Suchergebnisse

De Wetenschappelijke Raad voor het Regeringsbeleid (WRR) bepleit in zijn rapport Aan het buitenland gehecht een nieuwe aanpak van het buitenlandbeleid. De wereld om ons heen is onderhevig aan veranderende machtsverhoudingen, wordt bevolkt door andere spelers dan in het verleden, en wordt gekenmerkt door een sterkere verknoping van nationale en internationale vraagstukken. Dit vraagt om nieuwe antwoorden, om een heroriëntatie op het buitenlandbeleid. Het rapport wordt op 30 november namens de regering in ontvangst genomen door de minister van Buitenlandse Zaken, dr. U. Rosenthal. Het rapport st

This paper is an analysis of the foreign Aid Policies of two OECD Development Assistance Committee member countries – Finland and Ireland. The analysis reveals that both Finland and Ireland share high principles on their relations with the developing world, although their current policy outlooks appear to differ significantly. Despite Finland's good economic performance and prosperity largely generated by the global demand and market access, the government has so far failed to include the increasing of ODA on its priority agenda. In addition to the declining commitment, the selection criteria for Finnish aid recipients appears to be partially commercially motivated. Ireland on the other hand has a solid record of targeting the poorest of the poor with its development assistance and has recently increased development country focus in national policies. The challenge for Ireland is the effective utilisation of these funds and even more importantly keeping the government's public, international commitment to the 0,7 percent recommendation level despite the possible future slowdown of the economy.

The focus of this research is on Finland's role in Soviet Union's calculation of its foreign policy between 1920 and 1930. This was the first decade of both Finnish independence and of Soviet power in Russia. This book answers questions about the objectives of Soviet foreign policy in Finland, on the contacts used by the Soviet legation to obtain information, and on how well the Soviets understood Finland's objectives. People interested in Finland and in Russian perspectives with regards to foreign policy and neighbouring countries will find much new in this book because it relies on formerly unpublished Russian archival material to form the basis for charting Soviet objectives in Finland. The book shows that the Soviets primarily observed Finland in a larger regional context along with other states on its borders in the Baltic Sea region. The global objectives of the revolution and the Soviet Union, but also the domestic political situation in both countries, are reflected on this framework. The period was characterized by forced collectivization in the Soviet Union and, in Finland, by the rise of the right-wing Lapua Movement that emerged at the onset of the Great Depression, laying the foundations for the most severe crisis in the relations during 1929–1930 when the issues surrounding these events destabilized simultaneously the society and political decision-making in both countries.

Y. Kleistra, Hollen of stilstaan. Beleidsverandering bij het Nederlandse ministerie van buitenlandse zaken P.R. Baehr, M.C. Castermans-Holleman, F. Grünfeld, Human rights in the foreign policy of the Netherlands E.M. van den Berg, The influence of domestic NGOs on Dutch human rights policy. Case studies on South Africa, Namibia, Indonesia and East Timor. The role of human rights in post-1945 Dutch foreign policy: Politicological and historical literature, Maarten KuitenbrouwerThe second Dutch government under Prime Minister Kok fell in 2002 following the publication of a critical report by the Dutch Institute for Wartime Documentation (NIOD) on the Srebenica issue. This event forms the starting point for a review of the recent literature on the role of human rights in Dutch foreign policy during the last few decades in both political science and history. Both disciplines share the 'decisionmaking analysis' in international relations theory as a common background. In addition, political scientists and historians have often found themselves researching the same human rights issues that affect Dutch relations with a series of non-Western countries. An explanation of Dutch policy is usually sought based on a combination of internaland external factors. In general, comparative analyses and research into its effectiveness are still conspicuous by their absence. All in all, there are more similarities than differences between recent political and historical studies on the role of human rights in Dutch foreign policy.

The Policy of Independence. The Background of a Crucial Phrase in Dutch Foreign Policy 1900-1940The phrase 'policy of independence' was coined by the Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs Van Karnebeek after the First World War. It has aroused a lot of discussion ever since. The phrase is often portrayed as sign of a change from a passive policy of neutrality to a much more active foreign policy. In this article the use of the phrase and the question of continuity or discontinuity are raised. This is done first of all on the basis of some crucial episodes from the First World War and subsequently the Dutch policy towards the German emperor and crown prince, Belgium and the League of Nations. This contribution argues that throughout those years the Dutch government pursued a policy characterized by activity and adopted an attitude that adhered to international law. Even before 1914 this approach was referred to as 'independent'. Thereafter, Van Karnebeek coined the phrase 'policy of independence' to give expression to this prevailing attitude.

