Comparative Foreign Policy Analysis (original) (raw)

The Comparative Study of Foreign Policy: Perspectives on the Future

1986

A collective assessment of the comparative study of foreign policy as a field of scholarly inquiry is presented. An effort is made to interpret the field's boundaries, to review its accomplishments, and to propose some future directions. The first section, in which the field's scope and boundaries are discussed, asserts that the boundaries are relatively fixed, with the field's central focus being on the policies and actions of national governments that are oriented toward the external world. In the next section, nine ways in which the field has grown and developed are summarized. Problems of comparative foreign policy are then discussed with particular emphasis on five methodological issues and three substantive issues. New initiatives in the field are proposed, drawing upon some of the developments in the international political economy. Because of the relatively impoverished state of i.heory development, the last section of the paper suggests modest strategies that may encourage scholars to think theoretically. A six-page list of references is included.

1. The history and evolution of foreign policy analysis

Oxford University Press eBooks, 2016

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.

Notes on Foreign Policy Research

Cooperation and Conflict, 1972

The author makes a distinction between three approaches to foreign policy research: (1) the traditional approach emphasizing diplomatic history, (2) the 'scientific' ap proach à la Rosenau, and (3) the radical approach (represented, e.g. by William A. Williams and Gabriel Kolko). These approaches are evaluated by criteria which in clude diachronic vs. synchronic orientation, nomothetic vs. ideographic orientation, and the type of strategic actors postulated as well as the model of explanation applied (whether the foreign policy orientations are explained by relational or domestic factors). This is followed by a discussion of some of the critical problems in the analysis of foreign policy. These problems are the distinction between external behavior and for eign policy, the role of subjective vs. objective factors in the determination of foreign policy, and the need to analyze the outcomes of foreign policies, not just the decision- making processes and tools applied in the e...

Types of Decisions and Levels of Analysis in Foreign Policy Decision Making

Understanding Foreign Policy Decision Making - Chapter 2

Understanding Foreign Policy Decision Making presents a decision making approach to foreign policy analysis. This approach focuses on the decision process, dynamics, and outcome, highlighting the role of psychological factors in foreign policy decision making. The book includes a wealth of extended real-world case studies and examples that are woven into the text. The cases and examples, which are written in an accessible style, include decisions made by leaders of the United States, Israel, New Zealand, Cuba, Iceland, United Kingdom, and others. In addition to coverage of the rational model of decision making, levels of analysis of foreign policy decision making, and types of decisions, the book includes extensive material on alternatives to the rational choice model, the marketing and framing of decisions, cognitive biases and errors, and domestic, cultural, and international influences on decision making in international affairs. Existing textbooks do not present such an approach to foreign policy decision making, international relations, American foreign policy, and comparative foreign policy.