Foreign Policy-making Process Research Articles

Iran’s axis of resistance through the lens of ontological security

Unlike traditional approaches that analyse an actor’s foreign policy by focusing on the search for physical security and material interests, ontological security advocates a more nuanced approach that considers identity politics, regime security, issues of legitimacy, and emotional motives. This article aims to examine Iran’s Axis of Resistance from the perspective of ontological security, without rescinding the possibility of power struggles or ideological motivations in influencing Iran’s foreign policymaking process. This study posits that the Axis of Resistance embodies a profound meaning and overarching significance for Iran that transcends mere considerations of physical security or sectarian-­ideological inclinations. The pursuit of the Axis of Resistance by Iran serves to provide the regime with ontological security, achieved through the utilisation of national narratives, the establishment of routines, concerns pertaining to domestic order, and the incorporation of emotional underpinnings of the Islamic regime. The existential significance that Iran ascribes to the Axis of Resistance is of crucial importance in maintaining this paradigm, despite all its costs.

THE ROLE OF SHIISM IN THE FOREIGN POLICY OF THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN

The Iranian Revolution of 1979 caused Iran to shape its foreign policy along with its domestic political structure, within the framework of a certain Shiite understanding of Islam. Within this context and through the use of the explanatory case study method, this study aims to examine the effect of Shiism within the foreign policy of the post-Revolution Islamic Republic of Iran. First, the foreign policy-making process of the Islamic Republic of Iran and its various elements were discussed within the framework of the views of the Republic’s founder, the Supreme Leader Khomeini. Second, the effect of Shiism within and on Iranian foreign policy and affected regions will be explored and discussed. This study reports that Shiism is the most significant determining element in Iran’s foreign policy following the 1979 Revolution, that the country’s foreign policy approaches are not entirely Shiism-oriented, that there are deviations from this strictly Shiite approach, and that Iran’s foreign policy also includes realpolitik approaches.

A Study of U.S. Immigration Policy Towards Latin America 2009-2022 - From the Realism Perspective

The United States is the worlds largest recipient of immigrants, and due to historical and geographic reasons, the United States has a deep connection with Latin American immigrants. At the same time, the issue of immigration has become an issue of greater interest to Latino voters in U.S. elections. Since the end of World War II, the U.S. foreign policy-making process has been primarily tinged with offensive realism. Based on this, this paper will analyze the changes in the U.S. governments immigration policy toward Latin America during the Obama administration, the Trump administration, and the Biden administration (as of December 2022) in three different periods through realism theory. This paper finds that although the policies of the three periods mentioned above differ slightly in subtle aspects due to the leaders personal governing preferences, they all reflect realism in essence in terms of macro policies.

2022 FRANSA CUMHURBAŞKANLIĞI SEÇİMİ: DIŞ POLİTİKA ANALİZİ ÜZERİNE BİR DEĞERLENDİRME

Assessments over the results of April 2022 Presidential Election in France will guide the scholars of foreign policy analysis on the future of internal and external policies of France and the European Union (EU). Within this framework, the aim of the paper is to identify the foreign policy approaches of the presidential candidates and the political parties they have represented in France. The paper adopts a diverse approach from traditional foreign policy approaches which take internal and external factors separately as units of analysis in foreign policy-making processes. Contrary to the traditional perspective, the authors focused on the interaction of internal and external factors, because it is argued in the paper that this interaction creates mutual impacts on agents and shapes foreign policy-making procedures. Methodologically the paper elaborates the interaction through an analysis on the discourses of seven presidential candidates and programs of the political parties they have represented. It is concluded in the paper that the interaction between internal and external factors in French foreign policy has currently concentrated on the themes such as migration, security, economy, climate change, Islam, NATO membership and the future of the EU. The article tries to contribute to the foreign policy analysis literature through a comprehensive analysis on the combination of internal and external factors and to illuminate the probable reflections of presidential election process in France.

