Chapter Two

National interest, foreign policy and Diplomacy

National Interest
 Very frequently used term in politics
 Its definition is too vague
 It can be defined as:
• Objectives, visions and goals states aspire to achieve
• The aspiration of a country, its policies and programs, emotions
and debates
• It is the reason of state to justify its action and policy towards
other states
 Every country want to pursue their national interest based on
their capability
 National interest encompasses:
Cont…
• The preservation of physical identity: the maintenance of
territorial integrity
• The preservation of political identity: the preservation of
existing socio-political identity
• The preservation of cultural identity: ethnic, religious, linguistic
and historical norms of the people
Foreign policy
 It refers to the set of objectives and instruments that a state
adopts to guide its relations with others
 It involves general purposes, priority of goals to be realized and
achieved
 It is an external (outward) oriented policy
Cont…
Foreign policy objectives
 National interest is the foreign policy objective of states
 Specifically, objectives include long, middle and short range
based on the combination of three criteria, i.e.
the value placed on the objectives
the time element placed on its achievements
the kind of demands the objective impose on others
Short range objectives: called core values and interests
basic principles of foreign policy
everybody accept it without question
includes the self-preservation of political
and economic systems, the people and territorial integrity
Middle range objectives: less important and less immediate
economic and social development
fulfilling material needs, economic needs,
prestige of the nation, scientific and technological advancement
Cont…
Long range objectives: least immediate to policy makers
includes future plans, thoughts and visions
concerning the ultimate political and ideological organization of the
international system, and rules governing relations in that system
Foreign policy behaviour
 It refers to the actions state take towards each other.
 They are not ends in themselves, but are tied to foreign policy
objectives
 It is impossible to simply categorize states as peace loving and
war-like
 Arnold Wolfers suggested that all foreign policy behaviour
ultimately boils down to three possible patterns
 Self-preservation: maintaining the status quo (USA)
 Self-extension: revising the status quo in one’s own favour (China,
Brazil, and Germany)
Cont…
 Self-Abnegation: revising the status quo in other’s favour (LDCs)
Foreign policy dimension and orientation
 Foreign policy behaviour can be done through a number of
dimensions. These include: Alignment, scope and modes of
operation
 Alignment: whether leaders choose to ally with others or remain
neutral
it vary from time to time
 Alignment includes alliance, neutrality and nonalignment
 Scope: the scope of the country’s activities and interests
some have extensive, far-reaching global contact
others have limited activities
 Three patterns: global terms, regional terms and isolationism
 Mode of operation/modus operandi: it includes unilateral,
bilateral and multilateral means to solve problems
Instrument of foreign policy
 Foreign policy involves instruments/tactics to realize goals/
objectives.
 It includes:
Diplomacy: it exist as long as civilization exist
 It is a process that actors employ to pursue goals/objectives in a
peaceful manner
 It includes bilateral/ambassadorial diplomacy, multilateral
diplomacy, public diplomacy and summit diplomacy
 The basic principle of diplomacy is bargaining.
 Bargaining refers to settling disputes/differences through an
exchange of proposal to reach for mutual acceptable solutions
 rules of successful diplomacy:
 Be realistic Be patient
• Be careful about the words to be said Leave a venue of retreat
open
• Seek common ground
• Understand the other side
 Rules of Effective Diplomacy
The following are some of the basic rules that
diplomats have employed with greater effectiveness over
the years:
Be realistic: It is important to have goals that much your
ability to achieve them
Be careful about what you say: The experienced
diplomats plans out and weighs words carefully.
Seek common ground: Dispute begins negotiations;
finds common ground ends them successfully. Almost
any negotiation will involve some concession, so it is
important to maintain a degree of flexibility.
Understand the other side: There are several aspects to
understanding the other side. One is to appreciate an
opponent’s perspective even if you do not agree with it.
 Be patient: it is also important to bide your time. Being
overly anxious can lead to concessions that are
unwise and may convey weakness to an opponent.
 Leave avenues of retreat open: it is clear that even a
rat will fight if trapped in a corner. The same is often
true for countries. Call it honor, saving face, or prestige;
it is important to leave yourself and your opponent an
“out”.
Cont…
Economic instrument: use economic muscle to influence
behaviour of actors
 State may reward/punish states through the
manipulation of economic policies
 It includes: Tariff, quota, boycott, embargo, loans,
credits and currency manipulations and foreign aid
Economic tools
Tariff - it might be raising or lowering of taxes on import or
export goods and services.
Almost all foreign made products coming into a country
are taxed for the purpose of raising revenue, protecting
domestic producers from foreign competition, or other
domestic economic reasons.
