Two decades of Czech foreign policy and hegemony of Internationalism Cover Image

Dvě dekády české zahraniční politiky a bezvýchodnost internacionalistické hegemonie
Two decades of Czech foreign policy and hegemony of Internationalism

Author(s): Michal Kořan
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences
Published by: Masarykova univerzita nakladatelství
Keywords: Czech foreign policy; internationalism; identity; hegemonic discourse; critical constructivism

Summary/Abstract: The aim of the article is to offer a theoretically grounded explanation of the long-term continuity of Czech foreign policy. Czech foreign policy displays long-term continuity and consensus at the level of policy, but, at the same time, exhibits deep ideological differences among political and societal elites at the level of politics. The article argues against the mainstream (neo)liberal and (neo)realist theories that explain foreign policy outcomes in pure rationalist and materialist terms. Instead, the text follows the line of the critical constructivist school of International Relations and borrows heavily from post-structuralism. Thus, the article takes into account the ideational background of Czech foreign policy and argues that these deeply seated differences at the level of politics, stemming from mutually contradictory normative, philosophical and political beliefs, are subsequently neutralized by what is called the “hegemonic internationalist discourse”. In this context, the article explores the origins, nature and consequences of the power of the hegemonic internationalist discourse.

  • Issue Year: XIX/2012
  • Issue No: 3
  • Page Range: 195-217
  • Page Count: 23
  • Language: Czech