scholarly journals Political Culture and State Behavior: Why Germany Confounds Neorealism

1999 ◽  
Vol 53 (4) ◽  
pp. 765-803 ◽  
Author(s):  
John S. Duffield
Keyword(s):  
Political Culture ◽  
Security Policy ◽  
Explanatory Power ◽  
Strategic Culture ◽  
State Behavior ◽  
The Past ◽  
Cultural Concepts ◽  
Cultural Variables ◽  
The Many ◽  
German Security Policy

During the past decade, a growing number of scholars have turned to cultural approaches to account for the foreign and security policies of states. Surprisingly, however, these scholars have devoted little attention to the concept that boasts the most venerable tradition in the field of political science, that of political culture, as a possible source of state behavior. This neglect is unjustified. Like other cultural variables, political culture promises to explain phenomena that are enigmatic from the perspective of leading noncultural theories, such as neorealism. Yet it applies to a broader range of cases than do the many alternative cultural concepts, such as strategic culture and organizational culture, that have been employed. I begin by describing an important puzzle in the international relations literature that suggests the need to consider culture as a variable: the failure of neorealism to predict German security policy after unification. I then assess the various cultural approaches used in recent years to explain state behavior. After noting the similarities in these approaches, I discuss the important differences that mark them and identify the reasons for the greater utility of political culture. Finally, I illustrate the explanatory power of the political culture approach by applying it to the case of German security policy since 1990.

CHANGES IN FRANCE’S STRATEGIC CULTURE AFTER THE COLD WAR

2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (32) ◽  
pp. 273-292
Author(s):  
Stanisław Zarobny
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Political Culture ◽  
Security Policy ◽  
International Security ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Strategic Culture ◽  
Social Authority ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Global Relations

The author of the article attempted to examine the main conditions and characteristics of the French strategic culture, a country with huge arms traditions and the high social authority of the armed forces in society. All this means that France has made a huge contribution to the development of theory and practice in the field of military art and strategy, as well as in shaping the order of international security. The main strategic documents of France and its activity in the international arena confirm the traditional line of French security policy and strategic culture. It is a political culture of a superpower conscious of its great past which still radiates into current and global relations of France.

6. Strategic Culture

2018 ◽  
pp. 89-107
Author(s):  
Jeffrey S. Lantis ◽  
Darryl Howlett
Keyword(s):  
Political Culture ◽  
Security Policy ◽  
International Security ◽  
Weapons Of Mass Destruction ◽  
Strategic Culture ◽  
Mass Destruction ◽  
State Behaviour ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Theoretical Issues

This chapter discusses the ways that strategic culture can be relevant to scholarship and policymaking with regard to international security. It first provides an overview of three main approaches to the study of culture and strategy, paying attention to political culture as well as the relationship between strategic culture and nuclear deterrence. It then examines various sources of strategic culture identified in the literature, along with theoretical issues related to strategic culture. In particular, it explores the link between constructivism and strategic culture, the question of continuity in state behaviour and how strategic cultural dilemmas can cause changes in security policy, and the ‘keepers’ of strategic culture. The chapter also asks whether non-state, state, and multistate actors can possess distinctive strategic cultures before concluding with an analysis of the role of strategic culture in the acquisition of — and threats to use — weapons of mass destruction (WMDs).

Corruption, Anticorruption, and the Transformation of Political Culture in Contemporary China

2016 ◽  
Vol 75 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Macabe Keliher ◽  
Hsinchao Wu
Keyword(s):  
Political Culture ◽  
Administrative Reform ◽  
Political Life ◽  
The Political ◽  
Contemporary China ◽  
The Past ◽  
Current Leadership ◽  
And Behaviors ◽  
The Many ◽  
Political Norms

Since its inception three years ago, Xi Jinping's anticorruption campaign has targeted some of China's biggest political and military figures and implicated tens of thousands of cadres. This article argues that the current campaign can be distinguished from the many others over the past thirty years not on account of its extensiveness, but rather in its systematic coupling with two other key moves: administrative reform and disciplinary regulation. Together, these three initiatives aim not only to clean up the malfeasance, graft, and bribery pervasive in Chinese political life today, but also to change the political culture. We demonstrate that the current leadership is forcing a shift in political norms and behaviors, and changing the shared assumptions and practices that inform the political dealings of the society, from the approval of permits to the promotion of judges.

