Ben Tonra

University College Dublin, Politics and International Relations, Faculty Member

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I joined UCD Dublin in 1999 as Deputy Director of the Dublin European Institute. Today I hold a Jean Monnet (ad personam) Chair as Professor of European Foreign, Security and Defence Policy and I am also Professor of International Relations at the UCD School of Politics and International Relations.

Prior to UCD I enjoyed two terrific years at the Department of International Politics at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth working with colleagues to develop European Studies and contributing (in a very small way!) to what is, and what has been, an outstanding centre for the study of International Relations.

Earlier still, I was a graduate student and contract lecturer at the Department of Political Science, Trinity College Dublin. There I had the very great good fortune of working with Professor Patrick Keatinge and ultimately completed my PhD.

My publication profile is centred on EU security and defense, Irish foreign policy and International Relations theory. I'm the Project Co-Leader at the Irish Institute for International and European Affairs for its policy group on European Security and Defence. I was also chairperson of the Royal Irish Academy’s National Committee on International Affairs and the Church of Ireland’s working group on Europe.

My current research interests focus on identity and foreign policy and transatlantic relations.

August 2010
Phone: + 353 1 716 8195

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Papers by Ben Tonra

Security, defence and neutrality

Manchester University Press eBooks, Jul 19, 2013

Europe and the international dimension

Routledge eBooks, Dec 12, 2012

Abstract: Ireland, according to Article 5 of the Irish constitution, is a &amp;#x27;sovereign... more Abstract: Ireland, according to Article 5 of the Irish constitution, is a &amp;#x27;sovereign, independent, democratic state&amp;#x27;. This assertion of the state&amp;#x27;s legal right to conduct its own affairs without outside interference is, however, an inadequate description of the state&amp;#x27;s relationship with the rest of the world. Forces of Europeanisation and globalisation have greatly increased Ireland&amp;#x27;s interaction with the international system and have embedded the state within it. It makes considerable sense to adapt the terminology often used by economists, and to ...

Danish Foreign Policy: 1945-1973

Routledge eBooks, Feb 5, 2018

Europe and the international dimension

Taylor & Francis eBooks, Feb 16, 2010

Policy actors and structures: the executive drama

Manchester University Press eBooks, May 1, 2012

Foreign, Security, and Defence Policy

This chapter explores the roots of Irish foreign, security, and defence policy, placing them in t... more This chapter explores the roots of Irish foreign, security, and defence policy, placing them in the context of a deeply pragmatic approach to public policy. Those roots are defined in terms of nationalism, solidarity, and global justice, which are themselves deep markers within Irish political culture. Ireland’s pragmatic approach is then grounded in a meticulously crafted rhetoric surrounding key foreign policy priorities but an associated reluctance to devote substantial resources towards these foreign policy and defence goals. Together, this gives rise to an assessment that the interests of smaller and less powerful states such as Ireland are best defended within legitimate, strong, and effective multilateral institutions such as the UN—even as the state continues to face adaptation challenges arising from a deepening foreign, security, and defence policy engagement within the EU.

European Foreign and Security Policy and South Africa: 1976-1995

The Europeanisation of National Foreign Policy, 2018

Security, Defence and Neutrality: The Irish Dilemma

Security and defence has been a somewhat neglected area of study within Irish foreign policy. Onl... more Security and defence has been a somewhat neglected area of study within Irish foreign policy. Only neutrality has gathered significant attention . The aim of this chapter is to place security and d efence policy within the broader context of Irish foreign policy, to assess its roots and its character and to identify the challenges that it faces. In doing so, it will also look at Irish neutrality and how debates surrounding this concept have impacted the conduct of security and defence policy. Finally, it will illustrate how Irish policy has made a lasting and significant impact upon international security in the area of disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation.Part of book project - MEL 17/05/201

The Netherlands, Denmark and Ireland and Foreign Policy Co-operation

Irish Political Studies, 15

The Practitioners' Assessment

Studies in Public Policy

tcd.ie

This chapter examines why the government must specify policy objectives for the IFSRA. It argues ... more This chapter examines why the government must specify policy objectives for the IFSRA. It argues that policy objectives are the key initial step in ensuring that a regulator is accountable. They are the essential ex ante mechanism of an accountability structure because they define and circumscribe 'the exercise of authority'(March and Olson, 1995) and therefore the nature and scope of the role that the state is delegating to the regulator. The importance of objectives is illustrated by reference to the experience of the ...

