Search results
, however much scientific and data-based rationales are pushed to the fore, public health approaches also reflect the domestic priorities and biases of those who designed them. Strategies to deal with infectious diseases are likewise susceptible to political interests. Again, the varying national health plans and related discourse around the COVID-19 pandemic are a case in point. There are multiple examples, a few of which have been briefly mentioned, that provide similar illustrations. And as
is actually occurring. Indeed, in recent cases of famine or near-famine conditions, much of the evidence has not been of sufficient rigour and reliability to make firm statements. These safeguards against ‘false positives’ have frequently been invoked to prevent any statement – a case of rigorous data and analytical requirements aligning with political interests which prefer that ‘famine’ not be mentioned. And finally, of course
This book offers a new way of looking at Irish foreign policy, linking its development with changes in Irish national identity. Many debates within contemporary international relations focus on the relative benefits of taking a traditional interest-based approach to the study of foreign policy as opposed to the more recently developed identity-based approach. This book takes the latter and, instead of looking at Irish foreign policy through the lens of individual, geo-strategic or political interests, is linked to deeper identity changes. As one Minister of Foreign Affairs put it; ‘Irish foreign policy is about much more than self-interest. The elaboration of our foreign policy is also a matter of self-definition—simply put, it is for many of us a statement of the kind of people that we are’. Using this approach, four grand narratives are identified which, it is argued, have served to shape the course of Irish foreign policy and which have, in turn, been impacted by the course of Ireland's international experience. The roots and significance of each of these narratives; Ireland as a European Republic, as a Global Citizen, as an Anglo-American State and as an Irish Nation are then outlined and their significance assessed. The shape of Irish foreign-policy-making structures is then drawn out and the usefulness of this book's approach to Irish foreign policy is then considered in three brief case studies: Ireland's European experience, its neutrality and Irish policy towards the 2003 Iraq War.
Commission now seeks to change the basis of cooperation between the two groups (CEC, 1997). The Commission has presented these changes to the ACP as though no other alternative exists. One point made in this chapter is that the choice is a political one and is by no means inevitable. The chapter provides an analysis of the political interests at stake in the trade liberalisation debate. In particular it identifies the CAP as the centrepiece of a significant political debate about how best to protect domestic interests from the vagaries of the world market while subscribing
the ‘melting pot’ of peoples that exists in the USA. Nationalism and the serving of political interests In any study of politics one sooner or later comes across the issue of who gains from a political programme and who loses. In the case of nationalism, there is a considerable debate among political scientists as to who benefits from nationalism as an ideology. Nationalism can be seen as being
instrumental account of Croatian national identity, agreeing with Gellner that nationalism creates nations where none exist.2 He interpreted Croatian national identity as the product of an aggressive nationalism informed by the political interests of social elites. Many other writers, including Ivo Banac, Marcus Tanner and Mirjana Gross, agreed with Glenny about this. The other prominent approach to Croatian national identity was unmodified primordialism. The encyclopedic work of Francis Eterovich and Christopher Spalatin, the nationalist histories of Ivo Periç and Simon
. More and more ‘influential Americans have come to believe that Britain has been claiming influence out of proportion to its power’. 14 New, documentary based interpretations of the Anglo-American relationship underlining the unifying impact of culture and sentiment are less common than those emphasising shared political interests, periodic crises and frequent compromise – what Alex Danchev calls the
Ottoman Asia, had the opposite effect – the withdrawal of British support and influence, which eventually resulted in German support of, and influence, in Constantinople. By the mid-nineteenth century, Europe had significant commercial, financial, spiritual and political interests in the Ottoman Empire. In the eighteenth century, France and Russia had led the way – the former in the Mediterranean and the
of political interests it is obvious that such a process will become a reflection of communal rather than individual priorities and that zero-sum, competitive scenarios will dominate proceedings, as well as outcomes. In that instance, a legacy process will do little more than provide a platform to further reinforce old conflict attitudes and ideologies, with individual needs minimised as communal or group needs are maximised. Because of this, I would argue that any constructive attempt to examine the past should be conceived primarily as a therapeutic project
2006, when a technical fix tamed political interests. Harmonisation and transposition of the EU acquis communautaire The EU’s common body of law (the acquis in Eurospeak) is composed of non-binding communications, recommendations and guidelines (i.e. ‘soft acquis’) Turkey.indb 71 24/07/2019 17:31:24 72 Framing EU membership and directives, decisions and regulations (i.e. ‘hard acquis’), which are binding on member states. The Commission disseminates its work on EU enlargement and candidate countries to the public in a ‘communication’ format. A communication is