Foreign Policy Tool Research Articles

Публічна дипломатія Італійської Республіки

Публічна дипломатія Італійської Республіки

Italy’s Cultural Diplomacy: From Propaganda to Cultural Cooperation

Cultural diplomacy has always been an important tool in Italian foreign policy. Culture represented a significant resource already in the liberal period and was also widely used by Fascism. During the inter-war period, cultural promotion abroad aimed at spreading the regime’s political-social organizational model. In the second post-war period, cultural resources played a fundamental role in Italian international relations. The democratic government carried out a transition from an essentially propagandistic action, which Fascism implemented especially in the second half of 1930’s, to a cultural diplomacy more attentive to the issues of dialogue and cooperation. The soft power of culture grew in importance. Lacking effective diplomatic tools of a political and economic nature, the new ruling class promoted the nation’s cultural tradition. Although with means and personnel widely used already during the Fascist period, democratic Italy adopted an innovative cultural diplomacy with regard to premises and goals. This policy was apparently low-key and devoid of political themes, but in reality it was aimed at acquiring, in the long run, the friendship and the sympathy of the elites of other countries, so as to bolster political and economic relations. In the framework of a broader course of action, aimed at supporting multilateral diplomacy, the new leaders of post-Fascist Italy also promoted an international cultural cooperation which reversed the previous power politics and the unilateral assertion of Italian culture, but was still careful to defend the nation’s interests. This cooperative dimension was realized above all with the participation in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

The Place of Past Events in International Information Wars

This article presents an analysis of the role memory culture plays in information wars. Based on the examples of Lithuania, Russia, Ukraine, Poland and Belarus, it finds that the phenomenon of using the past in information wars can be explained as a fighting measure to entrench the authority of a given country in the eyes of the global community. This requirement emerged among countries in this region following the collapse of the old global systems and with the creation of new political blocs. Associations have been noticed between information wars that exploit the past and the growth of a country’s economic potential. For this reason, this foreign policy tool has not been used to the same degree in different countries in the region, nor did it start being used at the same time. Almost all the countries in the region started to massively exploit the past as a means of soft power only in the 21st century. This tool is especially significant in Poland and Russia, being used less often in Lithuania and Ukraine, and hardly at all in Belarus. The storylines of the past being used in information wars can be divided into two categories: Global identities, whose symbols have become Holocaust and Gulag figures; and symbols associated with the memory cultures and identities of separate societies, such as the idea of Slavic unity (in Russian-Ukrainian relations) or the past of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (in Lithuanian-Belarusian relations). The author predicts that the use of the past in information wars is set to intensify in the future, and as such, the teaching of expert skills is necessary to address this; at present, these skills are lacking in countries in the region.

The relationship between energy diplomacy and foreign policy decision-making process

Nowadays، among the foreign policy tools that can be used in external decision-making، energy diplomacy is one the most important. This paper، addresses the nature of the relationship between energy diplomacy and foreign policy decision-making process، which is the central stage of the political process in all countries at the international level. In addition to that، through this research، we go beyond other recent studies on this subject، linking the most important actors on the external side of energy policy with the most important features of foreign policy. Therefore، we analyze factors that drive energy diplomacy to influence the foreign policy-making dynamics of both energy-exporting and importing countries. In conclusion، the research has arrived at this fact that some countries succeeded in using energy as a weapon to implement foreign policy; however, in other cases، a number of countries have failed to use it specifically as a hard power. Generally، countries have worked to reach energy resources to use it for their decision-making process within the framework of energy diplomacy to reach their countries’ goals internationally.

El intervencionismo militar de Francia en África: una europeización limitada (1960-2019)

Tras la descolonización, Francia logró mantener relaciones estrechas con sus antiguas colonias del África subsahariana a través de acuerdos de cooperación económicos, culturales y militares. Gracias a éstos y a la permanencia de sus fuerzas militares en el continente, se impuso como el “protector” de los nuevos Estados, en el marco de la Guerra Fría, aun si para la ejecución de esta política no solía contar con el respaldo de sus socios europeos. Sin embargo, las críticas recibidas, en particular después del genocidio en Ruanda de 1994, incitaron a los dirigentes franceses a movilizar las herramientas nacientes de política exterior y de seguridad europea (pesc) para relegitimar su acción en África. Esta “europeización” de la política africana de Francia llevó al despliegue de misiones civiles y militares de la Unión Europea, si bien ello no bastó para restarle autonomía a los intereses franceses en África y borrar las divergencias con sus socios europeos.

