With decreasing expenditure and increasingly complex societal demands, Ministries of Foreign Affairs (MFAs) have a unique challenge in public administration cutback management. In an attempt to...Show moreWith decreasing expenditure and increasingly complex societal demands, Ministries of Foreign Affairs (MFAs) have a unique challenge in public administration cutback management. In an attempt to heed this challenge, MFAs can try to use the external shock of a budget cutback to foster innovation within the ministry, in an effort to increase productivity with less resources. This research takes a closer look at the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in the period from 2010 to 2020, a full cyclical period from cutbacks to re-investments. Taking an explanatory research approach, in which ten key officials from the ministry have been interviewed, this research provides a model which theorizes the relationship between cutbacks and innovation. I then operationalize this relationship through five organizational factors (perception, flexibility, organizational agility, power dispersion and historical leadership) and five contextual factors (munificence, turbulence, social capital, goal ambiguity, and professionalism). Of these factors, turbulence and goal ambiguity positively affect creativity in innovation while they negatively affect implementation of innovations, while the rest of the factors stay constant between both phases. The factor historical leadership, however, mitigates the negative effect of turbulence and goal ambiguity in the implementation phase. For the Dutch MFA, the cutbacks have had a positive influence on innovation at the ministry, particularly because of perception, flexibility and historical leadership. For similar cases abroad, or for future cutback rounds, it would therefore be advisable to maximize those factors in a chosen cutback management strategy and start already laying the foundations for historical leadership to develop. Further research, by doing a comparative case study between MFAs, could compare the effectiveness of the factors objectively and further complement a ‘handbook’ for cutback strategies vis à vis innovation in foreign policy.Show less
This dissertation will analyze the George W. Bush and Obama administrations with regard to foreign policy toward Iran. As these two presidents took office after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, this...Show moreThis dissertation will analyze the George W. Bush and Obama administrations with regard to foreign policy toward Iran. As these two presidents took office after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, this paper will be analyzing their foreign policy decisions and approaches toward Iran in the context of the War on Terror. Right after the 9/11 attacks, George W. Bush designated Iran as part of the ‘axis of evil’ which he considered to be foreign governments that sponsored terrorism and sought weapons of mass destruction. Interestingly enough, when Bush launched the War on Terror military campaign, his plans included the invasion of several Middle-Eastern countries but excluded Iran. Iran was known to have nuclear capabilities but was never invaded. Under Bush, relations are considered to have worsened due to the 9/11 attacks, Iran’s suspected possession of nuclear weapons, and sanctions placed by the U.N. and the United States. When President Obama was elected in 2009 however, his approach to foreign policy dramatically shifted the political environment but ultimately resulted in improved relations between the two countries. The difference in approach to foreign policy, the tactics, and the results between Bush and Obama will be the focus of this research.Show less
International cultural relations connect a countries’ foreign policy agenda and their cultural achievements in a unique way. Therefore, this thesis compares the Austrian and the Dutch approach to...Show moreInternational cultural relations connect a countries’ foreign policy agenda and their cultural achievements in a unique way. Therefore, this thesis compares the Austrian and the Dutch approach to international cultural relations and explores the influence of its soft power projection in the international political arena. It studies the setup, the methods and the resources of the Austrian Cultural Fora and the Dutch embassies. By analysing the cultural diplomacy frameworks, this dissertation explains the incentives of the two countries to invest in cultural policies abroad. The diplomatic activities present national values and promote a politically and economically beneficial Image of the Netherlands and Austria abroad. Despite the aim to establish a coherent approach, the diplomats adapt cultural diplomacy to the political and societal circumstances in the host country to achieve both economic benefits and international cooperation. This research analyses semi-structured interviews with elites working in the field of international cultural relations at the Austrian and the Dutch Ministry for Foreign Affairs as primary sources and supports the findings with secondary literature. The thesis demonstrates that the methods and the institutions of Austrian and Dutch international cultural policy depend on the countries’ history and their foreign policy objectives.Show less
Humanity has been courting the world’s destruction for centuries. Especially within the monotheistic religions the return of a messiah is expected to liberate the true believers from the wicked...Show moreHumanity has been courting the world’s destruction for centuries. Especially within the monotheistic religions the return of a messiah is expected to liberate the true believers from the wicked world they live in. However, since the Enlightenment, the division between church and state, and the increasingly influential scientific voice within the Western world has driven these eschatological depictions to the outskirts of the civilised world as antiquated and ignorant religious theories. However in other parts of the world this did not happen. In the last couple of years Daesh is not only using propaganda based on religious texts declaring their right to establish a caliphate, but also using these texts to describe something called ‘the end of ages’. However the big difference when it comes to Western politics is that these ideas are kept out of politics due to the division between church and state. Or so it may seem to many viewers. In the United States of America the Christian Right has been influencing its government tremendously in regard to both domestic as foreing issues. Especially in foreign affairs concerning the Middle East the main focus of the USA was laid on issues as Israel and Iraq. However, one of the most significant reasons has been highly neglected for decades and is sometimes still moving under the political and sociological radar, namely the religious aspect. Within the Christian Right the theology or theory of dispensationalism is widespread. Dispensationalism is, in short, the belief that at the end of times nations will rebel against God, attacking His people (Israel), which will result in complete annihilation of those armies, the return of Jesus Christ and the Last Judgement. In this thesis, this relationship between evangelical thinking and US politics will be further researched within a period an Evangelical president lead the country. This will be done by investigating the following question:, “Did dispensationalism influence the George W. Bush Administration in their policy towards the Middle East, and if so, how?”Show less
