Arab Spring in Berlin and Paris: German and French Foreign Policy Between Continuity and Change
©2015
Textbook
78 Pages
Summary
The Arab Spring has not only affected the well-established structures in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) but became also a touchstone for the German and French foreign policy. A lasting three-year transformation process turned out to be an unpredictable factor for the traditional German and French foreign policy principles within a novel geopolitical environment.<br>In this respect, this study deals with the comparative foreign policy analysis of Germany and France with regard to the transformations in the MENA since 2011. Analaysis is done on the basis of constructivist role theory in connection with the Civilian Power concept. Major interest of this study is dedicated to the analysis of the foreign policy repertoire and identity of Germany and France towards the transition countries in North Africa. A question is to be answered if the challenges provoke continuity or change.
Excerpt
Table Of Contents
3
Hypothesis 1
: The foreign policy traditions of France and Germany implicate
their foreign policy towards the MENA region.
Hypothesis 2
: The upheavals in the region are challenging the national role con-
ceptions of France and Germany.
Hypothesis 3
: While the actors are maintaining their traditional roles, they at-
tempt to pursue their foreign policy under modified circumstances in North Afri-
ca.
The following analysis will check the validity of these hypotheses by stating the following
questions: What are the main common elements in French and German foreign policy? What
kinds of well-set foreign policy outlines exist? Which trends and changes in French and Ger-
man foreign policy towards North Africa can be identified since 2011?
This study consists of four chapters. This introductory chapter outlines the back-
ground necessary to understand and conceptualise the topic. Chapter 2 explores the theoreti-
cal and conceptual framework of this study. The first section gives a general view on construc-
tivism the framework in which the theoretical assumptions of this study are placed as a
theory of the International Relations as well as to the role theory and the Civilian Power role
concept as two constructivist approaches. Certainly, a working definition of the role theory
and the Civilian Power concept are a sine qua non for this chapter and will be analysed in the sec-
ond and third section. Both theoretical approaches employing from Holsti's and Maull's
concepts are operationalised into several selected categories.
3
This chapter underlines the
importance of national role conception and foreign policy culture in determining foreign poli-
cy choices and actions. Without neglecting the importance of geopolitical factors, role theory
argues the need to play within the context of a country's historical legacy and identity in order
to make sense of national foreign policy tradition. Role theory as a theoretical instrument al-
lows its users to combine procedures and principles drawn from different paradigms and ap-
proaches within the same framework and leaves the analyst free to test a range of tools.
The third chapter represents the empirical part of this book. Firstly, it introduces the
general French and German foreign policy since 1945, with the aim to determine its guidelines
that will be used in the subsequent analytical section. This chapter is highly significant for un-
derstanding the historical background of French and German foreign policy since 1945, which
3
Holsti, Kalevi J. (1970): National Role Conceptions in the Study of Foreign Policy. In: International Studies Quarterly, Vol.14, No.3,
233-309; Maull, Hanns W. (1990): Germany and Japan: The New Civilian Powers. In: Foreign Affairs 69:5, 91-106.
4
is a prerequisite in analysing role theory. In addition to highlighting the post-World War II
French and German foreign policy, in the second and third section of this chapter, their spe-
cific foreign policies towards the North African region will be pointed out in the framework
of Maull's Civilian Power role concept categories. The second section deals with French and
German policies towards North Africa before 2011, while the third section is concerned with
their policies between 2011 and 2013. Particularly important in the third section is the applica-
tion of methodology. A series of materials, such as speeches and interviews, from high-level
foreign policy makers will be presented throughout the qualitative content analysis. Self-
conceptions will be identified by coding all the assertions that refer to the conceptions that
decision-makers hold of the "duties and responsibilities" (Le Prestre 1997: 12) of their state in
international relations. The role conceptions are rooted in "societies' understanding of them-
selves and of what they represent in the word" (Le Prestre 1997: 9) and therefore, the identifi-
cation of the national role conceptions will be independent of each decision-maker's definition
of the national role conception itself.
Lastly, the empirical results are presented and their implications are discussed with an
eye towards using the findings as the theoretical and conceptual basis for the comparative
study found in the following chapters. The response to the central question and the three hy-
potheses are carried out by means of the role-theoretical concept of Holsti and the Civilian
Power
role concept of Maull.
1.3.
