Foreign Policy Analysis in the Twenty-First Century: Back to Comparison, Forward to Identity and Ideas

Abstract

Current research in foreign policy analysis (FPA) is vibrant and multidimensional; it bridges gaps with adjacent disciplines, the policymaking community, and the larger field of international relations. Consistent with the purpose of this symposium, this essay will identify two general directions in which contemporary research on foreign policy is likely to proceed: (1) returning to being more comparative in nature, and (2) developing a connection between constructivist research on identity and ideas and previous work in FPA. These directions are intended to be partly corrective in purpose as well as partly projective. A key goal is to project some emerging trends, although an attempt will be made to draw the distinction between what is already being done and the direction research will likely move in the future. This effort is unabashedly normative as well, given that it presents the author's preferences for the particular research topics that the field should pursue. One of the most disappointing features of contemporary FPA is the relative dearth of comparative studies. If a researcher wants to investigate many of the traditional factors that explain foreign policy—factors such as a state's position in the international system, the role of public opinion, political culture, state-society relations, and the impact of governmental organization—it is necessary to compare foreign policies across time, space, and issues to understand the general explanatory power of these various influences on governments' behavior. Policy questions demand this type of comparative knowledge. In the international debate over policy toward Iraq in late 2002 and early 2003, for example, one underlying question was: “What explains the French position as compared to the British position as compared to the German position as compared to the Turkish position?” The answers to this question were central to an understanding of the origin and outcome of the transatlantic division …

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