Theories of foreign policy: an historical overview

1986 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steve Smith

Although it is natural to consider the development of the comparative approach known as Foreign Policy Analysis (FPA) as the most obvious source of theories of foreign policy behaviour, it is important to remember that all perspectives on the subject of international relations contain statements about foreign policy. Historically this has been the case because virtually all approaches to the study of international relations took the state to be the central actor. Thus, approaches as diverse as those concentrating on political economy, international society and Marxism have all included a notion of what the state is and how its foreign policy results, regardless of the way in which policy might be defined. Theories of foreign policy are therefore intrinsic to theories of international relations, even for those who deny the centrality of the state as an actor in international society.

Author(s):  
Aigul Kulnazarova

The subject of comparative foreign policy security interests concerns itself with at least two separate subfields of international relations: foreign policy analysis and security studies. The foreign policy analysis concerns the decision-making processes of states in their daily interaction with other actors of international relations: state and nonstate, international organizations and individuals. Security studies in a broad sense also refer to the behavior of states, but, in particular, only to those measures that states take to ensure their own security and survival in the international arena. It is not surprising that any such measures have traditionally been viewed as national security interests. The term national security became widely used only after World War II to understand and explain the national interests of the leading powers, which the latter mainly used as a priority of their foreign policy. Often, national security was associated with military/physical security, strategic parity, and confrontation of mutual threat, although some authors, such as Wolfers 1952 (cited under Theoretical Overview), argue that the meaning of the term is not so clear and is, in fact, more complicated. Since the 1990s, due to the changing world order and the growing forces of globalization, the sphere of national security has expanded significantly and now includes nonmilitary or nontraditional security sectors: economic, environmental, societal, political, etc. The consequences of globalization are obvious, as they have influenced further changes in the behavioral tendencies of states in external relations. Old approaches to security no longer meet the challenges of the new millennium. Perhaps the emerging academic subfield of comparative foreign policy security interests will deal with aspects of state behavior and policy aimed at achieving, maintaining, or redistributing the positions of states in the transforming global system. It is possible to distinguish two levels of foreign policy security interests: public and private. While the first concerns the security and integrity of state sovereignty and independence, protected by diplomatic, political, economic, ideological, and military means, the second includes the need for states to establish themselves in international organizations by instituting and promoting relations in scientific, technological, cultural, educational, social, environmental, and other fields with various actors, and participating in the settlement of regional and local conflicts. The protection of security interests at the public level is more stable, while the private level is more variable, and the latter can turn into the public one. One way to understand how states develop and implement their foreign policy security interests is to use a comparative approach.


1939 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 391-410 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas J. Spykman ◽  
Abbie A. Rollins

The attempt to give international society a minimum of government and order through the establishment of a League of Nations has proved only moderately successful. It is true that states have begun to play politics in Geneva, but they have not ceased the older and grimmer struggle for power in the world at large. The state is still today, as far as its international relations are concerned, primarily a military organization. Its specific aims in its struggle for power may be many, but among them the geographic objectives, the attainment of which will increase the state's relative military strength, are the oldest and the most persistent.There are several types of geographic objectives, but in this analysis we shall concern ourselves with the strategic geographic objectives of foreign policy. Before we attempt to analyze these specific objectives, however, it is essential to consider briefly the phenomenon of expansion as such, which may be defined as a mere advancement of frontier in contrast to the conquest of a particular bit of territory for strategic reasons.


Author(s):  
M.D. Tursynbay ◽  

The policy of "soft power" has lost some of its significance in Russia's foreign policy, but continues to dominate the minds of researchers. This is evidenced by numerous articles on this topic and even research by journalistic groups. The concept has become a trend not only in the study of international relations, but also in political science. The decisive criterion for determining the degree of influence of "soft power" is "attractiveness", that is, the degree to which the subject can leave the object in order to exert a certain influence on it. Russia has a set of “soft power” instruments that can, to some extent, affect facilities, including in the countries of the Central Asian region, including Kazakhstan. The study is based on a comparative approach that allows not only to identify the features of the "soft power" of the Russian Federation, but also to compare their effectiveness. The activities of the two countries are analyzed through the prism of soft power instruments used in the region, including investment, educational, scientific and cultural programs.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 255-268
Author(s):  
József Zoltán Fazakas

