Defense against Foreign Interference: The Two-Tier Logic of UK Foreign Policy Shaping

The article explores the specific features of the UK strategic approach to policy towards Russia and China through the British establishment’s perception of threats to national security. Based on the Intermestic Realism theoretical model, the author analyses how the broad domestic political discourse influences strategic tasks being formulated in foreign policy and vise versa. The demand for the protection of the democratic process as widely seen now to be threatened by authoritarian regimes, as well as the emphasis on the counteraction against some state actors, have brought about the emergence of new narratives in the UK. These trends affect decision-makers in the field of foreign policy, and retain the potential to influence strategic culture regardless of which party the Cabinet belongs to. In terms of the UK-Russia and UK-China relations, two trends are emerging, related to the discourse on malicious interference and attempts at foreign influence not only on electoral and democratic processes, but also on public opinion, and, consequently, on the mainstream domestic political discourse. New law enforcement practices formulated in response to these challenges, on the one hand, provide some leeway in UK policy planning, and on the other hand, confine the policy only to a threat-centered discourse, creating long-term hard line towards Moscow and an increasingly less flexible approach towards Beijing.

1. Aleshin А.А. (2023) Rol’ Britanii v formirovanii antirossijskoj politiki Zapada [The UK’s Role in Shaping the Anti-Russian Policy of the West]. Sovremennaya Evropa [Contemporary Europe] 5: 44-56. DOI: 10.31857/S0201708323050042. (In Russian).

2. Baldini G. (2015) Is Britain Facing a Crisis of Democracy? The Political Quaterly 86(4): 540-549. DOI: 10.1111/1467-923X.12185.

3. Fridman O. (2024) Defining Foreign Influence and Interference. INSS Special Publication. 12 p.

4. Godovanyuk K.A. (2022) Golovolomka rossijsko-britanskih otnoshenij: sistemnye protivorechiya i nacional’nye interesy [The Riddle of Russia-UK Relations: Systemic Contradictions and National Interests]. Sovremennaya Evropa [Contemporary Europe] 7: 185-197. DOI: 10.31857/S0201708322070154. (In Russian).

5. Godovanyuk K.A. (2024) Vneshnepoliticheskij konsensus na fone predvybornoj gonki v Britanii [Foreign Policy Consensus against the Backdrop of the UK Election Campaign]. Analiticheskie zapiski Instituta Evropy RAN [Analitycal papers of IE RAS] 15: 56-62. DOI: 10.15211/analytics21520245662. (In Russian).

6. Godovanyuk K.A. (ed.) (2021) Britaniya posle brekzita [The United Kingdom after Brexit] Moscow: Institute of Europe RAS. DOI: 10.15211/report82021_386. (In Russian).

7. Han C., Tong Y. (2021). Students at the nexus between the Chines diaspora and internationalisation of Higher Education: The role of overseas students in China’s strategy of soft power. British Journal of Educational Studies 69(5): 579-598. DOI: 10.1080/00071005.2021.1935446.

8. Istomin I.A. (2023) Inostrannoe vmeshatel’stvo vo vnutrennie dela: problematizaciya sushchnostno neopredelimogo koncepta [Foreign Interference in Internal Affairs: Deconstruction of an Essentially Indeterminate Concept]. Polis. Politicheskie issledovaniya [Polis. Political Studies] 2: 120-137. DOI: 10.17976/jpps/2023.02.09. (In Russian).

9. Manning B. (1977) The Congress, The Executive, and Intermestic Affairs. Foreign Affairs 57(2): 306-324.

10. Matlosa K. (2023) Global Trends and impact of democratic recession: Hard choices for the Global South. South African Journal of International Affairs 30(3): 337-355. DOI: 10.1080/10220461.2023.2269149.

11. Putnam R.D. (1988) Diplomacy and Domestic Politics: The Logic of Two-Level Games. International Organization 42(3): 427-460.

12. Rosenau J. (1969) Toward the Study of National-International Linkage. In Rosenau J. (ed.) Linkage Politics: Essays on the Convergence of National and International Systems. New York: Free Press.

13. Scott P.F. (2023) ‘State threats’, Security, and Democracy: The National Security Act 2023. Legal Studies 44(2): 1-17. DOI:10.1017/lst.2023.39.

14. Suchkov М.А. (2024) Inostrannoe vmeshatel’stvo kak forma mezhgosudarstvennogo protivoborstva: tipy i motivy [Foreign Interference as a Form of Interstate Competition: Types and Motives]. Polis. Politicheskie issledovaniya [Polis. Political Studies] 3: 8-23. DOI: 10.17976/jpps/2024.03.02. (In Russian).