Review of Related Literature and Research Methods in Brief
The research question, the hypotheses, and the associated conceptual, theoretical and empiri-
cal aims relate this inquiry to the following role theory and Civilian Power literature. Holsti's
seminal article "National Role Conceptions in the Study of Foreign Policy" of 1970 was the
first adaption of the role theory to foreign policy analysis (FPA). In it he deals with the func-
tion of role conceptions in foreign policy analysis, explaining that "Role Performance, which
encompasses the attitudes, decisions and actions governments take to implement their self-
defined national `Role Conceptions' or the `Role Prescription' emanating under varying cir-
cumstances from the alter or external environment. Action always takes place within a posi-
tion, that is, a system of `Role Prescriptions'" (1987). Apart from Holsti's approach to role
theory, also other important scholars in the field of Foreign Policy Analysis (FPA) have been
implementing role theory in their conceptual frameworks. Stephen G. Walker, in his publica-
tions "National Role Conceptions and Systemic Outcomes" of 1979 and "Role Theory and
Foreign Policy Analysis" of 1987, concentrates on the analytical value of role prescription
5
(external expectation). He shows that domestic institutional structures and processes influence
national role perceptions and behaviour. This was a new approach insofar as the first genera-
tion of scholars of role theory did not incorporate role prescription into their research and
focused only on the policymakers' own perceptions, that is, the role conception of one's own
state in the international arena.
After the Cold War, role theory was used to analyse foreign policy to an extraordinary
degree. With her paper "Role Conceptions and the Politics of Identity in Foreign Policy" in
Arena Working Papers 99/8 (1999), Lisbeth Aggestam created a conceptual framework that
focuses on the role conceptions of European states in post-Cold War Europe. She examines
the correlation between role conceptions and the politics of identity in foreign policy. Howev-
er, during the 1990s role theory was mainly used to analyse foreign policies of European or
North American countries. In recent years, the contemporary literature has shifted its main
focus towards analysing the foreign policies of Third World countries and emerging powers.
Sofiane Sekhri argues in his paper "The role approach as a theoretical framework for the anal-
ysis of foreign policy in third world countries" that role theory is a not only a functional theo-
retical framework for Western countries or members of the Organisation for Economic Co-
operation and Development (OECD) but also for third world and emerging countries (Sekhri
2009: 1). He explains that the study of foreign policy until 1990 was focused on the foreign
policy of strong, well-established countries in their international relations. Further, Sekhri
analyses the role of former Third World states like Castro's Cuba, Egypt under Nasser, Algeria
in the 1960s and 1970s and India under Nehru's regime. Katharina Bockelmann's research is
another example of using role-theoretical approaches in foreign policy analyses of emerging
powers. In her monograph "Rollentheorie als neuer Ansatz in der Entwicklungszusam-
menarbeit", Bockelmann discusses the development cooperation of the emerging powers Bra-
zil and South Africa with the Third World by means of role theory. Role theory is seen here as
a new approach to identify the foreign policy implications "as a result of the new function as a donor
of development cooperation"
(Bockelmann 2012: 19, own translation).
In addition to the literature on role theory, this study also makes use of Maull's con-
cept of Civilian Power, which he first used in his article "Germany and Japan: The New Civilian
Powers" (1990). With the example of these two countries, he describes the ultimate aim of
"civilization" in international relations through collective security embedded in institutional
cooperation. However, he argues that a Civilian Power approach should not be equated with a
pacifistic one.
6
Ten years after his first publication on Civilian Powers, Maull, in cooperation with Se-
bastian Harnisch, edited a volume about reunited Germany's foreign policy during the 1990s
in a number of different fields in the spotlight of the Civilian Power role concept. They argue,
"that it is rewarding to study the impact of foreign policy role concept on foreign policy be-
haviour and to investigate the relationship between identities and social structures"
(Harnisch/Maull 2001: 152). Additionally, they claim that "foreign policy roles and identity
may include several, diverging as well as converging, modes of action" (ibid.).
Actor-based approaches, such as the role theory, used here are based primarily on cul-
ture-specific and cognitive analysis variables: norms, values, worldviews, socially constructed
foreign policy objectives, self-perception, historical experience and cultural characteristics as
well as the phenomenon of foreign policy learning ability.
