Advisory Board: Marijke Breuning (University of North Texas), Sebastian Harnisch (University of Heidelberg), Valerie Hudson (Texas A & M University), Paul Kowert (Florida International University), Stephen G. Walker (Arizona State University).
The Role Theory and International Relations Series aspires to attract and publish the latest and best research integrating knowledge in the field of International Relations with role theory. This aspiration cuts across a wide swath of subfields, including foreign policy analysis, peace and security studies, international political economy, diplomatic studies, and international organization. While each of these subfields of study is presently organized as an "island of theory," this series intends to integrate their signature phenomena within a system of knowledge, a "theory complex" or an alliance among different subfields. This series showcases the ability of role theory to generate useful theoretical insights on its own or in combination with existing theories across these traditional subfields. Role theory’s conceptual repertoire, plus its ability to span multiple levels of analyses and the major meta-theoretical divides in the discipline position it to be an important integrative force in the study of International Relations.
By Damian Strycharz
January 29, 2024
Despite the increased interest in Russia and its international behaviour, current analyses leave much unexplained. Damian Strycharz fills this gap in the literature by analysing leaders’ perceptions and the interactions between internal and external factors shaping foreign policy decisions. ...
By Omar A. Loera-González
October 06, 2023
Role Theory and Mexico’s Foreign Policy examines why Mexico has an unusual foreign policy for a middle-power country. Using a series of case studies to show how role conflict has operated in Mexico’s foreign policy, Omar Loera-González studies three specific settings where Mexico could have ...
By Dorothée Vandamme
September 25, 2023
In Role Compatibility as Socialization, Dorothée Vandamme examines Pakistan’s socialization process in terms of role compatibility in the 2008-2018 period. Adopting an Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) method of analysis, Vandamme builds on role theory to develop a theory of ...
By Monika Sawicka
June 30, 2023
In Brazil’s International Activism Monika Sawicka questions how Brazil’s deep-rooted craving for greatness has led to the quest for status in the twenty-first century and contends that the categorization of Brazil as an “emerging middle power” enriches the understanding of modern Brazilian foreign ...
By Sandra Engstrand
May 31, 2023
In this book, Sandra Engstrand uses role theory to study learning processes in environmental policy negotiations in the Arctic Council. Owing to rapid ice-melting in the Arctic region, and more accessible commercial opportunities, there is a greater need for environmental protection. However, large...
By Gordon M. Friedrichs
April 29, 2022
In this book Gordon Friedrichs offers a pioneering insight into the implications of domestic polarization for U.S. foreign policymaking and the exercise of America’s international leadership role. Through a mixed-method design and a rich dataset consisting of polarization data, congressional ...
Edited
By Michael Grossman, Francis Schortgen, Gordon M. Friedrichs
February 18, 2022
National Role Conceptions in a New Millennium examines the transformation of the international system through an examination of the role conceptions adopted by the different global actors. Advancing current role theory scholarship in International Relations, the contributors take as their starting ...
By Feliciano de Sá Guimarães
February 01, 2022
In this book, Feliciano de Sá Guimarães offers an original application of Role Theory. He proposes a theory of master role transitions to explain how small powers can change regional powers’ master roles without changing the regional material power distribution.Master role transition is the ...
By Yasemin Akbaba, Özgür Özdamar
June 03, 2019
Since December 2010, a series of uprisings, revolutions, coups and civil wars have shaken up the Middle East and North Africa region. In this chaotic political environment, several countries have been trying to influence this regional transformation. The implications of this transformation are of ...
By Patrick Flamm
May 16, 2019
In the 20th century, South Korea was usually seen as a "shrimp amongst whales", a minor player with limited agency in regional and global affairs. Korea’s risen status as a "middle power" today, however, begs the question about related changes in the South Korean identity or "sense of self" in the ...
By Amy Below
November 18, 2016
Although the Kyoto Protocol, an international agreement to address global climate change, has been regarded by many as an unsuccessful treaty both politically and environmentally, it stands as one of the world’s few truly global agreements. Why did such a diverse group of countries decide to sign ...
By Akan Malici, Stephen G. Walker
November 01, 2016
U.S.-Iran relations continue to be an international security problem in the Middle East. These two countries could have been friends, but instead they have become enemies. Stating this thesis raises the following questions: Why are the United States and Iran enemies? How and when did this ...