U.S. Foreign Policy Chapter 3

Anarchy

the lack of a world government to regulate and restrain the behavior of countries, a condition emphasized by structural realists as the defining feature of world politics

Balance of power

the distribution of resources and capabilities among nation-states. Also, in realist theory, a belief that global stability can be maintained when the strongest nation-states have roughly equal levels of power

Belief systems

individual worldviews, formed early in life, that directly influence decision makers' foreign policy goals and strategies as well as their responses to specific problems

Bounded rationality

a decision-making environment characterized by an influx of more information than can be managed effectively, leading to policy decisions that do not fully conform to standards of rationality

Bureaucratic politics

a model of policy making that emphasizes inherent conflicts of interest among government agencies. The state is perceived as an arena of bureaucratic struggle rather than a "unitary actor"

Causal beliefs

the perceptions that an individual decision maker holds regarding the most likely functional links among policy problems, their sources, and alternative solutions to solve them

Cognitive psychology

the study of the means by which individuals obtain and process information about the world

Congressional dominance model

a model of policy making that views legislators in Congress as masters of the federal bureaucracy, capable of ensuring that their policy preferences are carried out in the policy process

Constructivism

a critical body of social and political thought that argues that public problems, including those related to foreign policy, do not have fixed or "objective" properties but rather are socially constructed, primarily through public discourse

Democratic peace

a liberal theory holding that representative governments maintain peace with each other through joint efforts

Geopolitics

the impact of geographical factors on the distribution of global power and the foreign policies of states

Global governance

combines traditional state-to-state diplomacy with policy collaboration among private groups and intergovernmental organizations

Groupthink

dysfunctional collective decision making characterized by a strong sense of a group's moral righteousness, closed-mindedness, and pressures toward conformity

Identity

the definition and widely held conception of an individual or group as considered apart from others. A central element of constructivist theory

Interdependence

in contrast to anarchy, a model of world politics devised by liberal theorists based on mutual reliance among states and their need to cooperate in solving shared problems

Iron triangle

the alliance of influential interest groups, congressional committees, and corresponding executive branch agencies to carry out policies of mutual concern to the exclusion of other policy actors or outside interests

Issue networks

a model of decision making that involves more actors and is more open to competing viewpoints than the iron triangle model. Brings together interested governmental and private actors with shared expertise in a given area of public policy

Levels of analysis

the systemic, societal, governmental, and individual factors that shape foreign policy decisions and outcomes

Military-industrial complex

an alignment of US defense and private economic interests identified by President Eisenhower in 1961 as a potential threat to the nation's democracy and security

National interest

a self-justifying rationale for foreign policy actions that presumes an inherent "interest" maintained by the state that overrides the parochial interests of government bureaucracies or societal groups

Neoliberal institutionalism

a view of international cooperation that emphasizes reciprocal gestures of trust and goodwill, leading to a pattern of rewards on both sides that discourages future acts of coercion or aggression

Neorealism

a variant of realist theory focusing on the anarchic nature of the international system as the ultimate and inevitable cause of interstate conflicts

Operational code

an individual's integrated set of conceptions about political life that informs his or her calculations of appropriate and effective policy

Political psychology

a subfield of both political science and psychology that explores the effects of cognition, perceptions, personality, group dynamics, and other individual-level factors on political behavior

Presidential control model

a model of policy making that views presidents as caretakers of the national interest who can rise above domestic politics, particularly when US security interests are at stake

Principled beliefs

in contrast to causal beliefs, structured perceptions toward political problems that are informed primarily by such normative principles as liberty, justice, and equality

Prospect theory

an alternative to rational-choice theory, a model of decision making that emphasizes uncertainty and varying perceptions among policy makers regarding the relative costs and benefits of different policy choices

Rational actors

foreign policy makers who, in the view of realist theory, weigh their options based on common understandings of key problems and clear calculations of the costs and benefits of possible solutions

Rational choice

a behavioral approach to public policy that reduces decision making to objective calculations of costs and benefits

Regimes

areas of interstate cooperation in foreign policy, such as arms control, in which decision makers enjoy positive-sum gains by adopting common norms, objectives, and institutionalized means of problem solving

Security community

a region of the world in which governments form close political, economic, and military ties to such an extent that war among them becomes unthinkable. Often associated with the EU

Security dilemma

the destabilizing effect of military expansion by one state, even for defensive purpose, as other states respond by expanding their armed forces

Soft balancing

a strategy by second-tier powers to accept the preponderant influence of hegemons while taking modest steps, such as antagonistic speeches before eth UN General Assembly and appeals to global public opinion, that signal their dissatisfaction with the status quo

Sovereignty

the highest level of political authority maintained by secular nation-states. Affirmed in the 1648 Treaty of Westphalia, which rejected political control by religious authorizes and the divine right of kings

Standard operating procedures

consistent, routine measures for addressing commonly encountered problems in public policy. Stress continuity over change and a high level of internal order

Structural realism

also known as neorealism, a theory of international relations that emphasizes global anarchy, persistent fears and distrust, and a balance of power among states as the most reliable guarantor of world peace

Transnational civil society

societal forces that extend beyond the political boundaries of a nation-state, including interest groups, public opinion the news media, and intergovernmental organizations

Treaty of Westphalia

an agreement signed in 1648 ending the Thirty Years' War that helped establish and codify the enation-state system that exists today

Two-level game

a situation in which foreign policy makers simultaneously negotiate with their foreign counterparts and domestic actors (public and private) who have a stake in the policy process

Unitary actors

a model of national decision making that assumes that foreign policy makers act in a united fashion to make decisions in the name of the "national interest" a central tenet of realist theory