Tai Lieu Chat Luong Foreign Policy Analysis Building on the success of the first edition, this revised volume re-invigorates the conversation between foreign policy analysis and international relations. It opens up the discussion, situating existing debates in foreign policy in relation to contemporary concerns in international relations, and provides a concise and accessible account of key areas in foreign policy analysis. Focusing on how foreign policy decision making affects the conduct of states in the international system, the volume analyses the relationship between policy, agency and actors, in a rapidly changing environment. Features of the second edition include: • a wider range of contemporary case studies and examples from around the globe; • analysis of new directions in foreign policy analysis including foreign policy implementation and the changing media landscape; • fully updated material across all chapters to reflect the evolving research agenda in the area.
This second edition builds on and expands the theoretical canvas of foreign policy analysis, shaping its ongoing dialogue with international relations and offering an important introduction to the field. It is essential reading for all students of foreign policy and international relations. Chris Alden is a Professor in the Department of International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science, UK. He also holds a post as a research associate at the Department of Political Sciences, University of Pretoria, South Africa.
Amnon Aran is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of International Politics at City University London, UK. ‘This revised edition is not just an excellent introduction to Foreign Pol- icy Analysis; the authors’ critical engagement with the subject should help to carry its research agenda forward.’ – Christopher Hill, Professor of International Relations, University of Cambridge, UK ‘I highly recommend this second edition. It does an exceptional job at blending current research and wide-ranging, globe-spanning contempo- rary examples. The authors introduce the state-of-the-art and the “big questions” in foreign policy research in a very accessible and engaging way.’ – Juliet Kaarbo, Professor of Foreign Policy, University of Edinburgh, UK Foreign Policy Analysis New approaches Second edition Chris Alden and Amnon Aran Second edition published 2017 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN and by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2017 Chris Alden & Amnon Aran The right of Chris Alden & Amnon Aran to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. First edition published by Routledge 2012 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Alden, Chris.
Title: Foreign policy analysis: new approaches / by Dr. Chris Alden and Dr. Description: Second edition. | Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2017.
| Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2016025348 | ISBN 9781138934283 (hardback) | ISBN 9781138934290 (pbk.) | ISBN 9781315442488 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: International relations. Classification: LCC JZ1242 .1—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.gov/2016025348 ISBN: 978-1-138-93428-3 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-138-93429-0 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-315-44248-8 (ebk) Typeset in Bembo by Apex CoVantage, LLC Contents List of acronyms vii Acknowledgements ix 1 Foreign policy analysis: an overview 1 2 Foreign policy decision making 19 3 Bureaucracies and foreign policy 45 4 The domestic sources of foreign policy 63 5 Foreign policy analysis and the state 87 6 Foreign policy, globalization and the study of foreign policy analysis 107 7 Foreign policy and change 125 8 Conclusion 149 Bibliography 161 Index 177 Acronyms ANC African National Congress ASEAN Association of South East Asian Nations BBC British Broadcasting Corporation BPM bureaucratic politics model BRICS Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa CW Cold War DDR Democratic Republic of Germany DFA Department of Foreign Affairs EU European Union EUFOR RD Congo European Union Force in the Democratic Republic of Congo FPA foreign policy analysis GT globalization theory HS historical sociology IBSA a diplomatic grouping, now defunct, involving India, Brazil and South Africa IEMP ideology, economic, military, political model IMF International Monetary Fund IR international relations IOC Islamic Organisation Conference MNC multinational cooperation NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization NGO non-governmental organization NSA National Security Administration NSC National Security Council OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development PH poliheuristic theory PT Partido dos Tralbahadores SOP standard operating procedures viii Acronyms TNA transnational actors UK United Kingdom UN United Nations UNSC United Nations Security Council US United States USSR Union of Soviet Socialist Republics WB World Bank WHS Weberian historical sociology WWII World War II Acknowledgements We would like to thank the following people for their support and assis- tance with this book. To Craig Fowlie and Nicola Parkin of Routledge who provided us with the necessary time to complete this project.
Cyn- thia Little has done a wonderful job of copy editing our book, Professors Margot Light and Christopher Hill, and the late Professor Fred Halli- day, who provided inspiration for this book at different times and in dif- ferent ways, deserve our sincere gratitude. Professor Kim Hutchings of the Department of International Relations at LSE and Professor Maxi Schoeman of the Department of Political Sciences, University of Preto- ria, supported Chris Alden’s sabbatical and made the completion of the manuscript possible. To Filippo Dionigi for being an excellent research assistant. Our thanks to Ms.
Hannah Pettersen for the excellent research assist work carried out for the preparation of the second edition. Finally our respective families – Kato, Rachel. Jonathan and Amelia, Shani, Yoav and Assaf – for all their love, care and support. 1 Foreign policy analysis An overview The study of foreign policy is an ever-changing story of how states, insti- tutions and peoples engage with one another within a dynamic interna- tional system.
