Diplomacy and Global Studies

Foreign Policy

Actions that government representatives make regarding something outside of their boarders

Ex: war and peace, trade, foreign aid etc

Foreign policy analysis

Why foreign policy decisions come into being (foreign policy outcomes)

Emphasis on the actors and processes within states

Explanation

Neorealism

States looking at relative gains and losses

Systematic factors that drive states to do things - balance of power

Liberalism

Interdependence and codependency

Institutions mitigating the effect of anarchy

Cooperation

States make policy based on what the people want

Constructivism

Operating on norms, values, and identity

Acts of foreign policy should represent norms

Levels of analysis

Systematic constraints and incentives (structure of intl system)

Domestic processes and actors or attributes of the state (political culture)

Characteristics of individual decision makers

top down vs bottom up

Top down: focus on gov actors, other actors restricting or pressurizing government

Bottom up: focus on societal actors, their activities are the main explanatory factor

Formal and direct Policymaking

Inclusion in decision making structures

Formal and indirect policy making

Hearings of interest groups in parliament, scientific policy advise, diplomacy

Informal direct policy making

Some forms of corruption

Informal indirect policy making

Media reporting, academic publishing, lobbying and advocacy, expert consultations

Transnational Actors

Global actors, such as nongovernmental organizations, multi- national corporations, intergovernmental organizations, and private organizations, that operate across borders and share the world stage with states.

Expert networks like scientists

Policy process

agenda setting (identify important topics/issues), policy formation (executive thinking how to address problem), decision making (concrete decision made), implementation (bureaucracy implementing decisions), evaluation and feedback (ideal)

Presidential systems in foreign policy

President has significant formal foreign policy power

Mostly very influential but compete with others like legislature

Parliamentary System in foreign policy

No constitutional seperation of power between executive and legislative

PM has informal powers because they represent the country

PM can be constrained by parliament, party factions etc

Multi party coalition government in foreign policy

Maybe more extreme behavior than single party governments

Highly cooperative or highly aggressive

Institutional effects on character, not foreign policy

Actors in domestic society

Corporate lobbies (campaigns, events, showcase support for a policy to congress)

Formal - direct and indirect

Informal - direct and indirect

Public opinion, media, interest groups, social movements

Leaders- authoritarian

Authoritarian leaders have greater leeway to make decisions without consulting with coalition partners, party members

Individual decision making

Leaders aren't interchangeable (different republican would make different policy than trump)

Decision makers don't respond the same to structural constraints

In which situations are leaders most/least important?

Non routine decisions

Complex situations

Crises, decision under stress, situation with excess of information

Rational choice approaches

Assumption is that people are rational decision makers, or rational actors that can work with lots of info

They consider costs and benefits

Objectively select the best option

Psychological and cognitive approaches

Human rationality is bounded by biology, we can't process all the info that we want to make a perfectly rational decision

Operational code analysis

How leaders make decisions:

Beliefs that explain FP decisions and actions

Philosophical beliefs- basic assumptions about nature of politics and political conflict

Instrumental beliefs- the relationship between goals and means in politics

Issue specific- they relate to a specific issue/domain

Leadership trait analysis

Not issue specific

Personality characteristics

Mostly stable throughout time and across issue areas

Focus on if the leader has high, average or low manifestation of certain traits

Do their traits stand out and potentially influence policy decisions?

Foreign policy decision making

The process, focus on attributes of individual decision makers

Decision criteria: factors that are taken into account (individuals put different emphasis on different decision criteria)

Decision rules - maximizing

Purposeful acting, selected goal

Not influenced by external pressures

Able to calculate costs and benefits

Decision rules - elimination by aspects

Prioritize a prominent dimension and discard alternative that don't meet that dimension, then move down ladder to remaining dimensions

Decision rules - lexicographic rule

Chose top option according to important criteria

Option that has greatest utility in dimension weighed most prominently

Decision rules - Poliheuristic rule

Initially use cognitive approach to discard alternatives that don't meet critical requirements

Then they move to rational or lexicographic approach

National role conceptions

Focus on decision makers perceptions of their state

Israel's role, partnership with USA, U.S. big brother, Israel little brother

Russia and Soviet union - national role conceptions, and role expectations

Roles - enactment

State A acting on the basis of its national role conceptions- if you see yourself as an ally to US, you will act accordingly

