Foreign Policy Behavior Research Articles

Small State Foreign Policy in Central Asia: The Cases of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan

This article examines and compares the foreign policy preferences of three small states in Central Asia, namely Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan, in the post-independence era. Although the three countries share similar features, such as a common Soviet legacy, landlocked position, and population size, the foreign policy behavior differs in Turkmenistan. While Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan align with Russia, Turkmenistan embraces permanent neutrality. This study argues that natural resource endowment, coupled with fewer internal threats and geographical constraints compared to Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, helped Turkmenistan to pursue a neutral and more independent foreign policy. Yet, over-reliance on China as the major buyer of Turkmen natural gas may make it difficult to sustain permanent neutrality.

The Foreign Policy of Small Caribbean States Towards China in the Cold War Era: Looking Past the Veiling

Conventional wisdom suggests that small states’ foreign policies are constrained in several ways. These may be confined to size, material resources, geopolitical positioning and limited participation in inter-state affairs. Yet, despite their diminutiveness, small Caribbean states appeared to have acted with surprising dynamism in seeking to promote and uphold relations with China in an unlikely period, the bipolar era. Drawing from official records of their interactions and other documentary sources, these states showed themselves to be quite willing to transcend their various limitations and become rather active participants on issues aligning with their interests in the international sphere. This paper examines how policy-making between the Caribbean region and China unfolded and why it evolved the way it did. It argues that acting through the more ideational context of the Cold War era, policymakers within the Caribbean region implemented strategies and policies premised on shared ideals of Third World solidarity to further relations with China. In embarking on this analysis, two main contributions are envisaged. First, the paper addresses the knowledge gap on small Caribbean states’ foreign policy decision-making vis-à-vis China in the Cold War era. Second, interrogating the dynamic provides a unique opportunity to challenge the received wisdom on small states’ foreign policy behavior in line with an emphasis on small states agency amidst internal and international constraints.

Small States in International Relations: Some Theoretical Aspects

An important trend in the development of international relations in the second half of the 20th−early 21st centuries is the growing significance of small states in international relations. From passive “pawns” in the big political games of the great powers, they are turning into active players capable of pursuing their own national interests in the international arena. During the Cold War period, European neutral states acquired unique experience in fruitful cooperation in international organizations, peaceful mediation, and peacemaking. Multilateral diplomacy, renunciation of the use of force, and striving for a peaceful political resolution of conflicts somewhat predetermine the interest in studying the experience of small states. The decline in the ability of the leading great powers to resolve conflicts effectively in the periphery of the international system, on the one hand, and the capability of small states to generate new ideas and norms in international relations, on the other, create preconditions for a further increase in the role of small states in international relations. To understand the nature of international relations in general and the formation and behavior of modern coalitions and alliances in particular, it is necessary to study not only the great powers but also small states, which make up the vast majority of countries. This article is aimed to identify the main stages of the study of small states in international relations, to analyze the main approaches to the definition of the concept of small states, to consider the factors of formation of the foreign policy of small states through the prism of some theories of international relations, and to elucidate the features of the foreign policy behavior of small states in international relations.

Neutrality of Switzerland in the Light of the Contemporary Security Challenges: Realistic, Neoliberal, and Constructive Approaches

In the article, the author analyzes how the understanding of the concept of neutrality of European states and its implementation in their foreign policy strategies changes at the end of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st centuries, along with the change in the international system of relations. The interesting case of a truly neutral country is Switzerland, whose foreign policy behavior is a challenge to the negative expectations of observers regarding the pessimistic prospects of neutrality as an option for the implementation of the foreign policy course. In this article, the author considers the neutrality of Switzerland from the point of view of three conceptual approaches to the understanding of neutrality: realist, neoliberal and constructivist. From the point of view of realism, Switzerland has long been aware of its status as a “small” state and, respectively, uses it as an important mean of self-preservation in a territory surrounded by “big” states. From a neoliberal point of view, the key trend today is Switzerland's increasing attention to bilateral and multilateral defense cooperation. And from the standpoint of constructivism, neutrality is an important “symbol” of the common identity of the diverse population of Switzerland. Therefore, the author concludes that Switzerland was able to maintain a controversial foreign policy of neutrality, emphasizing its national identity and independence, while at the same time benefiting from international economic interdependence. Switzerland's neutrality allows it to develop and deepen international economic relations very well.

