scholarly journals DOES THE AGENT MATTER? THE GEOPOLITICAL AGENT IN NEOCLASSICAL GEOPOLITICS

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 96-108
Author(s):  
Nuno Morgado
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Policy Outcomes ◽  
Strategic Culture ◽  
Domestic Institutions ◽  
Realist Approach ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Methodological Guidelines ◽  
Geographical Space ◽  
Intervening Variables ◽  
New Framework

The neoclassical realist approach considers systemic stimuli (independent), and leader images, strategic culture, state-society relations, and domestic institutions (intervening) as the variables of an explanatory model of foreign policy and international outcomes (dependent variable). Starting from the central assumptions of Ethology and Classical Élites Theory with the purpose of delimitating the agent – the geopolitical agent or the foreign policy executive – this paper aims to reinforce the importance of the intervening variables geopolitical agent’s perceptions and capacities in shaping the geopolitical design and other foreign policy outcomes. The true core of the paper is to expand the scope of geopolitical studies by including the methodological task of studying the geopolitical agent’s perceptions and capacities. In doing so, the matter directly relates to the analysis of both (i) how the geopolitical agent can perceive the geographical space (Raumsinn), and (ii) what can be the geopolitical agent’s capacities in managing resources assigned to the foreign policy. The purpose of the paper is then threefold: (i) conceptual – because it deals with definition of terms and their differentiation, (ii) theoretical – since the paper intends to review the neoclassical realist approach and merge it with geopolitical studies trying to forge a joint approach, and (iii) methodological – as it provides methodological guidelines about the new framework. Therefore, the paper brings the innovation of including insights of the neoclassical realist intervening variables into the geopolitical studies’ framework for a more accurate and enhanced scope of geopolitical analysis in the future.

scholarly journals Neoclassical geopolitics: Preliminary theoretical principles and methodological guidelines

2020 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
pp. 129-157
Author(s):  
Nuno Morgado
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Practical Aspect ◽  
Policy Outcomes ◽  
Original Definition ◽  
A Chain ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Methodological Guidelines ◽  
Grand Vision

The paper is aimed at making geopolitical studies and neoclassical geopolitics equivalent. In this sense, the objectives are conceptual and operational, comprising an original definition of geopolitical studies, and the explanation of the neoclassical geopolitics model and its variables: systemic stimuli, the geopolitical agent?s perceptions and capacities, and foreign policy outcomes (primarily the geopolitical design). Therefore, the problem at stake is to tie up several theoretical and methodological contributions into a solid new geopolitical model, in the limits of the phenomenological and soft positivist sphere. Two sections constituted the structure of this qualitative paper: 1) formulation of a chain of theoretical fundaments in geopolitical studies, and 2) description of a group of methodological steps that a geopolitical study can use. The research advances a) a new definition of geopolitical studies, b) explains the concept of geomisguidance, c) frames and unwraps Ratzel?s concept of Raumsinn, and d) ultimately systematises and assesses geopolitical studies? literature of different languages with respect to theory and methodology. All these findings were oriented to the practical aspect of the operationalisation of geopolitical studies, presenting the compact conclusion that the analysis of location is not enough for a grand vision of geopolitical studies as an international relations approach.

Democratic Domestic Institutions and Foreign Policy

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Hamilton
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Policy Instrument ◽  
Great Promise ◽  
Policy Outcomes ◽  
Domestic Institutions ◽  
Democratic Institutions ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Policy Behavior ◽  
Foreign Policy Behavior

Scholarship on the relationship between domestic institutions and foreign policy is driven by the assumption that a state’s domestic political arrangement can explain important aspects of its foreign policy behavior. Democratic domestic institutions, in particular, are thought to be significant for explaining an important set of outcomes. Research shows, for example, that democracies tend to cooperate with each other; uphold their commitments; make more effective threats; engage in fewer wars with each other (but do fight non-democracies quite frequently); perform better in the wars in which they are involved; and tend to fight wars of shorter duration. Studying the impact of democratic domestic institutions on foreign policy has developed along two broad lines. The first and most established approach is rooted in the basic distinction between democracies and non-democracies. In this view, democratic institutions constrain leaders in a way that produces distinct democratic foreign policy patterns. This approach has yielded a tremendous amount of research and insight into democratic foreign policy, but also suffers from several important shortcomings. One is that democracy tends to be correlated with a host of other variables, making it difficult to specify what exactly it is about democracy that explains certain foreign policy outcomes. A second and related critique of this approach is that it tends to treat democracy uniformly when in fact there is often great variation in democratic domestic institutions across cases. A second and more recent approach focuses on the differences among democracies and seeks to explain how this variation, in turn, creates variation in foreign policy behavior. Democracies differ in terms of their underlying institutional arrangements in a variety of ways, including whether they have presidential or parliamentary systems, autonomous or constrained executives, and open or closed institutions to modulate the flow of information between leaders and citizens, among others. Even within a country, there can be a different set of institutional constraints on democratic leaders depending on the given foreign policy instrument they seek to employ. Studying these variations and their impact on policy processes and outcomes provides great promise for further unpacking the relationship between domestic democratic institutions and foreign policy.

