Kenya's foreign policy in context (1963–2015)

Kenya matters regionally and globally. It is the economic powerhouse of East Africa and a long-standing hub for multilateral diplomacy; its positioning in a turbulent region has fashioned its profile as an anchor state in African peace and security. Until recently, Kenya's foreign policy orientation has situated it as a benign regional leader, but pressing developments in the regional and international environments have edged it towards a more assertive foreign policy position. This study constitutes a multilevel review of Kenya's foreign policy in the period 1963–2015, beginning with Jomo Kenyatta through to the current president, Uhuru Kenyatta. After evaluating contexts pertinent to the analysis of Kenya’s foreign policy, the fundamental principles, objectives and pillars of the current foreign policy are unpacked.     

South Africa and Japan: maintaining a difficult friendship

Japan's economic and political relationship with South Africa has been characterised historically by ambiguity. Throughout the twentieth century, economic ties were underpinned by mercantilist and strategic considerations. During apartheid, this placed Japan in an uneasy position as it sought to balance a relationship of expediency with wider foreign policy objectives in the rest of Africa and beyond. The demise of apartheid created the space for new forms of engagement centred on the pursuit of cognate goals. This has seen the intensification and deepening of economic ties in particular. Yet relations, especially at the political and diplomatic levels, have also been more complex than anticipated, and in recent years, the rise in Africa of other players from Asia and the Global South has had a bearing on South Africa–Japan ties. In this paper, it is argued that two related dynamics pivoting on policy elites’ changing conceptions (or self-view) of the nature of the state they are running and its place in the wider world order help explain the post-apartheid evolution of the South Africa–Japan relationship. First, there has been an apparent shift in South African foreign policy elites’ self-view, mediated by a changing systemic context. The development and manifestation over time of a stronger Global South self-conception in South African foreign policy, fashioned in juxtaposition to what have been considered in the past key Global North relationships, had direct consequences for South Africa–Japan ties. Second, meso- and micro-level dynamics – the role of the general operations in the diplomatic (i.e. bureaucratic) arena, and the personalities and shifting political preferences of individual executive leaders – had major impacts on how South Africa engaged with Japan in the past two decades.     

Europe under occupation: the European diplomatic community of practice in the Jerusalem area

ABSTRACT

This article shows how the existence of a community of European practitioners in the Jerusalem area gives substance to the European stance on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. The often-stated European Union (EU) support for a two-state solution could appear meaningless in the absence of peace negotiations. However, European diplomats (i.e. diplomats of EU member states and EU officials) in the East Jerusalem–Ramallah area are committed to specific practices of political resistance to Israeli occupation and recognition of Palestinian institutions. These practices have led not only to a specific political geography of diplomacy, but also to a community of practice, composed of European diplomats and based on their daily experience of resisting occupation and bestowing recognition. It is this group of officials who represent and actively “do” Europe’s position and under occupation.     

周恩来的睦邻外交思想探析

在新中国对外关系史的发展历程中,周恩来睦邻外交思想占有极其重要的地位。睦邻外交是周恩来外交思想的重要组成部分。本文从思想渊源、历史背景、客观条件、主要内容、深远意义、继承发展六个方面对周恩来睦邻外交思想作了全方位的探析。     

美国外交中的"扩张主义"根源

美国政治家制定外交政策和进行外交政策辩论时,总是受着意识形态的影响.二战之后,由于美国国力一直处于不断增长的过程之中,使美国意识形态的扩张主义特性更加鲜明.从历史、传统、文化等方面探究美国"扩张主义意识形态",是把握美国外交特征的重要视角.     

两岸关系和平发展的社会机制探析

基于两岸关系的政治与社会互动逻辑,两岸关系和平发展存在着权力制衡、权利规范和社会支撑等多种构建机制,而社会机制是构建两岸关系和平发展的重要路径之一和基础组成部分.社会机制的内容分析涵盖社会动力、激励、整合、协调及保障等几个方面.两岸关系和平发展的社会机制为当前两岸关系提供了诸多启示:应确立两岸关系的多元主体多维定位,深化两岸交流沟通范围和层次,注意各项社会运行机制的深化与协调,注重社会资本的积累.     

欧盟亚太外交中的朝鲜半岛政策

1991年12月9日《欧洲联盟条约》签署后,欧洲联盟国家在追求经济一体化的同时,也在追求政治一体化,即欧洲联盟国家应以国家联盟共同体的方式,用一种声音说话。由于欧盟成员国间政治经济发展的不平衡以及在对外关系中的各自特点和差异,欧盟在对外政策上要完全用一个声音说话,还需要一个较为漫长的过程,也会受到成员国各种因素的制约。欧盟对朝鲜半岛政策从奉行接触到积极介入以及其中的起伏变化,多少能够看出欧盟在对外政策方面的相对模糊与迟缓。     

中江兆民的和平思想——以《三醉人经纶问答》为中心

作为近代日本自由民权运动的重要领袖,中江兆民的思想向来倍受研究者们的关注。有关其代表作品《三醉人经纶问答》的分析文章亦数不胜数。兆民的和平思想以小国主义为特征,是近代日本和平思想的主要来源之一。在他的和平思想中,不仅能看到西方近代的人权观念,还能找到东方传统的和平观念。本文从近代日本和平思想发展轨迹这一角度重新审视兆民的思想,以《三醉人经纶问答》为中心浅析其和平政治思想的特征。     

Leaderisation in foreign policy: performing the role of EU High Representative

ABSTRACT

This article examines how the mediatised context of foreign policy provides new opportunities for political leaders to both frame and project their own leadership role to new audiences. The past ten years have witnessed a sharp rise in political leaders’ use of new social media to communicate on a range of foreign policy issues. We argue that this new media context of foreign policy, combined with a bolstered leadership mandate, has been central to the construction of a more visible public leadership role for the EU High Representative in the post-Lisbon era. Departing from recent scholarship on performative leadership and new media in International Relations theory, we develop an original theoretical framework drawing on Erving Goffman’s dramaturgy of impression management. We employ the concept of “leaderisation” to analyse how mediatisation shapes the leadership process in terms of personification and drama to enable new forms of interaction with followers. We apply this framework in an illustrative case study focusing on the process of negotiating the EU Global Strategy. This diplomatic process provided the High Representative Mogherini with a stage on which she could frame herself in a central leadership position vis-à-vis European citizens to mobilise greater legitimacy for the EU as a global actor.     

和平发展与普世价值

中国走和平发展道路,必须顺应时代潮流,将本国利益同世界各国共同利益紧密结合起来。在全球化时代,中国要与世界各国构建"价值共同体",就需要接纳、塑造普世价值,妥善应对西方推广"普世价值"战略,需要将普世价值本身与西方的说词区别开来,同时积极构建中国自己的普世价值体系。