Dueling Personalities and Leadership Styles: Gül, Erdoğan, and the Parliament in Turkey’s Policymaking during the 2003 Iraq War

Recent research in International Relations pays more attention to the role of individuals in world politics. The subfield of Foreign Policy Analysis, in contrast, has a long-standing record in advancing its explanation of individuals in foreign policy. Specifically, at-a-distance approaches to studying individuals have grown noticeably. New theoretical connections (for example, to role theory), an expansion of its subjects and linguistic capabilities beyond English promise a growing literature in years to come. To continue to exploit the exploratory promise and illustrate these approaches’ability to account for individuals’impact on decision-making, this paper investigates Turkish foreign policymaking into the 2003 Iraq War under the leadership of two prime ministers. It utilizes Leadership Trait Analysis to profile Gul and Erdoğan, reports from multiple elite interviews, and connects the two leaders’profiles with associated behavioral expectations in their engagement with the parliament. Based on its findings in leaders’profiles and case study discussion, the paper argues an individual focused analysis offers much insight to understanding foreign policymaking processes and outcomes.

From ‘revolution’ to war: deciphering Armenia’s populist foreign policy-making process

ABSTRACT Since April 2018, Armenia has gone through a series of dramatic events. Convinced of its ‘democratic invincibility,’ the regime that emerged after ‘the Velvet Revolution’ espoused the view that Armenia’s new, democratic facade must secure increased support from Brussels and Washington and continued loyalty from its security provider – the Kremlin. Nevertheless, the perennial security issues, chief among them the unresolved Nagorno Karabakh conflict, were overlooked by the new elite. This article examines the sources of the foreign policy-making style of the populist regime in Armenia and explores the extent to which they have affected the decision-making process and its ‘resultants.’ The article argues that the incoherent and erratic nature of the new regime’s policy formulation and enactment, which underestimated acute security challenges and degraded existing institutional checks and balances, caused unprecedented wreckage to Armenia’s national security architecture.

Soft Power Phenomenon in Azerbaijan Foreign Policy: A Study on the Tourism Sector

The concept of power, which is one of the most common discussion topics in the discipline of international relations, has been examined with many different dimensions, and the soft power dimension has become an important discussion and study area, especially since the Cold War. Physically, power is the efficiency achieved by using available forces. By a behavioral definition, power is the ability to change the behavior of others to achieve desired results. When we pay attention to the last centuries in the Caucasus, it is possible to say that the situation in the region has been shaped more by the axis of hard policy formation. Azerbaijan has aimed to produce foreign policy strategies by keeping the peaceful aspects in the foreground in the foreign policy formation process from its independence to the present day. While doing this, tourism emerges as a soft power element in foreign policy. One of the main problems of Azerbaijan’s foreign policy after independence has been the Karabakh problem. Azerbaijan’s gaining sovereignty after the 44-day war with Armenia in 2020 has led to the emergence of new opportunities. The natural beauties, historical artifacts, and cultural riches, which were liberated from the occupation after the 44-day war in the autumn of 2020, reveal the importance of tourism in Azerbaijan. Another important problem of the Azerbaijani economy is the country’s dependence on oil. Tourism can play the role of an alternative economy for diversifying the economy. Considering these factors, the present study aims to reveal the soft power tendency in Azerbaijan’s foreign policy-making process. In the process of scientific creation of the study, research was made based on the official data of the State Statistical Committee of Azerbaijan.

Fear and Greed: Mapping the Australian Debate on China's Economic Sanctions

Since Canberra's embrace of a more confrontational China policy in the last four years, Australian scholars and analysts have begun to debate China's economic retaliation against Australia. This group of people, also known as “issue publics,” have special functions in the Australian foreign policymaking process. This article covers four years of debate within Australian issue publics since early 2017. It aims to document the major arguments that have emerged during this heated public debate on China's sanctions policy, Australia's vulnerability and resilience, and Australia's response to China's economic coercion. The review shows that the arguments expressed in this debate have been polarized. The black‐and‐white assessment of Chinese and Australian national interests reshaped the social atmosphere for policymaking. This somewhat contributed to the current stuckedness and ambiguity of Australia's China policy.

