Basic Rationale and Arguments

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-30
Author(s):  
Steve Chan ◽  
Huiyun Feng ◽  
Kai He ◽  
Weixing Hu
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Policy Analysis ◽  
Central Place ◽  
International Order ◽  
Foreign Policy Analysis ◽  
Interstate Relations ◽  
National Power ◽  
Distribution Of Power

Despite realists’ emphasis on the role of national power in interstate relations, foreign policy analysis is fundamentally concerned with states’ intentions rather than their capabilities. Arguably, revisionism occupies a central place in the discourse on states’ intentions. Yet despite its analytic importance, existing discourse on this concept is fraught with serious problems. This chapter identifies various issues in the ways that it has been applied theoretically and substantively. It draws a distinction between international order and the interstate distribution of power and argues that revisionism pertains to the former but not the latter. It also presents a preview of the chapters to follow.

6. Actors, structures, and foreign policy analysis

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Walter Carlsnaes
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Policy Analysis ◽  
Social Constructivism ◽  
Bureaucratic Politics ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
Foreign Policy Analysis ◽  
Structure Problem ◽  
Neoliberal Institutionalism ◽  
Structural Perspective

This chapter examines how actors and structures make foreign policy an extremely complicated field of study and how, in view of this complexity, these actors and structures have been treated in the literature on foreign policy analysis. It first provides a historical background on the field of foreign policy before discussing the role of actors and structures in ‘process’ and ‘policy’ approaches to foreign policy. In particular, it describes approaches to foreign policy based on a structural perspective, namely: realism, neoliberal institutionalism, and social constructivism. It then considers evaluates approaches from an actor-based perspective: cognitive and psychological approaches, bureaucratic politics approach, new liberalism, and interpretative actor perspective. The chapter also looks at the agency–structure problem and asks whether an integrated framework is feasible before concluding with a recommendation of how to resolve the former in terms of a constructive answer to the latter.

The party scene: new directions for political party research in foreign policy analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 97 (2) ◽  
pp. 305-322
Author(s):  
Stephanie C Hofmann ◽  
Benjamin Martill
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Policy Analysis ◽  
Comparative Politics ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Theory Development ◽  
Foreign Policy Analysis ◽  
Party Positions ◽  
New Research

Abstract Research on political parties and foreign policy has grown in recent years in response to disciplinary and real-world changes. But party research still bears the imprint of earlier scepticism about the role of parties. The result is scholarship which is disaggregated, which avoids difficult cases for parties, and which has focused more on showing that parties matter relative to structural accounts of foreign policy-making. This article takes stock of recent research on political parties, party politics and their role in foreign policy-making. We argue that it is time for party research not only to embrace the question of whether parties matter but also how, when and where they matter. This requires a move away from most-likely cases and the realist foil towards an embrace of the complexity of party positions. Building on International Relations, comparative politics and foreign policy analysis scholarship, we suggest four avenues deserving of greater scholarly focus: 1) ideological multidimensionality; 2) parties as organizations and the role of entrepreneurs; 3) parties as transnational foreign policy actors; and 4) the interaction between parties and the changing global order. We propose how these literatures can help identify new research questions, contribute to theory development and help define scope conditions. This will hopefully help scholars establish benchmarks for judging the efficacy of parties in foreign policy-making.

The Future of Foreign Policy Analysis

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Hill
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Policy Analysis ◽  
Comparative Politics ◽  
Central Place ◽  
Foreign Policy Analysis ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
Subject Areas ◽  
A Site ◽  
Relationship Of

Foreign policy analysis (FPA) occupies a central place in the study of international relations. FPA has produced a substantial amount of scholarship dealing with subjects from the micro and geographically particular to the macro relationship of foreign policy to globalization. It brings together many different subject areas, indeed disciplines, as between international relations and comparative politics or political theory, or history and political science. FPA generates case studies of major world events, and the information that probes behind the surface of things, to make it more possible to hold politicians accountable. Meanwhile, officials themselves are ever more aware that they need assistance, conceptual and empirical, in making sense of how those in other countries conduct themselves and what can feasibly be achieved at the international level. However, each subject under FPA needs to be revitalized through the development of new lines of enquiry and through the struggle with difficult problems. Work is either already under way or should be pursued in eight important areas. These are (i) foreign policy as a site of agency, (ii) foreign policy and state-building, (iii) foreign policy and the domestic, (iv) foreign policy and identity, (v) foreign policy and multilateralism, (vi) foreign policy and power, (vii) foreign policy and transnationalism, and (viii) foreign policy and ethics.

Researching European Foreign Policy: Some Fundamentals

Politics ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 177-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael E. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Policy Analysis ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Foreign Policy Analysis ◽  
Dependent Variables ◽  
Scholarly Inquiry ◽  
Field Of Inquiry ◽  
Distinct Field

The emergence of European foreign policy (EFP) as a fairly distinct field of inquiry involves contributions from several traditions within political science: international relations, foreign policy analysis and European integration. This eclecticism however can make it extremely difficult to reach consensus on the fundamental definition and boundaries of the field. To help alleviate this problem, and to stimulate further thinking on the topic, this article address several fundamental questions of research design regarding positivist scholarly inquiry in this field. These include, inter alia, the problematisation of EFP as a research question, the role of independent and dependent variables and the role of systems and actors within the field.

Agency and Structure in Foreign Policy Analysis

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jarrod Hayes
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Policy Analysis ◽  
Relative Weight ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Foreign Policy Analysis ◽  
Structure And Agency ◽  
History Of ◽  
Agency And Structure

For much of the history of the study of international relations, and of foreign policy as a distinctive subfield, scholars have debated the relative weight of agency and structure in shaping the course of international events. Often, the significance of agency versus structure depends on the scope of inquiry. Efforts to identify broad patterns of social interaction tend to play up the significance of structure, while studies of specific events bring agency to the fore. International relations theory is typically associated with the former, and foreign policy analysis (FPA) is more closely linked to the latter. That association suggests that the question of agency versus structure in international outcomes is settled in FPA in favor of agency. An assessment of the literature in FPA shows such a suggestion to be wide of the mark. Not only does FPA struggle with the question of agency versus structure that pervades the study of international relations generally, but also it wrestles with how to reconcile agency and structure in the context of psychological constraints on human cognition. Thus, rather than resolving the debate between agency and structure, the literature on FPA shows that it extends down to the level of individual policymakers. The debate over the role of agency and structure occupies two axes. The first is the engagement of FPA with broader debates over agency and structure in international relations scholarship. The second is the tension between agency and structure in FPA that emerges once psychology is incorporated into the analytical matrix. In both cases, the significance of structure in the actual analysis of foreign policy is far greater than common conception recognizes. This reality means that FPA represents the cutting edge for theoretical and analytical efforts to understand the relationship between structure and agency in international outcomes.

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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