‘We shall uphold, the centuries-old tradition of the Dutch Navy, that has already been demonstrated in European waters, this now shall be in service of preserving our regions [in the Far East]’...Show more‘We shall uphold, the centuries-old tradition of the Dutch Navy, that has already been demonstrated in European waters, this now shall be in service of preserving our regions [in the Far East]’ Lieutenant-Admiral C.E.L. Helfrich, Commander in Chief of the Netherlands Indies forces, wrote on 9 December 1941 after the Dutch Minister of the Navy and the Commander in Chief of the Navy, J.Th. Furstner had wished him the best of luck in the conduct of war against Japan. In reaction to the Japanese attacks on Pearl Harbour, Malacca and Singapore on 7 December 1941, the Netherlands government had declared itself at war with Japan because of hostile acts against ‘two powers with which the Netherlands entertains most friendly relations’. As early as 1912 the Dutch government had identified Japan as a potential threat to the Netherlands Indies. Therefore the Dutch had designed a fleet program to match the Japanese strength. During the mid-1930s Japan actively started conquering territories in the Far East in order to realize the New Order of Eastern Asia, a confederation of Pacific territories under Japanese leadership. From this point on, the Japanese conquest in Southeast Asia became a great threat to forces with interest in the region, including the United States and Britain, as well as the Dutch, as colonial rulers of the Indonesian archipelago. On the eve of the Second World War the Dutch defence potential was no match for the Japanese forces. Thus, the Dutch started looking for an alliance to withstand a possible conflict in the Pacific theatre with Japan. However, the Dutch had maintained to uphold a longstanding tradition of political neutrality since the beginning of the nineteenth century, and had even managed to stay out of the First World War because of this. But soon it became evident that the policy of neutrality would not keep the Dutch out of the Second World War. So the Dutch had to re-evaluate their position, in order to survive a future conflict. Whereas the upside of the Dutch policy of neutrality was that it had been able to avoid involvement in previous wars, the downside was that they were not prepared to actively take part in a war should one become inevitable. Eventually, after several official and unofficial conferences and talks with the allied parties in the Pacific, and more specifically after the shock of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour on 7 December 1941, a unified command, called ABDACOM was established on 28 December 1941. ABDACOM (American-British-Dutch-Australian Command) intended to fight the Japanese invasion of Southeast Asia and to protect the British and the Dutch colonies in this region, as well as the Philippines and Australia. The efforts of ABDACOM to prevent Japan from taking over the Allied controlled territories in the Pacific failed. On 25 February 1942 ABDACOM was dissolved with disastrous consequences for the Allied presence in the Pacific. Two days later, on 27 February the Battle of the Java Sea resulted in a great loss for the Dutch fleet and the eventual loss of the Netherlands Indies. The efforts of the ‘unquenchable soldiers of the British Commonwealth’, ‘the men of MacArthur’ and the ‘band of “indomitable Dutch”, with their Indonesian comrades in arms’ failed to stop the Japanese aggression.Show less
The goal of this essay is to prove that national identity, as perceived by the Russian leadership plays an important role in the making of Russian foreign policy. The thesis is that Russian...Show moreThe goal of this essay is to prove that national identity, as perceived by the Russian leadership plays an important role in the making of Russian foreign policy. The thesis is that Russian-Brazilian relations confirm this importance of identity in Russian foreign policy. Although Russia and Brazil share certain commonalities when it comes to the size of the countries and populations, the leadership potential that comes with that, the developments they have gone through over the past century, similarities in their economies and some of the social issues they face today, in a practical sense they do not have that much in common. Geographically, they are remote from one another, historically they have been on opposite sides of the Cold War and they have very different regime types, Brazil being a fully-fledged democracy whereas Russia boasts a hybrid regime with authoritarian traits. They could easily conduct their internal and external affairs without investing any time and effort in bilateral relations, as they more or less have done in the 1990s. Therefore, Moscow’s relations with Brasilia make an interesting case to explore the motivations behind, as they are neither self-explanatory nor indispensable. This essay does not aim to prove that Russian-Brazilian relations are essential to Russian foreign policy. As abovementioned, they clearly are not indispensable. The Russian leadership does identify Brazil as a key partner in Latin America and describes the relationship as being of strategic importance , and in recent years the Kremlin has attributed increasing importance to relations with Latin America, but there can be no doubt that the region takes a backseat to Europe, Asia and North-America in Russian foreign policy. This essay merely sets out to demonstrate that matters of national identity play a role in the making of Russian foreign policy, and aims to lend further credence to this thesis by analysing Russian-Brazilian relations. To this end, part I of this essay offers an analysis of Russian foreign policy in the 21st century, paying special attention to Realist tendencies and matters that seem to illustrate the importance of identity, whereas part II of this essay focuses on Russian-Brazilian relations and how these seem to indicate the importance of identity in Russian foreign policy.Show less