Reading the news about Iran today one can hardly imagine that relations between the Netherlands and Iran were excellent until 1979. Mohammed-Reza Pahlavi, the last shah of Persia, was known in The Netherlands as a visionary and reformer. Persia was represented as a mythical land with an ancient civilization. The Dutch royal family enjoyed visiting the shah, and large and small Dutch companies were successful in Iran.

When in the 1970s awareness spread about repression under the shah, the Dutch government was faced with difficult choices. How could these relations be continued, now that public opinion had turned against it? The Dutch government decided to ignore the criticisms, and firmly held on to the idea of the shah as an enlightened despot. As such, it did not see the Iranian Revolution coming, and suffered the consequences.

The focus of this research is on Finland's role in Soviet Union's calculation of its foreign policy between 1920 and 1930. This was the first decade of both Finnish independence and of Soviet power in Russia. This book answers questions about the objectives of Soviet foreign policy in Finland, on the contacts used by the Soviet legation to obtain information, and on how well the Soviets understood Finland's objectives. People interested in Finland and in Russian perspectives with regards to foreign policy and neighbouring countries will find much new in this book because it relies on formerly unpublished Russian archival material to form the basis for charting Soviet objectives in Finland. The book shows that the Soviets primarily observed Finland in a larger regional context along with other states on its borders in the Baltic Sea region. The global objectives of the revolution and the Soviet Union, but also the domestic political situation in both countries, are reflected on this framework. The period was characterized by forced collectivization in the Soviet Union and, in Finland, by the rise of the right-wing Lapua Movement that emerged at the onset of the Great Depression, laying the foundations for the most severe crisis in the relations during 1929–1930 when the issues surrounding these events destabilized simultaneously the society and political decision-making in both countries

Between 1949 and 1962 the Netherlands renounced its sovereignty over most of its overseas territories. Nevertheless, during the entire period of the Cold War, the Royal Netherlands Navy (RNLN) stood by its point of view that it had a global task to fulfil. This military-naval deployment, outside the NATO treaty area during and shortly after the Cold War in relation to the structural global ambitions of the Royal Netherlands Navy's leadership, is the central theme of this study. This theme is analysed on the basis of theories and an understanding of multinational fleet operations after 1945 and Dutch policy regarding naval operations outside the NATO treaty area, but above all through regional case studies (Korean War 1950-1955, operations around the Arabian peninsula 1984-2000, and in the Adriatic Sea and Montenegrin waters 1992-2001). These case studies were examined by addressing the following central questions: to what extent did these missions involve a traditional approach to Dutch foreign policy? To what extent did the Navy's leadership influence the political-strategic decision-making on these out-of-area operations? To what extent were Dutch tasks and operations different from those of coalition partners, specifically those of the British Royal Navy, which the Royal Netherlands Navy considered to be its 'sister navy'? To what extent did the existing national and international perceptions of the RNLN influence Dutch decision-making on these missions, and how much did the participation in multinational fleet operations subsequently contribute to the objectives the Dutch government had in mind? In all the three case studies, the national and international perception of the Netherlands as a maritime nation and the ability to deploy high-quality navy units were taken into account in the Dutch government's decision-making regarding the RNLN participation in multinational fleet operations. The missions always received international, and especially British and American, appreciation and respect. The fact that ...

Few other countries are so interrelated with the world around us in political, economic, and social respects as the Netherlands. This means that the Dutch government needs to be alert in its response to the risks and opportunities presented by a rapidly changing world. Addressing this issue, the Scientific Council for Government Policy (wrr) offers some reflections in this report, guided by the question how the Netherlands can develop a foreign policy strategy that matches the changing power relations in the world and the radically changed character of international relations. The answer to this question is a reorientation. This means making transparent choices, making smarter use of Europe as our dominant arena, and, finally, choosing an approach that makes better use of the growing role of non-state actors. The report's recommendations not only underline the necessity of reorientation but also show how this could be accomplished in practice.