The categories of Civilian Power defined in the following chapter, serve as the analytical
framework for the discovery of relevant Civilian Power role models. The methodology is based
on qualitative content analysis. It is a useful tool for identifying possible change or continuity
in the definition of national roles and to explore the potential validity of hypotheses pertaining
to their origins (Le Prestre 1997: 12). The data stem from French and German foreign policy
statements concerning the situation towards the transformation issue in North Africa between
2011 and 2013. Role conceptions are empirically coded nominal variables, which mean that
they are summary labels covering a number of domestically shared elements and characteris-
tics terminology of role and purpose.
Due to the different political systems in France and Germany, the empirical data were
limited to statements made by the principal French and German foreign policy officials, like
the President and the minister of foreign affairs in France and the Chancellor and the minister
of foreign affairs in Germany, responsible for the formation, preparation and the implementa-
tion of the state's foreign policy. In total 12 documents, including speeches and interviews will
be analysed between 2011 and 2013. Therefore, this study tries to reflect the discourse at vari-
ous levels to highlight possible changes or continuities in the French and German foreign pol-
icies via their transformation policies towards North Africa.
7
2.
T
HEORETICAL
F
RAMEWORK
he intention of this chapter is to present the role theory in combination with the Civil-
ian Power concept as a theoretical and conceptual tool for the analysis of the foreign
policy behaviour and action of France and Germany toward the North African trans-
formation states. In order to understand the French and German national role conceptions in
foreign policy, it is essential to examine the theoretical framework of this study, which is based
on the role theory as a part of the constructivist International Relations (IR) theory. The end
of the Cold War marked an unexpected appeasement from the constructivist view. This
showed a weakness in neo-realist and neo-liberal theories with their failure to account for both
the end of the conflict and the political transformation process of Eastern European countries
(cf. Kubálková 2001: 32). In a similar theoretical context, world society was taken by surprise
by the commencement of the socio-political transformation of North African states in the
spirit of the Arab uprisings since 2011. The mindset of France and Germany was such that
these upheavals, as the main event examined in this book, were beyond all expectations.
This chapter is divided into four parts. First, a brief overview of the main issues of
constructivism in IR will be given as the general theoretical framework. Besides the introduc-
tion to constructivism, the presentation of Kalevi Holsti's "role theory" as the supporting theo-
retical pillar is essential for this study. This section contains the assumptions of the role theory
and its key concepts. Within role theory Hanns W. Maull's "Civilian Power" approach in the
role conception is another important element in the third part. Role theory and Civilian Power
concept two sub-concepts of constructivism play a decisive role for the comparative anal-
ysis. The last part summarises briefly the theoretical framework of this book.
Role theory is applicable when analysing qualitative differences and basic orientations in for-
eign policy of several actors. For that reason, the question arises how diverging foreign policy
behaviours of states, ceteris paribus, can be analysed?
2.1.
Constructivism in International Relations
"Constructivism is a structural theory of the international system that makes the following core
claims: (1) states are the principal units of analysis for international political theory; (2) the key
structures in the state system are inter-subjective, rather than material; and (3) state identities
and interests are in important part constructed by these social structures, rather than given exoge-
nously to the system by human nature or domestic politics".
(Wendt 1994: 193)
T
8
Constructivist analyses in international politics are theory-oriented analyses in conjunctions
with trans-boundary interaction that describe the crucial role of material and ideational im-
pacts on international politics. Such analyses take up the challenge of determining norms, ide-
as, values and identities. Constructivism was developed as an International Relations theory in
the 1990s in the midst of the "third great debate"
4
between realism, idealism and institutional-
ism - theories that dominated the theoretical discussion at this time. At the core of the debate
was the understanding of science and its methods for the analysis of international politics,
which included the controversy over its epistemological foundations, i.e. the numerous as-
sumptions about the nature of the objects of investigation, as for example anarchy or sover-
eignty (cf. Ulbert 2006: 429).
As a collection of several meta-theoretical approaches, the rise of constructivism was prompt-
ed by four factors (cf. Reus-Smit 2009: 219-220; Ulbert 2006: 430; Schimmelfennig 2013: 164):
1.
The extraordinary events clustered around 1989/1990 in Europe resulted
in the collapse of the Soviet Union and a wave of newly-created countries
combining the process of democratic transitions, and undermined the explanatory
pretensions of neo-realists and neo-liberals, neither of which had predicted, nor
could adequately comprehend, the systemic transformations reshaping the global
order. It also contested the critical theorists' assumption that theory can drive
practice in any narrow direction, as global politics increasingly demonstrated
dynamics that contradicted realist expectations and prescriptions. The end of the
Cold War thus opened a space for alternative explanatory perspectives and
prompted critically inclined scholars to move away from a narrowly defined meta-
theoretical critique.