Costly Concealment: Secret Foreign Policymaking, Transparency, and Credible Reassurance

AbstractThis article presents a formal model that shows how states can credibly reassure each other simply by maintaining a cooperative outward narrative. The reassurance literature to date has focused largely on costly signaling, whereby benign states must distinguish themselves by taking specific actions that hostile types would not. The mere lack of overtly expressed hostilitywithoutcostly signals has been considered “cheap talk,” on the assumption that this behavior is costless for hostile states and thus uninformative. In contrast, this paper argues that maintaining a cooperative façade while secretly formulating and executing exploitative policies carries inherent trade-offs, and thus constitutes a credible reassurance signal. Foreign policy planning and implementation requires communication among various individuals, groups, and organizations, which has some probability of being observed and punished by outside actors. Yet efforts to conceal the policymaking process and reduce this probability are costly—they require investments in internal monitoring and restrictions on internal communication that can substantially degrade policy outcomes. Thus, to the extent that a state's foreign policymaking process is transparent—that is, that concealing internal communications is difficult—the absence of positive signals of hostility is a credible signal of its benign intentions. The argument is illustrated with a case study of German reassurance signals during the July Crisis preceding World War I.

TÜRK DIŞ POLİTİKASINDA DAVUTOĞLU DÖNEMİ VE STRATEJİK DERİNLİK DOKTRİNİ: GÜNEY KAFKASYA ÜLKELERI ÖRNEĞİ

The Justice and Development Party (JDP) and its new cadre have entered into Turkish political life by the general elections held in 2002. Prof. Dr. Ahmet Davutoğlu, one of the members of the new cadre, has been considered as the architect of foreign policy discourse and practices pursued under JDP rule between 2002-2016. Davutoğlu has become both the theoretician and the practitioner of foreign policy strategies, which has been built on his “Strategic Depth Doctrine”. Davutoğlu has aimed to reach a new foreign policy strategy by the new principles such as “multidimensional foreign policy”, “rhythmic diplomacy”, “zero problems with neighbors”, “maximum international cooperation”, “proactive foreign policy” and “order instituting actor”. In these contexts, the aim of the paper is twofold. The 􀏐irst one is to 􀏐ind out whether Davutoğlu’s new foreign policy principles have been implemented in the foreign policy-making processes of the South Caucasus states of Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Georgia and, if yes, the second one is to de􀏐ine the policy re􀏐lections over Turkey’s foreign relations with these states. For this aim, three speci􀏐ic cases, which are critical to these states, have been selected: the Russian-Georgian War (2008), the Armenian Opening, and the Nagorno-Karabakh Con􀏐lict. The method of discourse analysis has been utilized and Davutoğlu’s books, articles, interviews, and speeches have been reviewed.

Public Diplomacy in Strengthening India: Vietnam Relations

It is noticeable that India–Vietnam relations have remained stable and had signs of development despite the new challenges in the global and regional environment due to COVID-19 pandemic. The authors of this article are of the view that one of the factors that help maintain the stability and development of bilateral relations in the current context is public diplomacy. Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, India has invested a huge amount of resources in public diplomacy to leverage India’s soft power. A dedicated public diplomacy division within the Ministry of External Affairs was set up in May 2006, many new schemes were designed to engage domestic and foreign public opinion and a series of high-profile dialogues with foreign think tanks were organised. By utilising both traditional and new approaches of public diplomacy, India is actively seeking new audiences within and outside India. India’s foreign policymaking process has become more open and democratic with the contribution of communities outside the New Delhi political and diplomatic elite. New media has also been utilised to reach its various target audiences. Vietnam considers public diplomacy an important pillar of the comprehensive diplomacy of the country. Public diplomacy helps Vietnam succeed in implementing comprehensive and effective foreign policies. It contributes important part in building cooperative, peaceful and friendly relations between Vietnam and international partners. The importance that both India and Vietnam attach to public diplomacy has many implications for strengthening Vietnam–India relations in the current context. This article focuses on India and Vietnam’s public diplomacy as an instrument of strengthening bilateral relations, and thereby proposes suggestions for both sides to enhance cooperation in the future.

