The paper analyses three concepts of foreign policy that illustrate Japan’s growing interest in active participation in regional and global affairs: Abe Shintarō’s “creative diplomacy”, Asō Tarō’s “value-based diplomacy” and Abe Shinzō’s “proactive pacifism”. The aim of the article is to examine how the Japanese government shaped increasingly assertive foreign policy concepts in response to the evolving international environment. Alongside external determinants, domestic factors are also reviewed, including decision-making processes in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the personal beliefs of statespersons.
Soft power plays an increasingly important role in international relations at a time of growing interdependence and globalisation. Also India, quietly but consistently, has over the past two decades developed new instruments and built up capacities for projecting its “power of attraction.” The article presents the place of soft power in India’s foreign policy and examines the strengths and challenges of the new approach. Contrary to some concerns about a more hard power-oriented posture of the new BJP government, the author argues that it will rather reinforce the country’s soft power. In combination with growing hard power potential, this can make India a major global smart power in the 21st century.
Despite characterisation of Iran as an ideologically-driven state, expansionist and dominated by Islamic extremism, conventional interests-based pragmatism has been an important element in Iran’s foreign policy, and has often been dominant. Without being uncritical of the Islamic republic, this article explores the ways that revolutionary, pragmatic and nationalist principles have influenced her foreign policy, and concludes that even the revolutionary principle may not necessarily or always be as inimical to the prevailing international system as is sometimes supposed.
Since the beginning of the conflict in Syria, the Russian Federation has had a role of great importance. Even it is considered sometimes controversial, given that the Russian Federation at the beginning of the conflict has blocked some drafts of resolutions to the conflict preventing, especially that Western powers acted in Syria. Later, with the worsening of the conflict added to the migratory crisis and the establishment of the Islamic state in Syria, the Russian government decides to act incisively in Syria to slow down migration and grounded in the narrative of the "war on terror ". Thus, it can be questioned whether this attempt to bring the narrative of "war on terror" seemed an experiment to test a coalition with the US, with a view to approach history of these two actors previously under the umbrella of terrorism, or even a movement of Russian foreign policy to show that the post-Cold War moment no longer exists, and that this is not a time to see Russia as a defeated country anymore, but a US nemesis.
The purpose of this paper is to determine the level of support for the process of accession of the Republic of Macedonia in the European Union by political parties, but also to determine whether that support is only nominal, i.e. declarative, or is it realistic, concrete and active support realized through instruments and mechanisms available to the political parties in the country. Also, in this paper will be analyzed the attitudes of political parties in Macedonia, referring to the name dispute with Greece, fostering good neighborly relations with Bulgaria, Serbia and Albania, but also in respect of certain internal political issues.
The Islamic Republic of Iran is very assertive in seeking a greater role in international politics, especially within the Middle East, and this is the main force behind the current politics of the country. Another force is the perception of an enormous threat from outside among elites, who feel endangered in their position. Therefore, the foreign policy of this theocratic country is highly militarized. One of the important instruments of this policy is the ballistic missile arsenal, which plays an important role in deterrence and propaganda, useful for intimidating or fi ghting against enemies. Iran is striving to develop its ballistic missile capabilities from simple short range to intercontinental and space launch vehicles. Combined with the nuclear weapons that Iran may obtain in the near future, these military capabilities may pose a serious threat to US forces, installations, and friends and allies throughout the region and beyond. There is even a remote but not impossible chance that US soil itself could be endangered, and it is perceived in this way in Washington. Other countries in the Middle East and in Europe may also feel endangered, although there is some argument that nuclear and missile-armed Iran will never be a greater threat than it is now.
This paper aims to analyze soft power in the contemporary foreign policy of the Russian Federation. The structure of the present article is based on the basic normative and methodological definition of soft power. The third and also the main part of the text tries through an analytical approach to map and identify resources and real options as well as discern limits of Russia’s current use of soft power.
The Islamic Republic of Iran has a political structure with co-shared and competitive activity in the field of foreign policy. There are two power centres the president and the supreme leader. Iranian political elite is composed of factions of the conservatives, moderates, pragmatists, and reformers. Each faction has influence on the course of Iranian foreign policy. The dominant faction, conservatives, has caused isolation and imposition of severe sanctions on Iran during Ahmadinejad’s presidency Although domestic sources of foreign policy reveals competition among different factions there is consensus in principal goals of Iranian foreign policy.
According to a nationwide survey conducted in July 2004 by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press in association with the Council on Foreign Affairs 41% of those surveyed cited war, foreign policy and terrorism as the most important problems facing the United States of America. For the first time since the Vietnam era American voters are more concerned about international and defense issues than the economy or other domestic issues in the upcoming presidential election; thus the importance of foreign affairs in Democratic and Republican Parties’ platforms.