The subject of the paper is the international relations and recognition of the Principality of Transylvania. International law requires the existence of three mandatory elements in order to recognize a state. These are territory, population, and sovereign authority over them. If we focus on the Transylvanian state, meeting these requirements will not represent an issue. The interesting question is the fourth but not additional criteria of statehood in international law, international recognition. Without international recognition, a state cannot act as part of the international community, and there will always be a collision between claims of sovereignty by other states. In Transylvanian history, this collision existed with the Habsburg and the Ottoman Empire. The essay shows that the independent Principality of Transylvania had the recognition of other states, also having regular foreign policy and diplomatic relations. To demonstrate this statement, the essay is built on three points and breaks down as follows: the evolution of the state from the Eastern Kingdom of Hungary until the Principality of Transylvania, the foreign policy of the Transylvanian state, its directions and orientations and the international relations of the Transylvanian state, with evidence of state recognition.


Author(s):  
Rahul Sagar

This chapter examines ideas about war, peace, and international relations over the century preceding independence, of which there were many more and in greater depth than widely supposed. It outlines how and why Indians first began to articulate views on the subject, and subsequently analyses these ideas. It proposes that, contrary to the opinion of some scholars, Indians thought carefully about the nature of international relations. Most importantly, it emphasizes the plurality of views on the subject, and explains how and why proponents of pragmatism in foreign relations came to be sidelined in the period immediately preceding independence. Several of the personalities developing notions of what a foreign policy for India should involve as of the early twentieth century, including India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, became important actors in formulating and implementing foreign policy post-independence.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 297-329
Author(s):  
Renan Holanda Montenegro

Nos últimos anos, houve uma proliferação de livros e artigos sobre aspectos diversos da atuação internacional da China, como relações comerciais, investimentos, participação em novos fóruns multilaterais, questões de defesa, etc. Por outro lado, existe uma relativa ausência de textos introdutórios resumidos sobre a política externa do país, principalmente em língua portuguesa. O presente trabalho busca preencher essa lacuna por meio de uma análise de três aspectos centrais para se compreender a China na contemporaneidade sob lentes macro: 1) a existência de uma grande estratégia; 2) o desenho administrativo interno e os principais atores de política externa; e 3) os instrumentos à disposição para se perseguir os objetivos internacionais do país. Estudantes de graduação de Relações Internacionais – e de Ciências Sociais em geral – em estágio inicial de contato com temas sobre a China são o público-alvo, além de outros possíveis interessados no assunto.     Abstract: Over the last years there has been a proliferation of books and articles on various aspects of China's international performance, such as trade relations, investment, participation in new multilateral arenas, defense issues, etc. On the other hand, there is a relative lack of summary introductory texts on the country's foreign policy, mainly in Portuguese. This paper seeks to fill this gap by analyzing three central aspects to understand China in the contemporary world under macro lens: 1) the existence of a great strategy; 2) the internal administrative division and the main foreign policy actors; and 3) the instruments available to pursue the country's international objectives. International Relations undergraduate students – and those of Social Sciences in general – in the initial stage of contact with topics related to China are the target audience, in addition to other people interested in the subject. Keywords: China. State and Government. Foreign Policy. International Relations.     Recebido em: maio/2019. Aprovado em: agosto/2019.  


Author(s):  
María Cecilia Míguez

Autonomy is a concept constantly referred to in Latin American foreign policy analysis, especially with respect to Argentina and Brazil. As great powers continue to exert effective control over peripheral economies and their political decision making, autonomy emerges as a possibility for self-determination in the areas where hegemonic powers’ economic, political, and cultural interferences are expressed. Although this is not a new concept, the quest for autonomy within the “global periphery”—and elsewhere too—still remains relevant. Helio Jaguaribe and Juan Carlos Puig’s theoretical approaches are fundamental epistemological contributions to international relations (IR), not only in South America (where the theoretical approach was first developed) but also to the wider IR field outside the mainstream scholarship. In line with global historical changes, autonomy took on some subsequent new meanings, which led to new and heterogeneous formulations that transformed, and in certain cases also contradicted, the very genesis of the idea of autonomy. As a result, the so-called autonomy “with adjectives” emerged within IR peripheral debates. The 21st century witnessed the rebirth of the concept amid the rise of multilateralism and the new Latin American regionalism, which brought its relational character to the fore. Some of the new approaches to autonomy, especially from Brazil, used the concept as a methodological tool to understand the historical evolution of the country’s foreign policy. As such, autonomy and its theoretical reflection remain central to the analyses and interpretations of the international relations of peripheral countries, and it is in this sense that the autonomy can be highlighted broadly as a Latin American contribution to IR discipline. The concept of autonomy has a unique and foundational content referred to the discussion of the asymmetries in the global order. Studying autonomy is critical to understanding peripheral countries’ problems and dynamics.