The Application of Maqasid Al-Shari’ah in the Foreign Policy of Islamic States

Religion is crucial in the foreign policy formulation of Islamic states. Islamic law can play an important role in foreign policy formulation as Maqasid Al-Shariah (Objectives of Islamic Law) are universal. Maqasid Al-Shariah is divided into three categories: general Maqasid, specific Maqasid, and partial Maqasid. Despite this universality, there is an inadequate explanation of the application of Maqasid Al-Shariah in foreign policy. Therefore, this study aims to explore the application of Maqasid Al-Shariah in the foreign policy of Islamic states. The study employed a qualitative approach in which document analysis was used to gather information from the United Nations Human Rights report of 2015. The study found that Maqasid Al-Shariah can play a significant role in the foreign policy of Islamic states through the protection of people’s life, property, health, religion, and dignity. Further analysis revealed that Maqasid Al-Shariah can be successfully incorporated in the foreign policy-making process of Islamic states, particularly where international treaties neglect or contradict the principles of Islamic law. Hence, Maqasid Al-Shariah should be fully implemented in the foreign policy process of governments of Islamic countries at both the national and international levels.

Habits and Policy: The Social Construction of Foreign Policymaking Processes

AbstractThis article offers an alternative explanation for the processes by which foreign policy is made. It does so across three different countries, across different governments, across issues that had real “blood and treasure” at stake, across different domestic and international contexts, and while holding the target of policy, the United States, constant. Available theories argue that formal political institutions or norms determine who will influence the making of policy and how they will do so. However, Argentina, Brazil, and Chile—countries with strikingly similar formal rules for making foreign policy—have been following, for decades, fundamentally different foreign policymaking processes, and they have been doing so without resorting to any normative justifications. The article contrasts the theoretical expectations of rational choice institutionalism and norm-based arguments on foreign policymaking with a logic of habit not captured by the logics of consequences or appropriateness of rational choice institutionalism and norm-based explanations. The article makes two contributions. First, it furthers the theoretical development of the concept of habit in international relations and offers a means of studying habits empirically. Second, it challenges the assumption that the power of domestic actors in foreign policy is a function of formal institutions or prevailing norms.

Making war and peace with emotion: Examining the Iraq and Iran cases via presidential speech and media coverage

This study investigates emotions conveyed in US presidential speeches and media coverage regarding the Iraq War and the Iran nuclear deal during 2003 and 2015. The researchers gathered and examined news stories about the two policies, all official speeches delivered by George W Bush and Barack Obama, and opinion polls conducted during the respective six-month period in those two years. Nine discrete emotions were coded to capture the valence and volume in the speeches and news media content. The study finds that emotions appear more frequently in the Iraq discourse than in the Iran counterpart. President Bush used more negative emotions while President Obama employed more positive emotions. Emotion in the media coverage is constant and stable across the two policy periods; yet negative emotions are more prevalent than positive counterparts in the media despite distinct foreign policies. The study also examines public opinion trends toward the two policies for inferring potential linkage. This article contributes to the conceptual nexus among emotional persuasion, journalism pattern, and foreign policy-making process.

INTERGOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS IN SOUTH AFRICA: A TWENTY YEAR REVIEW

This article analyses relations between South Africa's national and provincial governments on foreign affairs over the past 20 years. It departs from the premise that the idea of relative autonomy ofsubnational governments, which is embedded in South Africa's 1996 constitution, has remained largely underdeveloped owing to factors such as inherent ambiguities in the constitutional design, a strong centralising ethos on the part of the ruling party and generally weak provincial capacities. Consequently, relations between the national and provincial governments on foreign affairs have been low-key, predominantly focused on technical matters and generally of a top-down nature. Provincial governments have been virtually absent from the foreign policy-making process despite constitutional provisions to that effect. What is more, the article notes that intergovernmental processes intended to coordinate provincial international relations and align them with national development priorities and South Africa's foreign policy have for the most part been ineffective and inefficient.

