Casey: Four Decades in the Making of Australian Foreign Policy

Richard Casey was involved in shaping Australian foreign policy for over four decades. Casey's attitudes, ideas, policies and actions towards the rest of the world are therefore an important part of a Liberal tradition in Australian foreign policy. To examine Casey's place in the Liberal tradition this article explores Casey's positions on the great international issues of two periods: the 1930s and the 1950s. The conclusion of the article is that three key ideas shaped Casey's foreign policy, and therefore also lie at the centre of the Liberal tradition; firstly, a strong attachment to the idea of the English speaking alliance; secondly, a realist perspective on international affairs; and, thirdly, a consistent strand of anti-communism.     

The Zenith of Realism in New Zealand's Foreign Policy

Modern New Zealand foreign policy is a blend of the Liberal Internationalist and Realist approaches to international relations, with the Liberal Internationalist strand arguably predominant. Before 1935, however, New Zealand's foreign policy can be characterised as purely Realist. The governments of the Reform and United parties between 1912 and 1935 gave a high priority to national security, were sceptical of international institutions and had no interest in issues of self-determination, democracy and human rights. These attitudes were challenged by the Labour party Opposition, which possessed a Liberal Internationalist outlook on international affairs, but Liberal Internationalism did not begin to influence New Zealand's foreign policy until Labour came to power in 1935.     

China’s Decision to Deploy HYSY-981 in the South China Sea: Bureaucratic Politics with Chinese Characteristics

This article sheds light on developing a hybrid analytical construct by combining Foreign Policy Analysis (FPA) theory and modifications tailored to the case of China. It employs the bureaucratic politics model to China’s decision making during the China–Vietnam standoff in 2014 and adjusts the traditional model with intervening variable – the party ranking system and Democratic Centralism doctrine. I argue that the bargaining game among different actors who have diverse agendas led to the shift in China’s strategy. It would concurrently advance FPA studies while developing a future avenue for research on foreign policy formulation of China.     

Documents

South Africa's contemporary foreign policy cannot be understood outside an explanation of its post-apartheid political transition. Its actors, the ideas they express, the interests they represent and the institutions they craft are all crucially influenced and impacted upon by the democratic transition and how it has evolved. This democratic transition is defined by two foundational characteristics. First, as one of the last of the ‘anti-colonial’ transitions led by an African nationalist leadership, it is driven with a focus on achieving racial equality in both the domestic and global context. Second, the transition has occurred when a particular configuration of power prevailed in the global order that not only established the parameters which governed its evolution, but also determined which interests prevailed within it. The former's imprint on the foreign policy agenda is manifested in South Africa's prioritisation of Africa, its almost messianic zeal to modernise the continent through a focus on political stability and economic growth, and its desire to reform the global order so as to create an enabling environment for African development. It is also reflected in South Africa's insistence not to be seen to be dictated to by the West, especially in the fashioning of its economic policies and its approach to addressing the Zimbabwean question. The latter manifests itself not only in how corporate interests take centre stage in South Africa's foreign policy interactions, but also in how transnational alliances like India–Brazil–South Africa (IBSA) are being fashioned to challenge big powers and their interests in global forums and in the international system. These thematic concerns are the subject of investigation in this paper.     

Russia’s idea of the multipolar world order: origins and main dimensions

Contemporary international relations are rife with the ideological struggle over the potential nature of the rapidly changing world order. Two distinct paradigmatic positions have surfaced. One champions economic, cultural, and political globalization conducted under the leadership of the Western world. The other advocates a more particularistic approach that fends for a balance of interests, multiplicity of politico-cultural forms and multiple centers of international influence. The latter doctrine, often referred to as the multipolar world theory, is the subject of this paper. The discussion argues that the idea of a multipolar world order has emerged as Russia’s main ethical and ideological position advanced in the international arena. Its philosophical tenets buttress Russian society intellectually at home, providing the expedients to pursue the country’s foreign policy goals abroad. The paper examines a substantial value package with roots in both Russian and Western philosophy that sustains the multipolar world order theory.     

Israel,the Arab Spring,and the unfolding regional order in the Middle East: a strategic assessment

Since 2011, geo-strategic interactions have exerted pressure on various political communities. In particular, uncertainty over the foreign policy intentions of new leadership elites and the nature of the unfolding regional security system in the Middle East have impacted the strategic questions Israel must answer: how can Israel rationally assess the new environment? What foreign policy approach would best serve Israel’s distinct national interests? Using insights from the levels-of-analysis framework and from the realist theory of International Relations, this article aims to explore Israel’s reading of recent regional developments and its attitudes and behaviours towards the attendant and emerging strategic challenges. The analysis reveals that the Arab Spring uprisings exacerbated the already anarchic Middle East environment, aggravating mistrust and antagonism in Israel. The urgency of the attraction of protectionism and militarism in Israel was an expression of the realist approach to Israel’s primary strategic consolidation. With time, the regional dynamic has evolved into a more predictable—but still complex—structure than it was during its early phase (2010–2013). Although there have been signs of potential regional political eruptions, other developments have promoted continuity in the Middle East, which plays to Israel’s strategic advantage.     