When analyzing events which unfolded in the Ukraine during the final months of 2004 and the involvement of Polish politicians and public opinion in the struggle for the preservation of the democratic character of presidential elections, a question arises regarding the connection of their actions with the political projects of Jerzy Giedroyć, the founder and sole editor of an influential magazine and a centre of political thought, which was Culture, published in Maisons-Laffitte, near Paris, in the years 1947–2000. Historians and political scientists rightly emphasize the fact that the „Eastern doctrine”, also known as the ULB doctrine (from the abbreviation of „Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus”), has been a constant element of Polish foreign policy since 1989. Generally speaking, Giedroyć was convinced that nationalist impulses would eventually destroy the Russian empire from within, and a sovereign Poland would gain three new neighbours in the East: Ukraine, Lithuania and Belarus. This process was expected to take place in the near future, as foreseen by Culture contributors who called on the émigrés from Eastern Europe to work together in laying solid foundations for the future partnership.
A common knowledge shapes our perception of the world and forms our understanding of political phenomena. And almost everyone could agree with the argument that circumstances influence politics. The ebbs and flows in influence, power, prerogatives, performance, and activity of many political actors are an effect of changes in the world outside of them. But one may reasonably argue: what is the cause and what is the result? Is it really true the circumstances evidently, clearly have an effect on e.g. US presidential prerogatives? Or, quite contrary, is the actual, current politics as active as the presidents used their power? The article is about how the two worlds influence each other, what are the mutual connections between politics and political actors’ powers.
Foreign policy, including the security policy, has traditionally been considered a domain of the public policy, where lower standards of parliamentary democraticcontrol and scrutiny can be employed. There is a belief among the policy‑makers, that in order to act effectively in this field, they should not be limited by the legislative power. This democratic deficit is even amplified on the international level, whenever an international organization is involved in implementing security policy. In spite of that fact, parliaments still retained the right to scrutinize security policies via debates, which reveal MPs approach towards state’s security policy. The main aim of this article is to analyze a case of democratic control over security policy on the international level, namely the security policy towards Afghanistan between 2005 and 2013 and its contestation in the European Parliament (EP). In order to do so a qualitative analysis of the plenary debates in the EP will be employed, which will reveal arguments used by the MEPs in order to justify certain policies, political claims directed to national and international institutions and contestation of the process of the formulation of the EU policy towards this particular security issue.
Leon Wasilewski played a vivid role during the struggle for the independence of Poland as well as had a great influence on the formation of foreign policy of the Joseph Pilsudski. He is rightly called "the architect of the Eastern policy of Pilsudski". The article dedicated to the activities of Wasilewski as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the first government of the restored Polish state, which played significant place in a series of all subsequent Polish governments. Although Wasilewski’s worked as Minister only two month, he managed to create an organizational structure of the ministry that could work in difficult and unstable conditions. The role of the first foreign minister of the state that had existed in a very difficult international situation was described. Wasilewski had challenges that were far beyond the competence of minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in normal situation. Main attention is paid to Wasilewski’s activity in the process of setting the state boundary of the Republic of Poland as well as the establishing the international relations with neighbors. During Wasilewski short-term period on the position of the Minister, he showed himself as talented and visionary diplomat. Based on the idea of the federation, Wasilewski created the concept of the territorial form of the Polish state that Pilsudski was trying to put into practice in 1919–1920. Shown himself perfectly as the minister of foreign affairs, he gained more respect from J. Pilsudski and remained one of his most loyal adherent. The resignation did not mean the end of Wasilewski’s political activity. At the personal proposition of the “Commandant of the State”, he participated in the Paris Peace Conference (1919) as well as took part in the signing of The Treaty of Riga (1921).
This paper analyzes the practice of “cultural diplomacy” and “soft power” in the United Arab Emirates in light of previously developed practices in European countries such as France and Germany. These two concepts referred to international relations and invented in the Western world, describe strategies that have been taken up by non-Western governments, either to complement their hard power capacity with its soft equivalent or to fill a gap where hard power is missing. Diverse (especially state) actors in international relations appear convinced that public and cultural diplomacy as an example of soft power, is the most advanced, non-invasive way of conveying a positive image, values, or lifestyle, being at the same time a non-violent means of pursuing national interests. How is the concept of cultural diplomacy applied and facilitated in non-Western countries? Which model of public diplomacy best describes actions undertakenby the Emirati authorities and what are the reason for developing a soft power strategy in the United Arab Emirates (UAE)? This article answers these question s through a comparative analysis of the United Arab Emirates with the examples of France and Germany. It points out the potentialchallenges and opportunities which arise from a non-Western government using a tool of cultural diplomacy by analyzing diverse initiatives undertaken by UAE, including the “Emirati Film Review in Poland”.
