Policy Doctrine Research Articles

Active non-alignment, the sovereignty paradox and the Russia-Ukraine war

ABSTRACT The differing reactions between Western nations and the Global South to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine present a puzzle. Shouldn't post-colonial states be just as concerned about the principles of national sovereignty and non-intervention as Western countries? The idiosyncratic, ad hoc explanations on a country-by-country basis are insufficient to account for a much broader phenomenon. This article deconstructs the “sovereignty principle” as it is seen in the Global South and examines the standing of the so-called Rules-Based Order (RBO), allegedly under mortal threat by Russia’s action. It then argues that a far better explanation for the Global South’s reaction is the rise of Active Non-Alignment (ANA). The foreign policy doctrine of ANA arose in Latin America in 2019–2020 in response to US–China tensions, It then spread to the rest of the Global South in 2022–2024 because of the war in Ukraine, BRICS expansion, and the war in Gaza.

The Transformation of International Relations in East Asia at the End of the XX – Early XXI Centuries

The author examines the role of various institutions and countries in the transformation of the world order in East Asia during the period of the late XX – early XXI centuries. The work notes that at the end of the XX century, the American model of the regionalization process, carried out within the framework of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), dominated. However, due to the changes in the US foreign policy doctrine and the Asian economic crisis of 1997–1998, APEC, in the early 2000s, began to give way to ASEAN+, where Japan occupied the leading position. Since the mid-2000s, China has been strengthening due to successfully carried out economic reforms and the use of various integration platforms. As a result, China began to promote its own model of globalization and regionalization in the region, which challenged the American order not only in East Asia, but also in the Asia-Pacific region. In the late 2000s, Washington sought to regain lost positions in the region by promoting the Trans-Pacific Partnership integration project, which intensified the struggle between the leading powers for dominance in the region. As a result, in the 2010s. ASEAN+ and Japan are developing the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) project, China is beginning to promote the Belt and Road international cooperation organization. As a result of the transformation of international relations caused by the movement of the world from unipolar to multipolar, there is a change in the transformation of the geopolitical situation in East Asia. The United States returned to the «traditional» methods of confrontation, increasing tension in the region and the world

Zachowując wspólne więzi: dyplomacja publiczna Turcji w Azji Środkowej

This article aims to analyse and assess the effectiveness of activities undertaken by Turkish public diplomacy organisations in Central Asia. Since the Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power in Turkey in 2002, the state’s foreign policy doctrine has changed profoundly. The new government has adopted a program of active and multifaceted diplomacy, seeking to improve mutual relations with neighbouring regions (i.e. Middle East, North Africa, Balkans, Caucasus, Central Asia). Historical, social and cultural references play an extremely important role in the AKP’s political strategy, and numerous public diplomacy organisations promote Turkish regional cooperation initiatives on behalf of the authorities in Ankara. In Central Asia, institutions such as the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency, the International Organisation of Turkic Culture, the Yunus Emre Institute, the Presidency for Turks Abroad and Related Communities, ensure that ties between Turkey and countries of the region are being preserved. By utilising Turkish soft power potential, these organisations support traditional diplomatic services in implementing Turkey’s foreign policy objectives.

The ‘performative’ university: theoretical and personal reflections

ABSTRACT For centuries, universities have proliferated and flourished around the world, playing an important role in societal knowledge production and diffusion. However, in the past four decades, this old organizational form has been subjected to neoliberal, managerialist policy doctrines such as New Public Management. Following this, universities have tended to become more ‘business-like’ in their internal management and governance, with generally perceived adverse effects on the quality of academic education, research, and working conditions. These developments pose fundamental threats to academic freedom and free knowledge production and diffusion. Acknowledging various forms of academic resistance to, and coping with, these threats, the purpose of our paper is twofold. First, we adopt the concept of ‘performativity’ – hitherto researched mainly in primary and secondary schools in Anglo-Saxon contexts – to account for, and critique, neoliberal university policies, and practices in a variety of Global North settings. Second, through collaborative autoethnography, we add our own personal narratives to ‘talk back’ to managerialism.

THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST OFFICIAL VISIT OF THE KYRGYZ DELEGATION TO THE USA AND THE FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF THE FOREIGN POLICY OF THE YOUNG REPUBLIC

The article, based on newly opened archival sources, highlights the first visit of the official Kyrgyz delegation to America. During early 1990s, with the USSR collapse the world became unipolar, with the United States beginning to play a significant geopolitical role. The acquisition of independence and sovereignty set Kyrgyzstan in search of its own path of development; the country faced the challenge of joining the world community. The visit of the state delegation of Kyrgyzstan to the USA was of great historical and political significance for the development of the country. High-level meetings and promises to move the country along the path of democracy and market relations played an important role in American support to the young republic. Kyrgyzstan's desire to follow a democratic course was an important message behind the republic's entry into the UN and other international organizations. Diplomatic relations also developed progressively with the opening of a number of embassies in Bishkek and embassies of Kyrgyzstan abroad. foreign policy doctrine, concept.