The central question of this dissertation is what role national identity has played in the interdepartmental policy field of international cultural policy (ICP) in the Netherlands between 1970 and 2012. In four chapters I analyse the history of ICP and the related political debate, using a theoretical framework consisting of the main concepts of a Discourse Historic Analysis (critique, ideology, and power), and tensions within the discourses on ICP and national identity. The role of national identity in the first period (1970-1986) is characterized as 'cultural nationalism'. Culture plays an important role in distinguishing the nation state from the rest of the world, and due to the decreasing autonomy in the field of economics and politics culture is considered (by some) to be the last bearer of the national identity. The debates focus on the question whether or not the government has a role in (actively) protecting that identity. The publication of the report "Culture without borders" by the Scientific Council for Government Policy marks the beginning of the second period (1987-1996). Gradually the primacy of the policy shifts from foreign to cultural policy, and attempts are made to combine within ICP the growing cultural diversity of the Dutch society with the uniting role of a national identity. Therefore the role of national identity is characterized as 'multiculturalism'. Extra funding for international cultural activities in 1997 marks the beginning of the third period (1997-2006), in which the role of national identity is characterized as 'cultural relativism'. The relationship between culture and the nation becomes more loose, and cultural activities abroad no longer seem to represent the nation's identity. This approach in ICP contrasts strongly with the growing discontent and heated public and political debate on national identity. Characteristic for the fourth period (2007-2012) is the return to the primacy of foreign policy and the focus on diplomatic and economic goals. Culture is treated as a ...

Klep, Christ, Somalië, Rwanda, Srebrenica. De nasleep van drie ontspoorde vredesmissies (Dissertatie Utrecht 2008; Amsterdam: Boom, 2008, 385 blz., ISBN 978 90 8506 668 2)When the Home Front meets Foreign Parts. The Aftermath of Commissions of Inquiry into derailed Peace MissionsPeace Missions take place in difficult and volatile circumstances. It is therefore hardly surprising that some peace missions become 'derailed'. Christ Klep zooms in on three 'derailed' missions in his book and focuses on the value of Commissions of Inquiry which are subsequently set up as a result of public and political pressure. Do they succeed in revealing the 'how' and the 'why' of such derailments and – above all – identifying those who are responsible? Based on a broad spectrum of questions and extensive source materials, Klep concludes that 'the number of escape routes from the labyrinth of responsibility is practically infinite'; a clear message for all those taking part in international and domestic politics. It is here that the author skillfully and expertly succeeds: exposing the complex entanglement of domestic and foreign policy, even concerning events that sometimes happen away from the capital city.

Dutch-American relations in the post-war period have been inexorably intertwined with the Cold War. In the course of the 1960s the East-West struggle entered a new phase with the beginning of a period of détente, which had important consequences for the Dutch-American relationship. In this dissertation, which focuses on the governmental level, the following issues are dealt with: firstly, to what extent was the relationship affected by the complicating developments that took place in the years 1969-1976? Secondly, how did Dutch and American policy makers view the relationship? Finally, what did the asymmetry in the relationship mean and were the Dutch able to exert any influence? When taking into account both international and domestic factors, the picture that emerges is one of both change and continuity. What makes the period concerned stand out is the fact that the Atlantic Alliance was at a point where a redefinition of the common goals seemed unavoidable. Security concerns and preserving the American dominant position in the international arena were the foremost concerns of President Nixon and NSC-advisor Kissinger. These ideas clashed with those of Dutch politicians of for instance the Labour Party who wanted détente, an active human rights policy and development cooperation to be part of the Atlantic foreign policy agenda. The American embassy in The Hague was aware of these changes: it noticed a turn to the left in Dutch society and the political landscape. The Dutch cabinets in the period concerned faced domestic pressure to take a more critical stance towards the United States, where the Nixon administration faced problems concerning its image and credibility because of the Vietnam war and the Watergate scandal. On the other hand, unmistakable signs of continuity in the Dutch-American relationship were present. The Dutch governments in the years concerned did not turn away from Atlantic cooperation, as the Netherlands remained dependent on the American military commitment to Western Europe. Détente was ...