The Press and South Africa's Foreign Relations

By using events data, the Afrikaans and English press has been compared for the comprehensiveness of their news coverage of South Africa's foreign relations. Events related to South Africa both as actor and target of foreign policy behaviour have been included. The findings show in broad terms that the Afrikaans press has been more comprehensive in reporting events where South Africa has been the actor. On the other hand, the English press has been far superior in their reporting events where South Africa has been the target of behaviour (external environment). These findings confirm the pluralistic nature of the press in South Africa, although some hegemonic features have been noticeable.

Power and Narcists – Ideal Types of States Based on Their Sources of National Power, Extraction Capability and Foreign Policy Behaviour

This paper aims at problematizing this distinction between status quo and revisionist/imperialist states by creating a typology of four kind of states: imperialist, status quo, young and old narcist state. The text will proceed in three sections that: 1) problematises the contemporary realist theorising; 2) reconstructs Morgenthau’s notions of sources of national and political power, ideal types of foreign policy and the character of political community and its interest; 3) presents the four ideal types of states. This typology, based on analyticist metatheory and deeply inspired by Hans Morgenthau’s thought, aims at solving problems with neorealist, and neoclassical realist theorising. Based on such non-positivist metatheory, and thus closer to the classical realist roots, it omits the offensive/defensive neorealist assumption about states motivation. By explicitly combining the three historically bound qualities of states –their sources of national power, extraction capability and foreign policy behaviour it transcends the problems with weak causal linkages between state level variables present in neoclassical realism. Hence, it exemplifies the approach to general theory-building that is practically viable for explicitly exerting normative judgement, also from the perspective non great power state actors – the consistent weakness of mainstream, contemporary realist theorising.

We Were Taken on the Ride. Leadership Traits Analysis in the Circumstances of International Crisis – the Decision of Aleksander Kwaśniewski in the Context of Intervention in Iraq

The present paper examines the impact of personal characteristics of head of state on the foreign policy behaviour. The article is based on the assumption that during a crisis or war, compared to peaceful times, leaders are under a greater influence of their personal traits and cognitive determinants, including their biases and beliefs. The chosen method is the LTA coding system, as it allows obtaining measurable results showing which traits of the leaders are meaningful and how they determine leaders’actions in different situations (crisis and lack thereof). The aim of this paper is to analyse the personality-based decision-making determinants in foreign policy in the context of an international conflict based on the example of Aleksander Kwaśniewski’s presidency (1995–2005). The analysis focuses on the president’s decisions and their psychological background during over a year long period preceding the invasion of Iraq by the coalition forces (March, 2003) and his statements made between 1995 and 2001 with the objective of identifying potential differences in leadership style of an individual decisionmaker in two different situations, one of which meets the definition of an international crisis. The research proves that in the conditions of a crisis, the president trends a higher belief to be able to control events, reduced conceptual complexity, and enhanced the need for power. Using available evidence on Polish decision-making, the paper shows how Kwaśniewski’s personality and leadership style did indeed shape both the process and outcome of foreign policy toward the Iraq War. It allows identifying his leadership style in the period preceding the invasion of Iraq that started in March 2003.

Mapping Nepal's Foreign Policy Behaviour towards Great Power Politics: A Study of Nepal's Foreign Policy Response to the Russia-Ukraine Crisis

A country's foreign policy is characterised by continuity and change. A stark divergence, however, between stated foreign policy objectives and practically implemented foreign policy behaviours cannot be convincingly vindicated as a routine transformation. Nepal's foreign policy objectives and principles are laid down in the Constitution and various foreign policy documents, particularly in the integrated foreign policy of 2020. A series of perceptible deviations from those guiding principles, without any justifiable reason, may label Nepal's foreign policy behaviour as an adventurist project. Today, while the residue of Cold War politics has enveloped the Russia-Ukraine crisis, Nepal has divulged traceable foreign policy responses over the same. Taking the case study of Nepal's foreign policy responses to the Russia-Ukraine crisis, the study aims to map Nepal's foreign policy behaviour toward great power politics. Surveying Nepal's foreign policy behaviour towards the United Nations and the great powers, particularly the United States and Russia, this study, firstly, identifies the sources of key changes and detectible transformations in Nepal's foreign policy behaviour. Secondly, drawing a critical analysis of Nepal's responses to the great power politics to understand the foreign policy behaviour of Nepal that has been ambiguous, ambivalent, and uncertain. Methodologically, this qualitative study has employed the framework of Foreign Policy Analysis (FPA) along with inductive as well as deductive methods of reasoning per the nature of non-numerical data.