2.
Motivated by an attempt to reassert the pre-eminence of their own
conceptions of theory and world politics, leading rationalists challenged critical
theorists to move beyond theoretical critique to the substantive analysis of
international relations. While prominent critical theorists condemned the motives
behind this challenge, constructivists saw it as an opportunity to demonstrate the
heuristic power of non-rationalist perspectives. Structures of the international
system are crucial for the action and interaction of international actors. Non-
4
Named by Yosef Lapid (1989) in his article: The third-debate: On the Prospects of International Theory in a Post-Positivist. In: Interna-
tional Studies Quarterly, Vol.33, No.3, 235-254.
9
material structures such as regimes or networks are secondary because they are
formed only on the basis of interdependencies.
3.
By the beginning of the 1990s a new generation of scholars had emerged
who embraced many of the propositions of critical international theory, but also
saw potential for innovation in conceptual elaboration and empirically informed
theoretical development. In addition, socio-economic and political changes such
as globalization, environmental change, awareness of the emergence of knowledge
societies and the changing role/nature of the state, presented new theoretical and
critical challenges for international relations.
4.
The advance of the new constructivist perspective was aided by the
enthusiasm with which mainstream scholars, frustrated by the analytical failings of
the dominant rationalist theories in the face of the end of the Cold War, embraced
the new perspective, moving it from the margin to the mainstream. The fact is
also that similar theoretical debates took place in all humane scientific disciplines.
This means that this theoretical development was a global one, considered by the
history of science perspective
As an interesting fact, constructivism became the standard tool of analysing international poli-
tics by most scholars and in most textbooks (Zehfuss 2002: 3). This shows the increasing ac-
ceptance of constructivism as an IR theory in the realm of social sciences.
Nicholas Onuf first used "constructivism" as a generic term in his book World of our
Making
in 1989. It covers all inter-subjective approaches that emphasize actor, the social world
and the mutual constitution, while the role of ideas, constitutive rules and standards, as well as
the endogenous emergence of interests and identities are set at the forefront of their analysis
(cf. Ulbert 2006: 430; Zehfuss 2002: 10-11). The term spread in the second half of the 1990s
and gradually emerged as a new theorem in International Relations (cf. Ulbert 2006: 430; Wil-
helm 2006: 65). Based on the meta-theoretical debate, the structure of the international system
and, on the other hand, the activities of the actors represent the two main positions in con-
structivism and in the other theories of International Relations (cf. Schimmelfennig 2013:
160).
Within the foreign policy analysis, constructivist concepts adopt following approaches (cf.
Wilhelm 2006: 66):
10
(a)
World view analysis and thought-images research based on the theory of
learning,
(b)
Role theory approaches,
5
(c)
Identity approaches,
(d)
(Social) constructivist institutionalism, that is, theory of norm efficiency.
According to the "materialist and rationalist" theories, the primary explanatory power of in-
ternational politics lies in the distribution of material resources in the international system
(distribution of power and technology in realism, as well as intergovernmental and transna-
tional interdependence in institutionalism and transnationalism). Institutions and networks as
non-material structures are understood as secondary consequences of interdependence. Con-
structivism, however, recognizes the inter-subjective and ideological structure as of primary
relevance, since it regulates the actions of the players and thereby shapes their desires and
goals. Consequently, the international system is structured in social constructivism through
cultures, norms and roles. Like Wendt's famous quotation "Anarchy is what States Make of it",
the reality of anarchy in International Politics is not an inevitable matter of fact (cf. Zehfuss
2002: 4). Accordingly, international politics is socially constructed through values, norms and
identities (cf. Schimmelfennig 2013: 160).
The total theoretical breadth of international relations is based on a purposive-rational
behaviour of the actor. Both realist and liberal approaches share the same assumption that
agents'/states' interests and identities are given (cf. Zehfuss 2002: 38). Wendt's argument in
his Social Theory of International Politics is that actor actions and identities are not given but are
developed and sustained or transformed in processes of interaction within the international
environment. This assumption is revised in constructivism to "appropriate" action
6
of the
actors, who in their choice of targets and options for action orient themselves towards values,
knowledge, norms and roles in the context of cultural and institutional structures in the inter-
national system (cf. Schimmelfennig 2013: 161).
