Foreign Policy Tool Research Articles

Double Standards and Dissonance: Women’s Rights and Freedom of Religion in the Global North

In this article, I explore the complex intersection between women's rights and religious freedom in liberal democracies, particularly focusing on the Global North. I demonstrate how both religious freedom and women’s rights have been instrumentalized by Western powers, often as tools of foreign policy. I highlight the dissonance between Western nations’ rhetoric, which promotes these rights globally, and their domestic practices, which sometimes impose restrictions, especially on Muslim women. Through case studies, including countries in the Middle East, France, and the United States, the article underscores the hypocrisy of Western democracies that criticize religious restrictions in authoritarian regimes while enforcing their own limitations on women’s religious expression. In the conclusion, I emphasize the importance of consistent application of human rights to avoid reinforcing cynicism and authoritarian practices.

The impact of U.S. economic sanctions on corporate innovation and fraud

AbstractEconomic sanctions have increasingly become a pivotal tool in modern foreign policy, especially in the context of U.S. international strategy. Despite their growing significance, there is a notable lack of empirical research on how these sanctions affect corporate behavior. This study aims to explore the impact of U.S. economic sanctions on innovation and fraudulent activities within Iranian firms subjected to these measures. Utilizing a difference‐in‐differences approach, the findings reveal a weak and negative relationship between sanctions and innovation, while no significant link is found between sanctions and fraudulent activities. Notably, the study uncovers a substantial divergence in companies' responses to sanctions based on their innovation background. Companies with a strong innovation background experience a significant increase in innovation efforts and a corresponding decline in fraudulent behavior upon facing sanctions. In contrast, companies lacking an established innovation background exhibit a reduction in innovation and, in turn, an escalation in fraudulent practices in response to sanctions. These findings remain robust across various sensitivity analyses. This research contributes to the expanding body of empirical literature on sanction outcomes by highlighting the profound impact of innovation background on the responsible and ethical decisions made by sanctioned companies.

DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE AS BENELUX COUNTRIES’ FOREIGN POLICY TOOL: STRUCTURAL AND TRANSFORMATIONAL ASPECTS

The article discusses the use of development assistance as a foreign policy tool by the Benelux countries, namely Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. The paper aims to answer the question whether the development assistance provided by the Benelux states corresponds to their political statements which cite this policy area as a soft power instrument, or the three approaches to development assistance rather reflect other goals, e.g. beneficial economic cooperation with developing countries. The article analyzes international statistical data, sociological surveys and official development assistance-related documents, using qualitative historical and descriptive as well as genealogical and historical methods to trace the evolution of the three countries’ approaches. The concepts of small and middle powers, to which the Benelux countries belong, and the concept of soft power constitute the theoretical and methodological framework of the research. The article concludes that the Benelux countries’ approaches to development assistance are different, complex and changeable. The pursuit of economic goals helps explain at least some of the three states’ geographic and functional priorities, which translate into defining countries where Benelux’ companies are situated as key partners or specializing in the development assistance areas where these companies can be involved. This pursuit is most clearly evident in the Dutch approach, while Luxembourg seems to value soft power function more as it enhances the country’s image as one of the most generous donors and a responsible member of the international community. Unlike Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Belgium show a downward trend in the amount of assistance allocated (with the exception of 2015 and 2022), amid doubts about the effectiveness of development assistance and securitization of this area; however, the ongoing public debates keep relevant the use of development assistance as soft power vis-à-vis the countries of the Global South.

The Evolving Role of Saudi Arabia in the Middle East: Challenges to Regional Diplomacy of MBS

The state's role in regional and international affairs shifts with the leadership change, particularly when the new leader is younger and more ambitious than his predecessors. The role of Saudi Arabia has been evolving with the rise of de facto leader Muhammad Bin Salaman(MBS). As a foreign policy tool, Saudi Arabia, under the leadership of MBS, has chosen a particular diplomatic approach to lessen conflict, promote regional peace and stability, and develop its economy in order to gain more clout in the Middle East. So, what is the unique diplomatic regional approach of MBS, and why is KSA, under MBS's leadership, still facing serious challenges in the region? This study briefly explores Muhammad bin Salman's diplomatic initiatives toward regional countries with strained relations. This study highlights the challenges the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia faces under Muhammad bin Salman's leadership in achieving diplomatic success with regional countries.

THEORETICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS OF ECONOMIC DIPLOMACY IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

Economic diplomacy serves as a key tool of foreign policy aimed at promoting and protecting a state's economic interests. In the context of globalization and an open economy, states strive to utilize economic diplomacy to foster sustainable development, create jobs, and attract foreign investment. Modern geopolitica l and geo-economic challenges require a reevaluation of traditional approaches to economic diplomacy, including strengthening the role of the state and regional organizations.The article presents classic theories of international relations, regional studies, and politic a l science used to study economic diplomacy: realism, neorealism, liberalism, neoliberalis m, and constructivism, as well as political elites. It demonstrates that realism, which focuses on the role of the state as the primary actor in international relations, is actively employed in the study of economic diplomacy. Neorealism expands the understanding of state power and acknowledges the importance of international organizations. Liberalism emphasizes interstate cooperation and institutiona l mechanisms. The inclusion of business representatives in official visits supports neoliberal theory. Constructivism, in continuation of neoliberalism's tenets, analyzes internationa l and regional relations through the lens of identity and the perception of actorstowards one another.The main conclusions of the article underscore the necessity of an integrative and interdisciplinary approach to the study of economic diplomacy, as well as the importance of revisiting and diversifying approaches and concepts in light of contemporary globa l transformations.

Political conditionality as an EU foreign policy and crisis management tool. The case of EU wartime political conditionality vis-à-vis Ukraine

ABSTRACT This article explores the compatibility between the EU’s political conditionality as a policy tool and the EU’s approach to conflict management, guided by the EU Global Strategy. It does so based on the unique case of the EU’s application of political conditionality vis-à-vis Ukraine amidst the war and the reinvigoration of the EU’s enlargement policy in response thereto. We find conditionality to fit the EU’s crisis management toolbox, especially when it comes to the long-term approach and building resilience of state institutions in a target country. Though not yet strongly visible in the case of Ukraine, the application of conditionality may come into contradiction with the principles of societal resilience and local ownership, embedded into the EU’s approach to conflict management and the EU Global Strategy, more broadly.

Hybrid Wars as a New Phenomenon in the Global World

The article examines the phenomenon of hybrid warfare, which has become a particularly prominent phenomenon at the beginning of the 21st century. It briefly describes the practice of using hybrid methods of conflict in previous eras, as well as considers the chronology of hybrid conflicts and the evolution of related concepts in detail. The study describes specific examples of successful operations during conflicts with signs of hybrid war. As one example of successful hybrid confrontation with the collective West, it gives a historical analysis of Iran's policy in protecting national interests. At the current stage of deployment of hybrid operations, the foreign policy of the Russian Federation is also under study. Both defensive and offensive aspects of this policy are being examined. Successful and unsuccessful foreign policy tools for hybrid counteraction that have already led to increases or decreases in the country's authority on the global stage are considered. In the final part of the paper, a hypothesis is presented regarding the increasing vulnerability of countries to non-military methods of conflict and their growing prevalence. Therefore, the author believes that this highlights the importance of the issues discussed in the article and the significance of the problem under study.

Out of sight, out of mind? The bipartisan Australian foreign policy on irregular migration

ABSTRACT Australian foreign policy traditionally claims middle power and good international citizenship credentials, although it also resorts to unilateral actions due to its deep-rooted condition of ‘frightened country’. This article argues that the country's irregular migration governance embodies this tension, and thus seeks to shed light on this increasingly-neglected aspect of Australian external engagement. Following a theoretical understanding of Australian foreign policy, it investigates the country's irregular migration policies between 2000 and 2024. The article finds that there is a strong continuity in such policies irrespective of the type of government in power, supported by foreign policy bipartisanship, resulting in specific foreign policy tools to stem seaborne arrivals. These include military missions; territorial excisions from the migration zone; offshore processing and/or externalisation agreements with Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Cambodia, and Sri Lanka; pushback manoeuvres, and at-sea processing of asylum claims. Inevitably, such measures complicate Australia's international status as they emphasise the uneasy coexistence of both the globalist middle power and the self-interested nation images in its foreign policy, therefore warranting new research on this under-examined condition.

How do donors integrate climate policy and development cooperation? An analysis of the development aid policies of 42 donor countries

ABSTRACT This article assesses how donor countries integrate climate action into their development aid policies. An analytical framework is developed for the systematic comparison of development aid policies along three dimensions: hierarchy of policy objectives, types of measures the donors implement, and linkages to international climate negotiations. Analyzing the development aid policies of 42 donors, we find that only three have redesigned their development aid policies to fully integrate climate policy concerns. Instead, donors treat climate change as a thematic priority area. This includes several donors that are currently not obliged to provide climate finance under the UNFCCC. Furthermore, five major donor countries emphasize the use of diverse foreign policy tools to support climate action in developing countries. Importantly, we identify how other development goals (poverty, gender) are integrated with climate policy goals. Only two donor countries clearly separate development aid and climate finance. Luxembourg states that its climate finance pledge is additional to development, while New Zealand has a separate climate finance strategy where the allocation of funds is based on climate mitigation effectiveness concerns.

