Theory of Irrational Politics: Classical Realist Lessons on Foreign Policy Analysis

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harald Edinger
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Policy Analysis ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
Foreign Policy Analysis ◽  
Social Unit ◽  
The Social ◽  
Classical Realism ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Hans Morgenthau ◽  
Theoretical Paradigms

Abstract This article argues that efforts to strengthen the theoretical foundations for foreign policy analysis (FPA) should take as a vantage point the smallest social unit—the human being. It advocates far-reaching engagement with psychology and the life sciences for insights on the individual in the social context. Research on emotion, as a general human phenomenon and one that has been extensively researched across disciplines, is thought to offer a particularly promising conceptual lens on foreign policy. For cues on how to incorporate scientific findings with historical analysis and situate resulting hypotheses in relation to prevailing theoretical paradigms, the article draws on classical realism. Especially mid-twentieth century realists such as Hans Morgenthau expressed a nuanced conception of human agency and the interplay between emotion and cognition. Substantial aspects of their theories, based largely on experience and intuition, have been corroborated by recent scientific research. This review is structured around four central issues. These have been both the loci of much criticism levelled at classical realism and remain a challenge to IR as a whole: the levels of analysis problem, the “scaling up” of emotion, the classification and choice of emotion(s), and the accessibility of the political world to scientific method.

Foreign Policy and the Social Construction of State Identity

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul A. Kowert
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
State Level ◽  
Individual Characteristics ◽  
The State ◽  
Foreign Policy Analysis ◽  
State Identity ◽  
Psychological Theories ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Individual

Foreign policy analysis benefits from careful attention to state identity. After all, identity defines the field itself by making it possible to speak both of policies and of a domain that is foreign. For some scholars, identity has proven useful as a guide to agency and, in particular, to agent preferences. For others, identity has served as a guide to social or institutional structure. Theories of state identity can be divided into three categories: conditions internal to agents, social interactions among agents, and “ecological” encounters with a broader environment. Internal conditions refer to either processes or constraints that operate within the agent under consideration. In the case of the state, these may include domestic politics, the individual characteristics of citizens or other internal actors, and the collective attributes of these citizens or other actors. Although internal causes are not social at the state level, they nevertheless have social implications if they give rise to state identity, and they may themselves be social at a lower level. The social interactions of states themselves constitute a second source of identity, one that treats states as capable of interacting like persons. This approach essentially writes large social and psychological theories, replacing individuals with the state. Finally, the ecological setting or broader environment is a third possible source of identity. The environment may be material, ideational, or discursive, and treated as an objective or a subjective influence.

Role Theory and Foreign Policy

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cameron Thies
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Policy Analysis ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Role Theory ◽  
System Level ◽  
Foreign Policy Analysis ◽  
Interdisciplinary Field ◽  
Audience Effects ◽  
The Individual

Role theory is an approach to the study of foreign policy that developed in the interdisciplinary field of social psychology and can be appropriately applied at the individual, state, and system level analyses. Role theory, which first attracted attention in the foreign policy literature after the publication of K. J. Holsti’s 1970 study of national role conception, does not refer to a single theory, but rather a family of theories, an approach, or perspective that begins with the concept of role as central to social life. The major independent variables in the study of roles include role expectations, role demands, role location, and audience effects (including cues). In addition, role theory contains its own model of social identity based on three crucial dimensions: status, value, and involvement. The 1987 publication of Stephen G. Walker’s edited volume, Role Theory and Foreign Policy Analysis, set the stage for further advances in the use of role theory in both the fields of foreign policy and international relations. According to Walker, role theory has a rich language of descriptive concepts, the organizational potential to bridge levels of analyses, and numerous explanatory advantages. This makes role theory an extremely valuable approach to foreign policy analysis. Role theory also offers a way of bringing greater integration between foreign policy analysis and international relations, especially through constructivist meta-theory.

10. Foreign Policy

2018 ◽  
pp. 286-312
Author(s):  
Robert Jackson ◽  
Georg Sørensen ◽  
Jørgen Møller
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Policy Analysis ◽  
International System ◽  
State Level ◽  
System Level ◽  
Foreign Policy Analysis ◽  
Nation States ◽  
External Relations ◽  
The Individual

This chapter examines theories and approaches involved in foreign policy analysis. Foreign policy analysis is concerned with the study of the management of external relations and activities of nation-states, as distinguished from their domestic policies. The chapter first explains the concept of foreign policy before discussing various approaches to foreign policy analysis. It then evaluates the arguments of major theories by using a ‘level-of-analysis’ approach that addresses the international system level, the nation-state level, and the level of the individual decision maker. It also presents a case-study on the Gulf War to illustrate how insights from various approaches to foreign policy analysis can be brought together. A note on foreign policy experts and ‘think tanks’ is included to highlight the extent of research on the subject which extends well beyond universities.