Constructive Role Ambiguity and How Russia Couldn’t ‘Get Away’ with Its 2022 Ukrainian Invasion

Since 2008, the Russian government conducted two invasions of sovereign territory in Eastern Europe prior to the current crisis in Ukraine. In 2008 Russian troops invaded Georgia, dramatically beginning a process of slowly dismantling the sovereignty of a self-identified European state. In 2014 Russia annexed Crimea and de facto established two pro-Russian independent oblasts inside Ukrainian territory. Throughout this process, and despite outrage, Western nations continued to interact favourably with Russia, allowing sanctions to lapse. However, the invasion of Ukraine in 2022 changed this standard interaction dramatically. But why was Russia unable to get away with this invasion? Using role theory, I shall show how the construction of the Russian ‘[co]compatriot defender’ role conception has been used to strategically mask contradictory foreign policy behaviour. By analysing UN Security Council speeches, I will show how the operationalisation of constructed role ambiguity was used to ‘shield’ this role from contradictions between Russia’s behaviour and western nations’ expectations. Constructed ambiguity was deployed with regards to passportisation and the liberal norms of R2P and humanitarian intervention, thus preventing role conflict between Russia and Western nations. However, since 2022 Western nations have ceased to buy into this role ambiguity.

Transatlantic cooperation in flux: Europe’s small and cautious steps towards “strategic autonomy”

ABSTRACT The existing, liberal world order is under pressure and transatlantic cooperation on security is challenged. The paper raises the question, why have the European steps and policy initiatives towards addressing the new international threats and challenges to Europe been so limited and cautious. The first argument states it is because the European decision-makers were unable to agree when it came to implementing salient and concrete policies addressing new security threats and building strategic autonomy. The second argument states that the European decision-makers were only able to reach agreement on diffuse and symbolic policy ideas like building “strategic autonomy” for the European Union. The third argument states that the Europeans were able to address some of the new security challenges if it took place within NATO. The analysis shows that the European responses and reactions to the increasing tensions in the Indo-Pacific were subdued. The Europeans were unable to launch any concrete reactions to the American unilateral abrogation of the Iranian nuclear deal, to the unilateral American policy initiatives in the Israel-Palestine conflict or to the US withdrawal from Afghanistan. However, the Europeans increased the level of their defense spending and they also cooperated closely with their transatlantic partner to counter the assertive Russian foreign policy behavior.

Partner Country Characteristics as Factors in Foreign Policy Behaviour: Germany’s Relations with Developing Countries

Abstract This article seeks to identify partner country characteristics as potential explanatory factors for Germany’s foreign policy actions in its bilateral relations with developing countries. From this starting point, two different types of foreign policy actions have been considered: Diplomatic cooperation and development cooperation. Firstly, a comprehensive panel data set has been assembled, containing a set of indicators capturing the socio-economic, demographic, geographic and political characteristics of 101 developing countries from the 2000–2017 period as well as Germany’s foreign policy actions in these countries. Subsequently, a regression analysis was carried out to examine the impact of the country characteristics on Germany’s bilateral foreign policy actions. The analysis has shown that dyad partner characteristics influence Germany’s bilateral foreign policy behaviour with developing countries across both types of foreign policy actions. Based on the identified relationships, one can draw some informed inferences regarding Germany’s foreign policy conduct with developing countries.