Abstract The research examines the U.S. approach to the independence of the Philippines and its stages at the end of the 1920's and in the early 1930's. The Philippines belonged to the United States from 1898 to 1946. The relationship between the two countries was quite controversial from the very beginning. Many of the different phases and factors resulted in the U.S. Congress passing a law in March 1934, which guaranteed full independence to the Philippines after a ten-year transition period. The birth of the law which led to Philippine independence was a complex political process, with a number of variables influencing the attitudes and the solution. These factors accounting for the formation of the solution changed as time progressed. One of the key variables in terms of the Act of Independence began when the Great Depression began in 1929, which affected especially agricultural producers. As the Philippines was administratively a part of the federal government, in these circles it was seen that only independence could be the solution to close the archipelago outside of the domestic market. In fact, the sugar and coconut imports from the Philippines were not a real competitor to the federal farmers. In addition to the domestic farmers the Cuban sugar producers, who were headed by U.S. investors, felt that Philippine duty-free import was challenging their share of the federal market. They were of the opinion that the independence of the Philippines could guarantee them better market positions in the federal sugar market, and strove to promote the Independence Act as soon as possible. As a result of the worsening unemployment situation Filipino migrant workers started competing for scarce jobs. As a part of the United States Filipinos had free immigration rights. In particular, on the west coast and in the employees' organizations, independence was seen as the easiest way to limit immigration. In addition to the economic cycle other significant factors were the changes in foreign policy, and in particular the rise of Japan as a powerful superpower in the Far East. The federal government and the majority of the Congress represented opposing views of the independence issue. The Congress was able to show strength in this confrontation. The main sources of the material consist of the U.S. government documents, the Congress document collections, foreign relations document collections, memoirs and other documents. ; Tiivistelmä Tutkimuksessa tarkastellaan Yhdysvaltain suhtautumista Filippiinien itsenäistymiseen ja siihen liittyneisiin vaiheisiin 1920 -luvun lopulla ja 1930-luvun alkupuoliskolla. Filippiinit kuuluivat Yhdysvalloille vuosina 1898–1946. Maiden välinen suhde oli hyvin kiistanalainen alusta alkaen. Monien eri vaiheiden ja tekijöiden seurauksena Yhdysvaltain kongressi hyväksyi maaliskuussa 1934 lain, joka takasi Filippiineille täyden itsenäisyyden kymmenen vuoden siirtymäajan jälkeen. Filippiinien itsenäistymiseen johtaneen lain synty oli monimutkainen poliittinen prosessi, jossa oli useita suhtautumiseen ja ratkaisuun vaikuttaneita muuttujia. Näiden tekijöiden osuus ratkaisun muodostumiseen muuttui ajan edetessä. Yksi keskeisimmistä muuttujista itsenäisyyslain suhteen oli vuonna 1929 Yhdysvalloissa alkanut suuri lamakausi, josta kärsivät erityisesti maataloustuottajat. Koska Filippiinit oli hallinnollisesti osa liittovaltiota, näissä piireissä nähtiin, että ainoastaan itsenäisyys voisi saattaa saariston sisämarkkinoiden ulkopuolelle. Filippiineiltä tuotava sokeri ja kookosöljy eivät olleet todelliset kilpailijat liittovaltion viljelijöille. Kotimaan viljelijäväestön lisäksi Kuuban sokerintuotantoon investoineet amerikkalaiset sijoittajapiirit kokivat Filippiinien tullivapaan tuonnin vievän heiltä markkinoita. He katsoivat, että Filippiinien itsenäisyys takaisi paremmat markkina-asemat liittovaltion sokerimarkkinoilla ja pyrkivät edistämään itsenäisyyslain mahdollisimman pikaista säätämistä. Alati pahenevan työttömyyden seurauksen filippiiniläiset siirtotyöläiset kilpailivat hupenevista työpaikoista. Filippiiniläisille oli taattu vapaa maahanmuutto-oikeus. Etenkin länsirannikolla ja työntekijäjärjestöissä saarten itsenäistyminen nähtiin olevan helpoin tie maahanmuuton rajoittamiseen. Taloudellisten suhdanteiden ohella muita merkittäviä tekijöitä olivat muutokset ulkopolitiikassa ja etenkin Japanin nousu voimakkaaksi suurvallaksi Kaukoidässä. Liittovaltion hallinto ja kongressin enemmistö edustivat vastakkaisia näkemyssuuntia itsenäisyyskysymyksessä. Kongressi pystyi osoittamaan voimansa tässä vastakkainasettelussa. Tutkimuksen keskeisin lähdeaineisto koostuu Yhdysvaltain hallinnon asiakirjoista, kongressin asiakirjakokoelmista, ulkoaisainhallinnon asiakirjakokoelmista, muistelmista sekä lähdeteoksista.

