FOREIGN POLICY

A Subfield in International Relations

• Study of “Foreign Policy” as an Independent academic subject matter starts after the SWW

A Brief Definition of Foreign Policy

• The sum of official external relations conducted by an independent actor(usually a state) in international relations.(Christopher Hill)

• “foreign policy is predicated on a particular actor, usually a state or, more rarely, a union of states, referring to its endeavor to protect its interests and to promote its values vis-a-vis other actors beyond its borders”.(Volker Rittberger)

• The foreign policy of a given state is the product of a number of actors and structures, both domestic and international and that it is the combination of these that makes this an uncommonly complicated of study

• Foreign policy straddles the boundary between the internal and external spheres of the state.

• Being at the hinge of domestic politics and international relations’ has complicated Foreign Policy Analysis

• Both domestic and international , who are closely involved in foreign policy decision-making in one manner or another; and equally there are a number of structures on both sides of the domestic-international divide that decisively affect these actors in many different waves.

-Foreign policy analysis has often been seen as realist on the grounds that it is state-centric

-States still represent the main source of foreign policies

• No comphrensive special theory for “foreign policy” exists

• Foreign policy is not a matter of a single theory

• Existing International Relations theories can be of use to some extent in foreign policy analysis

• In the Cold War period realist approach to foreign policy was dominant– Power maximization– Balance of power– National security state

Actor(Agent)-Structure Debate

• Actor prioritised analysis• Structure prioritised analysis• A combination of two is widely preffered

• Approaches based on a structural perspective– Neo-realism– Neo-liberal institutionalism– Organizational Behaviour– Social constructivism

• Approaches from an actor-based perspective

-the cognitive and psyhological characteristics of individual decision makers

-bureaucratic politics approach(governmental approach)

-Individual and social groups

-Actor based approach bottom–up notion

-Structural approach top-down notion

• It is generally agreed that there is a strong need at present to facilitate integrative frameworks of analysis, as well as to break the habit of viewing actors and structures as two mutually exclusive rather than constitutive and interactive entities.

Levels of Analysis

• Individual• State• International

Taking Interaction between them into account is crucial for the success of any state’s foreign policy

Implementation of Foreign Policy

• Clearly Defined Objectives• A Sound choice of Instruments• Interplay between the actor’s strategy and the

context surrounding it(Elisabeth Brighi-Christopher Hill)

• The tendency of FPA to stress the open interplay of multiple factors, domestic and international

• Robert Putnam sees foreign policy at the least a two-level game

• Most of the time what is regarded as home affairs and what is international is not distinctly clear

• Foreign policy has its domestic sources and domestic politics has its foreign influences

• There is no reason to restrict foreign policy analysis to states.Cities,regions, churches, transnational pressure groups , all of which increasingly taking a direct role in international relations.

• The notion that governments cannot be criticized on foreign policy matter without endangering the national interest has almost disappeared

• Limits of considering foreign political issues in a framework of national interests based on power or strategic perceptions from a realist point of view became apparent

• Rise of non-material sources of foreign policy such as identity , culture, perception challange the sole material interpretation of foreign policy

• The old realist view in which the state was a single and homogenous actor that acted on the basis of national interests defining rational foreign policies and representing the whole society is under a serious review

• A concept of national interest determined by national identity that suits the perception of interest of a major part of the society will render the government more effective and self-confident in international politics

• The foreign policy must satisfy the wishes and requirements of the people at large and be adapted to the changes in the world