The tariff structure can be used effectively as an
inducement or punishment
Quota a state may restrict the amount or type of goods
that are permitted to be imported into state.
Boycott – elimination of import from adversary states.
a government eliminates the import of either a specific
commodity or the total range of export products sold by the
country against which the boycott is organized.
 Foreign Aid: The transfer of money, goods, or technical
advice from donor to recipient-is an instrument of policy
that has been in international relations
 There are main type of aid program including, military aid,
technical assistance, grants and commodity import
program, and development loans.
 Military Aid: probably the oldest type of aid which had been
used for buttressing alliances.
 In the last century, both France and United States had
spent millions of Francs and pounds to strengthen their
continental friend ship/ alliance.
 In this aid scheme, the donors supply money and material,
while the recipient provided most of the man power
 In this aid scheme, the donors supply money and material,
while the recipient provided most of the man power.
 If the importer doesn’t comply with these requirements,
any goods purchased abroad can be confiscated.
 Embargo state may order to exclude its nationals from
trading with nationals of adversary states.
 A government that seeks to deprive another country of
goods prohibits its own business men from concluding
its transactions with commercial organization in the
country against which the embargo is organized.
 Loans, Credits and Currency Manipulations (the transfer
of capital from one country to another.
 Rewards may include favorable tariff rates and quotas,
granting loans (favorable reward offered by the major
powers to developing countries) or extending credits.
 The manipulation of currency rates is also used to create
more or less favorable terms of trade between countries.
 Contd…
Psychological instrument: positively/
negatively influence the mind of one’s own
people and the other’s to accept policies
favourable to them
 It includes propaganda – appealing to
emotion rather than logical reason
Military instrument: used as a final option
after diplomacy failed
 It includes overtly threatening opponents,
demonstration of violence and direct action
(war)
T
ha
nk
Yo
u!
!!
 Chapter Three
International Political Economy
What is IPE?
 The study of Political economy has always been dominated by
a national or/and international level debate over the
responsibilities of the state with regard to the economy.
 At the domestic level, the debate poses the following pressing
questions:
• Should the state be responsible for determining how the
economy of a given country is to be organized and run?
• Should such responsibility be left to the market which is
populated by self-serving individuals acting as private agents?
• Should housing, medical care, education, welfare be provided
by private citizens using the resources they have available to
them?
• Should they be provided by the state?
Cont…
 At the international level of analysis, the debate also poses
such pressing questions as:
• How should international trade be governed?
• How should international investment be governed?
• How should international finance be governed?
• What should/not be the role of international institutions like the
IMF, WB and WTO in the governance of international finance,
investment and trade?
 Political economy is the study of the intersection between
politics and economics within a given country
 IPE is a field of inquiry that studies the ever-changing
relationship between governments, businesses, and social
forces across history and in different geographical areas
 IPE is concerned with the way in which political and economic
factors interact at the global level
Cont…
 IPE is a field that thrives on the process that Joseph Schumpeter
called “creative destruction”. i.e. the deliberate dismantling of
established processes in order to make way for improved
methods of production.
 The growing prominence of IPE as a field of study is a result of
the continuing breakdown of disciplinary boundaries between
economics and politics in particular and among social sciences
generally
 The traditional IPE problematique includes analysis of the
political economy of international trade, international finance,
north-south relations, multinational corporations, and hegemony
 The emerging IPE (New IPE) subjects include international
development, regional cooperation and integration,
environmental problems, and globalization and its consequences.
Theoretical perspectives on IPE
 Theories are developed to answer the following questions
• How exactly does politics shape the decisions that societies
make about how to use the resources that are available to them?
• What are the consequences of these decisions?
Mercantilism
 The 16th and 17th centuries economic policies of the great
powers and the overall economic systems are often referred to
by the term mercantilism
 international economic relations were carried out within the
context of imperialism.
 Mercantilists advocated self-serving states of favouring
exports so that wealth could be accumulated
 Basic tenets include:
 The government should involve in international trade
 International economics is competitive not cooperative
 Self-sufficiency
 Protectionism
 classical mercantilism is based on three central propositions.
These are
• National power and wealth are tightly connected
Cont…
• Trade provides countries one way for countries to acquire wealth
from abroad
• Manufacturing activity should be promoted, whereas agriculture
and other non-manufacturing activities should be discouraged
 Modern mercantilism applies these three propositions to
contemporary international economic policy in the following
propositions.
• Economic strength is a critical component of national power
• Trade is to be valued for exports, but government should
discourage imports whenever possible
• Some forms of economic activities are more valuable than
others
• Mercantilism, defends a strong and pervasive role of the state in
the economy both in domestic and international trade,
investment and finance.
