School of Social and Political Sciences - Theses
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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.
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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.
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ItemNo strings attached? Chinese foreign aid and its implications for the international aid regime( 2012)The emergence of China as a significant provider of development assistance operating outside the dominant aid system has prompted heightened interest within academic, public, and policymaking circles. This increased presence in many developing countries is changing the dynamics of ‘development’ and foreign aid provision, in ways that are only beginning to be seen and understood. There is a tension between the call for China to become a ‘responsible stakeholder’, and thus play by and reinforce the existing norms, rules and expectations, and the increasing pressure for the international system, including the international aid regime, to be reformed. China’s foreign aid approach and policies, and how it engages with the aid regime, if at all, will therefore be significant in this regard. At the same time, China’s foreign aid provision has been subject to much critique – in the Western discourse and also from within recipient communities. This thesis examines the role of China as a provider of foreign aid and the implications this has for traditional donors and for the dominant international aid regime. It critically analyses of the international aid regime that currently shapes the provision of aid, arguing that the impact of Chinese aid should be viewed against the backdrop of imperatives to reform current aid institutions and practices. Drawing upon field research in the South Pacific and China this thesis provides detailed analysis of Chinese aid norms, practices, and mechanisms, enabling comparison with traditional donor aid and providing a significant contribution to the currently limited data on Chinese aid. Through examination of how China is perceived and received within ‘recipient’ countries, including critical analysis of the notion of a ‘China model’, this thesis demonstrates that China is generally viewed as a complement rather than an alternative to traditional donor aid. It also analyses the processes of engagement and interaction between China and traditional donors, particularly the role of South-South Cooperation (SSC), and provides empirical evidence of the impact of the regime on China’s aid policies and practices and the ways in which China is having an effect on traditional donors. It argues that China is using the SSC framework in seeking to maintain its identity as a ‘developing’ country and as a way to distinguish itself from traditional donors, but at the same time the aid regime is expanding to (try to) incorporate South-South Cooperation to assist in maintaining its relevance. This thesis finds that whilst there is evidence of China’s increased engagement with the aid regime and the beginnings of internalisation of some of its components, China currently remains resistant to deeper involvement. Traditional donors and aid regime institutions are, however, continuing efforts to ‘engage’ with China in an attempt to both socialise Chinese actors and become more inclusive, representative, and thus legitimate. This thesis argues that China’s decision to continue to operate outside the regime is affecting the relevance and legitimacy of the aid regime, but the perception that China is ‘undermining’ aid regime norms and standards does not, at this stage, match reality.
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ItemManaging the globalisation of ideas: propaganda, power, and cohesion in Chinese domestic and international politics( 2012)As China becomes more engaged with the outside world through the process of globalisation, the party-state actively attempts to use domestic and foreign policies to manage China’s global interactions in ways that work to its advantage. The party-state manages the transnational exchange of information and ideas using the practices associated with its propaganda system. This simultaneously occurs within China and internationally, as the party-state uses both domestic and foreign propaganda practices in order to maximise the benefits and minimise the risks of this aspect of globalisation. This thesis investigates the relationship between the party-state’s use of propaganda practices to manage the forces of globalisation within the country and its use of such practices at the international level. It does so in order to generate a better understanding of how China’s domestic political system, and especially the power practices embedded in that system, shapes the way that China engages with the rest of the world. This thesis argues that the party-state’s desire for political and social unity and cohesion within China, combined with the specific way in which it exercises power through the use of propaganda practices at the domestic level, fundamentally shapes how it uses propaganda practices to try to increase China’s global influence. The party-state’s emphasis on the importance of national cohesion means that foreign propaganda practices involve the party-state exercising power not only to influence the views of international actors but also to discipline the discourse that Chinese actors articulate internationally. The party-state sees the generation of domestic cohesion using propaganda practices as a necessary prerequisite to China’s international rise. Its strategic approach to foreign propaganda involves increasing the variety of Chinese voices that are available to foreign audiences, as long as they maintain propaganda discipline and do not challenge the official discourse. When it comes to practical propaganda responses to domestic and international challenges the party-state is primarily concerned with establishing and defending an official “truth” around which it can unite Chinese public opinion, even when this stokes anti-foreign nationalism. The ability of Chinese actors to articulate a discourse to overseas audiences is thereby limited by the party-state’s focus on the use of propaganda practices to consolidate political consensus at home.