German foreign policy and transatlantic relations since unification

Looking at German foreign policy and transatlantic relations since unification, this article argues that fundamental views and principles about Germany's role in Europe and the world have endured. The integrationist impulse remains strong. As shown by Kosovo, Germans have put this multilateralism above qualms about the use of military force. This has also left Berlin and Washington continuing to share many objectives, not only traditional ones about power and peace in Europe, but also on a whole host of challenges that have come with globalisation, both in the wider world and in the multiplicity of commercial and civil relationships across the Atlantic.     

The role of Britain in West German foreign policy since 1949 1

Anglo‐German relations since 1949 have been a curious mixture of harmony and tension. This paper looks at the reasons both for cooperation and conflict and some of the ways in which German perceptions of Britain have changed since 1949. Attitudes to security, economic integration and political identity produced a complex pattern, where each side at times had unrealistic expectations of the other. Recently published documents from the Auswärtiges Amt for 1963–64 give an insight into the ‘official mind’ of German foreign policy at a critical moment.     

Libya's foreign policy in flux

This article provides a brief assessment of Libya’s oftenunpredictable foreign policy with regard to Africa. The firstsection presents a brief historical background to Libya’sinvolvement on the African continent and Colonel Gaddafi’smilitary interventionism in Africa. The next section assessesthe 1990s and Muammar Gaddafi’s popularity during thisperiod as well as his often extravagant economic involvementin Africa. The third section considers Gaddafi’s ambitiousrole in the African Union and his efforts to secure a unitedAfrica. The fourth section assesses Gaddafi’s dramaticforeign policy shift from rogue criminal to responsible statesman,following his historic decision to relinquish his country’sweapons of mass destruction (WMD) and an almost enthusiasticwillingness to welcome the West back after decades of antagonismand the subsequent wave of international praise as a consequence.Finally, it gives a brief assessment of the future of Libya’sforeign relations.     

Trends in North Korean foreign policy

North Korea’s foreign policy track record in the post-cold war era is mixed. Most notable setbacks are the diplomatic normalization between the Soviet Union (now Russia) and South Korea; the reversal of its UN policy that paved the way for the simultaneous admission of the two Korean states to the world organization; and the diplomatic normalization between China and South Korea. On the credit side of Pyongyang’s diplomatic ledger are changes in its relations with Tokyo and Washington. While tangible results have yet to materialize, particularly in North Korea-Japan relations, the groundwork has nonetheless been laid for significant improvement. North Korea’s suspected nuclear weapons development program has played a major role in the unfolding of its relations with the United States. Conceptually, North Korean foreign policy can be explained in terms of its quest for three interrelated goals: security, legitimacy, and development. In the post-cold war era security appears to have emerged as the most important of the three goals. North Korea is at a crossroads. The choices it makes in foreign policy will determine not only the direction of its domestic policy but, ultimately, the survival of the regime itself. The external players in Seoul, Washington, Tokyo, Beijing, Moscow, and Vienna (the IAEA) have varying degrees of leverage over Pyongyang’s policy as well.     

Environmental protection in Chinese foreign policy

The environmental aspect of Chinese foreign policy has been neglected in the study of Chinese foreign relations. Yet it has become increasingly important since the late 1980s. Beijing’s increased interest in environmental diplomacy is closely linked with its security, economic, environmental and foreign policy interests. Recognizing the seriousness of its deteriorating domestic environment, the growing international attention on the ecological threats, and the need to improve China’s image and international status, Beijing has begun to pay special attention to environmental diplomacy. Yet China’s priority of economic development, its limited resources, its concerns about sovereign infringement, and trade barriers determine the features of China’s practice in this area.     

Azerbaijan and its foreign policy dilemma

Nazrin Mehdiyeva is a PhD research student in International Relations in St Antony's College, Oxford.     

Ubuntu,public policy ethics and tensions in South Africa's foreign policy

This article examines the practicability of Ubuntu in public policy, in particular the domain that concerns South Africa's external relations. The authors contend that advancing Ubuntu in a world that is increasingly fractured along identity lines, marked by anxiety and characterised by realism and interplays of power is an ideal worth pursuing. This article shows that there is dissonance in South Africa in the rhetoric that champions Ubuntu and the actual policy practice in crucial dimensions. The authors not only set out to mark the contours of the disjuncture between the rhetoric of Ubuntu and its application in both public policy and foreign policy, but also make a case for advancing Ubuntu as an integral part of public policy and a standard against which to measure success.     

Japanese foreign policy: Inaction and reaction

Japan's tendency to simply react to international trends rather than to formulate its own policies is as prevalent today as during the Meiji period when the country was trying to catch up to the West, says Gerald Curtis, professor of political science at Columbia University. When international trends are murky, such as before World War II, this tendency can easily lead to disaster, Curtis says. Japan must break with the past and define its international role in the post‐Cold War era, Curtis argues, but the public debate required to achieve this is unlikely until Japan's domestic politics become more sharply defined.     