Undoubtedly, the constructivist approaches and analyses suffer from the fact that
there is not a uniform conception of "constructivism" in the social sciences or IR. Epistemo-
5
Behaviour of states as planned i.e., "collectively normalised and individually designed - and realised by representatives'
attitude and behaviour patterns".
6
"Appropriate" action has as a premise the existence of some social standards of adequacy. These are rooted in the inter-
subjective structures of a community.
11
logical assumptions, as in any theoretical approach, highlight different aspects of the concepts
(cf. Ulbert 2005: 9):
a)
how the world is constituted (ontological dimension)
b)
how knowledge of the world is acquired (epistemological dimension)
c)
how findings are conveyed (methodological dimension)
In general terms, all constructivist approaches in IR accept the presuppositions about the sub-
ject matter (ontology) based on the construction of a social world (ibid.). Epistemological in
constructivist theories are derived from the comprehension that beside the natural world,
knowledge is also socially constructed. Finally, several constructivist efforts focus on describ-
ing and explaining how these structures are generated, mainly by using different text and dis-
course-analytical methods. This final aspect reveals that "constructivism as well as rational-
ism" is not a specific IR theory, but initially a meta-theory, a theory about theories, which is
designed for alternative explanatory approaches and possible systematic research programs
(ibid., 10).
In the realm of IR, however, in the 1990s several constructivist scholars developed
three different forms of constructivism: systemic, unit-level and holistic constructivism. Sys-
temic constructivism focuses on the interactions between unitary state actors and ignores the
developments and interactions that exist or occur within the domestic perspective (cf. Reus-
Smit 2009: 223). Roughly speaking, this refers to how states relate to one another in an exter-
nal, international domain. Alexander Wendt describes systemic constructivism in the Social
Theory of International Politics such that states' identity is formed by interests and thus af-
fects its actions. Here he distinguishes two spheres of identity, the social and the corporal
identities of the state. The social identity of a state includes status, role and personality, where-
as the corporal identity refers to internal human, ideological, material or cultural factors. The
unit-level constructivism characterizes the total opposite of the first approach. This second
type concentrates only on the relationship between domestic, social and legal norms, which
affect the identities and interests of the state (ibid. 224). Lastly, the holistic constructivist ap-
proach comprises the domestic social and the external perspectives of state identities and in-
terests. Therefore this approach creates a unified analytical perspective (ibid. 225) that treats
the domestic and the international aspects as two faces of a single social and political order.
12
To summarise this section of my analysis: systemic constructivism is relevant to this
study, as it focuses on the interaction of France and Germany as unitary state actors with the
transforming countries in North Africa.
2.2.
Role Theory
This book is concerned with the analysis of German and French foreign policy perceptions
towards the transformation countries in North Africa. Given the dramatic social-political
changes in the Arab world in the last three years, the question is raised how the actors the
foreign policy-makers themselves interpret and perceive the functions and roles national
foreign policy fulfills in this new, more complicated and unfamiliar setting. The most im-
portant task is to conceptualise role theory within the foreign policy. In order to understand
French and German decision-makers' patterns of perception, valuation, and behaviour, role
theory as an actor-centered approach is considerably suitable. In the sections that follow, the
component parts of role analysis, on which this study is built, are outlined.
2.2.1.
Role Theory and Foreign Policy
But foreign policy, most broadly defined, is central to people's sense of national identity, and to an
understanding of their nation's purpose, role and values. A nation, and an administration with-
out a realistic and well-articulated foreign policy, which explains the bewildering present and il-
luminates the uncertain future, is rudderless.
(Howell 1997: 26)
In recent years, two main approaches have formed in the disciplinary field of Foreign Policy
Analysis. The historical-descriptive approach, on the one hand, deals with the representation
of the entire foreign policy of a country or its individual subdomains, decisions or time peri-
ods; the explanatory foreign policy analysis, on the other hand, systematically studies the fac-
tors that influence the foreign policy of a country. Role theory can therefore be associated
with the second approach. Its aim is to explain foreign policy behaviour of states based on
their national role conception.
Most studies in "world politics" or international politics have in fact been studies of
foreign policy, where policy is defined by Holsti as "the decisions that define goals, set prece-
dents, or lay down courses of action, and the actions taken to implement those decisions"
(1972: 21). Before introducing the theoretical framework, the preliminary definition of foreign
policy is mandatory for further analyses.