 Mercantilism, in general, argued that state should play a large
role in determining how society’s resources are allocated.
Liberalism
• Emerged in the 18th century
• Challenged all the three propositions of mercantilism
• The purpose of economic activity is to enrich individuals, not to
enhance state power
• Countries do not enrich themselves by running trade surpluses
• Efficiency and effectiveness – not just by producing
manufacturing products rather than primary goods
• It is based on people’s natural inclination to cooperation
• This is reflected with in the economy
• The central propositions of liberalism include
 Free trade
 Invisible hand
 Comparative advantage
 Trade brings peace
Marxism
• Capital is concentrated in the hand of capitalists
• The capitalists control the state
• LDCs are exploited by the capitalist state
• The best example is the colonial structure
• Global economy does not provide benefit to all countries
• Global economy is a zero-sum game
NB: each perspective have different response to the questions:
• How politics shape the allocation of resources?
 Mercantilist: state guides resource allocations
 Liberalist: politics play little role
 Marxist: decision are made by large capitalist class
• What are the consequences of resource allocation?
 Mercantilist: to enhance state power
 Liberalist: to improve the welfare of the people
 Marxist: to concentrate wealth in the hands of capitalists
 u!!!
k yo
han
T
 Chapter Four
Globalization and Regionalism
What is Globalization?
Globalization can be defined as a multidimensional process characterized
by:
The stretching of social and political activities across state (political)
frontiers so that events, decisions, and activities in one part of the world
come to have significance for individuals and communities in other parts of
the world.
For instance wars and conflicts in developing countries would increase
the flow of asylum seekers and illegal migrants in to the developed
countries;
 The growing magnitude of interconnectedness in almost every aspect of
social existence
 Globalisation is a process that removes all national barriers for the free
movement of international capital, including human, material and
structural resources as well as normative cultures that promote societal
building across the globe
 It is the intensification of worldwide social relations, which link distant
localities in such a way that local happenings are shaped by events
occurring many miles away
 The advent of transportation and information communication
technology are the catalyst to globalization
Debates on Globalization
• The role of the nation state in the globalization process has led
to many questions
• Among the questions are:
is the nation state being undermined?
has it retained its primacy?
is it becoming transformed in new ways?
• It is possible to understand the relationship between
globalization and the role of nation state by examining three
different well accepted theoretical perspectives of globalization
• These are hyper-globalism, skepticism and transformationalism
Hyper-globalism: the role of the nation state is diminished by the
existence of international organizations such as the United Nations
and the International Monetary fund (IMF) or by social movements
• The world is on its way to a form of global governance, rather
than a system the governance by powerful nation states
Cont…
• Nation-states become obsolete to regulate their economy and
boundary
• Economic globalization brought denationalization and
deterritorialization of economies
• Eco. Globalization brings the decline of state
• IMF, World Bank and General Agreement and Tariff and Trade
(GATT) organizations, have created a new economic order,
which must be obeyed by nation states
• National governments unable to control trans-boundary
movements and flow of goods, services and ideas
• Transnational organizations diminish the role of the nation
state, and global governance will become the last frontier
• national states will eventually vanish, and will not transform any
kind of structure in the future
• Uniform way of life by trivializing traditional culture
Cont…
Skepticism
• Nation states are shaping the nature of world politics
• Globalization is not a new process, but an on-going form of
internationalization
• Nation state is growing
• The role of the nation state is still alive and its borders are
effective
• The organs of the United Nations (UN) are instruments of
powerful nation states and are designed to achieve their political
aims
• The future of world politics will be related to national states and
their implementation
• Anti-globalist movements – a large number of people in the world
are not comfortable with the idea of global governance
• Reject the idea of global governance
• Reject the view of hyper-globalist as flawed, myth and politically
naive
Cont…
• States are central actors and agents of globalization
• States play central role in shaping and regulating economic
activities
• What is happening in the name of globalization is
internationalism, regionalism, and neo-liberal policies created by
the capitalist order
• Globalization brings nothing new
Transformationalism
• Present the middle ground between the hyper-globalists and
skeptics
• While there are still nation states that exist in the context of
world politics, their structures are different from what they were,
and the effect of globalization on nation states is indisputable
• Globalization is a real phenomenon and is affecting nation states
• The nation state still plays a role in world politics
• External forces such as human rights, population policy, and
factors such as the environment, education, labor, and
immigration, all have an enormous role to play in reshaping the
structures of nation states
Cont…
• Although international laws and the implementation of
international organizations press for national sovereignty,
national institutions are major players who put these
international laws and other strategies into practice
• Globalization reconstitute/reengineer the power, function and
authority of the state
• A new sovereign regime is displacing traditional conception of
state power as absolute, indivisible and territorially exclusive
power
 Globalization and Its Impacts on Africa
The positive impact of globalization on Africa is that it
has made available information on how other countries
are governed and the freedoms and rights their people
enjoy.
globalization has promoted greater respect for human
rights and contributed to the development of an African
press.
