Foreign Policy Role Essay ⋆ Political Science Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

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The foreign policy role is the currency of international relations, the medium of exchange in foreign affairs. It is neither power (the means of foreign policy) nor state interest (the long-term goals of statecraft to which a government aspires). The foreign policy role is the practical, day-to-day reality of international political discourse, which governments barter, jealously guard, and sometimes contest. It involves the particular concerns and immediate ends of statecraft. As with state interest, a foreign policy role is legitimized when other actors recognize the role and declare it politically acceptable. Role is that which the system allows the state to obtain.

Governments speak of “giving China a role” in talks with North Korea about relinquishing the development of nuclear weapons. More than symbolic association, role may involve institutional concerns such as admittance to the World Trade Organization for Russia, with all the likely trade benefits; membership in the prestigious Club of Eight for Canada; or permanent membership on the United Nations Security Council. Inclusion in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization or in the European Union is crucial to governments like Romania and the Czech Republic. Role concerns sovereignty and economic growth. Security itself may be at stake for governments such as those of Ukraine and Georgia as they seek a closer role in European affairs.

In power cycle theory, role is coequal in significance with power in statecraft; it is the coordinate concept that amends realism. Role is implicated in major war and is crucial to long-term equilibrium. Role lags behind power on both the rising and the declining sides of the state power cycle, causing power-role gaps. Failure of role to adjust to power change creates a structural disequilibrium that goes to the heart of the capacity to act in foreign policy and is a cause of massive warfare. Perception is always key to role, and misperception of role is often the operative cause of war. Foreign policy role is a large element of foreign policy identity.

The War of the Spanish Succession (1703–1714) was fought over whether, after the death of the last Spanish Hapsburg, Spanish possessions would be bequeathed to the grandson of the French king, uniting the Spanish and French crowns. Most of Europe found this role for Louis XIV’s grandson a recipe for French predominance. At the Treaties of Utrecht, until he gave up claims to the inheritance of France, he was denied the role of king of Spain. The dynastic transfer of territory and population was no longer a legitimate barter of the foreign policy role.

A quintessential example of the centrality of role, and of what it entails in diplomacy, is the Crimean War (1853–1856). Traditionally, Russia enjoyed the role of protector of Christians in Ottoman-controlled territories. Napoleon III forced the sultan to recognize France as the protector of Latin Christians; the sultan rejected Russian claims for equal recognition of its role. This contest over role precipitated a three-year war that involved every major power except Austria.

Security is nonnegotiable, but security roles can be transferred. After 1970, Britain voluntarily transferred order-maintenance in the Persian Gulf to the United States. Role also sometimes invites acknowledgment of spheres of influence as the Soviet Union demanded of the United States (unsuccessfully) regarding Soviet presence in Eastern Europe. Agreement regarding the respective roles of governments in a dispute is often propitious to its management.

Bibliography:

Doran, Charles F. “Systemic Disequilibrium, Foreign Policy Role, and the Power Cycle: Challenges for Research Design.” Journal of Conflict Resolution 33 (1989): 371–401.
Systems in Crisis: New Imperatives of High Politics at Century’s End. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991.
Holsti, Kal J. Peace and War: Armed Conflicts and International Order 1648–1689. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991.
Jervis, Robert. Perception and Misperception in International Politics. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1976.
Wendt, Alexander. Social Theory of International Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.