The Death of Social Democracy
The Death of Social Democracy

Author: Ashley Lavelle

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-03-09

Total Pages: 234

ISBN-13: 1317036379

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Whereas many writers and scholars interested in the field of social democracy have focused on factors such as the role of economic globalization and electoral pressures, Ashley Lavelle explores the importance of the collapse of the post-war economic boom and lower growth rates since then. He examines how these pressures have led social democrats to embrace neo-liberal policies and become threatened by minor parties and independent politicians. Providing an original argument about the decline of social democracy, the author investigates how its decline has increased the popularity of minor parties and independents, along with the reasons for social democratic membership and electoral decline. This is an important book for scholars of social democracy and the broader themes of world politics, political parties, social movements and globalization.

Confronting the Myth of Soft Power in U.S. Foreign Policy
Confronting the Myth of Soft Power in U.S. Foreign Policy

Author: Brent A. Lawniczak

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2022-03-31

Total Pages: 181

ISBN-13: 166690953X

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The concept of soft power has caught the attention of policymakers, scholars, and political pundits for the last thirty years. Soft power studies most often focus on measures of public opinion toward a power-wielder and draw conclusions about a state’s level of soft power from that opinion. This research examines soft power influence by focusing on the elite discourse and the foreign policy decisions of states that are the target of soft power influence. Beginning with Joseph Nye’s conception that soft power is an attractive force that influences state policy decisions and its level of support for another state’s policies, Confronting the Myth of Soft Power in U.S. Foreign Policy examines whether U.S. soft power was part of key policymakers’ decision calculus. Soft power is tested against two plausible alternate explanations—balancing and state identity. Data from the discourse of key foreign policymakers in France and Germany indicate that U.S. soft power does not account for those states’ policy decisions to support U.S.-led policy interventions in Kosovo in 1999, or against ISIS in 2014. The results of this research are suggestive regarding the potential of soft power influence and its implications on scholarship and U.S. foreign policymaking.

Great Policy Successes
Great Policy Successes

Author: Paul 't Hart

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2019

Total Pages: 353

ISBN-13: 0198843712

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"Or, a tale about why it's amazing that governments get so little credit for their many everyday and extraordinary achievements as told by sympathetic observers who seek to create space for a less relentlessly negative view of our pivotal public institutions."

The Limits of Alliance
The Limits of Alliance

Author: Andrew A. Michta

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 178

ISBN-13: 9780742538658

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The Limits of Alliance surveys the security policies of the states in North and Central Europe in the context of a declining North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the emerging European Security and Defense Policy. It analyzes U.S. policy toward the region and examines the continued viability of alignments inherited from the Cold War era. It concludes that although NATO will continue to exist in the coming decade, the hollowing-out of the alliance will be accompanied by a shift in transatlantic security relations toward bilateralism determined by regional security considerations.

Japan and Germany as Regional Actors
Japan and Germany as Regional Actors

Author: Alexandra Sakaki

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2012-09-10

Total Pages: 225

ISBN-13: 1136250999

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The end of the Cold War and the bipolar era constituted a significant change in Germany's and Japan's foreign policy settings, granting both countries greater leeway to pursue policies divergent from Washington's strategy. This important book fills a gap in the existing literature by employing an explicitly comparative framework for analyzing and evaluating Germany's and Japan's post-Cold War regional foreign policy trajectories. Recent non-comparative studies diverge in their assessments of the extent to which the two countries' foreign policies are characterized by continuity or change, as while the majority of analyses on Germany find overall continuity in policies and guiding principles, prominent works on Japan see the country undergoing drastic change. Through a qualitative content analysis of key foreign policy speeches, this book traces and compares German and Japanese national role conceptions by identifying policymakers' perceived duties and responsibilities of their country in international politics. Further, through two case studies on missile defence policies and textbook disputes this study investigates actual foreign policy behaviour in order to question the assertion that post Cold War Germany and Japan are following very different paths. Providing a much needed new analysis of German and Japanese foreign policies, this book will be of great use to students and scholars interested in Japanese politics, German politics, comparative politics and international relations more generally.