Foreign aid as foreign policy tool: competition of projects aid allocation to Kenya between Japan and China

Foreign aid as foreign policy tool: competition of projects aid allocation to Kenya between Japan and China

From Third World Theory to Belt and Road Initiative: International Aid as a Chinese Foreign Policy Tool

Abstract In 1946, Mao Zedong began to elaborate his theory of the Third World from the perception that there would be an ‘intermediate zone’ of countries between the two superpowers. From there, he concluded that Africa, Latin America, and Asia, except for Japan, would compose the revolutionary forces capable of defeating imperialism, colonialism, and hegemonism. The start of international aid from the People’s Republic of China to developing countries dates back to the period immediately after the Bandung Conference of 1955, extending to the present. Through a bibliographical and documentary analysis, the article starts with the following research question: What role did domestic and international factors play in China’s foreign aid drivers over the years? To answer the question, the evolution of Chinese international assistance was studied from Mao to the Belt and Road Initiative, which is the complete expression of the country’s ‘quaternity’ model of co-operation, combining aid, trade, investment, and technical assistance.

ІДЕОЛОГІЧНИЙ ВПЛИВ РОСІЇ НА УКРАЇНСЬКИЙ СОЦІУМ ГАЛИЧИНИ НАПЕРЕДОДНІ ТА ПОЧАТКОВОМУ ЕТАПІ ПЕРШОЇ СВІТОВОЇ ВІЙНИ

The beginning of the twentieth century marked the use of ideology as a tool of foreign policy. Thus, Russia entered the First World War under the slogan of the liberation of the enslaved Slavs. At the same time, the Russian government sought to implement its pre-war strategic goal, to expand the borders of the empire at the expense of Galicia, Bukovina and Transcarpathia.On the eve of the war the instrument of information policy of the Russian Empire was Pan-Slavism, a messianic mission for the Slavic peoples. The ideology of Pan-Slavism envisaged the expansion of the Russian Empire at the expense of Red Russia. For expansion, Russia used cultural and religious influence and, through it, its political presence in the region. In order to discredit the Ukrainian national-liberation movement in Galicia, on the eve of the war, Russian governmental and political circles supported, morally and, above all, materially, the Muscophilia, which underpinned the all-Russian national idea. Through Muscophilian organizations, the Russian government was able to carry out not only anti-Ukrainian propaganda among Galician Ukrainians, pulling them to their side, but also anti-state, in order to accidence to Russia all Ukrainian ethnographic lands that were part of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy.On August 11, the Carpatho-Russian Liberation Committee was set up in Kyiv. Its task was to: clarify the so-called "reunification", introduce the Russian administration, and treat the Russian army to the local population; as well as assistance to the refugees and captive Galicians of the Austro-Hungarian army. In addition, in July 1914, Muscophiles issued for the command staff a small work "Modern Galicia", which emphasized the importance of Russophilism in Galicia, the place of residence of the names of members of the Russian People's Council, while neglecting Ukrainian political and national-cultural movement.Thus, the Russian Empire tried to information-psychological approach the population to the future theater of combat. The state propaganda machine work on the organization of the information discredit of the enemy and creation a positive image of his own state and army.It should be noted that the information war began long before Russia's hostilities and was accompanied at all stages of the war, adapting in advance to current goals and objectives;outreach activities directed to all layers of the populations of Austria-Hungary, as well as the Ukrainian population of the Russian Empire, respectively, with different goals and objectives;the main purpose of the information war is to obtain the support of the population to justify the actions of the military leadership of the warring parties; the liquidation of the Ukrainian national liberation movement

The rise of supplemental lending at the World Bank

AbstractWorld Bank projects sometimes receive supplemental loans months or years after initial project approval. Largely unnoticed, supplemental lending has mushroomed in the last decade, accounting for nearly 30% of all new loans in some years. These loans can serve important functions, as they come without the bureaucratic delays associated with new projects. We argue that supplemental loans are potentially useful foreign policy tools for powerful donors in settings where time is of the essence. Consistent with this, we find that countries receive significantly larger supplemental loans while serving a two‐year term on the geopolitically important United Nations Security Council.