Indian Foreign Policy towards Pakistan during Modi Era: Assessing the Role of Ideology - Hindu Nationalism

Foreign policy conduct of a State, executed by its leaders, broadly reflects various patterns of its experiences, beliefs and policies. Domestic factors coupled with systemic pressures play an important role in shaping states’ behavior. In addition to various domestic and external factors, leadership and its ideological association play an important role in a country’s foreign policy formulation and conduct. Nevertheless, the belief system, politico-religious identity of the statesman is reflected through his foreign policy conduct. With Modi in power, Hindu nationalism has been on the rise wherein Hindu nationalists feel permitted to undermine religious minorities (Muslims) in India, Kashmiris in Indian Illegally Occupied Kashmir (IIOK) and neighbors including Pakistan. Thus, the rise of Hindu nationalism has not just challenged the secular identity of India but has also affected India’s interaction both at the domestic and international levels. BJP’s policies and actions during Modi’s tenure have undeniably eroded India’s secular identity. Modi, having a politico-religious ideology of Hindutva, has adopted a policy of belligerence towards Muslims and Pakistan. Since India’s politico-religious party – Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – under the leadership of Modi has come to power, India’s relationship with Pakistan has been at its lowest ebb. The objective of the study is to understand the role of Hindu nationalism on Indian foreign policy behavior towards Pakistan.

Role Change and Russia's Responses to Upheavals in Ukraine

AbstractRussia reacted in markedly different ways to comparable upheavals in Ukraine: the Orange Revolution in 2004 and the Euromaidan Revolution in 2013/2014. This paper argues that a combination of important external and internal factors led to a change in Russia's dominant national role conceptions, which contributed to Moscow's more assertive foreign policy, exemplified by divergent reactions to these two upheavals. Consequently, the paper aims to contribute to the existing scholarship on role change, demonstrating mechanisms behind such changes and examining the necessary scope conditions. The analysis reveals two types of role change: long-term, comprehensive ones that may lead to shifts in foreign policy behavior and swift changes motivated by contemporary events that result from role conflict.

S400s, sanctions and defiance: explaining Turkey’s quest for strategic autonomy and the US response

ABSTRACT The United States Congress enacted CAATSA in 2017 to impose various restrictions on traditional rivals of the United States, which, however, was also imposed on a long-term strategic ally, Turkey. How can the application of sanctions designated for strategic rivals and enemies on an ally be explained? This article incorporates the hierarchy theory with Kai He’s negative balancing strategy notion, which provides a solid theoretical explanation for patron states’ punitive measures against their allies. We argue that CAATSA is part of the United States’ current negative balancing strategy, which aims to undermine the power of rising challengers, Russia and China, by preventing (Western) secondary states, including Turkey, from getting (nuclear) weapons from these two countries. In this context, the US used CAATSA sanctions to punish Turkey’s non-compliant and autonomous foreign policy behaviour when Russia and China rivalled the US-led order.

Linkage Between US invasion of Iraq, Arab Spring and Emergence of Daesh: Beginning of New Era for Iran

The role of Iran is essential to analyze the politics of the Middle East. Post 9/11 few events such as the USA invasion of Iraq, the Arab spring and the emergence of Daesh has altered the traditional power structure of the region and also enhanced the role of Iran in the politics of the region. This study analyzes the role of domestic and structural factors in the shaping of the foreign policy behavior of Iran. Iraq remained a strong power under Saddam till the US invasion of Iraq in March 2003. Though, the US invasion ended a dictatorship but failed to provide stability, peace and a unified government in Iraq. The empowerment of the Shiia government in Iraq is also a victory of Iran on the ideological front as the US invasion has enabled Iran to achieve its targets without confronting directly with Saddam. . Since 2000 few events such as the US invasion of Iraq, Arab Spring and rise of Daesh transformed the traditional balance of power in favor of Iran. All these events helped Iran to enhance its ideological influence throughout the Middle East

Turkish-American strategic partnership: is Turkey still a faithful ally?

ABSTRACT It has been widely argued that Turkish foreign policy has undergone a shift of axis under the ruling AKP, moving Turkey away from its Western alliance towards new alignments. The article employs neoclassical realism to explain the Turkish foreign policy behaviour, particularly Turkey’s policies vis-à-vis the United States and Russia in recent years. It aims to provide an account of Turkey’s military operations in Syria, the changing nature of Turkish-American relations, and Turkish-Russian strategic rapprochement, which has been raising concerns over Turkey’s faithful ally role in the transatlantic alliance. The tensions between Turkey and the US have gradually escalated following the American refusal to hand over Fethullah Gülen, Turkey’s military operations in Syria, Turkey’s decision to purchase Russian S-400 antiaircraft systems, and its removal from the F-35 fighter jet programme. The article analyzes both the unit-level variables and the systemic variables to explain Turkey’s evolving security and defence policies against the changing power structures and the implications of these policies on the country’s deteriorating relations with the US, competitive cooperation with Russia, and the future of the transatlantic alliance.