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The narrative of the Anglo-American State

Global Citizen and European Republic, 2012

Policy actors and structures

Manchester University Press eBooks, Jul 19, 2013

Ireland and the European Union

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics, Jun 28, 2017

Ireland joined the European Communities—as they were known then—in 1973, alongside the United Kin... more Ireland joined the European Communities—as they were known then—in 1973, alongside the United Kingdom and Denmark. In many ways, that membership was defined by the bilateral British–Irish relationship. Ireland was, to all intents and purposes, an underdeveloped appendage of the British economy, and membership alongside the United Kingdom was deemed by most of the Irish political and economic establishment as virtually axiomatic. Irish policymakers, however, took full advantage of the opportunities offered by membership; in particular the Common Agricultural Policy, the direct transfers that derived from cohesion, regional and structural funding, and the opportunity to present the country as a successful location for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) with access to the entire European market. Irish policy makers also positioned themselves rhetorically close to the heart of European construction, which had the added value of creating an Irish antithesis to Britain’s ongoing European discontents. There are perhaps four key themes to be analyzed with respect to Ireland and its membership of the European Union. The first is the question of a small state and its sovereignty. As a former colony, with a bitter experience of imperialism and a strong sense of independence, Ireland’s pooling of sovereignty with its European partners has most often been presented as a desirable trade-off between legal, formal sovereignty and effective sovereignty. Having a seat at the main table—alongside the former imperial hegemon—was deemed to be a major advance, one that allowed the state more effectively to pursue its interests—including the resolution of conflict on the island of Ireland. The 2008 financial collapse, and Ireland’s experience of the EU-led troika briefly challenged that narrative. Subsequently, the support given by the EU26 to a resolution of post-Brexit border relations on the island substantially reinforced Ireland’s European commitment. A second theme of inquiry is that of Irish economic development within the European Union. In contrast to other similarly under-developed states and regions in the EU, Ireland is seen by many as something of a poster child for making a success of EU membership. In the run-up to the 2004 enlargement and shortly thereafter, Dublin was a magnet for central European and Mediterranean states looking to replicate the success of the so-called “Celtic Tiger.” Debate persists, however, on the precise balance of costs and benefits deriving from the model of economic development pursued by the Irish state, the role of Irish government policy therein, and consistency between Irish and EU policy priorities, especially in the field of corporate taxation and the regulation of large multinationals. A third theme of inquiry is the intersection of local, national, and European democracy. Once membership was secured, the European Union became a central and largely uncontested fact of Irish political life. Early constitutional referenda authorizing ratification of EC and then EU treaty changes, while vigorously contested, were overwhelmingly won by coalitions of the mainstream political parties and sectoral interest groups. With both the Nice (2001) and Lisbon (2007) treaties, however, ambivalence, antagonism, and complacency combined initially to thwart ratification. The gap between popular opinion on EU treaty change, which ultimately divided roughly 60/40 in favor, and the near unanimity among political elites and sectoral interests, opened a conversation on the relationship between local, national, and European democracy, which is as yet unresolved, but which many see as having further centralized policy making and distanced it from effective democratic control. A fourth theme is that of Ireland and Europe in the world. Ireland joined the European Communities with no expressed reservations on its further political integration, but as the only non-member of NATO. During those initial debates, economic arguments overwhelmingly predominated, but the political issues were aired and the implications for Ireland’s traditional military neutrality were robustly discussed. The subsequent membership of other non-aligned states ought, on the face of things, to have made Ireland’s position all the more secure. Thus, with a long and popular history of UN peacekeeping and active international engagement, the development of European foreign, security, and defense policies should not have proven to be problematic. In fact, neutrality, security, and defense remain neuralgic issues for Ireland within the European Union and have contributed in a very modest way to the challenges faced by the Union in its attempts to craft a coherent and credible common security and defense policy. This speaks to debates surrounding Ireland’s proper place in the world, the lessons of its own history and the perceived capacity for smaller states to shape the international community. These four themes underpin much research and…