10. Foreign Policy

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Jackson ◽  
Georg Sørensen
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Policy Analysis ◽  
International System ◽  
State Level ◽  
System Level ◽  
Foreign Policy Analysis ◽  
Nation States ◽  
External Relations ◽  
The Individual

This chapter examines theories and approaches involved in foreign policy analysis. Foreign policy analysis is concerned with the study of the management of external relations and activities of nation-states, as distinguished from their domestic policies. The chapter first explains the concept of foreign policy before discussing various approaches to foreign policy analysis. It then evaluates the arguments of major theories by using a ‘level-of-analysis’ approach that addresses the international system level, the nation-state level, and the level of the individual decision maker. It also presents a case-study on the Gulf War to illustrate how insights from various approaches to foreign policy analysis can be brought together. A note on foreign policy experts and ‘think tanks’ is included to highlight the extent of research on the subject which extends well beyond universities.

Reagan and the Pax Afrikaana

1985 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 551-573 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lee Cokorinos ◽  
James H. Mittelman
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Policy Analysis ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Social Forces ◽  
Foreign Policy Analysis ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Social ◽  
Practical Politics ◽  
Control State

A Frequent error in foreign policy analysis is to allow government to set the agenda of inquiry. Officials invariably define the terrain too narrowly. Their concerns are short term, not only because of the immediacy of problems stalking policy-makers, but also because averting fundamental questions about the social forces that shape the day-to-day agenda of government redounds to the advantage of those who control state power. Consequently, the task of the analyst is to overcome the inhibiting parameters of public discourse. Without trivialising matters of practical politics, the analyst must transpose prefabricated questions into more productive lines of inquiry.

9. Foreign Policy

2021 ◽  
pp. 249-274
Author(s):  
Georg Sørensen ◽  
Jørgen Møller ◽  
Robert Jackson
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Policy Analysis ◽  
International System ◽  
State Level ◽  
System Level ◽  
Foreign Policy Analysis ◽  
Nation States ◽  
External Relations ◽  
The Individual

This chapter examines theories and approaches involved in foreign policy analysis. Foreign policy analysis (FPA) is concerned with the study of the management of external relations and activities of nation-states, as distinguished from their domestic policies. The chapter first explains the concept of foreign policy before discussing various approaches to foreign policy analysis. It then evaluates the arguments of major theories by using a ‘level-of-analysis’ approach that addresses the international system level, the nation-state level, and the level of the individual decision maker. It also presents a case-study on the Gulf War to illustrate how insights from various approaches to foreign policy analysis can be brought together. The chapters ends with reflections on Donald Trump’s foreign policy and a discussion of how FPA theories have combined domestic and international factors.

scholarly journals Karzai's foreign policy analysis from the perspective of the Linkage theory

2017 ◽  
pp. 73-97
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Policy Analysis ◽  
International System ◽  
Policy Decision ◽  
Foreign Policy Analysis ◽  
Policy Decisions ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Linkage Model

Hamid Karzai during the interim, transitional and elective government (two courses) from 2002 to 2014, was the Afghanistan president that, in terms of increasing communication channels across the region and the world, provided widespread assistance to the international community and the development of a unique democratic era behind. Afghanistan's changing foreign policy during Karzai's time has made foreign policy management and decision-making more important than ever, and from this perspective the question of the research has been formed; what is the influential component of foreign policy decisions during the reign of Hamid Karzai? the model of James N. Rosenau's Linkage model was chosen to analyze Karzai's foreign policy in order to answer this question.According to this model, in countries such as Afghanistan, which are politically open and economically developing, respectively the individual components, international system, role variable, society and government have the most influence in foreign policy decisions of the country. Using this model, the research findings showed that during the study period, although the individual component and the international system had the most impact on foreign policy decisions in the country, but contrary to the Rosenau's Linkage model, Afghanistan's foreign policy analysis in other cases with the model And the component of the role and society is lower than the role of government in foreign policy decision-making. Research findings are an appropriate response to the failure to take advantage of opportunities and control threats in foreign policy of the country

Foreign Policy Analysis and the Making of Plan Colombia

2017 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 245-271 ◽  
Author(s):  
María Catalina Monroy ◽  
Fabio Sánchez
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Policy Analysis ◽  
Foreign Policy Analysis ◽  
Plan Colombia
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