This book analyses the India, Brazil, South Africa Dialogue Forum
(IBSA), focusing on the communalities and differences in the way foreign policy
is conceptualized in its member states. Utilizing 83 interviews with foreign
policy makers and experts, as well as the analysis of 119 foreign-policy
speeches, the author traces key shifts in official foreign policy discourse. In
order to evaluate the degree of support for key IBSA Dialogue Forum concepts
within national discourse, the author also examines the interplay between
official and broader societal discourses on foreign policy. This analysis
combines political science factors (foreign policy role conceptions) with
linguistic factors, thus enabling a qualitative and quantitative comparison of
different framings of foreign policy. Extensive empirical material collected
during six months of field research in India, Brazil and South Africa allows
the author to present a differentiated account of their alleged like-mindedness.
Introduction.- IBSA: Three Like-Minded States?- A Comparative Approach to Foreign Policy Discourse Analysis.- Schools of Thought in Foreign Policy Discourse: the Potential for Convergence and Divergence Amongst IBSA States.- Official Framings of Foreign Policy: South-South Leadership as Starting Point of the IBSA Initiative.- Contested Roles: Investigating Societal Framings of Foreign Policy in India, Brazil and South Africa.- Conclusions: On the Like-Mindedness of the IBSA States.- Outlook: IBSA and the Shadow of BRICS.- Annex.
Jörg Husar is Programme Officer for Latin America at the International
Energy Agency (IEA) and currently a visiting lecturer at the Paris School of
International Affairs (Sciences Po). The present book originated as his
doctoral thesis during his involvement in the research project "Emerging
Powers as Partners of German Foreign Policy" (2006-2011) at the German
Institute of International and Security Affairs (SWP). His field research was
supported by foreign policy think tanks in the three IBSA countries: Centro
Brasileiro de Relações Internacionais (CEBRI, Rio de Janeiro), South
African Institute for International Affairs (SAIIA, Johannesburg) and Institute
for Peace and Conflict Studies (IPCS, New Delhi). In 2007 and 2010 he served as
visiting lecturer in Political Science at Freie Universität Berlin, including a
course on the IBSA Dialogue Forum.