The European Union as a Global Actor

Social Science Research Network, 2009

There has been considerable debate surrounding the nature of the European Union's international c... more There has been considerable debate surrounding the nature of the European Union's international capacity. Early conceptions of the Union as a civilian or non-military actordominated early thinking, characterising the Union as a new kind of international actor. 1. Others 2 , meanwhile argued that this simply sought to make a virtue of weakness and that if the Union were ever to be taken seriously, then it would have to develop a full-spectrum military capacity. That debate, in a somewhat different form, continues today. The 'civilian power' thesis 3 has evolved to one in which the Union continues to be posited as a new kind of international actor, but now as one which is somehow uniquely capable or uniquely configured as effective exporter of norms and values in the international system 4. Others insist that only as the Union develops its nascent military capacity can it begin to shoulder real international responsibilities. 5 Within this second debate exist more polemical positions on the adverse, or other, consequences of the 'militarization' of the Union's international profile and transatlantic arguments surrounding a division of labour between the US and EU in delivering 'hard' and 'soft' security capacity. This paper will outline and critically engage these debates. It will conclude that while the Union remains a distinctive international actor, the trajectory of its development may suggest the pursuit of an 'enlightened power' model. 2 Community made no mention of foreign or security policy. Nonetheless, the Communities were international actors by virtue of their very existence: their international treaty base and their interaction with other global actors and institutions. Furthermore, there was an underlying political assumption that the process of European integration was one that was inherently political and which aspired to the creation of a truly political European community of states. Thus, it was to be expected that shared interests would gradually and increasingly be assigned to a supranational authority which, over time, would further extend its policy reach. 6 Moreover, within this neo-functionalist perspective, it was presumed that such a process would not be limited to domestic welfare issues of trade and production, but that it would also spillover from this area of "low politics" into the "high politics" of international relations and foreign policy. For these theorists, the move from a Common Commercial Policy to a Common Defence Policy was both desirable and inevitable. Throughout the early period of the EC"s development, there was an implicit acceptance that the Community was already engaged in international politics. Certainly, trade could not be divorced from politics. This was illustrated by the association of former French overseas territories to the emerging European market, to the negotiation of bilateral trade agreements and to the EC"s participation in multilateral trade talks. Gradually, the EC Member States were drawnas a groupfurther into explicitly political issues with attention being given to EC relations with South Africa 7 and the Middle East 8 , with the EC"s reaction to the 1982 Falklands/Malvinas crisis 9 and to the EC"s contribution to the Helsinki process. 10 In each case the use of trade and other economic tools were linkedand sometimes explicitlywith political goals such as the end of Apartheid, a peaceful resolution of the Middle East conflict, or support for Détente.

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The (in)justices of peacekeeping

Routledge eBooks, Jun 23, 2021

The goal of this paper is to assess conceptions of justice in the European Union's (EU) military ... more The goal of this paper is to assess conceptions of justice in the European Union's (EU) military mission (EUFOR Tchad/RCA). In January 2008 the EU launched this 'bridging' military operation in Chad in accordance with the mandate set out in UNSCR 1778 (2007) and alongside the installation of the United Nation's own MINURCAT mission. EUFOR Tchad/RCA's 12 month mission came within the framework of the Union's Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP). The paper will assess the mission's intent and execution in the light of distinct models of global justice and will offer conclusions as to its relative success, most especially in the eyes of local stakeholders.

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Theory and practice of multi-level foreign policy

Manchester University Press eBooks, Jul 30, 2018

Theories of integration usually provide monocausal explanations of integrative processes. They ca... more Theories of integration usually provide monocausal explanations of integrative processes. They cannot therefore be considered as general theories but rather as ideological models which reflect the state of the European construction, state the preferences and values of the actors in EU policy-making, and contribute to the inevitable compromises between them (Caporaso and Keeler 1995). From a constructivist perspective (Adler 1997b), one could say that integration theories are social and ideological constructs that contribute to shaping the reality of integration rather than to explaining it. European foreign policy is a case in point. Each area of foreign policy decisionmaking in the EU seems to be inspired by different ideological approaches to integration favoured by the different foreign policy actors. Accordingly, European foreign policy functions as a 'system' (Monar 1997) of multi-level policies structured in four levels, each of which refers indirectly to one of the main integration theories (Remacle 1997). This approach will be applied in this chapter to the field of arms export policies. Conflicting intergovernmentalism results from a perception of national policies as being the core of, and key to, explaining European policy-making. It is mainly inspired by the realist paradigm. Fundamental to this approach are the traditional application of the concept of sovereignty and the interstate balance of power (Hill 1983; Pijpers 1991). The management of the Yugoslav crisis by EU countries best illustrates this aspect of EU foreign policy, as do national arms exports policies. Cooperative intergovernmentalism corresponds to theories of functionalism (Mitrany 1966), of adaptation (Rosenau 1970; Petersen 1998) and of maximisation of the national interest and/or convergence of preferences (Milward 1992; Moravcsik 1993; Pfetsch 1994). Illustrations of this type of European foreign policy are reflected in various forms of ad hoc bi-and multilateral cooperation between EU member states in the field of foreign policy. These include: reference

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Associations Meet the Challenge?

Studies in Public Policy The series Studies in Public Policy is published by the Policy Institute... more Studies in Public Policy The series Studies in Public Policy is published by the Policy Institute at Trinity College. It aims to bridge the gap between the academic and professional policy communities and make a real difference to public policy debate in Ireland. Each Study takes a practical policy problem and analyses it in a way that is academically rigorous yet accessible for all that.

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Dutch Foreign Policy: 1945-1970

Ben Tonra

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