The appropriate policy towards so-called ‘rogue states’, i.e. regimes whose defining feature is the violation of international norms, has been among the most divisive issues in European foreign policy making. Whereas some EU member states prefer a confrontational approach to states like Iran and North Korea, others plea for a more accommodating policy. This paper argues that EU member states’ policies towards ‘rogue states’ are heavily influenced by domestic cultures of control because the problem of recurrent violations of community norms as posed by renegade regimes to the international community is similar to the problem posed by criminals in domestic society. Thus, states with a retributive culture of control follow a confrontational policy towards renegade regimes, fed by a ‘criminology of the other’ that is based on the assumption that certain criminals are simply evil and therefore intrinsically different from the rest of community. In contrast, states with a ‘penal-welfarist’ or’rehabilitative’ culture of control follow a more accommodationist policy, aiming at the resocialisation of the renegade into the community. To control for additional influences on policies towards ‘rogue states’, the paper also examines the impact of commercial interests and of the lobbying activities of ethnic identity groups.

Confrontation or Accommodation? – European Policies towards ‘Rogue States’ (pdf)