Australia’s 2017 Foreign Policy White Paper: Deconstruction and Critique

The 2017 Foreign Policy White Paper identifies major themes and recommends preferred strategies in Australia’s engagement with the world. These themes and strategies relate to geopolitics, economics and the ‘new international agenda’; there is also a more specific focus on Australia’s Pacific island neighbours and Timor-Leste. There is a strong emphasis on perceived Australian national interests throughout the document. The geopolitical discussion is primarily ‘realist’; economically the document is pro-globalisation; the discussion of the ‘new international agenda’ involves an Australian-oriented pragmatism; there is an assertion of Australian leadership in the South Pacific. With some minor criticism, Labor has accepted the general direction advocated in the White Paper. The document is thus indicative of the likely future direction of Australian foreign policy. Lack of US response indicates declining US engagement with Australia and the Asia-Pacific or Indo-Pacific region. China, as the other major power highly significant for Australia, has been low-key in its criticisms.     

欧洲政治一体化的发展与前瞻

欧洲政治一体化经历了"欧洲政治合作"、"共同外交与安全政策"以及"共同安全与防务政策"三个发展阶段,使欧洲国家外交政策的合作越来越紧密。然而因各国外交利益的不同道致欧洲外交政策无法步调一致,因此影响了欧洲联盟对国际事务的影响力。《里斯本条约》改变了欧洲联盟传统的外交与安全体系,创造了一个"金三角、两系统"的新格局,亦即建构"新人事制度"、"新外交决策体系"与"新外交行政体系"等,使欧洲联盟外交与安全体系焕然一新。这种新格局下可能创造出来的外交能量,极可能增强欧盟的外交能力,使欧洲联盟成为更具影响力的全球角色,这项变革将大大增加欧洲联盟成为国际政治新强权的实力,未来欧盟亦将因此对国际体系发挥前所未有的影响力,以上发展值得深入研究与观察。     

对战后初期美国转变对日政策原因的再审视

战后美日关系的变动,始终是影响东亚地区稳定的重要因素。战后初期美国对日政策的重心经历了从改造到扶持的转变过程。这一转变有着复杂的历史背景和原因,经历了曲折的转变过程,转变的直接结果奠定了之后的美日关系,且至今仍对东亚地区国际政治格局的变化存在着重要影响。战后初期影响美国转变对日政策的诸因素,并非先前中外学者所分析的平行并重,而是有先有后,有主有次,诸因素形成一个逻辑因果链,最终导致"旧金山体制"形成。在美国转变对日政策过程中,意识形态分歧和美苏大国间国家利益的博弈互为表里,时而契合,时而背离,但最终依归是各自的国家利益。所有这些对于预判目前东亚地区国际政治格局的走向和趋势、对于确立处理该地区国际事务的基调和对策是有重要的现实借鉴意义的。     

Taiwan: An Internal Affair! How China’s Domestic Politics and Foreign Policy Interact on the Taiwan Issue?

Taiwan may be an internal affair but the domestic public opinion is not invited to participate very much in a debate and a decision-making process that have remained confined to the Chinese Communist Party and the military top leadership and, on purpose, involves a very small number of officials and experts. Conservative and nationalist forces do constrain Beijing’s Taiwan policy. And some leaders are tempted to use the Taiwan issue for unrelated domestic or foreign policy purpose. Nevertheless, what is striking is the potential for flexibility in China’s Taiwan policy. While Chinese local governments and companies’ increasing interests in business-as-usual in the Strait and the unbearable cost of any armed conflict tend to narrow the government’s options, concentration of power and the efficiency of the propaganda machine allow it to rather smoothly manage, in particular vis-à-vis the elites’ conservative opinion group as well as its own public opinion, this flexibility.     