Roles - socialization

The process where state As role enactment is brought into alignment with state Bs expectations

States that join EU- after fulfilling expectations they can be in EU

Roles - domestic role contestation

Disagreement within the state regarding the roles the state should play on intl stage

Debate between elites - horizontal

Differences between decision makers and the public - vertical

Factors that explain foreign policy

Government systems

Societal and global actors

Types of leaders

How leaders make decisions

Roles - master and auxiliary roles

More important vs less important roles of a state

Diplomacy

Conduct of relationships, using peaceful means, by and among Intl actors

Keeping relations and implementing political decisions at intl level

Practices include: gathering, analyzing, and communicating info

Negotiation

Drafting treaties and establishing interactions

Maintaining representative missions: embassies, consulate

Key elements of diplomacy

Agents- career diplomats, temporary people on specific missions like military officers, scholars, journalists

Material goods- embassies, consulates, equipment, secure communication

Knowledge- producing knowledge, sending back info to ministries of foreign affairs where it is analyzed and processed to inform policy, information exchange

Track 1 diplomacy

Official and formal interaction between gov representatives, diplomats, etc to manage intl relations and solve conflicts

Involves: high level negotiation, treaty making, mediation

Track 2 diplomacy

Informal dialogues among actors like academics, religious leaders, NGO officials

Can help maintain and strengthen communication on critical issues, especially where governments don't want to be seen officially negotiating

Diplomacy origins

Mesopotamia, Greek city states, Romans, arthashastra, renaissance (most important) - permanent embassies established to observe, report and negotiate

Treaty of Westphalia

Transition from religious to state centric diplomacy in Europe

Modern state system

Congress of Vienna - codified intl diplomatic conduct among sovereign states

Concert of Europe - system promoted stability through regularized diplomatic meetings

Multilateralism

The practice of coordinating national policies in groups of three or more states

Vienna convention on diplomatic relations

Makes what was custom to be binding - diplomatic immunity; without fear, coercion, harassment

Diplomats must be able to carry out their functions

Diplomacy today

Issues: broad, war, peace, health, environment, tech, culture (travel, cultural promotion)

Diplomats: negotiate, communication, trade promotion, cultural exchange, public relations

Diplomacy - actors

States are central, but non state actors are impatient (NGO, multinational corps, religious groups, celebrities

Intl orgs: UN, ILO- key sites for multilateral diplomacy and collective decision making

Individuals: philanthropists , terrorists, can influence diplomatic agendas

Diplomacy - IR theories

Realist- instrument of grand strategy to make alliances to balance against more powerful states

English school- focus on intl society, institutions, common rules (agreement on what is a great power, agreed upon meaning for what is war)

Diplomacy - a practice

Key argument: multilateral diplomacy produces inequality

Focus: how hierarchies are reproduced through diplomatic practices at the UN

Focus: observable practices, who sits in which meetings, diplomatic stuff shape identities and decide who is important

Poststructuralism in IR

Language produces meaning

The words we chose creates power relationships

Words genocide vs tribal warfare, global north and global south

Language and Power

Power defines what counts as knowledge

Poststructuralist approach to diplomacy

How diplomacy shapes how states see the world, and how diplomats send info back home, how this shapes peoples knowledge and views

Diplomacy creates the states: presence of state is real if they have a diplomat that speaks and represents on behalf of state

Public diplomacy

A government and its representatives communicating abroad, promoting certain ideas abroad

States or non state actors communicating their view of the world/situation

Instrument used by states and actors to understand cultures, attitudes, and behavior. Managing relationships, influence thoughts and mobilize actions to advance their interests and values.