13
What is foreign policy? And what is the distinction between foreign policy and international
politics/relations? Two standard definitions of IR can help to clarify:
"The sum of official external relations conducted by an independent actor (usually a state) in in-
ternational relations"
(Hill 2003: 3)
"Unter Außenpolitik verstehen wir das Insgesamt der Handlungen eines Staates im Verkehr
mit anderen Staaten oder mit nicht-staatlichen Akteuren außerhalb seiner territorialen Grenzen.
Der Staat, vertreten durch seine Regierung, reklamiert dabei (mit schwindender Wirksamkeit)
eine Art End-Verantwortlichkeit für alle außenpolitisch relevanten Aktionen seiner Staatsbür-
ger"
(von Bredow 2006: 38)
The assumption in this study about FPA is that the nation state is the subject of action. Inter-
national politics from an actor-centered perspective and International Relations from the sys-
tem-centered perspective compose all foreign policies of nation states in a narrower sense (cf.
von Bredow 2006: 41). To that effect Wilhelm von Bredow differentiates three dimensions of
foreign policy (ibid. 38):
Process-based dimension: all state actions outside the external frontiers
Structure-based dimension: part of a government; comprise a minister of foreign af-
fairs and his entourage as well as embassies
Intention-based dimension: sum of all foreign policy interests, values and doc-
trines/strategies of a nation state
In conformity with these dimensions, only nation states have the ability to conduct foreign
policy. Most important fact is their territoriality, which is assigned by frontiers (ibid.).
The differentiation between international politics and foreign policy depends on the
viewpoint of the observer. In this sense, foreign policy can be considered from the viewpoint
of actors, in such case individual acting states. By comparison, international politics covers a
multiplicity of reciprocal and trans-boundary relationship models and interaction processes
between the states, in short, from the bird's eye view (ibid. 8). As distinct from international
politics and foreign policy, the term International Relations may refer to all forms of interac-
tion between the members of separate societies, whether government-sponsored or not. In-
ternational relations would include the analysis of foreign policies or political processes be-
tween nations.
14
The foreign policy process is a complex and multi-dimensional procedure, which can-
not be solely seen through the lens of roles (Sekhri 2009: 5). There are, however, two general
and effective reasons to use the role theory when analysing foreign policy. First, the definition
of foreign policy is not homogenous and contains several approaches; therefore the systemic
use of role theory reduces the risk of confusion. With its clear definition of foreign policy, role
theory facilitates the analysis of the foreign policy process.
Foreign policy analysis is an investigative process which primarily aims to examine the
behaviour of international units, usually states, vis-à-vis their external environment, that is,
beyond their material borders (ibid. 1). Role theory is a theoretical framework "devoted to the
study of behaviour using the notion of role" (ibid. 2). In the field of foreign policy analysis,
decision-makers imagine and assume that their state should adopt and accomplish a range of
duties, tasks and commitments in the international system or in subordinate regional systems
(ibid.). These duties, tasks and commitments are called "roles" in analysing foreign policy.
The analysis of foreign policy is classified in political science in the field of IR. While
FPA is not identical with a specific sector of political science, it requires the methodological
tools of the IR field.
2.2.2.
Defining Roles and Concepts
A number of interesting attempts have been made to develop the concept of role in foreign
policy analysis. However, a developed role theory per se does not exist which has been system-
atically developed and applied in FPA. Thus, in the following sections I will outline the com-
ponent parts of the role analysis that this study builds on.
"By role we mean a collection of patterns of behaviour which are thought to constitute a meaning-
ful unite and deemed appropriate to a person occupying a particular status in society, occupying
an informal defined position in interpersonal relations, or identified with a particular value in so-
ciety"
(Gordon 1972: 74)
"...roles or positions are filled by individuals who perform in them more or less adequately. The
normative constraints of society are thus tangibly represented in a system of roles for performance
in which the individual is socialized, which subsequently define his rights, privileges and social re-
lationships"
(Jackson 1972: 1)
Roles first played a part in Sociology, Social Psychology and Anthropology. A common defini-
tion par excellence of role theory did not exist in these academic fields. Generally speaking, and
15
before the term was picked up in Social Sciences at all, the term is used twice, first in the thea-
tre and second as a social position or, rather, socially recognized actors, and consists of two
expectations ego and alter which refer to the purpose of an actor in an organized group (cf.
Harnisch 2010: 3; Thies 2009: 3). The position's function in the group is limited in time and
scope and it is dependent on the group's structure and purpose (cf. Harnisch 2010: 3-4).
