Periodic Reporting for period 1 - SoDiIR (Social Distance in International Relations)
Reporting period: 2021-09-01 to 2023-08-31
International solidarity is selective. Whilst common sense says that our moral obligation to help people extents equally to all, SoDiIR’s expectation is that social distance— the extent to which we relate to, or identify with others—creates socio-emotional hurdles and impacts people’s engagement with the hardship of others. Bluntly put, people do not care equally for all human suffering and this influences their, and therewith countries’, political priorities. We see this today in the ways people empathize with the victims of wars in, e.g. Ukraine, Gaza, Yemen, and Sudan and the different foreign policy stances that states develop.
SoDiIR, aimed to uncover, analyse, and think through the consequences and role of social distance and the political biases this introduces to aid narratives and national foreign policy.
The universality is an important pillar under the international system. However, whilst it exists on paper, practice shows the implementation is selective and that empathy and aid do not reach everybody equally. Considering contemporary polarization around refugees, migration, and related questions (racism, xenophobia, islamophobia), exploring the experienced social distance in societies is a worthwhile endeavor. Moreover, introducing social distance to foreign policy analysis enhances the study of social distance itself and demonstrates its value for political science. Lastly, a better comprehension of the social and emotional dynamics behind the support for interventions will facilitate the planning, organization, communication of interventions that are to take place in regions physically and socially remote from the most likely donors. Moreover, giving more weight to emotional appraisal in political science and raising awareness of the role of emotions in politics allows to better understand contemporary world politics and to close the perceived gap between political science and political practices.
SoDiIR had two central research objectives:
a) To show how socio-emotional distance impacts people’s perceptions of, and reactions towards, international crises and catastrophes.
b) To theorise and analyse how such micro-level and personal responses are translated into foreign policy.
Unfortunately, time proved short and changing political circumstances of direct importance to the project led to a change in the project focus. Although a lot of progress was made and significant additional funding to continue and expand the project secured, conclusions cannot yet be drawn. Below, I explain what happened.
SoDiIR, aimed to uncover, analyse, and think through the consequences and role of social distance and the political biases this introduces to aid narratives and national foreign policy.
The universality is an important pillar under the international system. However, whilst it exists on paper, practice shows the implementation is selective and that empathy and aid do not reach everybody equally. Considering contemporary polarization around refugees, migration, and related questions (racism, xenophobia, islamophobia), exploring the experienced social distance in societies is a worthwhile endeavor. Moreover, introducing social distance to foreign policy analysis enhances the study of social distance itself and demonstrates its value for political science. Lastly, a better comprehension of the social and emotional dynamics behind the support for interventions will facilitate the planning, organization, communication of interventions that are to take place in regions physically and socially remote from the most likely donors. Moreover, giving more weight to emotional appraisal in political science and raising awareness of the role of emotions in politics allows to better understand contemporary world politics and to close the perceived gap between political science and political practices.
SoDiIR had two central research objectives:
a) To show how socio-emotional distance impacts people’s perceptions of, and reactions towards, international crises and catastrophes.
b) To theorise and analyse how such micro-level and personal responses are translated into foreign policy.
Unfortunately, time proved short and changing political circumstances of direct importance to the project led to a change in the project focus. Although a lot of progress was made and significant additional funding to continue and expand the project secured, conclusions cannot yet be drawn. Below, I explain what happened.
Changing political circumstances of direct relevance to the project led to a small change in focus. From the start, the project followed two strands: A methodological strand; and an empirical strand. Both strands, although the primary questions are not yet answered, were successful and I obtained significant funding to continue both lines of work.
First, following the proposal, I took several methodological steps. I worked to integrate narrative analysis with process tracing. This was necessary because of the project’s focus on national collective narratives and the ways in which narratives shape state foreign policy making. Process Tracing (PT) and narrative analysis exist as independent methods, it was their integration that posed a challenge. This initial focus led to a stand-alone publication, “Process Tracing: An Analyticist Approach” (van Meegdenburg, 2023). This chapter was received very positively in the field. Its reception, and the request that followed from it, ended up taking quite some—well spend—research time. As a direct outcome, I am now co-authoring a book manuscript on combining PT with Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA). This book will soon go out for review with a major academic press. Moreover, based on the original book chapter, I got invited to write a paper for a special issue on Interpretivist Process Tracing for the journal Policy & Politics, and I am no co-organizing another special issue on Narratives and Foreign Policy Analysis. As such, if all goes well, the methodological work for SoDiIR will have resulted in a book chapter, two papers in renowned journals, and an academic press book.
Second, the invasion of Ukraine by Russia in early 2022 meant the project as originally envisioned became outdated. Originally not the empirical focus, many people in Global North countries took to the streets to express their solidarity and political leaders quickly promised and sent significant humanitarian and military support to Ukraine. This stands in stark contrast to the international reactions to earlier conflicts in, e.g. Syria, and Yemen. More recently still, Israel’s war on Gaza—provoked by the Hamas atrocities of Oct. 7, 2023—proved the point again. These different and suddenly very contemporary cases necessitated an expansion of the project. Amongst the most concrete results are the three follow-up research grants that I obtained to make that expansion possible. Following immediately on my Marie Curie Fellowship, I was awarded: 1) an NWO (Dutch Research Council) XS Grant; 2) a research grant by the Leiden University Fund (LUF); 3) and a so-called “Startersbeurs” from the Dutch government. The first two will provide funding for extensive fieldwork and the fielding of a large-scale survey-based experiment. The latter allows me to hire a PhD-candidate for four years to expand and continue SoDiIR’s work and focus.
