Policy, roles and domestic contestation: Germany and the United Kingdom as allies of Ukraine

This paper establishes the nexus of roles and policy from the perspective of foreign policy role theory. This relationship has been usually assumed but rarely unpacked theoretically, despite its analytical importance to understanding processes of domestic contestation over foreign policy. Thus, shown is the importance of policy decisions and their implementation for giving direction and bringing to life a state’s foreign policy roles. Also analysed, accordingly, is how domestic policy contestation affects role enactment. Two intertwined questions are answered herewith: How does the relationship between roles and policy unfold in the foreign policy realm? How does policy contestation shape international role enactment? We illustrate our theorisation with the examples of Germany and the United Kingdom’s behaviour following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, with both NATO members deepening the ‘faithful ally’ role vis-à-vis Ukraine.