Hudson’s hallmarks of foreign policy analysis

-
Hudson, V. M. (2007). Foreign policy analysis: classics and contemporary theory (pp. 37 – 143). Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
HallmarkDescriptionExample
Multifactorial Involving or depending on several factors or causesDecision makers can be affected by; the colour of the room, level of understanding, death of a relative and other factors
MultilevelFactors that influence decision making and decision makers are clustered in 3 different levels (Individual, state and system level of analysis)The colour of the rooms, level of understand and death of a relations are factors connected to the individual level of analysis. There are more factors in the 2 other levels of analysis to consider as well
Multi-/interdisciplinarity Insights from many intellectual disciplines, such as psychology, sociology, organizational behavior, anthropology, economics and others useful for foreign policy analyst in efforts to explain foreign policy decision makingKnowledge of psychology will help in understanding how a decision maker is affected by the colour of the room or knowledge of the levels of education will help in understanding the failure of a decision maker to apply higher level of thinking in decision making
IntegrativeIntegrates a variety of information across levels of analysis and spanning numerous disciplines of human knowledgeIntegrate knowledge of psychology with the individual level of analysis
Agent-oriented theoryStates are not agents because states are abstractions and thus have no agency. Only human beings can be true agents. Agency - The state of being in action or exerting powerPolitical and bureaucratic leaders influence decision making in order to move state machinery
Actor specificBased upon the argument that all that occurs between nations and across nations is grounded in human decision makers acting singly or in groups. Source of international politics and all change in international politics is specific human beings using their agency and acting individually or in groupsPolitical and bureaucratic leaders acting in a group or singly influence decision making in order to move state machinery

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

FPA: Organizational Process Model

-
This model centers on the fact that different bureaucracies have different standard operating procedures. These procedures are made in order to allow day to day operations to be carried out. Thus, a foreign policy decision is made based on these standard operating procedures. It is hard for a bureaucracy to make a decision or let alone function out of character or contrary to their standard operating procedure. The reading Chapter 4: Foreign policy shares a straight forward explanation of the OPM: "An alternative to the rational model of decision making is the organizational process model. In this model, foreign policy decision makers generally skip the labor-intensive process of identifying goals and alternative actions, relying instead for most decisions on standardized responses or standard operating procedures. For example, the U.S. State Department everyday receives more than a thousand reports or inquiries from its embassies around the world and sends out more than a
Read more

Commercial liberalism and the six norms

-
Image
Liberal internationalism is defined by Griffiths, O'Callaghan and Roach (2008, p.190) as a project to transform international relations so that they conform to models of peace, freedom, and prosperity allegedly enjoyed within constitutional liberal democracies. The same scholars go further by dividing liberalism into three distinct groups. They say these are the three ways to implement the project. The way they present liberal internationalism as a project makes their work interesting. Three distinct groups Firstly, commercial liberalism is about free trade between states. States bilaterally or multilaterally via a platform like APEC pursue the goal of trade liberalization. Griffiths, O'Callagahan and Roach (ibid.) argued that economic interdependence would decrease the likelihood of going to war. Republican liberalism is about democratic peace. The scholars argued that the spread of democracy among states so that governments will be accountable to their citizens makes it di
Read more

Allison's rational actor model

-
There are 3 common models of foreign policy decision making according to Graham Allison: rational actor model organizational process mode government politics model.  We will discuss the 3 models and compare them with the 3 levels of analysis. However, I challenge you to use your own initiative to learn about the other models of decision making. This will help you as future decision makers or analysts to understand how decisions are made and the processes. When one wakes up from bed he or she decides whether or not to brush their teeth, comb their hair and have a shower. These decisions are paramount, they affect and influence how the individual interacts in a social setting. This highlights the fact that as human beings we make decisions every day. Decision making is defined as the thought process of selecting a logical choice from the available options. In the case of the ‘Kibung peles boy’ analogy; the male student had a choice of approaching the girl to ask her ou
Read more