Besides obtaining follow-up funding, I presented substantive papers at different conferences and workshops in Tilburg (NL), Bielefeld (DE), Montreal (CA), Amsterdam (NL), and Potsdam (DE). Later this year, I will still present and discuss my work in Oxford (GB-ENG), Lile (France), and Louvain (BE). I am also working on a Special Issue that would contain an empirical paper. Besides this, I offered two PhD-level workshops on Process Tracing for MethodsNET schools at Radboud University Nijmegen (NL), and one for KOMEX at the University of Konstanz (DE). As soon as the substantively focussed publications start coming out, I will ensure these publications are accompanied by publicly oriented and easily accessible blogposts, and, likely, a podcast.
First, following the proposal, I took several methodological steps. I worked to integrate narrative analysis with process tracing. This was necessary because of the project’s focus on national collective narratives and the ways in which narratives shape state foreign policy making. Process Tracing (PT) and narrative analysis exist as independent methods, it was their integration that posed a challenge. This initial focus led to a stand-alone publication, “Process Tracing: An Analyticist Approach” (van Meegdenburg, 2023). This chapter was received very positively in the field. Its reception, and the request that followed from it, ended up taking quite some—well spend—research time. As a direct outcome, I am now co-authoring a book manuscript on combining PT with Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA). This book will soon go out for review with a major academic press. Moreover, based on the original book chapter, I got invited to write a paper for a special issue on Interpretivist Process Tracing for the journal Policy & Politics, and I am no co-organizing another special issue on Narratives and Foreign Policy Analysis. As such, if all goes well, the methodological work for SoDiIR will have resulted in a book chapter, two papers in renowned journals, and an academic press book.
Second, the invasion of Ukraine by Russia in early 2022 meant the project as originally envisioned became outdated. Originally not the empirical focus, many people in Global North countries took to the streets to express their solidarity and political leaders quickly promised and sent significant humanitarian and military support to Ukraine. This stands in stark contrast to the international reactions to earlier conflicts in, e.g. Syria, and Yemen. More recently still, Israel’s war on Gaza—provoked by the Hamas atrocities of Oct. 7, 2023—proved the point again. These different and suddenly very contemporary cases necessitated an expansion of the project. Amongst the most concrete results are the three follow-up research grants that I obtained to make that expansion possible. Following immediately on my Marie Curie Fellowship, I was awarded: 1) an NWO (Dutch Research Council) XS Grant; 2) a research grant by the Leiden University Fund (LUF); 3) and a so-called “Startersbeurs” from the Dutch government. The first two will provide funding for extensive fieldwork and the fielding of a large-scale survey-based experiment. The latter allows me to hire a PhD-candidate for four years to expand and continue SoDiIR’s work and focus.
Besides obtaining follow-up funding, I presented substantive papers at different conferences and workshops in Tilburg (NL), Bielefeld (DE), Montreal (CA), Amsterdam (NL), and Potsdam (DE). Later this year, I will still present and discuss my work in Oxford (GB-ENG), Lile (France), and Louvain (BE). I am also working on a Special Issue that would contain an empirical paper. Besides this, I offered two PhD-level workshops on Process Tracing for MethodsNET schools at Radboud University Nijmegen (NL), and one for KOMEX at the University of Konstanz (DE). As soon as the substantively focussed publications start coming out, I will ensure these publications are accompanied by publicly oriented and easily accessible blogposts, and, likely, a podcast.
The different reactions to the suffering caused by the wars on Ukraine and Gaza show that social distance matters. People do not care equally for all human suffering, and they do not punish all perpetrators equally. Considering contemporary polarization around refugees, migration, and related questions, and considering international conflicts and aid remain contemporary foreign policy issues, researching social distance seems even more timely now than it did when SoDiIR started. Although the substantive research outcomes are still in the pipeline, the societal implications are clear. If the expectations are true, the findings should inspire a reflecting and coming to terms with serious social biases and the preferential treatment of some people. If we take seriously the existence and values of the Liberal International Order then all people should be cared for equally. SoDiIR is to show that these values are contemporarily not obtained.
Having obtained significant funding to widen and continue SoDiIR, this MC-fellowship laid the basis for a broad, multi-year, and multi-method research project. This would not have been possible without the MC-fellowship and any scientific outcome will also be attributable (and attributed) to this fellowship.
Having obtained significant funding to widen and continue SoDiIR, this MC-fellowship laid the basis for a broad, multi-year, and multi-method research project. This would not have been possible without the MC-fellowship and any scientific outcome will also be attributable (and attributed) to this fellowship.