During the 1970s, role theory was adapted for the Foreign Policy analysis and the In-
ternational Relations by K. J. Holsti, who was one of the first political scientists to classify
national role conceptions and propose their inclusion in systematic studies of foreign policy
behaviour (cf. Wish 1980: 533). The notion of a "national role conception" involves an adap-
tion of role theory from sociology to relationships between nations. National role conceptions
provide norms, guidelines, and standards, which affect many aspects of decision-making
(ibid.). Holsti transformed the idea of sociology role theory into foreign policy analysis by fo-
cusing on the idea that the Self (state actors, leader of the states) has the ability to hold a varie-
ty of beliefs or images about the identity of the state (cf. Thies 2009: 2). To that effect, much
attention has been given to self-conceptions within the role theory in this study.
2.2.3.
National Role Conception
This study uses the national role conception (NRC) to operationalize the perceptions of iden-
tity and foreign policy behaviour. A role conception is a set of norms expressing expected
foreign policy behaviour and action orientation (cf. Aggestam 1999: 2). It can be thought of as
a `road map' that foreign policy-makers rely on to simplify and facilitate an understanding of a
complex political reality (cf. Goldstein; Keohane 1993: 3). The source material used in this
Figure 1 taken from Harnisch's role theory concept in: Harnisch, Sebastian; Maull, Hanns W. (2001): Germany as
a civilian power? The foreign policy of the Berlin Republic.
New York: Manchester University Press, p. 32.
16
study to analyse role conceptions consists of foreign policy speeches, documents and inter-
views.
"(National) role conceptions are domestically held political self-views or self-understandings re-
garding the proper role and purpose of one's state in the international arena."
(Krotz 2008: 2)
"... the policymakers' own definition of the general kinds of decisions, commitments, rules, and
actions suitable to their states, and of the function, if any, their state should perform on a contin-
uing basis in the international system or in subordinate regional system."
(Holsti 1970: 245f.)
Both statements are the most commonly used in the field of role theory. Holsti contends that
national role conceptions are decision makers' perceptions regarding their nations' general
kinds of decisions, rules, commitments, and associated long-term international functions (cf.
Wish 1980: 533). On this basis, national role conceptions are responsible for how the states
act in the international system (cf. Thies 2009: 2). In the traditional view of IR, states play only
a single role in the international system, whereas Holsti established the assumption of having
multiple roles for each actor. In the words of Holsti, the foreign policy of a state is the imple-
mentation of a certain role conception into idiosyncratic role behaviour. He broke this as-
sumption down to four theses (1970: 245; cf. Krotz 2000: 6):
1.
The sources of national role conceptions consist of an extensive
composition of historical, geographical, political and socio-economical
characteristics as well as system structures and idiosyncratic attributes.
2.
Foreign policy decision makers' have/follow national role conceptions to
which their behaviour is oriented.
3.
The ego-part of national role conceptions influences the foreign policy of
a state more strongly than the role expectation of other actors in the systemic
environment.
4.
National role conceptions are responsible for restraints on the foreign
policy behaviour of a state. Yet, they influence stability as well as change in the
international system.
Inevitably this leads to the question how to explain or understand foreign policy behaviour.
There are different aspects to consider within the concept of role, as it is broad and carries
various connotations (Aggestam 1999: 2f.). Therefore, this section distinguishes between (i)
role expectation, (ii) role performance and (iii) role conception.
17
(i) Role expectation consists of norms, beliefs and preferences. In the case of states and inter-
national organizations as corporate actors, their role expectations may vary to a considerable
degree. As previously mentioned, role expectations are made up of ego, i.e., domestic and/or
individual expectations of role behaviour, and alter expectations, that is, implicit or explicit
demands by others (cf. Harnisch 2010: 4; Thies 2009: 9). In addition role expectations vary
along several other dimensions: their scope, specificity, communality and their obligation (cf.
Harnisch 2010: 4). Within these dimensions, role expectations entail a conflict potential
through unclear or ambiguous assumptions. Either a conflict exists within a role, i.e., between
ego and alter expectation (intra-role conflict), or a conflict arises between roles (inter-role con-
flict) (ibid.). In the comparative study undertaken here of French and German transformation
policy, role expectations are only accounted for in terms of the bilateral relations between the
transformation states and France/Germany. Yet, the way in which foreign policy-makers
themselves perceive role expectations arising from the alter part is important to note.