The Concept of the Intermarium and the Confessional Issue: Geopolitical Challenges to Belarusian Orthodoxy in ХХ – early ХХI century

The article discusses the problems of merging geopolitics and religion. Using the example of Belarusian Orthodoxy, the author shows how religious institutions can become instruments for the implementation of geopolitical strategies, in particular the Polish foreign policy doctrine of the Intermarium. The influence of this doctrine on the position of the Orthodox Church in the Baltic-Black Sea region, including on the territory of Belarus, is analyzed. The author examines the specific historical conditions of the periodic actualization of Polish geopolitical projects in relation to Belarus. Using some examples, he shows the technologies of the United States working with the Belarusian anti-Soviet emigration and the technologies of using religious institutions to implement geopolitical strategies. It is concluded that modern interpretations of the Intermarium doctrine are directly related to the policy of the Patriarchate of Constantinople in relation to the East Slavic territories associated with the Kiev Metropolis of the XV–XVII centuries. The assessment of the activities of the primate of the Orthodox Church in Poland on the Ukrainian-Belarusian lands in the first half of the 1940s is new for domestic and foreign historiography as an attempt to build a “church Intermarium”. The article contains unique materials about the anti-Soviet activities of the Belarusian emigration, its contradictions and splits. The findings actualize the issue of developing mechanisms to counteract manipulative influence against the Orthodox Church, carried out in order to achieve political benefits. Based on the results of the consideration of the problem, a recommendation is proposed regarding the need for planned systematic work to strengthen church immunity against external manipulative influence, fraught with disruption of social and confessional balance in the Republic of Belarus.

The politics of distraction in planning English-medium education policy in schools

ABSTRACT This article presents the findings of a critical ethnography focused on the English-medium instruction (EMI) policy in Nepal’s public schools. Through the analysis of policy documents and interviews with policymakers, the study reveals that policymakers view the EMI policy as a solution to the crisis in public schools by enhancing their competitiveness with private English-medium schools. However, this approach is identified as a ‘politics of distraction’, as it diverts attention from broader issues such as implicit privatization, funding cuts, and accountability deficits for implementing multilingual education policy. By framing EMI as a public policy doctrine using discursive strategies (e.g. neoliberal rationalization and justification) and suggesting that the crisis can be resolved through school privatization, which in turn promotes commodified languages like English and the national dominant language, Nepali, over local/Indigenous languages, policymakers largely disregard inequalities, structural conditions, and reinforce the existing unequal power relations. By diverting attention from critical issues, policymakers perpetuate historical marginalization, colonial agendas and ideologies, and unequal power asymmetries, failing to address systemic challenges. The research underscores the necessity of scrutinizing the motivations and agendas underlying the promotion of EMI in mainstream schools in multilingual contexts.

The Discussion of the Tendences and Evolution of the European Security Issues in the British Parliament (1990-2010)

The article is devoted to the discussion of European security issues in the British Parliament in the post-bipolar period. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the British establishment had to revise the foreign policy doctrine of the United Kingdom to adapt it to the demands of the post-bipolar age. During this period, parliamentarians discussed the future role of NATO after the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact. The political establishment has continued to define NATO as the foundation of the Euroatlantic system of collective security. After the direct military threat from the USSR vanished, the British elites had difficulties formulating the strategic goal of the North Atlantic alliance's existence. Another important topic was the creation of the European Union, its future enlargement in Central-Eastern Europe, and the search for the best approach to British European policy under new circumstances. There was an agreement that the idea of the “Europe of Nations” was best suited to British national interests. The British government also deterred attempts by France and Germany to transform the European Union into a federal superstate. The Balkan crisis also became a central topic that caused heated debates in Parliament in an attempt to find a path to a peaceful settlement. In the case of military interventions in local conflicts, the British establishment tried to evade direct intervention in the Balkan crisis but was forced to reconsider its position under growing pressure from allies, who began to experience economic and reputational damage. The humanitarian intervention in Kosovo created a precedent that was used to justify interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq. Additionally, the conflicts in Nagorno-Karabakh and Georgia were also discussed.

