Over the last decades, the foreign policies of the European Union member countries have become more and more consistent. However, up to date, the European countries differ significantly in their views on Israel, Palestine and the Middle East conflict. This study tries to explain these differences by focusing on a factor that has been largely ignored by existing literature on foreign policy making: culture. More precisely, this study tests the argument that anti-Semitism as a cultural trait influences a state´s foreign policy toward Israel. In order to test this argument, we are examining the levels of anti-Semitism in five European states (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) as well as the quality of their relations with Israel. The findings suggest that the countries with the highest levels of anti-Semitism indeed have the worst relations with Israel and vice versa. Thus, anti-Semitism (and, more generally, culture) seems to be an important factor that deserves greater attention from scholars that are trying to understand the process of foreign policy making.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Literature Review
3. Methodology
4. Findings
4.1 Voting Behavior in the UN General Assembly
4.2 Foreign Trade Relations
4.3 Behavior Toward Iran
5. Conclusion
6. References
Objectives and Topics
This study aims to investigate the influence of national culture, specifically anti-Semitism, on the foreign policy decisions of European Union member states toward Israel. By comparing five European countries, the research explores whether variations in societal levels of anti-Semitism correlate with the quality of a state's diplomatic, economic, and strategic relations with Israel.
- The impact of cultural traits on foreign policy making.
- Comparative analysis of anti-Semitism levels in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UK.
- Evaluation of UN voting behavior as a metric for foreign policy alignment.
- Analysis of foreign trade relations and policies toward Iran as indicators of state-to-state relations with Israel.
Excerpt from the Book
Methodology
The previous section clearly illustrated that culture as an influence on foreign policy has been widely ignored by scholars of International Relations; even more remarkable, anti-Semitism as a possible factor shaping a state´s policy toward Israel has been completely disregarded. Thus, this study is breaking new grounds, which means that it is exploratory in its nature. Under such circumstances, the method of choice is usually a structured, focused comparison; that is, conducting case study research. Besides several other virtues like a high level of conceptual validity, one main advantage of case studies is that they are a valuable tool for the development of new theories, as they show a great potential to uncover new or omitted variables, hypotheses, causal paths/mechanisms, or interactions effects (George & Bennett 2005: 19-22, 109-115). Therefore, the case study approach, defined as an intensive analysis of an individual unit stressing development factors in relation to context, proves to be the most suitable method to answer the research question posed by this study (Flyvbjerg 2011: 301).
When conducting case study research, the question arises which cases to chose? As this study examines the impact of anti-Semitism in the EU on European-Israeli relations, the population from which the cases could be drawn is the current 27 member states of the European Union. The cases ultimately chosen are: the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy and Spain. They got picked for a practical and theoretical reason. The practical reason is that these states represent some of the “major players” in the EU; thus, there are lots of sources which provide information on them and are rather easily available. The theoretical reason is that the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy and Spain can be considered “extreme cases”, as they show the greatest variation on the independent variable. Thus, if the argument that anti-Semitism influences a state´s foreign policy toward Israel is correct, we would expect these five countries to also show great variation on the dependent variable.
Summary of Chapters
1. Introduction: This chapter introduces the research context, highlighting the persistent lack of a uniform European foreign policy toward Israel and defining the research questions.
2. Literature Review: The chapter surveys existing academic work on EU foreign policy and the role of culture, identifying a gap regarding how societal anti-Semitism affects state relations with Israel.
3. Methodology: The author explains the choice of a comparative case study approach, justifying the selection of five specific European countries as case studies based on their variation in anti-Semitism levels.
4. Findings: This section presents data on UN voting patterns, trade volumes, and policies toward Iran to test the correlation between cultural attitudes and foreign policy actions.
5. Conclusion: The findings are summarized, confirming a strong correlation between high levels of anti-Semitism and more distant or hostile relations with Israel, while suggesting directions for future research.
6. References: This section lists all academic and secondary sources cited throughout the study.
Keywords
Foreign Policy, Anti-Semitism, Israel, European Union, Culture, International Relations, UN General Assembly, Diplomacy, Trade Relations, Iran, Political Culture, Case Study, Normative Institutionalism, Middle East Conflict, Societal Culture.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core subject of this study?
The study examines whether anti-Semitism, viewed as a cultural trait, influences the foreign policy decisions of European Union member states regarding the state of Israel.
What are the central thematic fields?
The work covers foreign policy analysis, the role of cultural factors in international relations, and the specific diplomatic history between selected European nations and Israel.
What is the primary research question?
The study asks why European countries differ in how they structure their relations with Israel and what forces, specifically cultural ones, shape this foreign policy.
Which scientific method is utilized?
The author employs a structured, focused comparison using a case study approach to analyze five specific EU member states.
What topics are discussed in the main body?
The main body evaluates voting behavior in the UN, foreign trade intensity, and comparative policies toward the Iranian regime as indicators of the quality of relations with Israel.
Which keywords characterize this paper?
Key terms include Foreign Policy, Anti-Semitism, European Union, International Relations, and Political Culture.
How is the level of anti-Semitism measured across countries?
The study relies primarily on data from the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC) survey from 2002 to rank countries by their average anti-Semitism values.
Why is the "Iran question" used as a measurement?
The author argues that because of the intense hostility between Iran and Israel, a state’s pro-Iranian policies can serve as an indicator of its relative distance from Israel.
What does the study conclude regarding the UK?
The UK is identified as having the lowest level of anti-Semitism among the sample and exhibits the most supportive foreign policy toward Israel across the metrics used.
Does the paper claim that anti-Semitism is the sole driver of foreign policy?
No, the author clarifies that while anti-Semitism is a significant contributing factor that has been ignored, it is not the only force influencing foreign policy decisions.
- Quote paper
- Michael Neureiter (Author), 2011, The Role of National Culture in Foreign Policy Making. Anti-Semitism in Europe and European-Israeli Relations, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/962207