Miękka siła „państw twardych” – porównanie Turcji i Rosji

The soft power in contemporary international relations is one of the basics of an effective foreign policy. Conceptualization of “soft power” term has western and liberal-democratic specifics. However, globalization, the interdependence and multi-channel communication of today’s international relations mean that states with policy systems different than liberal-democratic are also aware of its effectiveness. The main goal of this paper is to present the issue from the perspective of two countries – Turkey and Russia. The paper attempts to determine how important soft power is in the structure of the foreign policy tools of both countries, as well as how its resources are used.

A Game Changer in EU-Turkey Relations: The Opportunities and Pitfalls of Migration Policy

ABSTRACTThe mass migration from Syria has been a major turning point and an important ‘game changer’ in EU-Turkey relations, as it marks a watershed in immigration and asylum between two periods: from 1999 to 2011 and from 2011 to the present. During the first period, the EU was one of the driving forces of change in Turkey’s immigration and asylum policy, along with significant migration movements from the Middle East. Although EU demands were largely implemented due to the country’s changing migration profile, there was also ongoing resistance and reluctance towards the EU, thus a certain degree of conditionality. With the Syrian mass migration in 2011, however, and in particular the so-called ‘European refugee crisis’ in 2015, Turkey started to use migration as a foreign policy tool with which to oppose EU conditionality.

Geographical value spaces and gender norms in post-Maidan Ukraine: the failed ratification of the Istanbul Convention

AbstractWith RRW populist actors’ discovery of gender norms as a useful foreign policy tool, narratives constructed in terms of geographical value spaces have become central to the struggle for women's rights. Through a detailed examination of international and domestic actors’ engagement with the failed ratification process of the Istanbul Convention in Ukraine, this article aims to enhance understanding of the appropriateness of the use of these geographical value spaces when describing the struggle to combat GBV in Ukraine, and how connecting gender justice issues to geographically restricted value spaces impacts this fight. It finds that in practice neither the EU – despite Russia's allegations to the contrary – nor domestic political elites in favour of closer cooperation with Europe have provided meaningful support to the ratification of the Istanbul Convention. Faced with this situation, some Ukrainian feminists have increasingly sought to present the struggle to combat gender-based violence in a locally acceptable vernacular. This article, however, concludes that framing the struggle for women's rights in any type of geographical terms – be they of an international or domestic nature – increases the risk of either instrumentalisation of or selective engagement with the feminist agenda.

İnsani Diplomasi Faaliyetlerinin Türkiye’nin Yumuşak Gücüne Etkisi

The humanitarian diplomacy that emerged due to the diversification of diplomatic activities has started to play an important role as a complementary tool in the foreign policies of the states. However, using of the activities carried out in this field as a complementary foreign policy tool by Turkey has been realized since the early of 2000s. Especially, after the events that started in Syria in 2011, Turkey has experienced a significant increase in humanitarian diplomacy activities. In this study, the impact of humanitarian activities carried out between the years 2011-2018 and intensified after the civil war in Syria on Turkey’s soft power has been made the subject of the research. The study puts specifically emphasise on the effect of Turkey's foreign aids and asylum seekers on Turkey's soft power. Elcano Global Presence Index has been used for evaluation. As it is related to foreign aid and asylum seeker elements, data on migration and development cooperation headings of the index have been taken into consideration. When the index data have been analyzed, it is reached the conclusion that humanitarian diplomacy activities carried out between 2011-2018 have a positive effect on Turkey’s soft power and these activities are an important complementary foreign policy instrument for Turkey.

Segurança e desenvolvimento

Os Estados Unidos são um ator central no sistema internacional de ajuda externa. Para o governo de Washington, a ajuda externa compreende não apenas a ajuda econômica para promoção do desenvolvimento, mas também a ajuda militar para amparar aliados estratégicos. O objetivo deste artigo é recuperar o histórico da agenda de ajuda externa dos Estados Unidos, voltada à construção uma ordem estável e favorável aos seus interesses e segurança. Desde os primeiros projetos no pós-Segunda Guerra, a ajuda externa tem sido instrumentalizada em favor da contenção do comunismo e manutenção da esfera de influência estadunidense. Com a ausência das motivações da Guerra Fria, os Estados Unidos passam a utilizar a ajuda externa na resolução de problemas regionais e desafios globais. Após os atentados de 11 de setembro, os projetos de ajuda voltaram a ter importante papel para a política externa, principalmente na luta contra o terrorismo e outras ameaças difusas, que colocam em risco a estabilidade internacional. Pretende-se, assim, traçar um panorama geral acerca da definição de ajuda externa, sua organização burocrática e a evolução da agenda, destacando as motivações estratégicas e principais empregos desta ferramenta de política externa dos Estados Unidos.

