The aim of this thesis is to explore a specific feature of post-Cold War Italian foreign policy, throwing light from a perspective blending Foreign Policy Analysis (FPA) and other International Relations (IR) insights, on the interactions occurred in the 1990s between the Italian state institutions and the Community of Sant’Egidio (CSE), a Catholic lay organisation, one of the most influential non-governmental organisations (NGOs) based in Italy, with a remarkable level of international activity. Firstly, this work offers a detailed account of the Italian “Foreign Policy Community” (Santoro 1991; Hilsman 1967 and 1993) and of the Community of Sant’Egidio, taking into consideration the international and domestic changes occurred after the demise of the Cold War, in order to understand where foreign policy governmental actors and a non state actor (NSA) such as Sant’Egidio fit within the bigger picture of the foreign policy process in Italy. This mapping exercise demonstrates that the country’s foreign policy setting is rather fragmented, featuring a) centres of power and influence scattered along different “rings”, according to the different issues and subpolicies at stake, on a case-by-case basis; and b) an institutional “inner ring” with a relatively high number of “access points” for external actors, i.e. a proactive NGO such as Sant'Egidio, which is located in the “second ring”. Secondly, after identifying slowly emerging “policy subsystems” (Verbeek and van Ufford 2001) in the specific foreign policy subfields of a) preventive diplomacy/crisis management and b) peace-making, in which the Italian governmental foreign policy machinery and the Community are among the extremely small number of actors playing a role and enjoying a certain degree of policy autonomy, this thesis focuses on these two foreign policy areas, in order to try to understand how relations unfolded between the two actors in the cases of the Algerian crisis of 1994-1998 and of the Mozambican peace process of 1990-1992. The examination of these events has showed both competitive (even conflicting) and cooperative relations, respectively on the Algerian dossier and in the Mozambican case. This thesis argues therefore that “coopetition”, a concept borrowed from literature on regulatory theory, and defined as “a flexible mix of competition and cooperation between governmental and non-governmental actors” (Esty and Geradin 2000), is – with some modifications – possibly the most accurate definition to capture the nature of interactions analysed.

Erin S. Michelson. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1992. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 128-135). / Acknowledgements --- p.iv / Preface --- p.v / Map of Indochina --- p.vii / Abstract --- p.viii / Chapter chapter one： --- Introduction --- p.1 / THESIS STATEMENT --- p.1 / THE INDOCHINESE SUBSYSTEM --- p.3 / Tripartite Relationship --- p.3 / Treaty Formalities --- p.3 / Shared Security Interests --- p.6 / Administrative Structure --- p.7 / Economic Distribution --- p.9 / Regional Subsystem --- p.12 / Interdependence --- p.12 / Systemic Relations --- p.13 / CULTURAL REALIGNMENT --- p.16 / THESIS OUTLINE --- p.17 / Chapter chapter two: --- Evaluating Indochina --- p.21 / INDOCHINESE ORIGINS --- p.22 / CULTURAL CHARACTERISTICS --- p.25 / Nationalism --- p.25 / Socialism --- p.31 / Religion --- p.39 / A COMPOSITE CULTURE --- p.45 / Chapter chapter three： --- Defining the Indochinese Subsystem --- p.47 / ACTOR CLASSIFICATORY VARIABLE --- p.47 / CAPABILITY VARIABLE --- p.48 / Economic Viability --- p.54 / Infrastructure Capacity --- p.55 / Geographical Assets --- p.56 / Social Indicators --- p.57 / INFORMATION VARIABLE --- p.58 / ESSENTIAL RULES --- p.60 / TRANSFORMATION RULES --- p.67 / Chapter chapter four： --- Assessing Indochina's Stability --- p.74 / SOURCES OF CHANGE --- p.74 / Equilibrium Change --- p.74 / Parameter Inputs --- p.76 / Soviet Demise --- p.76 / American Embargo --- p.78 / Dragon Appeal --- p.80 / MODE OF CHANGE --- p.82 / Step-level Function --- p.82 / Altered Essential Rules --- p.83 / EEFECTS OF CHANGE --- p.86 / Integrative Process --- p.87 / Disintegrative Process --- p.87 / Decision-making Process --- p.89 / Kaplan's 9 Hypotheses --- p.90 / Reintegration --- p.99 / Chapter chapter five: --- Conclusion --- p.101 / REVIEW --- p.101 / Background Conditions --- p.101 / Modes of Transformation --- p.103 / Disintegrative Effects --- p.105 / CRITIQUE --- p.108 / SUGGESTED AREAS OF FURTHER RESEARCH --- p.110 / addendum： Playing Games --- p.111 / TWO PERSON ZERO-SUM GAME --- p.112 / Minimax Theorem --- p.116 / Zero-Sum Competitive Games --- p.118 / TWO PERSON NON-ZERO-SUM COOPERATIVE GAME --- p.118 / Prisoner's Dilemma --- p.118 / Nash Principle --- p.121 / TWO PERSON COOPERATIVE GAME --- p.123 / Bargaining --- p.123 / Threats --- p.125 / Bibliography --- p.128

