Domestic Role Contestation, Foreign Policy, and International Relations

Despite the increase in the number of studies in international relations using concepts from a role theory perspective, scholarship continues to assume that a state’s own expectations of what role it should play on the world stage is shared among domestic political actors. Cristian Cantir and Juliet Kaarbo have gathered a leading team of internationally distinguished international relations scholars to draw on decades of research in foreign policy analysis to explore points of internal contestation of national role conceptions (NRCs) and the effects and outcomes of contestation between domestic political actors. Nine detailed comparative case studies have been selected for the purpose of theoretical exploration, with an eye to illustrating the relevance of role contestation in a diversity of settings, including variation in period, geographic area, unit of analysis, and aspects of the domestic political process. This edited book includes a number of pioneering insights into how the domestic political process can have a crucial effect on how a country behaves at the global level.

1.Unpacking Ego in Role Theory: Vertical and Horizontal Role Contestation and Foreign Policy Cristian Cantir and Juliet Kaarbo 2.Role Contestation in the July 1914 Crisis: The British and French Cases Joe D. Hagan 3. Active Independent or Faithful Ally? The Domestic Contestation of National Role Conceptions in Australia after World War II Klaus Brummer and Cameron G. Thies 4.Role Theory and Japanese Security Policy Keiko Hirata 5. Contesting Belgium’s Role in Development Cooperation Marijke Breuning 6. Domestic Sources of Changing Turkish Foreign Policy Towards the MENA During the 2010s: A Role Theoretic Approach Özgür Özdamar 7. Intervention: Domestic Contestation and Britain’s National Role Conceptions Jamie Gaskarth 8. Belief Systems and Foreign Policy Roles: Role Contestation in U.S. Foreign Policy Decisions Stephen G. Walker, Mark Schafer, and John Beieler 9. To Be Or Not To Be A State? Role Contestation in the Debate Over Scottish Independence Ryan Beasley, Juliet Kaarbo, and Hannah Solomon-Strauss 10. Multi-level Role Contestation: The EU in the Libyan Crisis Nicole Koenig 11. Agents in Structures: Insights from Cases of Internal Role Contestation Juliet Kaarbo and Cristian Cantir

Cristian Cantir is an assistant professor of political science at Oakland University in Michigan, USA. Some of his research interests include the domestic determinants of foreign policy behavior, the diplomatic activities of substate governments, role theory, and historical approaches to IR. Juliet Kaarbo is a professor of international relations with a chair in foreign policy at the University of Edinburgh, UK. She is codirector of Edinburgh’s Centre for Security Research. Her research focuses on political psychology, leadership and decision making, group dynamics, foreign policy analysis and theory, parliamentary political systems, and national roles.