This has opened African countries to far greater study
than in the past, making it somewhat more difficult for
African governments to get away with blatant and
excessive abuses of democratic governance and
transparency.
 It has also opened African countries to intense external
inquiry and exercised pressure for greater transparency,
openness and accountability in Africa.
 However, most of the forces unleashed by globalization
have had a negative impact on the growth and
consolidation of democratic governance in Africa.
 Contd…
While calling for greater accountability and responsiveness of
leaders to their people, globalization has often pressured African
leaders to adopt policies and measures that are diametrically
opposite to the feelings and sentiments of the vast majority of their
people.
Globalization leads to the development of anti-developmentalism
by declaring the state irrelevant or marginal to the developmental
effort.
 Development strategies and policies that focus on stabilization
and privatization, rather than growth, development and poverty
eradication, are pushed by external donors, leading to greater
poverty and inequality and undermining the ability of the people to
participate effectively in the political and social processes in their
countries.
By imposing economic specialization based on the needs and
interests of external forces and transforming the economies of
African countries into a series of enclave economies linked to the
outside but with very little linkages among them, divisions within
African countries are accentuated and the emergence of national
consciousness and the sense of a common destiny is frustrated.
 Advantage and disadvantage of globalization

Advantage
• Expansion of democratic culture, human
right and the protection of historically
minority and subaltern groups.
• Innovation in science, medicine, and
technology and information communication
which enabled the improvement of quality
of life.
• Agricultural technological expansion which
could be helpful in alleviating poverty
Cont…
• Technological and social revolution that resulted in human
security and safety.
• The free movement of good, service, people, ideas, expertise,
knowledge and technology which has brought international
interdependence.
• New sense of global society and the perspective of global
citizenship
Disadvantage
• Western imperialism of ideas and beliefs eroding and inroads
the sovereignty of non-Western countries.
• Global capital and international financial institutions like WB
and IMF made free inroads into countries of the south
• Brings different way of life and cultural values.
• Has made the globalization of risks, threats and vulnerabilities
like global terrorism, religious fundamentalism, proliferation of
Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALWs), arms and human
Cont…
• It has stimulated the emergence of a simultaneous but
opposite process of Glocalization, which involves a process of
integration to the world and differentiation to the local.
Regionalism
• An ideology focusing on the development of
cooperation among states within one or more
regions
• Depends on the ingredients of identifiable
geographical regions, geographical proximity and an
organization with a common sense of identity and
purpose
• Dominant after WWII
• Emerged in Western Europe in the late 1940s
• A regionalism can be:
Old regionalism: regional association and protection
from globalization and trade liberalization
Cont…
advocate protectionist policy
cooperation and integration is limited to member states
 New regionalism: open and outward oriented regionalism
driven by market and less by politics
globalization changes the balance from state
regulation to market competition
more diverse in geographical coverage
Regional integration
• It is a process where states enter into a regional agreement to
enhance regional cooperation through regional institutions and
rules
• Purpose: economic, political, social and environmental
• It is the highest stage of cooperation
• It sacrifices some of the ultimate decision-making power of the
nation-state to regional cooperation
Theories of regional integration
Functionalism: war as the result of social and economic
maladministration
• The real task of the cooperation is the conquest of poverty,
ignorance, and disease
• The existing system based on sovereignty is not only adequate
but also an obstacle to finding solutions to global problems
• Integration is functional response by states to regional
problems arising from interdependence
• Cooperation must start from low politics
• Reject political aspect of cooperation
• Neglected anticipated problems like conflicts, hard power
decisions and political mobilization
• Technocrats should rule
• Supranational institutions are the main actors within the
integration
Cont…
Neo-functionalism: popular in the 1950s and 1960s
• Integration developed through time
• The theory hinged on three main processes
 The theory views interest groups, political parties, nation states
and supranational institutions as actors in regional integration
 Good will and common interests will ultimately leads greater
integration
 The context in which integration take place is economic, social
and technical and to a lesser extent political
Inter-governmentalism: integration can be best understood as a
series of rational choices made by national leaders
• Integration takes place within domestic politics
• A logical consequences of intergovernmental negotiation
• Downgrade the importance of supranational institution
• Effectiveness of integration is determined by the role of the state
Cont…
• State as the main actor in the integration process and the
international system
• The process of integration includes:
national preference formation
inter-state bargaining
institutional choice
• The integrating units must be political commuty
Thank You!!!