The six German political foundations, backed by substantial public funds, have several hundreds of foreign offices around the globe and more than 2000 staff members. As specific manifestations of the German political landscape, the Stiftungen are affiliated to the German political parties at the German Bundestag. This thesis researches the international activity of the German political foundations and their position within international relations theory. It juxtaposes the rationalists and constructivists approaches on the state and non-state relationship and the possible impact of transnational actors. After having identified the German political foundations as transnational actors, a model of public diplomacy is used to systematically study the foundations’ transnational interaction processes. The model integrates different public diplomacy approaches and is based on the assumption of public diplomacy as a diplomatic process in a network environment, where transnational actors and states are equally important and where values and ideas are emphasised. At the same time, it considers propaganda activity, a criticism sometimes voiced by foreign governments with regard to the foundations’ undertakings. The foundations’ democracy assistance as well as their conflict management ambitions are explored, as collaborative or catalytic public diplomacy forms. In two case studies, one on the Rule of law program of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung in Southeast Europe and another on the activities of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung in Southern Thailand, the strategies of ideational diffusion processes and networking, the soft power resources and social relationship building of the political foundations are investigated. This theoretically informed empirical study aims at first contributing to the object of the German political foundations’ international undertakings which has been subject to little research so far. Second, it connects IR theory on transnational actors as well as the literature on public diplomacy to these activities. Finally, the thesis identifies the Stiftungen as reproducers of the German civilian power identity by implementing abroad major parts of German policy.

This thesis analyses the factors that determine the provision of stability in peacekeeping operations and the peacekeeping operations of the African Union (AU). It makes theoretical and empirical contributions, and supports the claim that the AU has been effective in peacekeeping. Theoretically, this study offers a comprehensive list of factors drawn from extant peace literature which influence peace operations meeting the basic objective of protecting lives and keeping areas stable. Beyond the majorly discussed factors of contingent size, funding, international collaboration, local participation, mandate and peacekeeper training, this study also examines issues of domestic political elite, field leadership, force integrity, impartiality, international political will, lead state, local women participation, size and resources of territory and timing. In bringing these factors together, this study expands the peacekeeping debate on what matters for stability in conflict areas. Empirically, using the peace support operations (PSO) of the AU, this study identifies those factors most and least significant for the provision of stability in conflict areas and ranks them based on their impact. Contrary to extant peace literature where mandate, funding, international collaboration, local initiative and size of the contingent are at the heart of creating stability in conflict areas, this study advocates the indispensability of domestic elite cooperation, local initiative and international political will. These were the only factors consistent in all successful AU PSO’s. Conversely, where any of these three factors were lacking, the AU missions failed. This study therefore argues that these three factors are central to the provision of stability in peace operations in the short term. The short term method of evaluation which revolves around the cessation of violence and provision of security is adopted as the standard for peacekeeping’s effectiveness. This is because the AU often leaves peacebuilding which is evaluated over the long term to the United Nations (UN). So, having achieved stability in four of its six peace operations, this study concludes that the AU has been fairly effective as Africa’s chief peacekeeper. Other findings exhumed by this study include the necessity of force integrity to large contingents, and the need for a lead state if missions are to succeed in complex theatres demanding prolonged operations.