Looking towards the East: the High Representative’s role in EU foreign policy on Kosovo and Ukraine

ASBTRACT My article addresses the role of the two post-Lisbon High Representatives (HRs), Catherine Ashton and Federica Mogherini, in EU approach to the Eastern neighbourhood. Adopting a broad conceptualisation of EU foreign policy and drawing on the scholarly literature on new intergovernmentalism, it focuses on events that marked the HRs' mandates in the cases of Kosovo and Ukraine. In the case of Kosovo, it examines the HRs' role in the conclusion of the so-called Brussels Agreement (April 2013); and of the August 2015 agreements. In the case of Ukraine, it reconstructs how the HRs dealt with the events leading up to the November 2013 Vilnius Summit; and with those leading up to the conclusion in February 2015 of the Minsk II Agreement. The article argues that the European Council exerts tight control over the post-Lisbon HR, and EU foreign policy-making processes more generally. Nonetheless, the empirical analysis demonstrates that, under certain circumstance, the HR can significantly influence EU foreign policy in the post-Lisbon era.

Resistensi Hubungan Luar Negeri Amerika Serikat dan Iran: Studi Kasus Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)

Since 2015 the United States has been a signatory of the historic nuclear agreement with Iran known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which was also agreed by other P5+1 countries. JCPOA is the achievement of the U.S. and other P5+1 countries' negotiations with Iran regarding the limitation of Iran's nuclear program. JCPOA is also known to be the vital instrument to reduce Iran's capabilities regarding its aggressive behavior and malign activities, creating destabilization in the Middle East. However, in 2018 the United States government decided to withdraw its participation from the JCPOA. As we know, this decision had an impact on Iran's behavior, which several times violated the contents of the JCPOA agreement even though they did not leave the agreement. We are also witnessing the impact of this decision increase the conflict between the US and Iran in recent years. This research aims to explain the rationale of the U.S. decision to withdraw from the JCPOA nuclear agreement with Iran in 2018. This research using the foreign policy decision-making framework model by Charles W. Kegley and Gregory A. Raymond. This concept focuses on explaining factors of foreign policy decision-making in three sources of analysis and the process of foreign policy-making based on rational choice.

The Sociology of Diplomats and Foreign Policy Sector: The Role of Cliques on the Policy-Making Process

This paper studies the sociology of elites and the role of cliques on the foreign policy-making process through an exploratory case study of Turkish Ministry for Foreign Affairs. It identifies elite sociology as the independent variable triggering a policy-making process in the Turkish Ministry for Foreign Affairs in line with organisational process or governmental politic approaches. It shows that until the 1980s, the Turkish Ministry for Foreign Affairs was marked by strong hierarchical tradition triggered by a certain career path and cliqueism leading to the homogeneity in the sociology of elites. This in turn triggered a foreign policy-making process based on organisational process. The role of cliqueism weakened along with the incremental circulation of elites in the post-1980s and particularly in the post-2005 period as the elite structure in the Turkish Ministry for Foreign Affairs became even more heterogeneous, foreign policy-making process moved towards governmental politics which allowed taking into account diverse schools of thought. Nevertheless, newly emerging programmatic elites employed deliberate efforts for elite circulation by altering the dominant career path and relying on political appointments. The resulting outcome was the emergence of a new clique of ruling elites subordinate to political elites which led to the politicisation of the foreign policy decision-making process in the post-2011 period.

MIYAZAKI Yoko, "War on Terror" and Japan: An Analysis of the Foreign Policymaking Process under the Coalition Government

MIYAZAKI Yoko, <i>&quot;War on Terror&quot; and Japan: An Analysis of the Foreign Policymaking Process under the Coalition Government</i>

Role of National Media in Foreign Policy Formulation

To have a consensus has become an obligation between the decision makers and public opinion especially during the processes of foreign policy making with the developments occurred lately in communication technologies. This obligation also necessitated to strive to legitimize the strategies stated in public benefiting from the media means when it becomes necessary for decision makers to consider the public opinions obtained from the media instruments such as the radio, television, newspaper, the internet while determining foreign policy strategies. With this point of view a powerful, dynamic, and continuous relation may be said to exist between media and foreign policy making process in today’s world. This study aims to analyze the relation between media and foreign policy making process.