The subject of this study is the strategic cooperation of the permanent members in the Security Council in the period 1946 2000. Because of their right of veto the cooperation of the permanent members has a significant influence on the functioning of the Council. The most important aspects of the cooperation that were investigated are the intensity of the cooperation and the ef-fectiveness of this cooperation in preventing and ending wars. To investigate these aspects, for both the intensity and the effectiveness measuring instruments were constructed. These measuring instruments were based on comprehensive sets of so-called 'leading indicators' and statistical methods and techniques. The intensity of the cooperation increased gradually from 1946 until 1990 (the end of the Cold War). Then it started to increase rapidly until 1996. From 1996 a slight decrease can be discer-ned. The strong increase in the strategic cooperation of the permanent members in the security Council can be established in all the majors forms of cooperation in the Council: the numbers of adopted strategic resolutions and presidential statements, the numbers of employed means (like peacekeeping missions and enforcement actions) and the amounts of money that were spent on peacekeeping activities. Further it was established that the response times of the Council regarding potential and waged wars dropped significantly since the end of the Cold War. The effectiveness of the cooperation of the permanent members in the Council was, insofar this was measurable with the applied method, not good for many years, but after the Cold War a clear improvement can be discerned. This goes for the prevention of wars, as well as for post war peacebuilding and the ending of wars. Also the numbers of potential and waged wars in which the Council not intervened dropped significantly since the end of the Cold War, as well as the use of vetoes. The large number of potential and waged wars in which the Council did not intervene during the Cold War was nearly exclusively caused by 'non decisions' (the non placing of wars on the agenda), and not by the use of vetoes by permanent members, as is often assumed in literature. Further, a comparison of two phase classifications of the Cold War showed that the great powers, even when there are great tensions among them, are prepared to cooperate in the Security Council to resolve strategic matters, if they consider this in their interest. Analyses of the adopted strategic resolutions during the Cold War revealed that cooperation here was nearly exclusively limited to issues that were not core issues of the Cold War. From this it can be concluded that cooperation against third party states was a basis of cooperation of the great powers in the Security Council. Finally, the results of this study show clearly that the Security Council was regarded and used to a large extent by the permanent members in the period 1946 2000 as an instrument of foreign policy to pursue their national interests, and not as an instrument of the world community to prevent and end wars.

Ex ante assessment of regulatory impact upon businesses: A neo-institutional study on the context, international influences, and Finnish experiences Regulatory impact assessment (RIA) has an established place in the European Union and its member states. This article considers evolving Finnish ex ante RIA concerning certain regulatory costs to firms. Drawing upon a neo-institutional theoretical framework and proposing three generally oriented hypotheses we received the following results. (1) The rationality of theevolving Finnish ex ante RIA of selected administrativeregulatory costs to firms gives rise issuesgiven the low implementation rate of thegeneral natonal RIA guidelines. (2) Reference to the ex ante RIA of regulatory costs to firmsin other countries has served the legitimation of preferred procedures in Finland rather than offerssolid evidence on the rationality of the foreign procedures. (3) Without a stronger contextualization of the evolving Finnish ex ante RIAmof regulatory costs to firms its procedures risk adverse effects because of their confined scope, the uneven quality of their input data, and their weak connections to the general national ex ante RIA. These results suggest the redesign of the Finnish RIA to take better into account the institutional, political, historical and cultural characteristicsof governance in this country. Keywords: regulatory impact assessment, public policy evaluation, public policymaking, lawmaking, legal policy, deregulation ; Peer reviewed