USA Policy Towards United Nations: The Case of UN PKOs in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Introduction. This article examines United States policy towards United Nations Peacekeeping Operations (UN PKOs) by analyzing the U.S. position towards peacekeeping operations in the Congo (Democratic Republic of the Congo, DRC) to trace the evolution and specific features of this policy over time. The article attempts to answer the question: is U.S. policy toward UN PKOs defined by only national interest, or is there more to it? Methods and materials. The article analyzes U.S. official speeches and documents, UN official documents related to peacekeeping operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo, American foreign policy doctrines, and academic literature on U.S. foreign policy, U.S.-UN relations, and UN PKOs in the DRC. Analysis. American policy towards UN peacekeeping operations in Congo in 1960–1964 and 1999–2022 is analyzed to identify the main trends in the USA’s approach toward UN PKOs. Results. The article concludes that U.S. policy towards the United Nations is defined by the combination of the national interest of the country and the ideas of American exceptionalism. Authors’ contributions. D. Pushkina defined the research focus of the article, examined academic literature on UN PKOs in Congo and relevant documents, and defined the main vectors of the research. R. Kalina examined academic literature about U.S.-UN relations, analyzed official U.S. statements on UN peacekeeping operations in Congo, and made conclusions.

Тенденции развития внешней политики США конца XX − первой четверти XXI века. Концептуальный аспект

This article analyses trends in US foreign policy of the late 20th and first decades of the 21st centuries as a major factor influencing modern geopolitics. The problem is considered in the theoretical aspect and in the historical-political retrospect, from the 1990s to the present day. The subject of the analysis is the stages of the formation of the foreign policy doctrine upheld by the USA in international relations. For the 1990s, the paper studies the doctrines asserting hegemony and unipolarity as the goals of US foreign policy in the geopolitical realities that took shape after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The period of 2000s – 2010s was, according to the author, a time of transformation in US foreign policy: from the adoption after September 11, 2001 of the so-called Bush Doctrine, giving the USA rights to launch preventive strikes and make interventions against states suspected of cooperation with international terrorist organizations, to the idea of abandoning claims to global hegemony and attempts to normalize relations with Russia (“reset” policy) and China (the Group of Two) during Barack Obama’s presidency. The final part of the article examines the period of Donald Trump’s and Joe Biden’s presidencies, when the USA returned to the idea of global hegemony, based on the ideological thesis that the USA is the leader of the free world opposing the world of autocracies, whose leaders are Russia and China. According to the author, the current situation reproduces the realities of the Cold War, with the confrontation between the USA as the “defender of the free world” and the USSR as the founder of the world communism movement. The author concludes by attempting to determine the reasons for the transformations in US foreign policy of the late 20th and early 21st centuries as well as to give a forecast of its development trends.

Tactical hedging as coalition-building signal: The evolution of Quad and AUKUS in the Indo-Pacific

How are the rise, fall, and evolution of minilateralism in the Indo-Pacific region explained? To address this question, I examine the cases of the Quad and AUKUS, and argue that they were caused by the success and failure of coalition-building efforts made through ‘tactical hedging’. As the world transitions from a unipolar to a non-unipolar world, states attempt to formulate coalitions to safeguard their national interests. However, the challenge is to figure out which states are truly ‘like-minded’ and can strategically coordinate their policies for mutual interests. Under this circumstance, states send signals through ‘tactical hedging’ – ‘an ambiguous, temporal declaratory policy doctrine’ – that assists the hedger in assessing whether its allies and partners are willing to cooperate; in this case, building a coalition towards the same or similar strategic objectives. The key is the initial ambiguity in signalling, which becomes critical to the future success of building a coalition among parties whose interests are not always congruent.

‘Geopolitics of Sympathy’: George F. Kennan and NATO Enlargement

ABSTRACT In the light of the dramatic escalation of the Russian war on Ukraine since February 2022, questions concerning the handling of Russia in the post-Cold War era, and the enlargement of NATO in particular, are timelier than ever. This article scrutinises the views of George F. Kennan, one of the most influential critics of the decision to expand NATO. It is widely accepted that Kennan’s opposition to NATO was grounded in realism about international affairs. A careful study of the development of his thinking, based on his private papers and archival sources from many countries, suggests that his perceptions of developments inside Russia and his imagination of the countries in Central and Eastern Europe were more important than any foreign policy doctrine. Kennan’s criticism was grounded in his ‘geopolitics of sympathy’, understood as a fusion of mental maps, sympathies and personal connections towards the region affected by NATO enlargement. However, Kennan’s geopolitics must be considered in conjunction with his ideas about international order, in particular with his defence of empire.