Neoclassical Realist Theories, Intervening Variables, and Paradigmatic Boundaries

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Elias Götz
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Interest Group ◽  
Real World ◽  
Strategic Culture ◽  
Neoclassical Realism ◽  
Causal Factors ◽  
Moderating Factors ◽  
Research Designs ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Intervening Variables

Abstract Extant neoclassical realist scholarship has identified a range of real-world factors (e.g., state capacity, interest group pressure, strategic culture, and leadership personality) that serve as intervening variables between systemic imperatives and states’ foreign policy behavior. Despite these elaborations, the intervening variable concept remains underdeveloped. In this article, I show that neoclassical realists have lumped together three different types of causal factors under the label intervening variable: (1) moderating factors, (2) complementary factors, and (3) primary causes. Making these distinctions explicit will enable scholars to increase the analytical precision of neoclassical realist approaches, choose appropriate research designs to test them, and define more clearly the paradigmatic boundaries of neoclassical realism vis-à-vis other perspectives.

Evolution of Germany’s Stance Regarding the Three Seas Initiative

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 65-77
Author(s):  
Martin Dahl
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Great Powers ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Global Game ◽  
New Instrument ◽  
Law And Justice ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Baltic ◽  
Polish Foreign

When the political camp centred on the Law and Justice party (PiS) came to power in 2015, it led to a change in priorities in Polish foreign policy. The Three Seas Initiative (TSI), understood as closer cooperation between eastern states of the European Union in the area between the Baltic, Adriatic, and Black seas, has become a new instrument of foreign policy. The initiative demonstrates the growing importance of Central and Eastern Europe in the global game of great powers. The region has become a subject of rivalry, not only between the United States and Russia but also China. Therefore, the main objective of this article is to try to describe the importance of the region to Germany and how Germany’s stance on the TSI has evolved. The article consists of three parts, an introduction to the issues, the genesis of the TSI, and the definition of goals set by the states participating in this initiative, as well as analysis of the German stance towards the initiative since its development in 2015. The theories of geopolitics and neorealism are used as the theoretical basis for the analysis.

scholarly journals War, Performance, and the Survival of Foreign Ministers

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hanna Bäck ◽  
Jan Teorell ◽  
Alexander Von Hagen-Jamar ◽  
Alejandro Quiroz Flores
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Early Modern Period ◽  
Foreign Minister ◽  
Great Powers ◽  
Important Predictor ◽  
Policy Outcomes ◽  
Modern Period ◽  
Foreign Ministers

Abstract Why do some foreign ministers stay longer in office than others? Are they punished when the country loses a war? Several scholars have focused on the tenure of leaders as an important predictor of foreign policy outcomes, such as war onset, creating an interest in leadership survival. We here shift the focus to the survival of other important politicians in cabinet—foreign ministers, hypothesizing that their tenure depends on their performance in office. For example, we expect that foreign ministers stay longer in office when the country experiences an armed conflict resulting in a win or in a compromise agreement. We evaluate and find support for several of our hypotheses using an original historical dataset, which comprises all foreign ministers of the world's thirteen great powers from the early modern period to the present, covering about 1,100 foreign minister-terms of office.

scholarly journals e-Diplomacy as Instrument for Establishment of Interethnic Relations

2018 ◽  
Vol 50 ◽  
pp. 01144
Author(s):  
Liudmila Reshetnikova
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Digital Media ◽  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
Public Diplomacy ◽  
Communication Technologies ◽  
Interethnic Relations ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Digital Diplomacy

The article is devoted to e-diplomacy (also known as digital diplomacy) which is a component of public diplomacy. Digital diplomacy is a one of the new tools of foreign policy that is aimed to solve the problems of international and interethnic relations. The article examines the concept and definition of digital diplomacy that concentrates on the use of social networks and digital media in the field of foreign policy. Some risks and threats of e-diplomacy are also considered. The use of opportunities of information and communication technologies for solving the problems of foreign policy and influence on mass consciousness by means of the Internet, social networks is analyzed.

Understanding Turkish Perception of Conscription and Reluctance to Reform: A Westphalian Approach in a Post-Westphalian World?

2012 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 355-368
Author(s):  
Birgül Demirtaş
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
The West ◽  
Turkish Foreign Policy ◽  
Realist Approach ◽  
Western Countries ◽  
Justice And Development Party ◽  
Military Systems ◽  
Basic Argument ◽  
Military Institutions ◽  
Traditional Understanding

Many of the Western countries have radically changed their system of conscription in the recent decades. Turkey that enthusiastically takes the West as a model in many fields continues, however, to ignore developments in the Western military systems and sticks to its traditional understanding of military institutions. The present study seeks to examine the rationale behind Turkey’s conscription system and its reluctance to reform. Why is the Justice and Development Party (JDP) still stuck to the same conscription system that remained untouched in its fundamentals for 85 years? The basic argument of the article is that although the discourse in Turkish foreign policy changed considerably under the JDP, Turkish decision leaders still have a security understanding dominated by the realist approach.

Soundbite-Hooks and Foreign Policy

2020 ◽  
pp. 111-124
Author(s):  
Karl Kraus
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
The Sun ◽  
World War ◽  
Power Politics ◽  
The World ◽  
Definition Of

This chapter investigates the extent to which the struggle against the anti-German Spirit is German in origin. Kraus's “Prayer to the Sun of Gibeon,” misinterpreted when it appeared in 1916, highlights the absurdity of a world of power politics in which the pan-German present uncannily converged with an Old Testament narrative fraught with atrocities. The reflection “On the Sinai Front” of 1917 pointed to the concurrence of two ethnicities. This was expressed by Schopenhauer's definition of a nation that “worships a God who promises it the lands of its neighbours.” During the World War, the Old Testament and modern German ideologies of being “chosen peoples” had already reached a point of convergence—of alignment before the event.

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