Chinese foreign policy and American social science

Abstract

Karl Marx and Mao Tse-tung, C. Wright Mills, Barrington Moore, Jr. and Fei Hsiao-t'ung also described themselves as social scientists. Thus when Boardman contrasts radical scholarship with authentic social science he is merely using a debater's tactic, using a label to place his adversaries at a rhetorical disadvantage, trying to monopolize the term science for only his outlook on events.     

Institutional change and continuity in German infrastructure management: The case of electricity reform

Why, despite improving living conditions, has the acceptance of the Western system of institutions (democracy, market economy) decreased in the past few years in eastern Germany? This article criticises the widely held socialisation thesis which seeks to explain the declining acceptance of the Western system on the basis of the difficulties faced by east Germans in adapting to the new conditions. Their attitudes were formed by the socialist system of the GDR, and they still clung to socialist ideals. This article, on the contrary, argues that the declining trust in political institutions and market economy results from current experiences of the transformation process in unified Germany, primarily as a consequence of being treated as ‘not equal’ to west Germans.     

South African foreign policy in the post-Mbeki period

President Thabo Mbeki's resignation in September 2008 six months before the expected end of his term was triggered by the recall issued by the ANC National Executive Committee. It is highly unlikely that any major changes in foreign policy will be made by the caretaker government of President Kgalema Motlanthe before the 2009 elections. However, the significant changes in the domestic political environment signal the start of a new era in South Africa's transformation — what might be called the ‘post post-apartheid period’. This paper explores what those changes might entail, especially in the realm of foreign policy. After reflecting on the legacy of Mbeki's foreign policy, the paper considers the potential implications of the relevant resolutions agreed at the December 2007 ANC National Conference in Polokwane. Constraints on South African foreign policy towards the African continent are considered, especially with regard to perception versus reality of its economic and political hegemony as well as its complex identity as a nation. In light of this analysis and the inevitable impact of the current global economic crisis, the paper concludes with a series of recommendations for a new vision and agenda for South Africa's foreign policy under the government to be elected in 2009.     

Ghana's foreign policy and transnational security challenges in West Africa

This article focuses on Ghana's security culture as reflected in its foreign policy, and how it has influenced the way the country addresses transnational security challenges in the Economic Community of West African State subregion. In this sense, the article explores some of the linkages between national and subregional security cultures in West Africa and how effectively they have complemented each other in providing a holistic response to the transnational security challenges facing Ghana. The article argues that despite the existence of different subregional conventions and protocols made possible by an emerging subregional security culture, Ghana's strategies for addressing transnational security threats have not gone much beyond the rhetoric of addressing the problems. In reality, transnational criminal activities have not only intensified but have become more challenging. Several factors contribute to this including corrupt leadership and institutional practices, security lapses and lack of interagency coordination, and inadequate resources for addressing the problem. The article calls for adequately equipping the law enforcement agencies and the implementation of relevant laws to facilitate effective responses to transnational security challenges for Ghana and other countries in West Africa.     

Parliament,foreign policy and civil society in South Africa

Discussions of Ethiopia and its present situation generally focus on the political debate in Addis Ababa, as experienced by visitors and residents. But an analysis from the point of view of the actors must perforce include those groups and positions that have been excluded from this public discourse. In Ethiopia, this exclusion concerns primarily the peasants, who constitute about 80% of the population. Other groups would include the poorest sections of the urban population and the ethnic peoples of the South, as well as Muslims, women and outcast craftsmen. This analysis opens the way for new insights and a wider perspective on the political dynamics of Ethiopia, and puts the views of the silent actors in the centre. It concludes with a call for reform of local administration and enforcement of existing constitutional provisions for democratic governance. This would require new alliances both domestically and abroad.     

Nigeria's foreign policy and transnational security challenges in West Africa

This article explores how Nigeria's foreign policy has responded to transnational security challenges in West Africa. It engages in a conceptual overview of the discourse on transnational security and links this with a discussion of Nigeria's foreign policy towards West Africa. Of note is Nigeria's pursuit of a leadership role in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), in its quest for security, economic integration and development. Several questions are posed: What do Nigerian policymakers consider to be the most significant transnational threats in West Africa? How and through what legitimate policies and instruments do they respond to such threats? How important is ECOWAS to Nigeria's attempt to respond to transnational threats? And how effective have Nigeria's attempts to influence the ECOWAS agenda in this regard been? Although ECOWAS has remained central to Nigeria's responses to transnational security threats in the subregion, the country has not been able to match its rhetoric on addressing transnational security threats with far-reaching concrete achievements. It is suggested that social transformation of Nigeria's current foreign policy (that is, to one focused and committed to putting people at its centre) and a change in the policies of dominant global powers towards West Africa would enhance human emancipation and eliminate the numerous insecurities confronting the peoples of the subregion.     

The debate over south Africa's foreign policy

South Africa is no exception to the rule that there tends to be continuity in a state's foreign policy even in the event of far‐reaching domestic political change. But given the new South Africa's debt to a global human rights campaign, the emphasis on ‘staking out the moral high ground’ in the rhetoric of the country's new decision‐makers and of commentators is not surprising. The article discusses the creative tension between the claims of morality and the constraints of realpolitik in the debate on the formulation of the new South Africa's foreign policy. It identifies both differences and overlaps in the approaches of realists and radicals to the conduct of the country's foreign policy.