Klaus Brummer

Patterns of Junior Partner Influence on the Foreign Policy of Coalition Governments

Research Highlights and Abstract The main contribution of this article is that it: Introduces a distinction between different pathways for junior partner influence on the foreign policy of coalition governments; Provides nuanced insights into the effects of coalition government on foreign policy as well as on the causal mechanisms behind these effects; Contributes to the ‘unpacking’ of coalitions and the analysis of coalition governance more generally; Features a comparative analysis of the current coalition governments in the United Kingdom and Germany. This article contributes to research on the foreign policy influence of junior partners in coalition governments. In particular, it takes up the call to pay greater attention to different patterns and pathways of such influence. To this purpose, this article distinguishes two types of coalition set-ups for foreign policy making. In the first type, junior partners hold one or more departments in the foreign policy executive, and their foreign policy influence rests on the powers that controlling ministries in the field brings. In the second type, junior partners do not hold any department in foreign affairs, and their influence comes from their ability to constrain the discretion of the senior partner in foreign policy. The article exemplifies its theoretical contentions in comparative case studies on the current coalition governments in Germany and the UK, which represent the first and second type respectively.

The Boundedness of Foreign Policy Analysis Theory

Is there a “North American-ness” to the theoretical frameworks of Foreign Policy Analysis (FPA)? To answer that question, this special issue asks scholars from areas outside of North America to reflect upon whether they have had to challenge or transcend the originary “North American-ness” of the conceptual frameworks and empirical methodologies they have used—including the operational code approach, the bureaucratic politics model and Groupthink—to analyse their region’s foreign policy making, including the Middle East, Europe, Asia and Latin America. Overall, this special issue suggests that the explanation of foreign policy making beyond North America does not require an entirely new or different set of analytical tools. At the same time, the special issue also shows that mainstream FPA theories can be sharpened and further specified based on insights drawn from non-Western settings.