Energy diplomacy in a time of energy transition

The global energy system is undergoing a transition away from a nearly complete dependence on fossil fuels toward a greater reliance on clean and renewable energy sources. Because this low-carbon energy transition will fundamentally alter the relationship between energy producers and consumers, its geopolitical ramifications are now a key concern of global energy leaders. Among the foreign policy tools that can be leveraged to support a country in managing the geopolitical consequences of an energy transition, diplomacy is one of the most important. This paper provides an analysis of how bilateral energy diplomacy can support the interests of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries during a low-carbon energy transition. The strategic objectives of bilateral energy diplomacy for GCC countries are assessed and then considered more specifically via a case study of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The UAE case study yields foreign policy conclusions and recommendations that are intended to serve as strategic guidance for all hydrocarbon-exporting countries. The results demonstrate the strategic importance of fostering bilateral energy diplomacy with countries that can provide security of domestic energy supply, markets for the long-term monetization of hydrocarbon resources and support for economic diversification. These strategic relations have energy at the core but should extend to joint investment and science and technology collaboration in order to have maximum value.

Targeted Sanctions: a Tool of Foreign Policy, Unfair Competition or Global Social Engineering?

Through the recent decades, the use of asymmetric and hybrid measures in international relations has acquired a qualitatively new scale and system. Today such measures have turned into one of the leading forms of external pressure and subsequent coercion, often exceeding the effectiveness of such straightforward instruments as the threat of potential use of force and almost equal to real power actions. Arguably, among those asymmetric and hybrid measures, Western countries assign a key role to the pressure of international sanction upon competitor nations and uncooperative actors on the world arena. The article is devoted to a critical analysis of some common approaches to the study of the problems of «targeted» sanctions in the theory and practice of international relations and the use of sanctions as a means of achieving geostrategic objectives, including such ambitious ones as social constructivism and social engineering on national, regional and global scales. Particular attention is paid to the contribution of Thomas Biersteker to the development of the theory and of practical designs of «targeted sanctions» in international relations. The author disputes with him over some issues related to the effectiveness of targeted sanctions and the impact they produce upon various sectors of the targeted societies. Based on the author’s schematic matrix of sanctional influences upon national elites and possible limits of their responses, the article formulates the principles of segmentation of the national elites both for the purposes of identifying the layers most susceptible to sanctional pressure and singling out most effective and capable strata from the point of view of practical implementation of the indented outcomes of the undertaken pressure from the outside.

The relational dimension of externalizing border control: selective visa policies in migration and border diplomacy

The paper traces the crucial role of visa policies in externalizing border control. Since the European Union has agreed upon a highly selective visa policy in 2001, most neighbouring countries are (newly) confronted with visa requirements for short-term travel. Because of this standardization of travel opportunities, visa-free travel to the European Union has become a rare and valuable political asset both for third country nationals and their governments. Consequently, visa liberalization became a major issue in bilateral negotiations with the EU over cooperation in migration management and is frequently used as an incentive by the EU institutions. However, the EU is not the only cooperating partner that strategically engages in border and migration diplomacy. As the case studies of Moldova, Morocco and Turkey show, all governments involved use issues of mobility regulation as a foreign policy tool, though with varying success in regard to visa liberalization.

Routledge Handbook of Russian Foreign Policy by Tsygankov Andrei P. (review)