(ii) Role performance encompasses the actual foreign policy behaviour in terms of decisions and
actions undertaken (the outcome). The question of whether role conceptions indeed influence
states to act in certain distinctive ways is explored in this study through the foreign policy ac-
tions within the scope of French and German transformation policy.
(iii) As a result of the great theoretical debate during the 1990s, scholars began to differentiate
role and identity through splitting (national) roles into an ego- and alter part (cf. Harnisch 2010:
6). These terms refer to an actor's perception of his position vis-à-vis others (ego part of a role)
and the perception of the role expectations of others (alter part of a role) as signalled through
language and action (cf. Harnisch 2010: 4; Deitelhoff 2006: 66).
Role conceptions are broad categories that allow a certain flexibility of interpretation,
depending on the extent to which they have become formally institutionalised with a specific
guide to action. Barnett (1993: 275) distinguishes between position and preference roles: the for-
mer provides an actor with well-defined and detailed guides to action, while the latter implies
greater flexibility of interpretation as to the meaning of a role. In Holsti's seminal article in
1970, national role conceptions are considered a relatively stable "attitudinal attribute" (Holsti
1970: 254). Thus, on the basis of its temporal stability, he used this analytic concept to consid-
er France and Germany's largely stable role conceptions after the Second World War.
The main focus in this study is on the normative expectations of a certain kind of foreign pol-
icy behaviour expressed by the role-occupants themselves.
18
2.2.4.
Civilian Power Role Concept
The Civilian Power is portrayed in detail in this section as a role concept within role theory.
Hanns W. Maull has played a crucial part in creating this role concept by using it to analyse
German and Japanese positions in foreign policy. The groundwork of this concept goes back
to the considerations of sociologist Norbert Elias and was transposed upon the international
system sphere by François Duchêne, Christopher Hill and Dieter Senghaas. At the beginning
of the 1970s, Duchêne developed the concept of Europe as a Civilian Power, where he
broached the issue of the peaceful relationships between the members of the European
Community (EC) and their reflection on the international role of the EC (cf. Jünneman;
Schörnig 2002: 4).
7
Referring to Duchêne's concept, Christopher Hill
8
transferred it from the
civil relationship within the European Community to the relations between the EC and third
countries (ibid.) with the following statement:
"If Europe [...] can demonstrate that civil relations between already friendly states can actually
be extended into the realm of relations between the suspicious, the adversarial, or the merely dif-
ferent, then it will have performed a profound service for the community of mankind."
(Hill
1990: 55)
However, the application of the term Civilian Power is used in the sense of Duchêne's and
Hill's interpretation. While some authors define it as a mere state description, others develop
complex theoretical conceptions, which seem to follow a normative definition of Civilian
Power (cf. Kirste; Maull 1997). Hence, two different Civilian Power interpretations have taken
root in this sphere. The first interpretation is attributed to the German scholars Knut Kirste
and Hanns W. Maull.
9
Both suggest compiling a list of criteria and narrowing it down, with the
aim of defining civilian power. This procedure demands a quality requirement for a civilian
power that it must fulfill consciously and energetically. Alternatively, Alexander Lofthouse and
Davig Long
10
present the interpretation that states without military capacities can apply for a
civilian power. The conscious decision for a role as a civilian power is not in the actors' na-
7
See François Duchêne (1972): Europe's Role in World Peace. In Richard Mayne (ed.): Europe Tomorrow: Sixteen Europeans
Look Ahead, London (Fontana), pp. 31-47.
8
See Christopher Hill (1990): European Foreign Policy: Power Bloc, Civilian Model or Flop? In: Reinhardt Rummel, The Evolution
of an International Actor. Western Europe's New Assertiveness, Colorado/Oxford (Westview Press), pp.31-55.
9
See Knut Kirste; Hanns W. Maull (1996): Zivilmacht und Rollentheorie. In: Zeitschrift für Internationale Beziehungen, Vol. 3,
No.2, pp. 283-312; or Hanns W. Maull (1997): Zivilmacht Deutschland. Vierzehn Thesen für eine neue deutsche Außenpolitik. In: Dieter
Senghaas, Frieden machen, Frankfurt a. M. (Suhrkamp), pp.63-76.
10
See Lofthouse Alexander; Long, David (1996): The European Union and the Civilian Model of Foreign Policy. Journal of
European Integration, Vol. 19, No. 2-3, pp. 181-196.
