Is COVID-Era Assertiveness in Chinese Foreign Policy Novel?

China has responded to criticisms of its handling of the COVID outbreak by an assertive foreign policy style referred to as ‘wolf-warrior diplomacy’. This study argues that this does not represent a radical shift in Chinese foreign policy but exacerbates a pre-existing trend. We say that this assertiveness builds upon the twin pillars of ‘core interests and the unambiguous exposition of the ‘striving for achievement’ policy adopted by China since Xi Jinping’s elevation as the President in 2012. We outline China’s response to its competition with the United States, based on heightened nationalism and practiced through centralised decision making.

Denmark

This chapter offers an in-depth look at health politics and the tax-financed, universal health system in Denmark. It traces the development of the Danish healthcare system, characterized by an evolving division of labor between central authorities and decentralized municipal and regional governments. Since the late 1980s, Danish health policy has seen a number of gradual changes and a major structural reform passed in 2005 that amalgamated municipalities and regions and changed healthcare financing rules, thus shifting the balance of shared power toward the center. Other healthcare issues have been cost containment, patient rights, and promotion of local integrated health services. A negotiated policy style contributes to efficient implementation of reforms once a decision has been made.

Foreign Policy during and after Barack Obama

In this chapter, I will review what I see as the essential characteristics of the Obama foreign policy style and analyze whether we can discern a clear “Obama doctrine” from his foreign policy actions and rhetoric. In order to do so, I will lay out the four major approaches to American foreign policy-making and then assess how Obama’s policies fit within these approaches. Obama’s early foreign policy moves emphasized reconciliation and a more focused approach on counterterrorism as opposed to regime change. However, domestic political and international geopolitical constraints came to limit his ambitions. As the first Black president, Obama’s initial soaring rhetoric of change was replaced by cautionary tales of avoiding mistakes. After laying out the four schools of American foreign policy (nationalist, realist, liberal institutionalist, neoconservative), I discuss Obama’s policy style—the “nonideological doctrine”—that was purposively deliberative and cautious, in contrast to the ideological Bush regime-change crusade. Obama was careful to weigh the costs and benefits of policy options, keeping an eye on his predilection that foreign affairs must not interfere with the domestic agenda. This caution, which avoided major commitments to overseas conflicts, came under criticism from both the Left and Right of the political spectrum.

Hybridism as a national policy style: paths and dilemmas of the majoritarian and consensus approaches in Brazil

This study reviews the literature on politics and public policies in Brazil arguing that the dominant national policy style may be characterized as hybrid, since it combines majoritarian and consociational traits. This public policy style was mainly hegemonic between the two presidential impeachment processes (1992-2015). This arrangement has two main characteristics: presidential dominance over Congress, albeit also marked by broad negotiation with this branch and greater federative cooperation led by the Union, alongside with subnational entities, and the implementation of social participation arenas. There are dilemmas and problems in this institutional hybridity, but it has been difficult to evade this combination when trying to maintain minimum standards of political governance and public policies. It is concluded that incremental improvements are more effective than the complete modification of the model.

Policy overreaction styles during manufactured crises

This article focuses on governments’ attempts to intensify crises for political gain, and identifies a series of unnecessary crisis management responses that follow distinctive policy overreaction styles. It is based on the premise that political executives at times face incentives to shape voters’ perceptions regarding the timing and scope of a crisis, even though no crisis actually exists. Analysing Trump’s response towards the so-called ‘invasion’ by a caravan of asylum seekers, the article identifies three distinctive crisis overreaction policy styles: communicating in absolutes, performing in absolutes, and challenging the rule of law. Each of these overreaction styles includes a specific set of tool preferences; an active means of implementation; and an impositional manner of execution. By highlighting the potential advantages of marrying the concept of crisis to the ideas of policy overreaction and policy style, this article makes an important contribution to our understanding of the politics of crisis management.