Author(s):  
О.В. Мифтахова ◽  
К.Г. Мокрова

Данная статья освещает специфику языковых средств, используемых в немецких СМИ для создания образа политического деятеля. Поскольку средства массовой информации обладают мощнейшим манипулятивным действием, они играют ведущую роль в формировании массового сознания и социального мнения. В СМИ специально создаются политические образы не только отдельных представителей власти, но и государств в целом. Политический имидж лидеров стран влияет на развитие международных отношений: от положительной или негативной окраски того или иного государственного деятеля напрямую зависит успешность проведения внешней политики страны. Цель статьи - рассмотреть на примере двух немецких политиков, Сары Вагенкнехт и Аннегрет Крамп-Карренбауэр, языковые средства создания имиджа, формирующие у аудитории данных деятелей субъективное мнение о них. СМИ выступает мощнейшим оружием в данном вопросе, придавая особую значимость тем или иным высказываниям политиков. Выражая собственную оценку, средства массовой информации незаметно влияют на сознание и суждения людей. Предмет исследования - средства выразительности, которые оказывают воздействие на создание положительных или негативных медиаобразов политиков Германии. Актуальность темы проявляется в необходимости правильно трактовать тонкости речи и письма, которые могут формировать оценочные мнения о том или ином политическом деятеле. This article considers the issues of language means of creating the image of a politician used in the German media. Since the media have a powerful manipulative effect, they play a leading role in creating mass consciousness and social opinion. In the media, political images are specially formed not only of individual representatives of the government, but also of the state as a whole. The political image of the leaders of states have the influence the development of international relations: the success of the country's foreign policy directly depends on the positive or negative coloring of a statesman. The purpose of the article is to examine, using the example of two German politicians, Sarah Wagenknecht and Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, as language means for creating an image, forming a subjective opinion of them among the audience. The media act as a powerful weapon in this matter, attaching particular importance to certain statements of politicians. Expressing their own assessment, the media imperceptibly affect the consciousness and judgments of people. The subject of the research is the means of expression that influence the creation of positive or negative media images of German politicians. The relevance of the topic is manifested in the need to understand the intricacies of speech and writing, which can form evaluative opinions about a concrete political figure.


Author(s):  
Lene Hansen

This chapter examines the use of discourse analysis in the study of foreign policy. In the study of international relations, discourse analysis is associated with post-structuralism, a theoretical approach that shares realism’s concern with states and power, but differs from realism’s assumption that states are driven by self-interest. It also takes a wider view of power than realists normally do. Post-structuralism draws upon, but also challenges, realism’s three core assumptions: groupism, egoism, and power-centrism. The chapter first considers the theoretical principles that inform post-structuralist discourse analysis before discussing the research designs and methodological techniques employed by discourse analysts. It also offers examples and four learning boxes featuring mini-case studies and locates poststructuralist discourse analysis within the field of foreign policy analysis. Finally, it assesses the strengths and weaknesses of post-structuralist discourse analysis.


Author(s):  
Valerie M. Hudson

This chapter traces the history and evolution of foreign policy analysis (FPA) as a subfield of international relations (IR) from its beginnings in the 1950s through its classical period until 1993. It begins with a discussion of three paradigmatic works that laid the foundation of FPA: Decision Making as an Approach to the Study of International Politics (1954), by Richard C. Snyder, H. W. Bruck, and Burton Sapin; ‘Pre-theories and Theories of Foreign Policy’ (1966), by James N. Rosenau; and Man–Milieu Relationship Hypotheses in the Context of International Politics (1956), by Harold and Margaret Sprout. These three works created three main threads of research in FPA: focusing on the decision making of small/large groups, comparative foreign policy, and psychological/sociological explanations of foreign policy. The chapter also reviews classic FPA scholarship during the period 1954–1993 and concludes with an assessment of contemporary FPA’s research agenda.


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