Collaborative management of environmental pollution and carbon emissions drives local green growth: An analysis based on spatial effects

Collaborative management of environmental pollution and carbon emissions (CMPC) has been a major policy instrument to promote Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in recent years. However, the relationship between the benefits and drawbacks of this environmental management practice for green growth in and around a local area remains to be clarified. Using 30 provinces in China during 2001–2019 as the object of analysis, we assessed the efficiency of local CMPC practices using the nonradial directional distance function (NDDF) model, predicted local green growth using the frontier green complexity index (GCI), and empirically examined the spatial effects, locational heterogeneity, and threshold characteristics of the relationship using the spatial Durbin model and the panel threshold model. Our study finds that although efficient CMPC does drive local green growth, the promotion effect is nonlinear with decreasing marginal effect. This effect is particularly obvious in economically developed regions with higher CMPCs, which will absorb resources from neighboring regions and create a "siphoning" effect. It was found that local financial support and foreign direct investment (FDI) can radiate green growth to neighboring regions; therefore, CMPC practice needs to pay more attention to the effect of joint governance, supplemented by financial and foreign investment policy tools, to better promote the green transformation of local economy.

How cyberspace affects international relations: The promise of structural modifiers

ABSTRACT This article proposes a new way to understand cyberspace's impact on international relations by treating it as a “structural modifier.” This shared language with IR allows for a clearer picture of cyberspace's causal role and effects. Unlike previous views of cyberspace as a mere domain or a revolutionary tool, this approach sees it as influencing all states’ behavior within the existing international structure. Cyberspace alters the nature and number of interactions between states, but only within the confines and constraints of the existing structure. The article demonstrates the analytical value of this approach across four key areas: deterrence, foreign policy tool choice, uncertainty, and state/non-state actor interactions. Thinking of cyberspace as a structural modifier heeds policy-makers to remain skeptical of pressures to focus on cyberspace in isolation or at the expense of other statecraft domains and tools, or to make decisions based on the idea that cyberspace revolutionizes international relations.

Russia’s potential for weaponization of gas supplies after the Re-invasion of Ukraine

The paper discusses Russia’s potential for weaponization of gas supplies after its re-invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Moscow attempted to weaponize its gas supplies to the EU as a tool of coercion to force the EU into decisions favorable to Russia. However, Moscow lost its potent political leverage over one of the biggest gas markets in the world, which now has to be replaced by markets with a nearly non-existent political potential for gas weaponization. Arguably only China could replace the EU in this regard but here Russia has no political leverage or potential to create new patterns of interdependence in the gas relations. As a result, Russia became dependent on the new alternative gas market of a monopsonist buyer with no potential for using gas supply weaponization as a foreign policy tool.

The transformation of India's space policy: From space for development to the pursuit of security and prestige

This article explores the transformation of India's space policy from a focus on space for development to the pursuit of security and prestige. India's early space programme was largely defined by a developmental rationale, aimed at addressing socio-economic challenges through space technology and applications. However, in recent years, India's space policy has undergone a significant change, as the country tries to leverage its space capabilities for strategic objectives, including enhancing its national security, achieving greater status in the global space order, and projecting its great power aspirations. This article offers a comprehensive overview of India's space programme by highlighting the country's high-profile exploration projects, the involvement of the private sector, and the use of space technology as a foreign policy tool and a source of soft power. It also analyses changing perceptions of the country's strategic environment and evolving geopolitical dynamics that have resulted in a reorientation towards the military uses of space. It also assesses the implications of this transformation for India's space programme, its relations with other space actors, and the global governance of outer space.

Malaysia's Diplomatic Choices, Dynamics and Mechanisms Towards Northeast Asia - An Explanation Based on Neoclassical Realism

Regional diplomacy serves as a foreign policy tool utilized by states towards specific regions. However, the regional diplomacy of small states within a particular region in International Relations (IR) has often received less attention and scholarly scrutiny. Drawing from neoclassical realism, this paper introduces "security needs" at the systemic level and "interest preferences" at the unitary level as primary explanatory variables. The findings reveal three main models of regional diplomacy for small states: "active regional diplomacy," "preventive regional diplomacy," and "composite regional diplomacy." Small states employ various modes of regional diplomacy to attain diverse objectives in foreign development. Analysis of the 1.0 and 2.0 periods of Mahathir's administration illustrates Malaysia's adoption of "active regional diplomacy" and "composite regional diplomacy" in cultivating relations with Northeast Asian countries. This foreign policy implementation not only fosters Malaysia's effective cooperation with nations like Japan and South Korea but also maximizes the advantageous resources of Northeast Asian countries to bolster its own development. Additionally, it steers Malaysia clear of taking sides in the intense competition among major powers, expands diplomatic avenues, and bolsters its diplomatic initiative. However, in the post-Mahathir era, the deterioration of Malaysia's relations with North Korea and tensions with China have somewhat impacted the overall stability and harmony of Malaysia's relations with Northeast Asian countries.