Erdoğan and the Muslim Brotherhood: an outside-in approach to Turkish foreign policy in the Middle East

ABSTRACT Amidst multiple foreign policy flip-flops of the Turkish government, the Middle East is where observers agree most about the explanatory priority of ideational factors over realpolitik calculations. The assertive foreign policy activism to extend the country’s role in the region has largely been linked to the Islamist leanings of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). This study revisits Turkey’s Middle East policy with a particular focus on the AKP’s relations with the Muslim Brotherhood (Ikhwan al Muslimin), which marked Turkish foreign policy formulation and implementation in multiple theatres from Yemen to Egypt to Libya. Using a neoclassical realist approach, it argues that the AKP’s ideological ties to the Ikhwan are significant for the availability of new resources but Turkish foreign policy behavior in the Middle East, including relations with the Ikhwan, reflects a grand strategy to respond to systemic and sub-systemic stimuli.

Positioning member states in EU-NATO security cooperation: towards a typology

ABSTRACT With the growing density and the plethora of security organisations on the regional and international level, the research programme on interorganisational relations has received increasing scholarly attention. The complexity of European security – in light of the Ukraine conflict since 2014, Russia’s more assertive foreign policy behaviour, and on-going crisis management operations in the Africa, the Mediterranean Sea and Middle East – has revived EU-NATO cooperation. The analysis from the perspective of member states and how they can be positioned in the EU-NATO interorganisational relations, however, has received little exploration. This article, therefore, addresses the roles and positions of member states within the relations between the EU and NATO as Europe’s prime security organisations. Member states have numerous political strategies at their disposal to trigger, strengthen or obstruct interorganisational relations, ranging from forum-shopping to hostage-taking and brokering. Drawing on insights from regime theory, network analysis, organisation theory and interorganisationalism, this article proposes a typology of member states in EU-NATO cooperation. Against the backdrop of this special relationship, the typology is developed which aims to detect and illustrate member states’ positions and strategies.

National Interest and state Foreign Policy Behavior: A Doctrinal Discourse of Nigeria and the USA

National interest and foreign policy are interrelated concepts frequently used in discussions of international relations and international politics. Nation-states do not act irrationally or are naturally benevolent; policymakers employed the concept of national interest to justify their actions or inactions either external or internal. The focus of this paper is on the efficacy of national interest in shaping the foreign policy behaviour of Nigeria and the United State. This research work further to analyse the doctrinal base of Nigeria and US foreign policy. Data for this article was through a secondary source thus, the analysis was qualitative content analysis. It is argued in this paper that what constitutes the national interest of a state varies from one state to another, and is not static. However, the paper maintains that some national interests are constant even though regime changes. The paper to this end argued that there is no state foreign policy in the world that is devoid of national interests instead, they form the basis in which a country interacts with others in economic ties, diplomatic intercourse, military cooperation, cultural convergence and a lot more.

The Middle East in India’s Quest for Status

The temptation to explain India’s foreign policy behaviour in the Middle East through the lens of power alone has obscured a rich history of Indian diplomacy in the region that escapes power-centric explanations. India’s relentless advocacy for Palestinian statehood, its diplomatic support for the weaker Arab states against Israel and Western powers and its role in UN mediation and peacekeeping missions in the region are difficult to explain using a structural realist framework that privileges power alone. Challenging the dominant historiographies, this article introduces the concept of status into the study of India’s behaviour in the Middle East. Based on a re-reading of secondary sources, it argues that status and power have been articulated in various ways in India’s behaviour in the Middle East. Under prime ministers Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi, India pursued status without power, following a primarily normative strategy of status-seeking in the region that afforded India considerable deference at the United Nations and the Non-Aligned Movement. Following India’s nuclear tests of 1998 and a decade of economic growth, however, power and status converged in India’s behaviour in the Middle East through further alignment with US interests in the region and greater use of naval power projection. By shedding light on the various possible ways in which status and power articulate, this article attempts to step away from the artificial opposition between morals and self-interest as guiding principles of foreign policy. The inquiry into status challenges the prevalent historiographies and analytical frameworks that have dominated the discussion on India’s foreign policy in the Middle East, generating productive openings for reconceptualising and reimagining the field.