| Abstract [eng] |
The research paper focuses on a case when a small state such as Lithuania implements a value-based foreign policy against a great power such as China. This Lithuania’s foreign policy is not in line with China’s interests. In 2021, Lithuania withdrew from China's 17+1 cooperation forum and allowed Taiwan to open a representative office in Vilnius. These actions have resulted in political and economic pressure from China on Lithuania. From a "security as survival" perspective, it is unexpected for a small state like Lithuania to pursue a foreign policy that goes against the great power like China, as Lithuania's initiatives go beyond its immediate interests in the region. This suggests that Lithuania's foreign policy decisions are not based solely on rational calculations. Therefore, the research aims to understand why Lithuania have chosen to pursue a values-based foreign policy directed against China, despite the potential risks and uncertainties involved. To answer this question, an ontological security framework is used with social identity theory. The research paper argues that the United States' attention to Lithuania provides a sense of ontological security for Lithuanian decision-makers, as it confirms Lithuania’s status as a "good friend of Americans" and reinforces its place in the Western social hierarchy. This need for ontological security, in turn, influences Lithuanian decision-makers to pursue a values-based foreign policy directed against China. To investigate this phenomenon, the research paper employs a methodology for modernist constructivist research combining discourse analysis and process tracing to identify the causal mechanisms that drive decision-making. Lithuanian foreign policy discourse analysis allows to establish the context from where the ontological security need of being perceived as a “good friend of Americans” emerges by analysing Lithuanian biographical narrative, while process tracing allows to evaluate causality for values-based foreign policy. The proposed causality in this research is as follows: the cause (USA’s lessened attention towards Europe and perceived Russian threat is followed by orientation towards China) is transmitted through ontological insecurity causal mechanism that results in an effect – Lithuanian decision-makers pursue values-based foreign policy against China. Through biographical narrative analysis, it has been shown that since the end of the Cold War, the United States and Lithuania have established routines where the US is seen as Lithuania's protector, listener, and enabler of its return to the West after Soviet occupation. The official Lithuanian foreign policy discourse portrays the USA as Lithuania's most reliable partner, security provider, and the greatest defender of Lithuanian sovereignty. As a result, “being a good American friend” is seen as a status category that confirms Lithuania's successful integration into the Western community, while for decision-makers it also provides a positive self-identification because it confirms that Lithuania is important to its guardian. To test the ontological insecurity causal mechanism, a two-part mechanism was evaluated in the period of 2020-2022. The first part is that Lithuania’s decision-makers feel anxious due to the USA's lessening attention towards Europe, while the second part states that Lithuania’s decision-makers search for areas where Lithuania could be positioned as a beneficial American partner. The analysis conducted during this period showed that enough empirical evidence was gathered to confirm that both parts of the ontological insecurity mechanism worked. As a result, Lithuanian values-based foreign policy towards China can be tied to Lithuania’s decision-makers' need to solve their ontological insecurities by attaining the USA's attention to Lithuania. This is done by using a social creativity strategy of value-based foreign policy. |
