School of Social and Political Sciences - Theses
Permanent URI for this collection
Search Results
1 - 5 of 5
-
ItemPromoting values in the European Union’s free trade agreements: institutional competition in negotiations with Canada and Singapore( 2016)This thesis explores how competition among EU institutions shapes the promotion of its values-based foreign policy interests through trade negotiations. It argues that the EU’s human rights and sustainable development values are in tension with commercial interests in trade policy. These tensions are explored through an analysis of decision-making processes among EU institutions during FTA negotiations with Canada and Singapore. Throughout decision-making in these negotiations, institutional competition has diminished the EU’s coherence in advancing values-based foreign policy interests.
-
ItemMiddle power or awkward partner?: A study of Australian foreign policy in Asia( 2015)This thesis provides a clarification of middle power theorizing in order to demonstrate how what is identified here as middle power imagining contributes to Australia’s awkward partnering in the Asia Pacific region. Australia’s characteristic assumption of a middle power identity is re-conceptualized as dependent middle power imagining. It is argued in the thesis that an analysis of the scholarship and commentary (the political science) on Australian foreign policy points to a new and more nuanced understanding of Australia’s relations with its major Asian neighbours than the conventional accounts have thus far provided.
-
ItemAustralian climate policy and diplomacy: the transition years, John Howard to Kevin Rudd( 2014)Benjamin Parr examined the climate policy discourses of the government and fossil fuel industry in Australia, and their relationship to climate diplomacy, during the period 2006-2009. The thesis argued that the shared government-industry discourse about protecting Australia’s industrial competitiveness has had a more decisive influence in shaping and legitimating Australian climate policy than the direct lobbying tactics of the fossil fuel industry, aka ‘the greenhouse mafia’; while the different foreign policy traditions of Australia’s major political parties - as alliance-focused versus internationalist - help to explain variation in domestic climate policy and climate diplomacy.
-
ItemThe influence of dominant cultural values on India’s foreign policy( 2013)This thesis seeks to answer the question “what is the influence of dominant cultural values on India’s foreign policy?” In so doing, it highlights the explanatory power of culture, something which has been elided in much of the International Relations discipline. I first explore the literature on cultural values and identify a definition which allows them to be examined as a variable influencing foreign policy. I then assess International Relations approaches for their understanding of culture in world politics. Values are then identified that can be accurately labelled ‘India’s dominant cultural values’. To qualify, the values must: (a) have played a dominant role in Indian culture throughout history, and (b) be dominant within present-day India. Non-violence, hierarchy, pluralism and tolerance were identified as such values. I examine the extent and nature of the influence of each of these values on India’s foreign policy. This is largely through focusing on leaders’ preferences and perceptions. Evidence is drawn from discourse and state behaviour. Qualitative and quantitative analysis are used in a complementary fashion. Alternate explanations, such as those based in realism, are tested alongside cultural values. A case study approach is taken. Each cultural value is assessed in three case studies on India’s nuclear posture. Nuclear weapons are highly symbolic and therefore an excellent theatre in which to examine the role of cultural values. Each case study covers a period within the last 25 years. The nuclear case studies are compared with each other. The values are then assessed in a control case study on India’s approach to humanitarian intervention from 1987-2012. This tests to ensure that cultural values’ influence is not restricted to nuclear posture. My analysis reveals that dominant cultural values have great explanatory power across both case study areas. This suggests that values have a significant influence on India’s foreign policy overall. Major decisions like nuclear testing cannot be accounted for by existing explanations solely and the role of cultural values must be understood. In addition to assessing the level of cultural values’ impact, the thesis also exposes the nature of their influence. The most powerful value is non-violence. Several non-violence driven preferences are identified: global peace; caution in the use of force; and the preference for maintaining a non-violent image. Hierarchy is found to be more influential in India’s nuclear posture than in its approach to humanitarian intervention. This value drives a preference for India rising up the global hierarchy of states. Pluralism and tolerance strongly impact India’s approach to humanitarian intervention. These values support a pluralistic and tolerant worldview, the preference for sovereignty, and the preference for caution in condemning the internal actions of other states.
-
ItemOverseeing and overlooking: Australian engagement with the Pacific islands 1988-2007( 2012)This thesis aims to explain the discrepancy between Australia’s stable interests and objectives in the Pacific islands and the volatility of its approach to achieving those objectives. The thesis proposes a cyclic model of Australian engagement that it illustrates using a historical narrative of Australia’s relationship with the Pacific islands. The key finding is that weak institutionalisation renders Australian engagement dependent on the foreign minister and susceptible to influence by advocates who capture the minister’s attention.