The study analyses the German foreign policy after ascension of the German Emperor and Prussian King Wilhelm II, in detail its relations with the Russian Empire and the transformation of the alliance system. It analyses the causes of the deterioration of the German‑Russian relations through observing the foreign‑political, economic and personal aspects. It answers the questions, why the German leadership did not continue in Bismarck’s alliance system, why it refused a treaty relationship with Russia based on the Reinsurance Treaty, and who specifically was responsible for that decision in the ranks of the German governing elite. The author claims that the German foreign policy was not able to timely notice the Russian shift of interest from the Balkans to Middle Asia. At the same time the author points out that even before Bismarck’s departure the German‑Russian trade war had raged, the significance of the Reinsurance Treaty had declined and the later cancelling of the treaty was not the beginning but the end of the disrupted relations between Petersburg and Berlin. The false impression of German diplomats that Great Britain wanted to give up its ‘splendid isolation’ and join the Triple Alliance can be seen as the other important impulse leading to the breakdown of the treaty.
In the study we present and interpret the activities of the Romanian diplomat Nicolae Eric Lahovary, who served as an ambassador to the Slovak Republic from March 1940 to March 1941. Although he was ambassador until March 1941, we focus only at his perception of the internal and foreign policy of the Slovak Republic, as well as the form of mutual relations between Slovakia and Romania until September 1940. This perception is based mainly on his diplomatic reports that have been sent regularly to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Romania.
This article refers to the economic diplomacy of Türkiye and illustrates some changes during the history of the country's political and economic diplomacy. The background of the economic diplomacy process has been clarified and detailed information has been included. Bipolar and unipolar periods are analysed within the framework of economic and political diplomacies in their natural state. The development process of the Turkish economic diplomacy strategy is identified during particular periods in Turkish history. The structural transformation of Türkiye as regards its inward-oriented to outward-oriented economic policies has been evaluated. The mechanisms of Türkiye's multi-directional foreign policy, bilateral trade, and diplomatic relations between Türkiye, the EU and other countries are examined. The role of dependence and interdependence in economics are given in the context of economic globalisation. For this research, the historical methodology has been used. It is suggested that collaborative problem solving with all the institutions involved in economic and political decisions could lead to better outcomes for the country in the international arena.
Italian aggression against Abyssinia (Ethiopia) in 1935 placed Czechoslovak diplomacy in a predicament. On the one hand, as a member state of the League of Nations, the First Czechoslovak Republic was obliged to preserve the integrity and independence of other League members, including Abyssinia, and to apply at least economic sanctions against any aggressor. On the other hand, as a product of the First World War, Czechoslovakia was highly interested in maintaining the post-war order in Central Europe against growing German revisionism. Here, apart from France and Great Britain, Czechoslovak diplomats put their hopes in Italy as well and were particularly anxious to gain Mussolini for the defence of Austria. In light of this dilemma, the article examines the attitude and behaviour of foreign minister Edvard Beneš, who was not only Czechoslovakia’s leading diplomat but also the country’s principal actor in the League of Nations, where the Abyssinian crisis had been on the agenda since the beginning of 1935. As far as Beneš’ role in the League is concerned, the study focuses on the sixteenth Assembly in autumn 1935, of which Beneš was elected president. While previous works on Czechoslovakia’s Abyssinian policy are mainly based on documents from the Archives of the Czechoslovak Foreign Ministry, this article also uses sources from the League of Nations Archives in Geneva and the Archives of the Masaryk-Institute in Prague.
The starting point of the analysis in the article is the notion of Norway’s High North policy (nordområdepolitiken) and the profile of it. What is under investigation is the question, whether this policy is founded on the ideals of cooperation or whether it is rather to be conceived as a disguise. The explanation of the sources and essence of the policy, including Norwegian-Russian relations, suggest that it is characterized by stability, continuity, dynamism and strong ties with Norway’s interests in the domain of domestic policy. These qualities justify the conclusion that Norway’s policy in the High North is really based on the ideals of cooperation between the states.
PL
Punktem wyjścia analiz podejmowanych w artykule jest pytanie o charakter polityki Norwegii na Obszarach Północy (norw. nordområdepolitiken, ang. High North), w szczególności, czy hasło jej oparcia na ideale współpracy jest politycznym kamuflażem, czy tez jest to polityka, która rzeczywiście zmierza do realizacji tego ideału. Wyjaśnienie genezy i treści norweskiej polityki na Obszarach Północy, w tym relacji norwesko-rosyjskich, prowadzi do wniosku, że jest to polityka, którą cechuje stabilność, ciągłość rozwoju, silna dynamika rozwojowa i trwałe powiązanie z interesami narodowymi w ramach polityki wewnętrznej. Te cechy pozwalają sądzić, że omawiana polityka rzeczywiście opiera się na ideałach współpracy miedzy państwami.
The main aim of this text is to present economic relations between China and the US today. The election of Donald Trump in 2016, significantly redefined American trade policy toward China. Despite the first months of his presidency, which promised an efficient, long-term cooperation between Beijing and Washington, incumbent president decided to implement severe restriction on the trade with China at the beginning of 2018. However, the announced imposition of tariffs on almost all goods coming from this country could interfere with the growth of the single states and the economy of the whole country in the future. Therefore the text is aimed to investigate the ependency of selected states on the inflows of Chinese investments since 2010. Finally, it is necessary to examine the phenomenon of the trade war, which has begun in July 2018, and assess its impact on the growth of both countries.
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