A New Approach to the Star Data of Early Planispheric Astrolabes

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (1-5) ◽  
pp. 444-467 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giorgio Strano
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Information ◽  
Explanatory Power ◽  
Scientific Data ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
Vernal Equinox ◽  
New Approach ◽  
The Past ◽  
Astronomical Instruments ◽  
Scientific Approach ◽  
The Many

Abstract During the twentieth century, scholars attempted to date early astronomical instruments by the scientific information discernable in their design. In particular, they devised “methods” to date planispheric astrolabes by the position of the vernal equinox on the calendar scale or by the precessional effect over the star coordinates. Such methods usually overlooked the many problems behind the instruments’ design and construction and the vicissitudes in a particular object’s history. Criticisms of the naiveté of the scientific approach did not persuade scholars with an astronomical background. They remained convinced of the supreme explanatory power that the present knowledge has for deciphering the past. The criticisms, instead, dissuaded scholars with a historical background from paying attention to the scientific data. They felt comfortable in analysing scientific relics on the basis of other types of evidence, such as textual sources, iconography, and style. The star coordinates of early planispheric astrolabes, as witnessed in their star pointers, can neither be regarded nor treated as the data of present science. Even if they do not describe the sky at the very moment of the making of the instruments, they may, nevertheless, be considered as non-textual sources that contain precious information. The star coordinates on the astrolabe retes may in fact connect groups of instruments with early star tables.

Do Bureaucratic Politics Matter? Some Disconfirming Findings from the Case of the U.S. Navy

1994 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward Rhodes
Keyword(s):  
Security Policy ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Explanatory Power ◽  
Bureaucratic Politics ◽  
Maximum Effect ◽  
Relative Power ◽  
State Behavior ◽  
Foreign And Security Policy ◽  
Competition Of Ideas ◽  
Rules Of The Game

Allison's Model III (governmental or bureaucratic politics) suggests that state policies reflect the parochial concerns of intragovernmental “players in positions” and the relative power of these players. This article offers a critical test. It examines a policy area—U.S. decisions on the composition of naval forces—in which we would, a priori, expect bureaucratic politics to have a maximum effect and which participants, observers, and scholars have routinely described as critically influenced by bureaucratic politics. This article employs statistical methods to assess whether outcomes have indeed been affected by the parochial priorities and perceptions of individuals who, because of their relative power and the rules of the game, have dominated the relevant bureaucratic action-channels. Contrary to the expectations of the bureaucratic politics literature—indeed, contrary to the reports of firsthand observers and the actors involved—bureaucratic politics do not seem to have mattered: knowledge of bureaucratic interests and power does not permit us to predict outcomes. The article then proceeds to suggest an alternative model of state behavior thatdoesprovide significant explanatory power: the article demonstrates that shifts in force posture can be modeled as a function ofideasandimagesrather than ofinterests. This gives rise to speculation that in explaining American foreign and security policy the name of the game is not, as Allison suggests, politics, but the competition of ideas for intellectual hegemony.

On Future Directions in Pathology

1982 ◽  
Vol 40 ◽  
pp. 274-277
Author(s):  
Benjamin F. Trump ◽  
Irene K. Berezesky ◽  
Raymond T. Jones
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
Transmission Electron Microscopy ◽  
Clinical Pathology ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Diagnostic Pathology ◽  
The Past ◽  
Transmission Electron ◽  
Organ Systems ◽  
The Many

The role of electron microscopy and associated techniques is assured in diagnostic pathology. At the present time, most of the progress has been made on tissues examined by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and correlated with light microscopy (LM) and by cytochemistry using both plastic and paraffin-embedded materials. As mentioned elsewhere in this symposium, this has revolutionized many fields of pathology including diagnostic, anatomic and clinical pathology. It began with the kidney; however, it has now been extended to most other organ systems and to tumor diagnosis in general. The results of the past few years tend to indicate the future directions and needs of this expanding field. Now, in addition to routine EM, pathologists have access to the many newly developed methods and instruments mentioned below which should aid considerably not only in diagnostic pathology but in investigative pathology as well.

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