REVIEWS 591 of the ‘politics of the present’. However, thanks to his research for this book he ended up concluding that ideological factors played a larger role than he had initially assumed. Concerns about corruption and lack of transparency in Polish politics were genuinely held and played into the discussions about transitional justice, particularly on the right. On the other hand, politicians on the liberal-left were also guided by principle in their opposition to radical approaches towards truth revelation. For example, they viewed the court-based system established in 1997 as a fairer and more reliable method of proceeding. Overall, ‘protagonists on both sides were driven by a complex interplay of ideational and interest-based impulses and concerns’ (p. 187). Politicising the Communist Past also investigates a related debate about the significance of public support for more radical truth revelation policies. On the one hand, such support clearly existed and exists. On the other, Szczerbiak argues that issues of transitional justice were rarely salient on their own: they were significant to the public in conjuction with other concerns about transparency and honesty in Polish politics. This is a rigorously researched, clearly argued and solidly structured monograph which deserves to be in paperback as soon as possible. For the time being, readers of this review are advised to order it for their university library. UCL SSEES Anne White Tsygankov, Andrei P. (ed.). Routledge Handbook of Russian Foreign Policy. Routledge Handbooks. Routledge, Abingdon, and New York, 2018. xvi + 439 pp. Tables. Figures. Notes. Bibliographies. Index. £175.00. In view of the increasing importance of the study of contemporary Russian foreign policy and the growth in the academic literature seeking to describe and analyse it, the appearance of this volume is most welcome. Andrei P. Tsygankov’s Handbook comprises twenty-eight chapters by different authors, each critically examining the state of the field in the study of a particular facet of Russian foreign policy and including a bibliography. Tsygankov has divided the Handbook into four parts, each of which has an introduction written by him. The first part, which is perhaps the most weighty academically, concerns theoretical approaches to the field. The tools of foreign policy and some of the actors form the subject of the second part. The third and fourth parts examine policy towards particular states and regions and Russia’s interactions with international organizations, respectively. In the first part, Valentina Feklyunina provides an excellent chapter on constructivist approaches and identity issues. Viatcheslav Morozov discusses post-structuralist and post-colonialist interpretations. Realist studies are SEER, 97, 3, JULY 2019 592 examined by Elena Kropatcheva, who argues persuasively that neoclassical realism provides the most satisfactory of the approaches within the realist framework. John Berryman’s analysis of Russia’s geopolitical relationships from Kievan Rus´ to the present concludes that the treatment of Russia after the collapse of the USSR marked a missed opportunity to integrate it into international society. The role of Russian nationalism is considered by Luke March, who somewhat unusually but gracefully subjects some of his own work to criticism. Yuval Weber advocates the idea of Russia as a petrostate. In Part Two, Charles E. Ziegler writes what I think is the most useful chapter of the book. Entitled ‘Diplomacy’, it provides a description of the work of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, offering an overview of its policy. Other chapters deal with gas, the intelligence services, the military, cyberpower, and the media and public diplomacy. Nicolai N. Petro’s scholarly chapter on the Russian Orthodox Church argues that it has become the partner rather than an agent of the state. Among the highlights of Parts Three and Four, Natasha Kuhrt examines Russia’s ‘pivot to the East’. She finds the roots of this well before Western states imposed sanctions in the wake of Russia’s annexation of Crimea. Kuhrt warns that in the future China may call on Russia for support in its maritime frontier disputes, where Moscow has so far managed to avoid entanglement. Ruth Deyermond’s careful analysis of Russia’s view of the Collective Security Treaty Organization shows how the body’s functions are evolving to include a capacity to resist...

“Mucho ruido y pocas nueces”: la diplomacia cultural y la imagen-país de México en el sexenio de Enrique Peña Nieto

Este artículo analiza cómo la diplomacia cultural del gobierno de Enrique Peña Nieto tuvo presencia en las relaciones internacionales de México, pero con un desorden conceptual e irrelevancia en tanto herramienta de política exterior. La imagen de México en el exterior tuvo un buen inicio con el llamado Mexican moment, pero se desplomó después de los hechos asociados con la corrupción y la escalada de crímenes, específicamente con el caso de Ayotzinapa de 2014. Por su parte, el presupuesto destinado a diplomacia cultural fue una cifra nominal y decorativa ejercida desde la Dirección General de Cooperación Educativa y Cultural de la Amexcid, cuyo desempeño fue irrelevante debido a la falta de coordinación y redundancia de las iniciativas de las secretarías de Cultura, Economía, Turismo y la Presidencia de la República.

Purchasing Power: US Overseas Defense Spending and Military Statecraft

The literature on economic statecraft has long focused on the effectiveness of foreign aid and trade as tools of inducement. However, existing scholarship largely neglects the role played by government procurement. By choosing to purchase goods or hire labor in foreign states, governments can provide economic benefits for strategic ends. The United States in particular leverages its defense procurement as a foreign policy tool. We introduce a new data set of US government procurement using information on all contracts executed overseas from 2000 to 2015. We develop a typology of how states use procurement to achieve foreign policy goals—power projection, counterinsurgency, and development—and provide descriptive statistics to explore variation in spending across countries and over time. We illustrate the power of the contract data by using it to code US military access in Africa, assess the relationship between spending and economic growth, and test whether economic inducements can buy influence.