Nationalism and Foreign Policy Discourse in Turkey Under the AKP Rule: Geography,History and National Identity

The argument of this paper is that the new foreign policy orientation of Turkey under the AKP (Justice and Development Party) government is a constitutive component of a new nationalist project, constructed and carried out by the AKP over the last decade. The article expounds the ways in which the AKP has reformulated the notions of nation, national history, homeland and national interest and demonstrates the role foreign policy has played in this reformulation. Our point of departure will be the patterns we have observed in the statements and political practices of the AKP government and its officials, particularly the incumbent minister of foreign affairs Ahmet Davuto?lu, whose book, Strategic Depth, presents a more systematic explanation of the major principles and assertions of AKP nationalism and foreign policy. We will also argue that after the Gezi protests in June 2013 this new conception of nation and nationalism has faced with a deep crisis, which has also exacerbated the problem of pursuing an ambitious foreign policy strategy in international arena.     

Liberals and Australian Foreign Policy*

Since the Second World War, Liberal governments trying to adapt to a rapidly changing international environment have been mindful of Australian interests, and especially the ongoing search for security. Adapting to declining British power, to militant communism in East and Southeast Asia, and to a new, under‐defined alliance with the United States was no easy task. The Colombo Plan for aid to South and Southeast Asia and the dismantling of the White Australia Policy represented two forms of positive engagement with Asia. Since the 1970s, Liberal governments have played significant roles in the strengthening of the Commonwealth; strengthening ties with key countries in Asia; and maintaining a sometimes problematic security relationship with the United States. On this latter point, however, the most recent Liberal governments have not performed well, in becoming more subservient to the Americans.     

The foreign policy of the Zuma government: pursuing the ‘national interest’?

It was after much anticipation that members of the new Jacob Zuma foreign policy executive announced that, for the duration of their term, South Africa's foreign policy would be based on the doctrine of advancing ‘the national interest’, conceptualised simply as the ‘most vital needs’ of the country. However, almost two years since taking control of the levers of policy and political power, the South African government has yet to spell out in detail what constituted the national interest or how such interest would be pursued. In spite of this lacuna, senior members of the new foreign policy inner-elite continue to proclaim the national interest, and proceed to spell out grander foreign policy goals that they would pursue under the banner of a ‘new’ developmental agenda. These include consolidating the African agenda; deepening South–South cooperation; expanding South–North relations; strengthening foreign political and economic ties generally; and participating in a global system of governance. To date, this proclamation that the national interest will be the beam that will guide foreign policy has remained little more than a statement of intent and much conjecture. The challenge is to move beyond rhetoric and intentions and to define the national interest and to articulate a coherent foreign policy going forward. This will require concrete proposals on the basis of thorough-going domestic–foreign policy linkages.     

Power transition in Northeast Asia: U.S.-China security perceptions and the challenges of systemic adjustment and stability

This article argues that the rise of China and the changing North-east Asian balance of power are creating the classical adjustment problems of Great Power international relations historically associated with power transitions and that three types of misperceptions across five important issues in the Sino-American security relationship are interfering with the prospects of achieving the systemic adjustments required for long-term stability. Power transition and the rise of China are seen as potentially undermining stability in four ways: (1) by generating security dilemmas and arms races, (2) by contributing to increased incidence of conflicting security interests, (3) by aggravating South china Sea maritime disputes, and (4) by undermining Chinese domestic stability in a manner which potentially results in a hostile regime that adopts an aggressive foreign policy coming to power at some point in the future. Systemic adjustment is defined as the process by which major powers peacefully reconcile their opposing interests and is viewed as being an essential feature of stability over the long term. The article argues that three types of misperceptions concerning: (1) salient issues, (2) security interests, and (3) the influence of domestic politics on foreign policy are manifesting themselves in misunderstandings of five security issues that are impeding the systemic adjustment process. These five issues are: (1) the nature of post-cold war Sino-American security relations and international politics, (2) the role of democracy and U.S. human rights in foreign policy, (3) the significance of China’s South China Sea policy, (4) Middle East diplomacy and arms sales, and (5) nuclear weapons and arms control policy. The article concludes with a discussion of policy implications that stresses the importance of consultation and dialogue to reduce misperceptions.     

The Price of Nostalgia: Menzies, the "Liberal" Tradition and Australian Foreign Policy

This article surveys some of the key contributions to the secondary literature on Australia's foreign and defence policy during Robert Gordon Menzies' two prime ministerships (1939–41, 1949–66), and seeks to identify Menzies' place in a "Liberal" and Liberal Party tradition through a reading of this work. Via a study of Menzies' imperialism, British race patriotism, nationalism, and attitudes towards Asia and the United States of America, it argues that the prime minister stands in an ambiguous relationship to the transformation that occurred in Australia's international orientation between the 1930s and 1960s. In the 1950s the Australian government's cold war foreign policy, and the political language that Menzies used in private and public to articulate it, were largely successful in balancing the competing claims of Britishness, Australianness and the newly-formed "American Alliance". By the early 1960s, however, his nostalgia for a dissolving imperial order was sufficiently pronounced that it contributed powerfully to a symbolic and rhetorical defeat for his side of politics, allowing Labor to claim the mantle of Australian foreign policy modernity.     