Shaped by history and institutional practices, foreign policy makers navigate the increasingly blurred lines between domestic poli- tics and external environments using instruments as varied as diplomacy, sanctions and new media to produce policies that further state interests. A dizzying array of characters – leaders, bureaucracies, militaries, lob- byists, think tanks, United Nations (UN) agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), terrorist and criminal organizations, as well as ordinary citizens – operate within this complex environment, exercising influences over foreign policy that results in vital decisions on war, peace and prosperity. To understand foreign policy, it is necessary to develop an appreciation for this layered complexity of international politics and to grapple with competing sources of influence. This includes the following questions: • Do ideas, identity and history matter as much as material power in foreign policy? • How important is the leader’s personal experience in shaping foreign policy choices? • Can bureaucracies drive foreign policy decisions? • Are democracies more apt to engage in military intervention than authoritarian states? These questions and others are reflected in a snapshot of Russian foreign policy below.
It gives us a sense of the diversity of experiences, outlooks and influences which shape the conduct of states in our changing inter- national system. The foreign policy of contemporary Russia is shaped by the shadow of the Soviet past, weighing heavily on the identity, institutions and ambitions 2 An overview of the world’s largest territory. Under Vladimir Putin, himself a product of the Soviet security apparatus, Russian foreign policy employs coercive instruments like the military and its energy resources to wield power over neighbouring states and court friends. A brutal campaign against Chech- nyan separatists in the Caucasus region of the Russian Federation spawned a wave of domestic terrorism that not only aligned itself with radical Islamist groups like Al-Qaida and later ISIS, but has come to play a sig- nificant role in supplying distinctively aggressive fighters to campaigns in Iraq and Syria.
Increasingly, Moscow has demonstrated its willingness to push back at what it perceived to be Western encroachment into its ‘near abroad’ by launching military intervention in Georgia in 2008 and Ukraine in 2013. At the same time, the Putin government reacted to criticism by Russian civil society and its opponents by tightening their legal space for action, while developing ‘soft power’ instruments such as Russia Today to communicate its message to a global audience. Ejected from the G7 and subject to Western-led sanctions campaign after the takeover of Crimea, Putin’s Russia has become more anti-Western in its rhetoric and conduct as the pressure from the European Union (EU) and the United States (US) has mounted with each passing crisis. Most recently, Moscow’s interven- tion in the Syrian civil war in 2015 aimed at supporting the Assad regime and frustrating Western attempts to support opposition forces reflects this continuing effort to regain its past superpower status.
Each of these elements of Russia’s contemporary foreign policy presents a different picture of the foreign policy process, the significance of which helps to explain varied sources of Russian conduct in international affairs. For instance, the influence of the leader and his pre-conceptions about Russia’s identity and place in global politics clearly shapes both Putin’s understanding of his country’s foreign policy challenges and the nature of decisions taken. The strength of foreign policy instruments such as the military and the dominance of its energy resources in international markets are suggestive of the material sources of Russian foreign policy activism. And the ability of societal forces to operate as repositories of liberal values and alternative perspectives on foreign (and domestic) policy issues, as well as the government efforts to constrain these, underscores the influence of state–society relations and regime type for the foreign policy process.
Understanding foreign policy analysis Foreign policy analysts have sought to discern patterns from the study of cases like Russia to develop generalizable theories and concepts to unpick the sources of conduct of states in international affairs, the significance An overview 3 of foreign policy decision making, the role that state and non-states actors have within the overall distinctive process, as well as the influence of insti- tutional and societal factors in shaping foreign policy. In a nutshell, for- eign policy analysis (FPA) is the study of the conduct and practice of relations between different actors, primarily states, in the international system. Diplomacy, intelligence, trade negotiations and cultural exchanges all form part of the substance of foreign policy between international actors. At the heart of the field is an investigation into decision mak- ing, the individual decision makers, processes and conditions that affect foreign policy and the outcomes of these decisions.
By adopting this approach, FPA is necessarily concerned not only with the actors involved in the state’s formal decision-making apparatus, but also with the variety of sub-national sources of influence upon state foreign policy. Moreover, in seeking to provide a fuller explanation for foreign policy choice, schol- ars have had to take account of the boundaries between the state’s internal or domestic environment and the external environment. FPA developed as a separate area of enquiry within the discipline of international relations (IR), due both to its initially exclusive focus on the actual conduct of inter-state relations and to its normative impulse. While IR scholars understood their role as being to interpret the broad features of the international system, FPA specialists saw their mandate as being a concentration on actual state conduct and the sources of deci- sions.