Milieu Goals Research Articles

EU Sanctions Policy Vis-à-Vis Russia

This research piece investigates the role of norms in European Union (EU) sanctions policy towards Russia in the context of the Russia Ukraine War. It aims to answer the research question of the extent to which the EU’s foreign policy in this particular case can be interpreted as having normative power. As an analytical lens, the Normative Power Europe (NPE) framework is used. In order to tackle the question, this study deploys an interdisciplinary approach drawing from EU law and social sciences. It combines EU legislation and case law of the European Court of Justice on the one hand, with a qualitative content analysis of official EU press releases on the other. The first part of the analysis focuses on the doctrinal legal analysis of the relevant EU law in order to account for the normative-legal basis and legitimacy of EU autonomous sanctions. The second part investigates if the EU in this particular case is guided by international norms (milieu goals) or economic interests (possession goals) and which foreign policy instruments it uses to pursue its objectives. The study finds that the EU is committed to its normative identity.

The Choice for Terrorism Possession and Milieu Goals Among Terrorist Groups

Why do armed groups choose terrorism? Within political science, the prevailing approach to explaining this choice is known as the strategic model. It assumes that terrorist groups make rational calculations of costs and benefits to decide whether to use terrorism, and that the choice is predicated on the goal of winning material concessions from an opponent. This article challenges this view by introducing a distinction between possession goals and milieu goals, drawing from research on the foreign policy goals of states by Arnold Wolfers. It argues that some specific types of terrorist groups may be more oriented towards achieving milieu goals – defined here as non-material, non-exclusive efforts aimed at shaping the international environment – than possession goals, such as concessions over territory or political power. Expanding the typology of terrorist goals to include milieu goals helps to address some of the persistent puzzles around the rationality of terrorism and raises new questions for theoretical and empirical research.

Continuity and change in France's policies towards Russia: a milieu goals explanation

Continuity and change in France's policies towards Russia: a milieu goals explanation

The Pursuit of Justice Through EU Security Strategies: Sisyphus Redux?

The EU has developed its role in global affairs through several treaty revisions, institutional developments, political statements and official strategic documents. The strategic documents and political statements embody both the EU’s more particular short-term interests and concerns, as well as its more universal and long-term normative aspirations or ‘milieu goals’. How the EU has sought to balance these and to project them globally through its formal strategy statements in the realm of security is the core research question of this paper. Furthermore, this paper assesses these attempts as part of a greater endeavour of the GLOBUS project to conceptualise global justice and the Union’s role therein. The EU is a (self-)proclaimed normative power that is seen in some quarters as promoting universal values and global justice. However, what is ‘just’, as this article will discuss, is contested even when it is (rarely) defined. The article will therefore review three related but distinct concepts of global justice and highlight the outlying indicators of these ideal types of justice. Based on these, the article develops hypotheses on the EU’s role in the pursuit of global justice and tests these against the EU’s dis-courses embodied in the three main strategic documents: ‘A Secure Europe in a Better World – European Security Strategy’ (European Council 2003), ‘Report on the Imple-mentation of the European Security Strategy – Providing Security in a Changing World’ (European Council 2008) and ‘Shared Vision, Common Action: A Stronger Europe – A Global Strategy for the European Union’s Foreign And Security Policy’ (EEAS 2016).

American Missionary Universities in China and the Middle East and American Philanthropy: Interacting Soft Power of Transnational Actors

This article investigates the interacting soft power of two important categories of American transnational actors: American missionary universities in China and the Middle East and American religious, foundation and individual philanthropy. These transnational actors have had and have soft power in Chinese and Middle East societies based on academic excellence and biculturalism. However, this transnational actor soft power has historically been limited by religious proselytising, unequal treaties between China and the West, the humiliation of China, and American China and Middle East policy. The universities have had and continue to have reverse soft power in the USA attracting resources and advocating on behalf of China and the Middle East. Philanthropic support for the educational, research, healthcare and social development work of these universities has contributed to university soft power in the host societies. The universities and their philanthropic donors have strengthened US national soft power regarding milieu goals of elite attraction to education, language and liberal norms. However, US national soft power concerning possession goals of acceptance of foreign policies in China and the Middle East has not been strengthened, and was also not a university, philanthropic or government goal.

Private Foreign-Affiliated Universities, the State, and Soft Power: The American University of Beirut and the American University in Cairo

This article contributes to the understanding of the soft power of private foreign-affiliated universities and the interaction between such universities and the state for university soft power and national soft power. The analysis shows university soft power in their Middle East host societies and its basis of academic excellence and biculturalism. Historically, university soft power has been limited first by proselytizing and later by unpopular American foreign policy. The universities have previously undescribed reverse university soft power in the USA on behalf of the Middle East: advocating Middle East interests and raising moral, political, and financial support for education, healthcare, and development in the region. The USA has pursued national soft power through the American University of Beirut and the American University in Cairo since the 1950s. University soft power has been furthered by US government financial assistance to academic excellence, while too close association with the US government has threatened university soft power. The universities have contributed to the national soft power of the USA concerning milieu goals of attraction to education, language, and liberal norms among elites. The universities have not contributed to national soft power regarding the acceptance of unpopular US foreign policies in the Middle East, which was also not a university or US government goal.

Confessions of a Small State: Singapore’s Evolving Approach to Peace Operations

Being a small state, an interest in upholding international rule of law has long shaped Singapore’s contributions to international peacekeeping. While this remains the overarching rationale, Singapore’s approach is undergoing subtle yet significant changes, from its mission profiles, widening perceptions of security interests, capabilities contributed, to deepening cooperation with foreign partners. This paper analyses these policy developments within a broader historical and theoretical context, drawing on recent literature about small states and peacekeeping. The first section examines how Singapore’s self-conscious sense of being a small state underpins its participation in peace missions and the constraints it faces. From its initial milieu goals of supporting international law, the tiny city-state has branched out to join US-led stability operations that are presented as serving its direct security interests in a globalised world. The second section analyses how Singapore compensates for its resource limitations by developing comprehensive training packages with other nations. In the field, Singaporean forces are also increasingly embedded with more experienced countries and contribute higher-end niche capabilities. The final section presents some challenges, including doctrinal questions, recent attempts at institutional streamlining, and structural reform of Singapore’s armed forces that remain essentially trained for territorial defence.

Power structures and regional development banks

This paper examines the experience of developing countries in the three major regional financial institutions, the Inter-American, Asian, and African Development Banks. In the Inter-American Development Bank, members from developing countries have secured both influence and resources; in the Asian Development Bank they have secured resources but little influence; in the African Development Bank they have influence but limited resources. This variation can be explained by the different issue area power structures within which the banks function. The Inter-American Development Bank has functioned within a hegemonic structure. The dominant power, the United States, pursued long-term political objectives and accepted considerable autonomy for developing countries within the Bank. The Asian Development Bank has functioned within a bipolar structure with Japan playing an increasingly important role. As a normal power, Japan has pursued tangible economic interests and has constrained the behavior of the Asian Development Bank. Until the late 1970s the African Development Bank functioned in a multipolar structure that largely excluded nonregional countries. This exclusion made it impossible to generate substantial resources. Experience in the regional development banks suggests that a hegemonic structure can offer weaker states both resources and influence provided that the milieu goals of the dominant power are not violated.