In this article, the concept Normative Europeanization is developed from a synthesis of Normative Power Europe (NPE) and Europeanization. It is argued that NPE has focused too narrowly on the external relations of the European Union (EU), while Europeanization has focused on changes in policy structures. The synthesis developed here overcomes these shortcomings by emphasizing normative internal relations within the EU. Normative Europeanization is defined as a top-down process based on the logic of appropriateness, where states with a close relationship to the EU, i.e. candidate and member states, develop a commitment to a European centre and their normative point of departure is changed. It is argued here that a process of normative Europeanization affects candidate countries and new EU members especially where pro-European norms are diffused through different mechanisms. The theoretical argument is illustrated through a case study on Swedish foreign policy reorientation during the 1990s. The empirical analysis is structured around two ideal types: internationalist foreign policy and normatively Europeanized foreign policy. Based on this analysis, it is concluded that Swedish foreign policy has undergone strong normative Europeanization.
On 1 March, federal ministers Annalena Baerbock and Svenja Schulze jointly presented the Guidelines for a Feminist Foreign Policy (FFP) of the Federal Foreign Office (AA) and the Strategy for a Feminist Development Policy (FDP) of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). Despite coordination between the two ministries and similar consultations with civil society, the ministers presented documents that differ in form and content and also draw on feminist approaches to varying degrees. Together, however, they have initiated a debate in Germany on the goals and means of international policy. In order for the desired cultural and systemic change to go beyond gender equality, a broader inter-ministerial effort is needed. (author's abstract)
The idea that a change of government can alter the foreign policy orientation of a state is nothing new in international relations. This paper presents a preliminary investigation into the causal linkages between domestic political regime changes and foreign policy restructuring in Malaysia and South Korea. It assumes that regime changes allow for a greater propensity for the recalibration of foreign policy interests. Since the effectiveness of any bilateral cooperation depends on successful formulation and implementation, this paper dissects the transition, convergence and challenges in bilateral cooperation between the two countries. Both Mahathir Mohamad and Moon Jae-in saw a necessity to diversify economic partners that had resulted from the policies of previous administrations. While the basic elements of their foreign policy remained the same, both Malaysia and South Korea reevaluated their policies with regard to the international issues affecting their domestic interests. While relations had once been transactional at best, the convergence of the Look East Policy (LEP) 2.0 and the New Southern Policy (NSP) advanced bilateral relations for 22 months until the collapse of Mahathir's government in 2020.
Over the last decades, an increasing number of empirical studies have examined foreign policy change. In this article, we provide an overview of different conceptualizations and understandings of foreign policy change, identify the different drivers and inhibitors of change, and suggest avenues for future research. Most importantly, this review argues that scholarship provides relevant insights in foreign policy change on specific issues, but currently fails to unravel cases of more fundamental change like, redirections of states' entire orientation toward world affairs or broader foreign policy categories (e.g. development aid or defense and security policy). Moreover, while the literature on foreign policy change has arrived at a list of plausible explanatory conditions for change, it has yet to provide a more general theoretical framework that captures the interplay between explanations from different levels of analysis in an integrated model. In consequence, we argue that research on foreign policy change would greatly benefit from comparative research that examines change in a more systematic way across countries, foreign policy domains, and over longer periods of time, with the goal of arriving at a more general explanatory model of foreign policy change.
The accelerated pace of globalization in its many facets has benefited some and disadvantaged others. India's foreign policy adjusted well to changes in the external environment by establishing cordial and increasingly substantive relations with the economic dynamos of East Asia, including China, as well as the wealthy countries of the West, especially the United States. Full realization of national objectives is impeded, however, by serious socio-economic problems at home, inadequate staffing or coordination of national security institutions, and the continuing burden of Pakistan's enmity. India's contributions to global management in the years ahead are expected to rise with its capabilities and be welcomed by most other countries as well.
This study addresses the problem of foreign policy change. While the 1990s has been characterized by remarkable changes in world affairs, political scientists have been slow to study the processes through which such changes take place. Drawing on the limited research that does exist in this field, the study presents an alternative explanatory model of foreign policy change, arguing that states tend to alter their foreign policy orientations when changes in fundamental structural conditions coincide with strategic political leadership and the presence of a crisis of some kind. This model is then applied to the Swedish government1s decision in October 1990 to restructure its relationship to the West European integration process. The author argues that with the end of the Cold War, the poor prospects in the EEA negotiations and the emerging recession, the basic preconditions for Sweden1s long-standing policy of non-EC membership had been significantly altered. The structural changes in the international and domestic environment were perceived and acted upon by Prime Minister Ingvar Carlsson. Forming an informal coalition with Minister of Finance Allan Larsson, Carlsson launched the policy reorientation in the midst of a severe balance of payments crisis. By redefining Swedish EC membership from a political to an economic issue, he successfully capitalized on the seriousness of the economic situation and marginalized potential opponents to EC membership within the cabinet.
This thesis focuses on foreign policy changes over the forty-five year history of the People's Republic of China, attempts to explain these changes, and explores a model that analyzes China's foreign policy and predicts tendencies for further transition. The analytic framework incorporates Kal J. Holsti's foreign policy restructuring model, focusing on a particular type of foreign policy change--restructuring. This is the dramatic, wholesale alteration of a nation's pattern of external relations. Holsti believes that the impetus for foreign policy restructuring is often a response to a threat--but not always a military threat. The threats of the modern era contain cultural, informational and economic components. China has experienced such foreign policy restructuring four times. The patterns of its external relations have changed from the 1950's pro-Soviet dependence to the 1960's isolation, and then from the 1970's Sino-U.S. anti-Soviet strategic partnership to the 1980's non-alignment diversification. Conforming to Holsti's hypothesis, China's foreign policy restructuring has taken place when the decision-makers perceived domestic or external threats to national security, independence and development--the basic goals that have always been considered the most important to Chinese policy-makers. However, where China's foreign policy restructuring goes beyond the Holsti model is that threat is not the only explanation for such restructuring. Advantageous opportunity is also an impetus for policy restructuring. The findings of this thesis also suggest that China's foreign policy restructurings are closely related to its internal affairs. Domestic political crises, economic vulnerability and the state's development strategy have had an important influence on foreign policy restructuring. Aside from the domestic determinants, peripheral threats and boundary issues have been more likely to become the catalyst of foreign policy reorientations. The changing character of the international system and the Sino-Soviet-American triangle during the Cold War era have been key guiding determinants of foreign policy reorientation. In contrast, personality has been, in general, not a decisive factor. This was so because the external and domestic constraints usually did not give the leadership much leeway to put personal stamp on foreign policy reorientations. Furthermore, post-Mao era has seen an emphasis on economic determinants in foreign policy, idiosyncratic factors being even less influential. Ideology has also not been a predominant determinant in decision-making. Instead, it has been changeable in accordance with the need of policy-makers and adaptive to circumstances. Even in strongly ideological periods, ideological concerns never ignored national interests. Furthermore, the influence of orthodox Communist ideology has gradually decreased with the changes within China and in the outside world in the 1980s.Dept. of History, Philosophy, and Political Science. Paper copy at Leddy Library: Theses & Major Papers - Basement, West Bldg. / Call Number: Thesis1993 .Z424. Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 32-06, page: 1562. Adviser: Bruce Burton. Thesis (M.A.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 1993.