Servicization and the Limits of the Mainstream: Structural Change in Developing Countries

The article examines prospects for policy to enhance contemporary economic development. Shortcomings of mainstream economic analyses are evident since the Cold War, with failure to establish policy doctrines engaging with developing countries’ structural transformation: on average, not industrialisation, but servicization: capital and labour moving from agriculture to services. Faster-growing countries show greater servicization, yet overtly services-focused strategies are rare, and policy doctrine and economic analysis focuses on industrialisation. Literature searches show that servicization is largely ignored, reducing possibilities for policy-supported growth. Demonstrating this, the article argues that “internal” aspects of mainstream data and theory create severe confirmation bias, explaining this failure. If the “state” is there to support capitalism, in this area it seems to be doing rather badly.

Articulation of Indonesia's Bebas-Aktif Foreign Policy in Responding Russia-Ukraine Conflict

This study is about Indonesia's foreign policy in responding to the Russian and Ukrainian conflict. The war in Ukraine has attracted wide attention and influenced many country's foreign policy, including Indonesia as one of the middle powers in Asia. The conflict has sharpened the bipolarization between Ukraine supported by Western countries and Russia itself. It presents serious challenges for Indonesia, which has long been known as a neutral and non-aligned country. Under the free-active foreign policy doctrine, Indonesia is facing serious challenges to take a firm stance on the Russian-Ukrainian war and continuing its leadership in the G20 and ASEAN. Therefore, this study seeks to analyze Indonesia's foreign policy behavior and its country's role it has built in dealing with the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. By using role theory of foreign policy analysis and qualitative research methods especially textual analysis, this study finds that Indonesia displays three faces of foreign policy toward Russia-Ukraine war. First, steadfast commitment and respect to international law and the UN Charter, especially sovereignty and territorial integrity; Second, articulate free-active foreign policy attitude that integrates two opposing blocks; Third, pursue foreign policy that is advantageous for domestic interests and economic gains.

Концептуальные основы внешней политики Италии в регионе Большого Средиземноморья

The article is devoted to determining the role of the Greater (or, in its Italian version — Expanded) Mediterranean in Italian contemporary foreign policy doctrine. In the theoretical part of the study, a comprehensive analysis of the concept of the “Greater Mediterranean” is presented via consistently examining its interpretations, such as macro-region, regional security complex, space-time (place of development) and subsystem of international relations (international political region). The practical part opens with an excursion into the history of the penetration of this concept into Italian political thought, showing that it has undergone a significant evolution. The first attempts to consider the Mediterranean beyond its geographical boundaries were associated with the confrontation with Great Britain and searching for theoretical justifications for the “defensive imperialism” of Mussolini’s regime. During the Cold War an expanded Mediterranean was seen as a territory that Italy's national security directly depended on. The development of the geopolitical concept of the Expanded Mediterranean in its current form falls on the 1980s. Initially, the corresponding notion was used only within the expert community, but in the second decade of the 21st century it became entrenched in the country's military-strategic documents, more and more often replacing the wording “European-Mediterranean region”. These documents interpret the Expanded Mediterranean as a priority zone of national strategic interests, a geopolitical space where Italy should play a leading role in the fight against challenges and threats, as well as in establishing cooperation with regional players. However, such positioning of Rome is fraught with the difficulties of both economic and political nature, including those related to its membership in the EU and NATO.

A.A. Gromyko and Security Policy: Strategic Detente Project

The article continues the study of the role of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR A.A. Gromyko in the shaping, development and maintenance of security policy, its principles and structural elements. The relevance of the article is determined by the importance of strategy and strategic thinking in modern foreign policy and diplomacy, their influence on interstate cooperation, the evolution and manageability of international relations. The subject of the article is the study of the strategic project of detente developed by A.A. Gromyko to 1972-1973. The chronological framework of the study is limited to 1972 and 1973. The article consists of three subsections. The first subsection examines the criteria for bilateralism and presents the conditions for concluding new agreements, substantiates the importance of purposeful work on new agreements. The second subsection analyzes the differences between formal balance and equal security. At present, the concept of «equal security» has become a structural element of the foreign policy doctrine and security doctrine of the Russian Federation. The third subsection characterizes the content of the strategic project, the features of differentiated cooperation - the interaction of the USSR with small, medium and large countries, shows the meaning of the concept of «pure national interest», mechanisms for the transition to a «long-term detente» of international tension. The author explores the approaches of A.A. Gromyko to a new system of international relations during the negotiations on the Moscow Treaty. The possible practical application of the main elements of the project in modern times is determined. The sources of the article are published documents of the Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany. The author conducts the analysis on the basis of the foreign partners' assessment of the statements made by the Soviet Foreign Minister during official negotiations.

