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

Juliet Kaarbo, Foreign Policy Analysis in the Twenty-First Century: Back to Comparison, Forward to Identity and Ideas, International Studies Review, Volume 5, Issue 2, June 2003, Pages 156–202, https://doi.org/10.1111/1521-9488.5020012

Extract

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.