Suchergebnisse

As a pluralist middle power, post-apartheid South Africa seeks to generate successful foreign policy initiatives at bilateral, multilateral, & regional levels in order to shape international outcomes. In this endeavor, it has three important political resources -- a recognition of its geopolitical position & importance as a democratic yardstick & reformer; its acceptance of a transnational, neoliberal elite alliance & finally, recognition of its leadership role from forces wishing to challenge African political establishments. However, the international & domestic political environment which in the mid-1990s was favorable towards middle-power initiative & reform has narrowed. South Africa's currently ambiguous foreign-policy responses therefore stem from a combination of the growing tendency towards unilateralism at the international level, from regional efforts to neutralize South Africa as a pluralist force -- in & around NEPAD -- as well as the absence of a national or domestic consensus on foreign policy. These constraints coupled with scarce foreign policy resources may, in the long term, necessitate a fundamental reorientation of South Africa's foreign policy. Adapted from the source document.

Most analysts agree that Congress has been more assertive on foreign policy since the Vietnam War. A general implication has been that analyses of foreign policy‐making increasingly address questions of the links between Congress and other, non‐governmental, domestic sources of foreign policy and when, how, and why members of Congress become involved. This article focuses on one possible explanation of congressional activism, which holds that members defer to presidential policy when it is popular with the public, and conversely, challenge presidential foreign policy initiatives when public opinion does not support the policy. To test this hypothesis, this article examines a sample of foreign policy initiatives, public opinion data, and congressional activism from the Carter, Reagan, and Bush administrations to determine the relationship, or lack thereof, between public opinion toward those policies and the level of congressional activism. The article concludes by assessing the implications of the results for American foreign policy‐making.

China's engagement with the world has been evolving to reflect its various economic developments, and although China's economic progress since 2010 may not be a shock to many, its recent dramatic re-emergence at the centre of global politics has thrown familiar issues into a sharp relief. One such issue is the launch of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which has been of key interest to policy makers, and which, since 2015, has expanded immensely to link China with Asia, Europe and Africa, boosting trade, development and cultural exchange throughout a broad infrastructure network. This paper presents the findings of a study that was designed to examine the implications of Chinese foreign policy on the perceptions of BRI among foreign students of the East China Normal University in Shanghai, China. The findings of the study reveal that the foreign students' perceptions of BRI are influenced by how Chinese foreign policy is and was perceived in their respective home countries, and that the experience of living in China had little or no impact in changing their established perceptions. Based on these findings, the study concludes that, the future implementation of BRI will be highly influenced by the existing Chinese diplomatic relations, and as such recommends the consolidation and expansion of China's existing diplomatic relations if it desires a smoother and better adoption of the BRI in other countries.

As a pluralist middle power, post-apartheid South Africa seeks to generate successful foreign policy initiatives at bilateral, multilateral and regional levels in order to shape international outcomes. In this endeavour, it has three important political resources - a recognition of its geo-political position and importance as a democratic yardstick and reformer; its acceptance of a transnational, neo-liberal elite alliance and finally, recognition of its leadership role from forces wishing to challenge African political establishments. However, the international and domestic political environment which in the mid-1990s was favourable towards middle-power initiative and reform has narrowed. South Africa's currently ambiguous foreign-policy responses therefore stem from a combination of the growing tendency towards unilateralism at the international level, from regional efforts to neutralize South Africa as a pluralist force - in and around NEPAD - as well as the absence of a national or domestic consensus on foreign policy. These constraints coupled with scarce foreign policy resources may, in the long term, necessitate a fundamental reorientation of South Africa's foreign policy. (Politikon-www.tandf.co.uk/journals/DÜI)

AbstractThis article focuses on the nature of Japan's foreign policy formulation and legitimization through a study of its interaction with Central Asian countries. The article examines foreign policy discourse that constructs Japan's "self" vis-à-vis Central Asian "other." It reveals the textual mechanism through which reality, objects, and subjects are constructed, and it interprets the official statements contained in several foreign policy initiatives, in particular, the "Eurasian (Silk Road) Diplomacy," the "Central Asia plus Japan," and the "Arc of Freedom and Prosperity," as an attempt to understand the intersubjective knowledge and analytical lens through which Japanese foreign policy makers conceive and interpret the constructed "reality," produce foreign policy choices, and choose among identified alternatives.

Scholars have examined the influence of intraparty factionalism on government stability and policy development in democratic systems for some time, yet factionalism in major political parties in the United States remains understudied. This article draws on scholarship on minority influence from social psychology, as well as studies of party polarization and coalitions in comparative politics, to explore the impact of factionalism in the US Congress on support for foreign policy initiatives. It proposes a novel framework to examine the longitudinal impact of the Freedom Caucus or Tea Party in the Republican Party on foreign policy initiatives championed by the majority. It conducts a plausibility probe of the model linking factionalism, minority influence strategies, and delays in establishment progress on foreign policy through case studies of comprehensive immigration policy reform debates and Trade Promotion Authority for the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The paper concludes that factions that demonstrate persistence and consistency in support of minority positions do appear to influence the scope and direction of foreign policy commitments, votes on major legislation, and nonvotes over time. It also offers suggestions for future study of more contingent and multilinear models of foreign policy processes in comparative perspective.