Foreign Policy Analysis

Concept of self-help

The state is responsible for its own security

Realist

John Herz

The security dilemma

Describes how the actions that one state takes to make itself more secure (building armaments, putting military forces on alert, forming new alliances) tend to make other states less secure and lead them to respond in kind

Whether a state chooses to arm itself or not enter the cycle, there will be insecurity

From a realist pov = no solution

Example of the Cold War

John Herz

What is Maslow’s perspective on the realist view?

argued that psychology is built on humans’ problems and issues

so proposes to understand it through happiness or success

in the same way, realist study IR through wars which makes it central to their perspective and creates a bias (explains why the security dilemma has no solution) while looking at other peaceful events could widen their ideologies

Do pacifist states such as Costa Rica work?

The Constitution abolished the armed forces in 1949

Rely on 5 strategic assets instead

• defense of democracy/sovereignty/ territorial integrity

• respect for freedom/HR

• promotion pf peace, disarmament and security

• strengthening international law and multilateralism

• promotion of sustainability + environmental agenda

Proof that it works = 2020, Nicaragua occupied a part of the territory but they resolved the issue by using the institutions and cooperating (without violence)

Henry Kissinger

Jewish German who flew to the US

Realist figure

Link between FP as a theory and practice

• worked with Morgenthau at Harvard

• advisor on Foreign Policy for multiple parties = Nixon (rep), H. Clinton (dem) + internationaly

Controversial figure

• Nobel Prize winner for the Vietnam War

• later revealed that he bombed civilians in Cambodia

• French diplomate Bonnafont = source of inspiration with both flaws and successes

3 axes of Liberalism

Democratic peace theory, Kant = democracies don’t go to war against each other (so internal organization and affairs shape IR)

Emphasize international trade in building peace (economic interdependence)

Institutions make cooperation possible

Power and interdependence by Nye/Keohane

interdependence =/ all states have an equal amount of power

military power is not all that matters (emphasize the economy, culture…) and military itself cannot be considered without economic means

In that sense, corporations are more important actors than the state (idea of a non state-centered approach)

Foreign Policy in Liberalism

Driven by domestic affairs + interdependance + institutions

Foreign Policy in Marxism

Structure of the system

• at the core = economic system

• imbalance of power = a system of domination (center, semi-periphery, periphery)

FP driven by

• class interest

• center/periphery relations

Conflict led by exploitation (because of capitalism)

Can economic interdependence really prevent conflict?

today, it is a tool for rivalry

states are in a state where competition and alliances coexist

resolutions is less relevant than controlled conflict (in which interdependence plays a role)

Main ideas of constructivism

Comes from sociology, main approach in IR since the decline of realism after the CW

Global politics is made of shared ideas/norms/interests constructed by the actors within them (matters more than material capability)

These ideas determine what states want/how they act, and they can change

→ relationship between US/Canada changed after Trump “51st state” but nothing material

Distinguishes brut facts (physical coin) vs social facts (value of money)

Cooperation and conflict are intersubjective (look at the relationship)

* A. Wendt (Anarchy is what states make of it) *M. Finne More

Main ideas of post-modernism

Rejects objective truth, grand metanarratives (such as Marxism or realism), and foundationalist claims about world politics

Focus on discourses/representation/language

Look at the construction of self and the other

IR theories construct the world, not only analyse it (not neutral) *Der Derian

Cooperation can mask domination *Foucault

Foreign Policy according to Feminism

Driven by gender power structures

* A. Tickner, Gender in IR (worked on security before, 2 lenses)

* C. Enloe, Bananas, beaches, and basis = importance of women in military basis (for chores, prostitution)

Foreign Policy according to Green theory

Idea of sovereignty and growth blocks cooperation

Environmental interdependence

James Rosenau

American professor of political science, Princeton

Main figure of transnationalism = part of liberalism but focus on non-state actors

Main book = Turbulence in World Politics, 1990

→ distinguishes 2 worlds = the state-centric world (old) and the multi-centric world → they coexist and compete but don’t control each other

→ distinguishes 2 categories of actors in Word Politics (uses that term > IR) = micro and macro actors

Micro actors in World Politics

People are the foundation of World Politics and act in different roles =

• Citizens/members

= are more “skillful” → have the capacity = more informed, act more easily (online petitions)

* S. Sassen = global cities in globalization → voting in big cities, such as Paris

• Officials/leaders

= choices are constrained by role, but personality and skill still matter

UN ambassador voting in the SC

• Private actors

= individuals who have influence without holding an official role

Bill Gates (foundation)

Macro actors in World Politics

• States

= include territory, sovereignty, governments

Not equal in terms of capacity (classifications)

• Subgroups

= parts within states that pursue their own agenda

Major cities, parties, regions, bureaucracies

• Transnational orga

NGOs, terrorist and economic organisations, corporations, international institutions

• Leaderless publics

= large numbers of people who act collectively without formal organization or leaders (strength = spontaneity)

Gilet jaune

• Movements

= collective action around a cause, with more shared direction and often some leadership

Environmental or anti-apartheid movements