This work sets out to investigate the effects of natural resource conditions on interstate conflict. It is specifically concerned with understanding when states pursue a violent natural resource acquisition strategy and what the main factors explaining the choice between violent and non-violent resource acquisitions by states are. It has been hypothesized that conditions of natural resource scarcity and foreign resource concentrations have an impact on the conflict propensity of states; and furthermore, that the network level plays a fundamental role in conceptualising and assessing those conditions. In light of a large number of mechanisms posited in the literature, partly working in opposing directions, this study offers a conceptualization of resource conditions arising from threat and opportunity settings, a distinct multilevel resource access framework, and a structured approach to their empirical investigation. The main analysis is conducted in form of a fixed effects logistic model with standard errors clustered on the dyad-level and covering country-dyads of the period 1962-2010 with Military Interstate Dispute (MID) initiation as dependent variable. Overall, the findings of this research suggest that insights with regard to the resource conflict link could be enhanced by taking into account resource frameworks introduced in this work and the network level of analysis. In fact, significant support has been found for the conflict enhancing effect of resource scarcity conditions, especially so if conceptualized in form of perceived resource access security that is nested in the network dimension. With regard to foreign resource conditions this study identifies the costs of conquest as a key factor, even though empirical support is somewhat lower. The reason for this may be the opposing effect of the strategic oil hypothesis for which this analysis also finds considerable support, especially when captured through the network level. Overall, it appears that the conflict-related dynamics arising from a resource threat setting are stronger than those arising from an opportunity setting. The concepts and empirical findings of this study also have significant implications for the direction of future research as they shift the focus from resource ownership to resource access, and ultimately add to the understanding of the causes of war in general. In summary, the empirical findings of this study support that: 1. A conceptual distinction needs to be made between the set of mechanisms associated with resource scarcity (desperate predator mechanisms) and those associated with foreign resource concentrations (greedy predator mechanisms). This distinction is important because each set of mechanisms is nested in a different setting, threat vs. opportunity, respectively. As a result the underlying dynamics with regard to the nexus between resource conditions to interstate conflicts over resources are distinct. This has implications for the key aspects to consider under each set. 2. Resource scarcity should be framed in form of perceived resource access security when investigating scarcity-induced conflicts over resources. This implies a shift of focus from ‘how much’ to ‘who has control or access. Importantly, this means that even in face of general resource abundance, situations of individual resource scarcity are very possible and even likely. 3. The main dimension for assessing resource access security is the trade dimension, more specifically the degree of security with regard to imports of resources. 4. Access security through imports should be conceptualized in terms of embeddedness within global resource trade networks. 5. Unlike resource scarcity, conflicts associated with conditions of foreign resource concentrations should be assessed in terms of the degree to which such concentrations are perceived as an opportunity for conquest. 6. In addition to risks, the main dimension for assessing a resource acquisition opportunity is the degree of costs relative to benefits. 7. The network level appears to be helpful for assessing the degree to which a foreign resource concentration is perceived as opportunity, because it is able to (1) address the major risk factor associated predominantly with this resource-conflict mechanism, namely that of resource importer intervention; and (2) extend the assessment of potential benefits and costs beyond those only associated with the target state directly.

While the literature on the European Union’s foreign policy has heavily emphasized the EU’s marked preference for diplomacy and the conduct of dialogues, the rationale behind the salience of this practice has not yet been fully explored. Therefore, this thesis asks why the European Union promotes and conducts so many political dialogues with third countries in its external relations. The original contribution of this thesis is two-fold: theoretically, it contributes to the literature on the practice of dialogue in International Relations by moving away from theories stressing the rationality of the institutional actors involved in dialogical interactions. Instead, this thesis grounds itself in socio-psychology applied to institutions to conceptualize the practice of dialogue as a symbolically-framed interaction through which institutional identity is recognized and anchored. In doing so, this research demonstrates that the European Union promotes and conducts such an extraordinary number of dialogues with third countries in order to get recognition of its institutional identity as a distinct and relevant international actor. More specifically, the study sheds light on the mechanisms through which the dialogical interaction at the micro-level helps anchor the institutional identity of the EU at the macro-level. Empirically, the thesis contributes to a more nuanced and better understanding of one of the most complex and important relationships of our times – the transatlantic relationship — by presenting original findings on the multiple dialogical encounters occurring at different levels of representation: at the highest level of diplomatic meetings, at the interparliamentary level and at and the level of civil society. The present work thus departs from traditional perspectives on transatlantic relations by focusing on the micro-level of interaction and its symbolic implications at the macro-level. Through the conduct of interviews with European and American officials involved in these dialogues and several participant observations in the meetings, this study offers a fine-grained analysis of the dialogue as one of the most frequently tool of foreign policy used by the EU in its external relations.