美国的世界秩序观与东亚国际体系的演变(1900-1945)(Ⅰ)

本文从美国的国际秩序观入手,通过考察20世纪上半期东亚国际体系的演变,尝试为这一时期的东亚国际关系建立一个多国的、宏观的分析框架。作者认为:美国从世纪之交就开始谋求在东亚建立一个不同于欧洲权力政治的新的国际秩序,这是美国从建国之初就萌生的改造国际秩序思想的延续;20世纪上半期东亚国际关系的演变过程是美国不断推行和实施其国际秩序思想的过程,美国新的国际秩序思想集中体现在华盛顿体系的建立上;从30年代初直至二战结束,东亚国际关系的演变可以被视为美国捍卫、中国认同、日本挑战华盛顿体系的过程;战后初期美国试图建立的东亚国际秩序不过是华盛顿体系的修正版;华盛顿体系并非仅仅是帝国主义的工具,相反在很多方面有助于中国国家利益的维护。     

东南亚国家的汇率制度改革与变迁研究

自布雷顿森林货币体系瓦解至今,东南亚国家的汇率制度经历了五个阶段的改革与变迁.在旧汇率制度下,东南亚国家的名义汇率与实际有效汇率有其显著的特点.1997年金融危机爆发之后,东南亚国家都放弃了原有的"软性"钉住美元的汇率制度,采纳了有管理的或独立的浮动汇率制度.新的汇率制度表现出程度不同的"高频钉住美元"和"低频钉住美元"的混合模式的特点,并面临本币升值的压力.新自由主义理论所鼓吹的"中间汇率制度消失论"不符合东南亚的实际情况.     

俄罗斯对外援助体系研究

2005年以来,随着经济形势的好转和国际地位的提高,俄罗斯开始加大对外援助投入,并逐步建立起自己的对外援助体系。在对外援助政策方面,从学习借鉴西方国家的经验,将对外援助看作履行国际义务、获取国家威望的手段,到主动探索建立符合本国实际的对外援助政策体系,强调对独联体地区国家援助、“软实力”和国家利益。在对外援助管理方面,总统在对外援助政策中居于中心位置,政府负责决策执行,议会负责相关立法工作,各联邦机构分别负责各自职责范围内的对外援助行动,并成立了跨部门协调机构统筹对外援助行动。在对外援助运作方面,俄罗斯将对外援助行动列入国家计划,主要通过多边和双边渠道对外提供援助。在对外援助的评估方面,俄罗斯提出了援助预算资金使用效果评估方法,定期发布对外援助数据和报告,正在逐步完善对外援助评估体系。近年来,俄罗斯对外援助体系出现较大调整,对外援助管理权有从财政部门向外交部门、从政府向总统转移的趋势。     

The antipolitics of good governance

This article sets out to understand the relationship between the complex process of structural change and the proliferating political strategies and programs implemented to manage the process of political and social change. More particularly the authors examine how in the wake of the Asian economic crisis international financial institutions advocated a new global policy through programs such as Social Investment Funds. The thread that runs through the global social policy is a distinctly political project that uses the liberal language of participation and empowerment as a strategy of “antipolitics” that marginalizes political contestation. The authors argue, however, that the antipolitics of technocratic social policy gave way to a more populist form of antipolitics of a new government led by Thaksin Shinawatra. This article examines the nature of governance projects and seeks to explain the shift between them. This new populism may be a precursor to a new “authoritarian statist” mode of political regulation that could come to dominate Southeast Asia, buttressed by the requirements imposed by the “war on terrorism.”     

朴槿惠政府对朝政策解析

朝鲜试射导弹和第三次核试验后,朝鲜半岛和东北亚国际关系进入新的"朝鲜半岛拥核和核威胁"时代,朝核问题成为韩国新政府面临的首个重大课题。朝鲜半岛局势动荡相对削弱了韩国对朝的战略优势,为其对朝传统政策带来诸多挑战。朴槿惠政府被迫更新政策,采取包括提升对朝一揽子"抑制力"与实施人道主义援助并行的"均衡政策"战略,推动朝鲜半岛"信任政治"进程。目前,朴槿惠政府扩大对朝拥核的国际抑制力是迫于朝核危机形势而采取的权宜之计,不会偏离信任进程的基本框架。由于国内外各种因素制约,从维护朝鲜半岛和平、安全、繁荣和统一的长期目标来看,朴槿惠政府采取对朝新政及与国际社会一道构建与朝互信是明智而"有希望"的选择。