Jörg Husar is Programme Officer for Latin America at the International
Energy Agency (IEA) and currently a visiting lecturer at the Paris School of
International Affairs (Sciences Po). The present book originated as his
doctoral thesis during his involvement in the research project "Emerging
Powers as Partners of German Foreign Policy" (2006-2011) at the German
Institute of International and Security Affairs (SWP). His field research was
supported by foreign policy think tanks in the three IBSA countries: Centro
Brasileiro de Relações Internacionais (CEBRI, Rio de Janeiro), South
African Institute for International Affairs (SAIIA, Johannesburg) and Institute
for Peace and Conflict Studies (IPCS, New Delhi). In 2007 and 2010 he served as
visiting lecturer in Political Science at Freie Universität Berlin, including a
course on the IBSA Dialogue Forum.
<p>This book analyses the India, Brazil, South Africa Dialogue Forum (IBSA), focusing on the communalities and differences in the way foreign policy is conceptualized in its member states. Utilizing 83 interviews with foreign policy makers and experts, as well as the analysis of 119 foreign-policy speeches, the author traces key shifts in official foreign policy discourse. In order to evaluate the degree of support for key IBSA Dialogue Forum concepts within national discourse, the author also examines the interplay between official and broader societal discourses on foreign policy. This analysis combines political science factors (foreign policy role conceptions) with linguistic factors, thus enabling a qualitative and quantitative comparison of different framings of foreign policy. Extensive empirical material collected during six months of field research in India, Brazil and South Africa allows the author to present a differentiated account of their alleged like-mindedness.</p>