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Strategic Narratives, Ontological Security and Global Policy provides a pathbreaking account of why some states successfully convince others to join their policy initiatives, and why others fail. Examining China's Belt and Road Initiative and COVID-19, Thomas Colley and Carolijn van Noort argue that strategic narratives can help persuade states to join global policy initiatives if they convincingly promise audiences material gain while avoiding undermining their ontological security. They make their case by analysing eight diverse countries: India, Italy, Kazakhstan, Mexico, the Maldives, the Netherlands, the UK and the USA.
Theoretically novel and global in scope, this book provides a compelling explanation of how strategic narratives can help achieve the global policy coordination needed to confront vital challenges in contemporary international relations. The proposed strategic narrative buy-in framework is applicable to many global policy issues, be itpromoting trade and infrastructure projects, mitigating climate change or managing pandemics.
List of contents
1. Introduction: Strategic Narratives and Global Policy Initiatives.- 2. Strategic Narratives, Ontological Security and Policy Change.- 3. China's Belt and Road Strategic Narratives up to the Second Belt and Road Forum.- 4. Accepting the Belt and Road Initiative: Kazakhstan and Italy.- 5. Ontological Security Concerns about the Belt and Road Initiative: the UK and the Netherlands.- 6. Rejecting the Belt and Road Initiative: the USA and India.- 7. Material Concerns about the Belt and Road Initiative: Mexico and the Maldives.- 8. China's COVID-19 Strategic Narratives in 2020 and How States Responded to Them.- 9. Conclusion.
About the author
Thomas Colley is Senior Lecturer in Defence and International Affairs at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, UK.
Carolijn van Noort is an independent scholar, with four years of experience as Lecturer in Politics and Public Policy at the University of the West of Scotland, UK.
Report
"Five new books ... shed light on China's economic, political, and security relations with Asia and Europe. ... The books reviewed in this essay show that the world is changing. ... The books are also well-written ... . As such, they would be a valuable addition to the reading lists in advanced undergraduate and graduate courses on Chinese foreign policy and the international relations of Asia and Europe and ... the collections of university libraries." (Aleksander Lust, Pacific Affairs, Vol. 97 (1), 2024)
"Strategic narratives, ontological security and global policy, Thomas Colley and Carolijn van Noort make an exciting contribution to this field. ... This is a fascinating contribution that speaks to several different theoretical literatures in IR and knits them closer together. The empirical puzzle of uneven commitment to the BRI is tackled well throughout the book. It is remarkably forward-looking and opens many doors for further research on ontological security, strategic narratives and foreign policy change." (Lauren Rogers, International Affairs, Vol. 98 (6), 2022)