Anticipatory policy rhetoric: exploring ideological fantasies of Finnish higher education

ABSTRACT This research explores how anticipatory policymaking played out in Finnish higher education reform. The study applies a discourse theoretic framework to explore how policy narrative might prove attractive to subjects by mobilizing ideas, norms, and fantasies through affective identification. Fantasies frame and stabilize our sense-making practices, thereby providing affective belonging and (ir)rationale for our actions. As an empirical case, the analysis of the Vision Development 2030 reform elucidates how the policy documents construct fantasmatic narratives (with reference to obstacles, threats, and plenitude to come) that set the terms of debate in articulating the ‘problem’ of Finnish HE and in supplying the favorable policy solutions. Scrutinizing a range of ideological fantasies, such as articulating gloomy forecasts and reactivating cognitive and affective memories of past successes, Vision Development sought to evoke subjects’ latent emotions and desires, mobilizing them toward a reproduction of the techno-managerialist order. Applying poststructuralist discourse theory and the concept of fantasy in policy studies, the role of desire and affective rhetoric in anticipatory future-making can be critically evaluated and the implications of such policy doctrines contemplated.

Globalizing dissent: the Soviet response to the Truman doctrine at the United Nations and the (Re)making of global governance at the end of ideology

ABSTRACT This article considers the role of dissent in the making and remaking of contemporary international relations. The immediate aftermath of World War II was a period of interregnum. Prior security paradigms were exhausted while the three major political ideologies of conservatism, liberalism, and left radicalism competed around the world. The creation of the United Nations in 1945 was meant to facilitate the creation of a new global governance model for the sake of peace. However, when in 1947 U.S. President Harry S. Truman made a speech to Congress in which he inaugurated a unilateral foreign policy doctrine premised on Soviet containment, he escalated ideological differences into security concerns. The Soviet Union responded by intensifying their investment in the U.N. and by developing a rhetorical playbook meant to aid smaller nations and oppressed peoples in challenging Western racism and colonialism. I examine the Soviets’ dissent at the United Nations to highlight (1) how dissent figures differently across political ideological paradigms; (2) the connection between dissent and institutional forums in the development of global security models; and (3) the role of dissent as a form of material rhetoric that makes possible the creation of novel political alliances.

План Дж. Байдена по налаживанию отношений США со странами Латинской Америки: ожидания и реальность 2021 года

Introduction. During the four years of Donald Trump’s presidency, the relations of the United States with the countries of the Latin American region were greatly damaged. The election plan of Joe Biden meant providing assistance to some countries in Central America and assumed a return to the foreign policy strategy of Barack Obama. After the Democratic candidate’s victory in the 2020 presidential race, the expert community of Latin Americanists expected the expansion of Biden’s plan and the formation of a new U.S. foreign policy doctrine regarding Latin America. The purpose of the article is to find out what expectations the experts (scholars, former politicians, representatives of human rights organizations, etc.) had for the reviving of U.S. relations with Latin American countries in 2021 and how these expectations were met. Methods and materials. The research is based on the analysis of the expert community opinion towards the Latin American policy of Biden’s administration and the correlation of this opinion with the actual policy. The author uses methods of discourse analysis and comparative analysis. Analysis. The cancellation of Trump’s migration orders by the new administration was perceived by experts as a positive signal to improve U.S. relations with Latin American countries. However, Biden’s first 100 days showed that the president did not intend to expand the provisions of his election plan. The increasing flows of illegal migrants and local crises emerging in Latin America have forced the expert community to doubt the possibility of Biden’s plan to cope with new challenges. Results. The study showed that most of the expectations about the improvement of U.S. relations with the countries of the Latin American region were not justified. The reason for that was not only the narrowness of Biden’s plan itself but also the imperfection of the American bureaucratic system and external crises. According to experts, by the end of 2021, the Latin American policy of the new administration did not have any fundamentally new achievements that could significantly change the situation that had developed under President Trump’s administration.

Di Bawah Spirit Liberal-Institusionalisme: Kajian Komparatif Gagasan Dynamic Equilibrium dan ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific

This article aims to compare two Indonesia’s foreign policy ideas, namely, dynamic equilibrium and the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP). It treats both ideas as an analytical tool instead of propositions to be tested against empirical evidence. Using liberal-institutionalism approach, this article argues that despite both ideas applies in the Indo-Pacific region, both have different characteristics. While dynamic equilibrium can be regarded as a foreign policy doctrine which only proposes the basic principles of interstate relations, AOIP is a cooperative framework which becomes policy guidance for countries in the region. However, both ideas conforms liberal-institutionalism premises that international regimes matter because it provides set of rules for cooperation rather than rivalry, recover ASEAN’s role as a key actor in the region, promote dialogue in dispute settlement, and gain economic development.