The Future of International Relations

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Reich ◽  
Richard Ned Lebow
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
International Relations Theory ◽  
International Affairs ◽  
The Future ◽  
New Research ◽  
Material Power

This chapter revisits the concept of hegemony, elaborating some of the most important connections among them and assessing their implications for both U.S. foreign policy and international relations theory. Drawing on empirical findings laid out in the previous chapters, this chapter contends that hegemony is no longer applicable to international affairs, as its constituent functions are widely shared and exercised more by negotiation than fiat. This constellation requires a new conceptualization of influence. The chapter points to a new research agenda for the present century based on the recognition that we now live in a multipowered world—where actors combine social and material power to gain influence in varying ways—and not a unipolar world.

Neoclassical Realism and Theories of Foreign Policy

1998 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 144-172 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gideon Rose
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
International Relations ◽  
International Politics ◽  
International Relations Theory ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
State Structure ◽  
Neoclassical Realism ◽  
Unit Level ◽  
Material Power ◽  
The Impact

Although international relations theory has been dominated for two decades by debates over theories of international politics, recently there has been a surge of interest in theories of foreign policy. These seek to explain, not the pattern of outcomes of state interactions, but rather the behavior of individual states. The author surveys three prominent theories of foreign policy and shows how the works under review set out a compelling alternative, one that updates and systematizes insights drawn from classical realist thought. Neoclassical realism argues that the scope and ambition of a country's foreign policy is driven first and foremost by the country's relative material power. Yet it contends that the impact of power capabilities on foreign policy is indirect and complex, because systemic pressures must be translated through intervening unit-level variables such as decision-makers’ perceptions and state structure. Understanding the links between power and policy thus requires close examination of both the international and the domestic contexts within which foreign policy is formulated and implemented.

scholarly journals Practice Approaches to the Digital Transformations of Diplomacy: Toward a New Research Agenda

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elsa Hedling ◽  
Niklas Bremberg
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
International Relations Theory ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Change Agency ◽  
New Research ◽  
Digital Diplomacy ◽  
Key Questions

Abstract As a growing number of diplomatic practices take new digital forms, research on digital diplomacy is rapidly expanding. Many of the changes linked to digitalization transform or challenge traditional ways of doing diplomacy. Analyses of new forms of “digital diplomacy” are therefore valuable for the advancement of practice approaches in international relations theory. That said, digital diplomacy poses a number of challenges for international relations scholarship that are only beginning to be addressed. Digitalization is both a process and a result, and provokes key questions regarding continuity, change, agency, space, and materiality in diplomacy. The overarching aim of this article is to advance a research agenda that seeks to address key questions in the study of digital diplomacy on the basis of various practice approaches. In particular, the article highlights three dimensions of change as being central to the research agenda and investigates how these can be explored in future analyses of digital diplomacy.

Implications of the Argument

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dale C. Copeland
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
International Relations Theory ◽  
Economic Interdependence ◽  
The Future ◽  
Per Se ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Practical Implications

This chapter summarizes the theoretical and practical implications of the trade expectations theory, including the relevance of its logic for the future of US–Chinese relations. It then considers the implications of this approach for international relations theory, focusing on its broader importance for thinking about liberal and realist theories that are not focused on economic interdependence per se. The chapter then turns to an examination of the contemporary US–China relationship. It contends that China's growing dependence on external raw materials and markets along with its expectations for the future are critical to predicting the likely shape of the relationship over the next two or three decades.

1. The history and evolution of foreign policy analysis

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valerie M. Hudson
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Policy Analysis ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
International Politics ◽  
Classical Period ◽  
Foreign Policy Analysis ◽  
The 1950S ◽  
Large Groups

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.

scholarly journals On the concept of international disorder

2020 ◽  
pp. 004711782092228
Author(s):  
Aaron McKeil
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
International Order ◽  
World Politics ◽  
International Affairs ◽  
Order And Disorder ◽  
Recent Interest ◽  
History Of ◽  
International Systems

International relations today are widely considered to be experiencing deepening disorder and the topic of international disorder is gaining increased attention. Yet, despite this recent interest in international disorder, in and beyond the academy, and despite the decades-long interest in international order, there is still little agreement on the concept of international disorder, which is often used imprecisely and with an alarmist rather than analytical usage. This is a problem if international disorder is to be understood in theory, towards addressing its concomitant problems and effects in practice. As such, this article identifies and explores two ways international order studies can benefit from a clearer and more precise conception of international disorder. First, it enables a more complete picture of how orderly international orders have been. Second, a greater understanding of the problem of international order is illuminated by a clearer grasp of the relation between order and disorder in world politics. The article advances these arguments in three steps. First, an analytical concept of international disorder is developed and proposed. Second, applying it to the modern history of international order, the extent to which there is a generative relationship between order and disorder in international systems is explored. Third, it specifies the deepening international disorder in international affairs today. It concludes by indicating a research agenda for International Relations and international order studies that takes the role of international disorder more seriously.

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