Coalition Politics and Cabinet Decision Making

Coalition Politics and Cabinet Decision Making

Author: Juliet Kaarbo

Publisher: University of Michigan Press

Published: 2012-04-17

Total Pages: 431

ISBN-13: 0472028340

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Every day, coalition cabinets make policy decisions critical to international politics. Juliet Kaarbo examines the dynamics of these multiparty cabinets in parliamentary democracies in order to assess both the quality of coalition decision making and the degree to which coalitions tend to favor peaceful or military solutions. Are coalition cabinets so riddled by conflict that they cannot make foreign policy effectively, or do the multiple voices represented in the cabinet create more legitimate and imaginative responses to the international system? Do political and institutional constraints inherent to coalition cabinets lead to nonaggressive policies? Or do institutional and political forces precipitate more belligerent behavior? Employing theory from security studies and political psychology as well as a combination of quantitative cross-national analyses and twelve qualitative comparative case studies of foreign policy made by coalition cabinets in Japan, the Netherlands, and Turkey, Kaarbo identifies the factors that generate highly aggressive policies, inconsistency, and other policy outcomes. Her findings have implications not merely for foreign policy but for all types of decision making and policy-making by coalition governments.


Cabinet Decisions on Foreign Policy

Cabinet Decisions on Foreign Policy

Author: Christopher Hill

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2002-05-09

Total Pages: 386

ISBN-13: 9780521894029

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An original study of British foreign policymaking at the highest level, this book will be widely read by international relations specialists while historians will welcome the close-textured account of key episodes of the period 1938-41. It will also reinvigorate debates among political scientists on the nature of Cabinet government.


Trump's Foreign Policies Are Better Than They Seem

Trump's Foreign Policies Are Better Than They Seem

Author: Robert D. Blackwill

Publisher: Council on Foreign Relations Press

Published: 2019-04-15

Total Pages: 112

ISBN-13: 9780876097632

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Blackwill examines in detail Trump's actions in a turbulent world in important policy areas, including the United States' relationships with its allies, its relationships with China and Russia, and its policies on the Middle East and climate change. This report acknowledges the persuasive points of Trump's critics, but at the same time seeks to perform exacting autopsies on their less convincing critiques.


Ministerial Survival During Political and Cabinet Change

Ministerial Survival During Political and Cabinet Change

Author: Alejandro Quiroz Flores

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2016-08-12

Total Pages: 151

ISBN-13: 1317273451

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Political leaders need ministers to help them rule and so conventional wisdom suggests that leaders appoint competent ministers to their cabinet. This book shows this is not necessarily the case. It examines the conditions that facilitate survival in ministerial office and how they are linked to ministerial competence, the political survival of heads of government and the nature of political institutions. Presenting a formal theory of political survival in the cabinet, it systematically analyses the tenure in office of more than 7,300 ministers of foreign affairs covering more than 180 countries spanning the years 1696-2004. In doing so, it sheds light not only on studies of ministerial change but also on diplomacy, the occurrence of war, and the democratic peace in international relations. This text will be of key interest to students of comparative executive government, comparative foreign policy, political elites, and more broadly to comparative politics, political economy, political history and international relations.


Torn Between America and China

Torn Between America and China

Author: Daniel Novotny

Publisher: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 427

ISBN-13: 9814279595

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How can a developing, democratic and predominantly Muslim country like Indonesia manage its foreign relations, while facing a myriad of security concerns and dilemmas in the increasingly complex post-Cold War international politics, without compromising its national interests and sacrificing its independence? Approaching this problem from the vantage point of the Indonesian foreign policy elite, this book explores the elite's perceptions about other states and the manner in which these shape the decision-making process and determine policy outcomes. The combined qualitative and quantitative research strategy draws on a unique series of in-depth interviews with 45 members of the Indonesian foreign policy elite that included the country's (present and/or former) presidents, cabinet ministers, high-ranking military officers, and senior diplomats. Among all state actors, Indonesian relations with the United States and China are the highest concern of the elite. The leaders believe that, in the future, Indonesia will increasingly have to manoeuvre between the two rival powers. While the United States during George W. Bush's presidency was seen as the main security threat to Indonesia, China is considered the main malign factor in the long run with power capabilities that need to be constrained and counter-balanced.


Decision-Making in American Foreign Policy

Decision-Making in American Foreign Policy

Author: Nikolas K. Gvosdev

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2019-01-24

Total Pages: 441

ISBN-13: 1108692184

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This foreign policy analysis textbook is written especially for students studying to become national security professionals. It translates academic knowledge about the complex influences on American foreign policymaking into an intuitive, cohesive, and practical set of analytic tools. The focus here is not theory for the sake of theory, but rather to translate theory into practice. Classic paradigms are adapted to fit the changing realities of the contemporary national security environment. For example, the growing centrality of the White House is seen in the 'palace politics' of the president's inner circle, and the growth of the national security apparatus introduces new dimensions to organizational processes and subordinate levels of bureaucratic politics. Real-world case studies are used throughout to allow students to apply theory. These comprise recent events that draw impartially across partisan lines and encompass a variety of diplomatic, military, and economic and trade issues.


Foreign Policy Decision-Making (Revisited)

Foreign Policy Decision-Making (Revisited)

Author: R. Snyder

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2003-01-03

Total Pages: 196

ISBN-13: 0230107524

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This classic work has helped shape the field of international relations and especially influenced scholars interested in how foreign policy is made. At a time when conventional wisdom and traditional approaches are being questioned, and when there is increased interest in the importance of process, the insights of Snyder, Bruck and Sapin have continuing and increased relevance. Prescient in its focus on the effects on foreign policy of individuals and their preconceptions, organizations and their procedures, and cultures and their values, "Foreign Policy Decision-Making" is of continued relevance for anyone seeking to understand the ways foreign policy is made. Their seminal framework is here complemented by two new chapters examining its influence on generations of scholars, the current state of the field, and areas for future research.


Comparing Cabinets

Comparing Cabinets

Author: Patrick Weller

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2021

Total Pages: 277

ISBN-13: 0198844948

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Why is cabinet government so resilient? Despite many obituaries, why does it continue to be the vehicle for governing across most parliamentary systems? Comparing Cabinets answers these questions by examining the structure and performance of cabinet government in five democracies: the United Kingdom, Denmark, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Australia. The book is organised around the dilemmas that cabinet governments must solve: how to develop the formal rules and practices that can bring predictability and consistency to decision making; how to balance good policy with good politics; how to ensure cohesion between the factions and parties that constitute the cabinet while allowing levels of self-interest to be advanced; how leaders can balance persuasion and command; and how to maintain support through accountability at the same time as being able to make unpopular decisions. All these dilemmas are continuing challenges to cabinet government, never solvable, and constantly reappearing in different forms. Comparing distinct parliamentary systems reveals how traditions, beliefs, and practices shape the answers. There is no single definition of cabinet government, but rather arenas and shared practices that provide some cohesion. Such a comparative approach allows greater insight into the process of cabinet government that cannot be achieved in the study of any single political system, and an understanding of the pressures on each system by appreciating the options that are elsewhere accepted as common beliefs.


The Position of Heads of State and Senior Officials in International Law

The Position of Heads of State and Senior Officials in International Law

Author: Joanne Foakes

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2014

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 0199640289

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A comprehensive and in-depth study of the legal position in international law of heads of state, heads of government and other senior state officials, this book analyses relevant treaties, case law, and custom to set out the law in this area and provide practical guidance.