Organizer: NYSEAN; NYU Master’s Program in International Affairs (MAIR)
Type/Location: In Person / New York, NY
Description:
Join NYSEAN and NYU MAIR for a talk by Dr. Jürgen Haacke, Associate Professor in International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science, who will discuss changes in foreign policy entrepreneurship in U.S. policy in the 2000s. Dr. Frances O’Morchoe, Visiting Assistant Professor in International History with the Program in International Relations at New York University, will moderate the discussion.
This event is open to the public, but registration is required. Lunch will be served. Please register by Friday, September 12 at 5:00 PM.
Abstract:
Since 1988 Burma has been a recurrent major focus in US foreign policy. There have been several important shifts in relation to policy ends and country strategy. For years, both Congress and serving administrations focused on diplomatic shaming and sanctions as the main policy instruments to achieve regime change in military-run Myanmar. The Obama administration then opted for diplomatic re-engagement and a virtual end to unilateral sanctions to push political change before more recent administrations reimposed multiple restrictions, most recently after the 2021 coup. Building on a recent dialogue between public policy and foreign policy analysis, I advance an updated framework of foreign policy entrepreneurship that integrates insights about policy processes and key contexts of foreign policymaking to explain foreign policy change. I argue that foreign policy entrepreneurs may play a significant role in re-shaping bilateral US policy towards smaller states, including pariah regimes. I show that in the case of US Burma policy both members of Congress and senior administration officials have engaged in such foreign policy entrepreneurship. To illustrate the argument, I reconstruct two key decisions: the decision by the administration of President George W. Bush to take the situation in Myanmar to the UN Security Council; and the decision by the Obama administration to re-engage directly with Myanmar’s then military regime in 2009.
About the Speaker:
Dr. Jürgen Haacke is Associate Professor in International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). From August 2016 to July 2018 he was Director of the LSE’s Saw Swee Hock Southeast Asia Centre. Most of his research lies at the intersection of foreign policy analysis and security studies, with the predominant regional focus being Southeast Asia, covering the foreign and security policies of regional states, great power competition and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). He also has a particular interest in contemporary Myanmar. Dr. Haacke’s most recent publications have focused on the following: UK policy towards Southeast Asia; Southeast Asia’s regional order; hedging and balancing strategies pursued by Southeast Asian states; Myanmar’s foreign relations, especially with ASEAN, China and the United States and the making of US Burma policy.
Registration:
To attend the event in person, please register here.