The accountability relationships that surround the operations of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund are a key feature of global politics. These institutions continue to face criticism from both state and non-state actors over perceived ‘democratic deficit’, and yet the frameworks that we use to investigate the politics of accountability in international organisations (IOs) remain underdeveloped. By integrating the insights of rationalist and constructivist approaches to the study of IOs, this thesis provides clarifications to the conceptual tools available to analysts working in this field. In addition, through a dual focus on the politics of shareholder and stakeholder accountability at the Bank and Fund, important empirical advances are made over previous works. By placing contemporary developments in their historical context, a detailed picture is drawn of the dynamics surrounding shareholder states’ attempts to control these IOs, and of the processes through which relationships between IO staff and in-country stakeholders are reformed. The thesis closes by exploring the fruitful cross-pollination between the analysis of the politics of accountability and broader works on cosmopolitan global governance, concluding that through such a combination the former can be better ‘put to work’, and the real- world tractability of the latter can be enhanced.

Third-party intervention in civil wars is a phenomenon that presents a complex research puzzle in the fields of both International Relations (IR ) and Foreign Policy Analysis (FPA ). While intervention decisions impact the duration and result of a given conflict, they also have broader regional implications and political consequences for those that intervene. The central questions this thesis aims to address are ‘what are the dynamics behind US foreign policy choices vis-a-vis L ibya and Syria's internationalised intrastate conflicts?' and, more specifically, 'What were the components that underpinned the selection of different set of elements from the intervention spectrum at different times and scales during the Libya and Syria conflicts'. The existing literature points towards the relevance of both systemic and domestic level factors. Neo-classical realism (NCR ) is employed as the theoretical framework, and incorporates independent (threats to US interests vis-a-vis the L ibya and Syria conflicts) and intervening variables (elite Ideology/Obama Doctrine, US economic constraints, US elite perception of the opposition in Libya and Syria, congressional dynamics and public opinion) at the system and unit levels respectively. The dependent variable - US foreign policy choices – varies across three main forms: non-intervention, non-military intervention, and military intervention. NCR has proven to be a comprehensive theoretical framework to understand the rationale behind the US's suboptimal foreign policy choices. The results of the research conducted here reinforce the notion that it is problematic to explain foreign policy decisions exclusively from the perspective of a balancing against power or threats without considering the impact of intervening variables at the domestic level. The research also underpins the importance of political leaders and elites' perceptions (regarding opposition groups as well as of domestic political restraints) through which systemic incentives and constraints are filtered and the contours of interests and threats are identified.

The thrust of this study is to provide a critical reading of the configuration of borders through the discourse of one of the main institutions of the European Union (EU), the European Commission. My starting point is the observation of multiplication and transformation of EU and European borders as a result of the process of integration. This implies simultaneous processes of de-bordering, border construction and reconstruction. Despite that the overwhelming majority of current research tends to focus on one aspect of these trends at the expense of the others. My premise is that as a supranational institution, the European Commission is ideally placed to provide an empirical illustration of how these processes occurs. It has a vested interest and an ability to promote further integration and therefore, ambiguous border configurations in its discourse highlight current limitations to border transcendence that instead lead to multiplication and transformation of EU and European borders. The research provides a comprehensive examination of the different types of borders configured by the discourse of the European Commission, thus allowing analysis of how exactly these are articulated. It looks into a number of EU policy areas, border controls, free movement of people, social policy and the European Neighbourhood Policy and, employing the strategy of double reading, examines various Commission documents in the period after the adoption of the Single European Act. The main body of the thesis starts with a theoretical framework, which outlines the most important concepts used in the research, which inform the analysis in the subsequent empirical chapters.

The structural effect of what is known in the International Relations (IR) literature as the ‘polarity’ of any given moment has been a central theme in mainstream theories and across the discipline more widely. Yet there are at present competing perceptions of polarity across popular and scholarly discourse. Is the United States still a unipolar power? Are we currently in or about to enter a multipolar era? Or will the US-Sino relationship dominate world politics in the coming decades creating a new bipolarity? This thesis proposes a redefinition of the concept of polarity in order to be able to theoretically account for such competing visions of global order. It argues for the continued utility of the concept, particularly given its widespread use by practitioners and analysts alike, but that polarity analysis needs to be re-configured along more analytically eclectic lines than is the case in the existing literature. Using the English school of IR, the thesis builds a theoretical framework for redefining polarity, not as the distribution of material capabilities in the international system, but instead as the number of states that hold a particular status in international society. This framework is then applied to the period of 1815-2012 in order to understand the difference this makes to a macro-historical analysis of changes in the inter-state order. The historical analysis is used to demonstrate both the need for a new definition of polarity but also to draw a number of conclusions regarding the sources of perceptions of polarity.