Introducing Foreign Policy Analysis

Week 8: Concepts and Approaches in Politics and International Relations

Introduction to Foreign Policy

Why is foreign policy important?

Link between the external and the internal Area Specialist IR theorist Public Intellectual

Ways to look at foreign policy

Defining Foreign Policy

How do we define foreign policy?

Chris Hill (2004: 3): Is the focus to be reduced to the rump of what diplomats say to each other, which would leave out many of the most interesting aspects of international politics, or should it be widened to include almost everything that emanates from every actor on the world scene?

Defining Foreign Policy

How do we define foreign policy?

Definition 1: the sum of external relations conducted by an independent actor (usually a state) in international relations.

foreign POLICY: focusing on politics High vs. Low politics

Defining Foreign Policy

How do we define foreign policy?

Definition 2: the pursuit of a foreign policy is about the effort to carry through some generally conceived strategy, usually on the basis of a degree of rationality, in the sense that objectives, time-frames and instruments are at least brought into focus. Thus foreign policy must always be seen as a way of trying to hold together or make sense of the various activities which the state or even the wider community is engaged in internationally.

Defining Foreign Policy

How do we define foreign policy?

Definition 3: In short, the focal political point of an actors external relations.

Approaches to foreign policy

Realism

What are the basic tenants of realism? What problems can we see in realisms ability to explain foreign policy? Can we make a distinction between foreign policy and international relations?

Approaches to Foreign Policy

Rational or public choice

What is rationality in this context? What are the problems of the rational/public choice approach?

Approaches to Foreign Policy

Post-Modernism

What is post-modernism? Where does discourse theory come into it? Can we see any problems with a postmodernist approach to foreign policy?

Approaches to Foreign Policy

Foreign Policy Analysis (FPA)

What is FPA? Where does the focus lie? How does it differ from other approaches? Can we see any problems with FPA?

Changing Politics of Foreign Policy?

Has the nature of foreign policy changed?

No: power matters, state-led Yes:

Changing Politics of Foreign Policy?

The end of the Cold War

the collapse of certain international institutions, changed the balance of power, but also represented the destruction of a major trans-national ideology Do we have a new ideology to replace international socialism? If so, what are its effects on international relations and foreign policy?

Changing Politics of Foreign Policy?

Globalisation

Has it made foreign policy redundant? Does the state still matter?

No Yes

Changing Politics of Foreign Policy?

Human Rights and Intervention

World system qualified state sovereignty Is this a part of globalization? Has the Iraq conflict been a set-back for humanitarian intervention?

Analysing foreign policy

Do the changes in the international system change the way we must think about foreign policy?

Where does agency lie? Can we distinguish between foreign and domestic policies? How do we observe the external? Does this mean that everything which has a system that projects outwards is foreign policy?

Analysing foreign policy

Do the changes in the international system change the way we must think about foreign policy?

Finally, FPA must face the normative issues which its positivist roots have tended to obscure.

For example, is how we think about foreign policy dominated by how we think foreign policy should happen (e.g. democratically)? How far should foreign policy be accountable to its citizens?

Does this allow us talk about good and bad foreign policy in both a normative and positive context?

In Conclusion

What is foreign policy? What role does FPA play in explaining it? Has the nature of foreign policy changed? Where does this leave us?