Why: desire to be noticed, spreading values, defending against foreign criticism, status, economic concerns, narrative

Practices: country promotion, messaging, nation branding, varies among states, campaigns to promote travel

Origin: US during Cold War

Public diplomacy vs propaganda

PD: interested in dialogue, and long term relationship building

Propaganda: generally not interested in dialogue or relationship building

Status in World Politics

3 attributes: positional, perceptual, and social

Standing/rank/position in hierarchy

Belonging to "status community" - rank determined by beliefs of members

Social identity theory: how social groups strive to achieve positive distinctive identity

Strategies: social mobility, social competition, social creativity

Soft power

To obtain preferred outcomes by attraction rather than coercion or payment

Shaping what others want/what they think

Attracting others because they like what you "have"

Ability to affect others to get outcomes

Resources that produce soft power: culture (Hollywood, cinema), political values (democracy promotion), foreign policy

Can be passive or actively sought, effects can be direct or indirect

Target is at least as important as the sender (emphasis on relationship of power and recipient)

Problems: power resources and effects of power aren't separated, soft power is non-tangible power resources, difficult to assess them

Digital diplomacy

The role of digital technology in diplomacy

Use of digital tech (social media and online platforms etc) by ministries of MFA's, intl orgs, to communicate with each other and the public, conduct diplomacy, and advance FP goals

1. Visual simplicity (format of messaging) - simple, plain, direct, quick

2. Emotional framing (style and form) - more emotion, more likely to spread on media

3. Computational personalization (shift focus from macro to micro level alignment) - identify themes that individuals can connect with

4. Engagement hybridization (physical and virtual environment integrate, complement and empower each other) - physical diplomacy and video conferences

Populism

Ideology that considers society to be separated to "the pure people" vs "the corrupt elite" and politics should be expression of the general will of the people

Thin-centered ideology, people centrist and anti elitist

Populism and Foreign Policy

Impacts how foreign policy is made, not necessarily with immediate impact on FP outcomes

2 mechanisms:

mobilization- strong leader that claims he speaks for the people, FP can be used for domestic political mobilization (true people vs external others)

Personalization- representation as the embodiment of the popular will, direct connection between the leader and the true people

Most likely foreign ministries would be weaker, diplomats would be weakened

Negotiation

How to Solve disputes among states:

judicial means (adjudication sometimes used, but states usually emphasize sovereignty and prefer limited interference)

Bargaining and negotiation - default option for disputes among states

Getting something by giving something, search for solutions when there are conflicts of interest, compromise

Sequence of actions where 2 or more parties address demands, arguments, and proposals for potential agreement - sometimes reaching agreement isn't the main goal, maybe negotiating to buy time, not genuinely trying to agree

Structural theories of intl negotiations

Intl bargaining problems treated in terms of power resources and capabilities of the negotiating parties

Realism: strong states will prevail, outcomes reflect preferences of stronger states, outcomes pre-determined

Weaker actors can overcome asymmetries by adopting bargaining tactics and strategies (asking for support from others, mediators, refusal to make concessions etc)

Formal decisional analysis

Assumption of strategic rationality: no egoistic rational acto can pursue its own interests independently of the choices of other actors, you are never completely alone

Communication-based approach

Negotiation- a way to change parties perceptions of a conflict so they learn and trust each other - become willing to make concessions

Attitudes change is possible because human conflict is many times driven by misperceptions, conflicting identity and status demands

Internal dynamics can destroy negotiations

Negotiation Analysis - distributive tactics

Focus on relative gains, increase self advantage

Opening with high demands, refuse to make concessions, exaggerating minimum needs and true priorities, manipulating info to others disadvantage

Taking others' issues hostage: connect 2 issues that matter to rival and pressure them (Iran holding strait of Hormuz "hostage")

Threats, penalties, protecting yourself from losing

Negotiation analysis - problem solving tactics

Proposing agenda items likely to benefit both

Communicating information

Joint research, increasing options outside the opening positions

Negotiator dilemma

If party A uses distributive, party B wont use integrative

Value claiming - distributive: discourage the integrative process

Value creating - integrative (problem solving): open the negotiator to risk of exploitation and loss of value for their side

Linkage strategy: connecting different issues in a negotiation

-ex: can be used by powerful states that use military power to coerce weaker states to change policies on trade

-can also promote agreement and expand mutual gain

BATNA (Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement)

In negotiation, actors must think if we don't reach agreement, what is the best alternative?

Reservation value: the value of the best alternative +/- transaction costs

A party isn't certain of others reservation value prior to bargaining

No deal option might be equal to status quo, but it can also be worse or better than status quo before negotiations