimely development that emphasises political processes (dissent, negotiation) rather than political forms (the state, the nation). Ultimately, the messy, discordant history represented in the novel shows the political potential of anachronism as it celebrates the untimeliness of everyday life.

The Star and the Stripes

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael N. Barnett
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Political Theology ◽  
Political Identity ◽  
The Political ◽  
Current Debate ◽  
American Jews ◽  
Peace And Justice ◽  
The World ◽  
Policy Beliefs ◽  
Justice Movements

How do American Jews envision their role in the world? Are they tribal—a people whose obligations extend solely to their own? Or are they prophetic—a light unto nations, working to repair the world? This book is an interpretation of the effects of these worldviews on the foreign policy beliefs of American Jews since the nineteenth century. The book argues that it all begins with the political identity of American Jews. As Jews, they are committed to their people's survival. As Americans, they identify with, and believe their survival depends on, the American principles of liberalism, religious freedom, and pluralism. This identity and search for inclusion form a political theology of prophetic Judaism that emphasizes the historic mission of Jews to help create a world of peace and justice. The political theology of prophetic Judaism accounts for two enduring features of the foreign policy beliefs of American Jews. They exhibit a cosmopolitan sensibility, advocating on behalf of human rights, humanitarianism, and international law and organizations. They also are suspicious of nationalism—including their own. Contrary to the conventional wisdom that American Jews are natural-born Jewish nationalists, the book charts a long history of ambivalence; this ambivalence connects their early rejection of Zionism with the current debate regarding their attachment to Israel. And, the book contends, this growing ambivalence also explains the rising popularity of humanitarian and social justice movements among American Jews.

The Concept of “Zemsky Sobor” in the Interpretation of State Authority in Russia of the 19th Century: From Karamzin to Stepnyak-Kravchinsky

2018 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
pp. 140-155
Author(s):  
Dmitry A. Badalyan
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Political Discourse ◽  
17Th Century ◽  
The Political ◽  
Key Concepts ◽  
State Authority ◽  
The 19Th Century

“Zemsky Sobor” was one of the key concepts in Russian political discourse in the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries. It can be traced to the notion well-known already since the 17th century. Still in the course of further evolution it received various mew meaning and connotations in the discourse of different political trends. The author of the article examines various stages of this concept configuring in the works of the Decembrists, especially Slavophiles, and then in the political projects and publications of the socialists, liberals and “aristocratic” opposition.

PRACTICAL BASE OF FORMULATING RETRAINING PROGRAMS ON ETHNIC MINORITY AFFAIRS KNOWLEDGE FOR CADRES, CIVIL SERVANTS UP TO 2030

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nguyen Van Dung ◽  
Giang Khac Binh
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Minority ◽  
Training Program ◽  
Political System ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Training Programs ◽  
Civil Servants ◽  
The Political ◽  
Target Groups ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Past

As developing programs is the core in fostering knowledge on ethnic work for cadres and civil servants under Decision No. 402/QD-TTg dated 14/3/2016 of the Prime Minister, it is urgent to build training program on ethnic minority affairs for 04 target groups in the political system from central to local by 2020 with a vision to 2030. The article highlighted basic issues of practical basis to design training program of ethnic minority affairs in the past years; suggested solutions to build the training programs in integration and globalization period.

British foreign policy towards the Palestinian cause since 2003

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (11) ◽  
pp. 150
Author(s):  
Mustafa Ibrahim Salman Al - Shammari ◽  
Dhari Sarhan Hammadi Al-Hamdani
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Peace Process ◽  
The Political ◽  
Topic Area ◽  
British Foreign Policy ◽  
Settlement Policy ◽  
Historical Developments ◽  
Palestinian Question ◽  
Theresa May

The topic area of that’s paper dealing with role of Britain in established of Israel, so the paper argued the historical developments of Palestinian question and Role of Britain Government toward peace process since 1992, and then its insight toward plan of Palestinian State. That’s paper also argued the British Policy toward Israeli violations toward Palestinians people, and increased with settlement policy by many procedures like demolition of houses, or lands confiscation, the researcher argued the Britain position toward that’s violations beside the political developments which happens in Britain after Theresa May took over the power in Ten Downing Street

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