Tackling Unintended Consequences of EU Sanctions: NGOs' Advocacy for Humanitarian Exceptions

AbstractSanctions are increasingly prominent foreign policy tools, but research on the policy process that leads to specific sanction design is limited. Sanctions can have unintended effects on the provision of humanitarian aid in sanctioned countries, which has led to calls for humanitarian exceptions in sanction design. This study focuses on non‐governmental organizations' (NGOs) advocacy for a humanitarian perspective on European Union (EU) sanctions in the period 2020–2021. Building on the Advocacy Coalition Framework and the triangulation of qualitative data sources including interviews and document analysis, this study describes an advocacy coalition of humanitarian NGOs in Brussels, their advocacy strategies and the effectiveness of these strategies. The analysis highlights the coalition's common policy beliefs and documents three advocacy strategies: coalition building, knowledge leadership and lobbying. The analysis then traces the link between these strategies and recent policy changes, namely, clearer European Commission guidelines on the implementation of humanitarian derogations. This policy change was further facilitated by policy brokers and an external shock, the Covid‐19 pandemic. The findings shed light on an understudied design feature of sanctions, i.e., humanitarian exceptions, and on the role of non‐governmental actors in shaping sanction designs.

Turkish foreign policy tools in the Middle East: between effectiveness and failure ( 2022-2002)

Turkish foreign policy tools in the Middle East: between effectiveness and failure ( 2022-2002)

Derecognition Diplomacy: a Study of Morocco’s Foreign Policy on the Western Sahara

Summary International recognition, and its revocation, derecognition, have important legal and practical implications. This article addresses the issue of derecognition as a foreign policy strategy answering the question: what are the strategies that origin states pursue to achieve the derecognition of contested states? Analysis of the foreign policy of Morocco towards the Western Sahara shows that origin states do indeed seek derecognition as a policy goal, primarily using economic and domestic political tools. International law and identity linkages appear to play a more rhetorical than influential role. Power politics is notably absent from recogniser state decision-making, but lack of great power interest may foster the sense of ambiguity under which derecognition thrives. This article provides a theory of derecognition foreign policy; a taxonomy of recogniser states into holdouts, reversers and cyclers; and a plausibility probe of the relationship between recogniser states and their associated foreign policy tools.

Friends, enemies, and emulation: A case study of the Iraqi Air Force and a new approach to military technological diffusion

Military emulation, by which military organizations of one state learn from those of another, is a key process of military-technological diffusion and an important tool of alliance management and American foreign policy. Existing research partially explains this process and its success or failure using two-part models that include the emulating organization and the emulated organization. Using the relationship between the United States Air Force and the Iraqi Air Force between 2004 and 2023 as a case study, this article suggests that a critical third element explaining emulation is how the relevant enemy is perceived within the emulating and emulated organizations.

Foreign Aid as a Foreign Policy Tool

Foreign Aid as a Foreign Policy Tool

Role of Economy in Foreign Policy: An Appraisal of US-China Trade War in the Prism of Political Economy

The intertwining of economics and foreign policy has become increasingly evident in the modern geopolitical landscape, with the US-China trade war as a prominent case study. This critical abstract examines the significance of economic considerations in shaping foreign policy decisions, particularly in the context of the US-China trade war, through the lens of political economy. The US-China trade war, initiated in 2018, symbolizes the complex interplay between economic interests and political objectives. At its core, the conflict represents a strategic maneuver by the United States to address longstanding grievances regarding trade imbalances, intellectual property theft, and market access restrictions. Conversely, China's response reflects its aspiration to assert itself as a global economic powerhouse and safeguard its developmental model against external pressures. Through a political economy perspective, this abstract delves into the multifaceted dynamics driving the US-China trade war. Economic theories, such as mercantilism and comparative advantage, offer insights into the motivations behind both nations' protectionist measures and tariff escalations. Moreover, the abstract evaluates the efficacy of economic coercion as a foreign policy tool and its implications for international relations. While tariffs and trade barriers can pressure adversaries, they also entail risks, such as retaliatory measures, economic volatility, and unintended consequences. Additionally, the abstract examines the role of domestic politics and interest groups in shaping the trajectory of the trade war, highlighting the interplay between economic nationalism, electoral dynamics, and policy formulation.