Keywords

Question 1

Actor

Answer 1

An individual, group, organisation or collective entity (e.g. the state) that has agency

Question 2

Actor-specific theory

Answer 2

Theory that explains the behaviour of specific actors

Such as Foreign Policy Analysis theory

Allows for richer explanation and prediction of the foreign policy behaviour of particular entities than does actor-general theory

Question 3

Analogical reasoning

Answer 3

Reasoning based on simple analogies

Used by political leaders to make a complex world somewhat simpler, by drawing one-to-one comparisons

Question 4

Bounded rationality

Answer 4

Assumes it is not possible for humans to attend to everything simultaneously or to calculate carefully the costs and benefits of alternative courses of action

Attention is a scarce resource

Organisation and group environments provide simplifying shortcuts, cues, and buffers that help policy makers decide

Question 5

Bureaucratic politics

Answer 5

An approach that focuses on governmental behaviour in terms of the individual decision-makers who make policy

And who do so as players in a central and competitive bargaining game

Question 6

Civilian power

Answer 6

Uses non-military means in its foreign policy and favours international structures for regulating international action

Duchêne famously coined the phrase for the EU which he saw as an exemplar of a new stage in political civilisation, domesticating international problems through structures of contractual politics

Question 7

CNN effect

Answer 7

Described circumstances in which news media coverage directly affects foreign policy decision making

Causes policy makers to pursue a course of action which, in the absence of media pressure, they would not have embarked upon

Question 8

Cognitive bias

Answer 8

Refers to distortions in the human mind that lead to perceptions and judgements that deviate from reality

Question 9

Cognitive consistency

Answer 9

A theory produced by cognitive psychologists

Argues that people strongly prefer consistency, are uncomfortable by dissonant information and consequently discount inconsistent information to preserve their beliefs

Question 10

Communicatively rational

Answer 10

Assumes humans are deeply social

They ‘decide’ by deliberating with other

Communicatively rational agents do not so much calculate costs and benefits, or seek clues from their environment, as present arguments and try to persuade each other

Their interests and preferences are open for redefinition

Question 11

Counterfactual

Answer 11

In the absence of the causal factor you think was important, would the outcome nonetheless have been the same?

If the answer could plausibly be ‘yes’, then you should also test for the importance of other factors

Question 12

Democratic peace thesis

Answer 12

Central to internationalist thought

Maintains that liberal democracies tend not to make war on fellow democracies

Democratic states may also be more peace prone

Question 13

Elite model

Answer 13

A theoretical position, in opposition to the pluralist model

Argues that both media and public opinion are overwhelmingly influenced and shaped by the interests of elite groups in society

As a consequence, media and public opinion remain unable to influence political and economic processes

Question 14

Episodic news

Answer 14

A term used to describe news media reports that are framed in terms of immediate events and without broader context

A news report detailing the progress of US troops during the 2003 Iraq War but providing no broader contextualisation (e.g. the justification and rationale for military action) could be described as episodic

Question 15

Foreign policy analysis

Answer 15

Subfield of IR

Seeks to explain foreign policy, or foreign policy behaviour, with reference to the theoretical ground of human decision makers, acting singly and in groups

Question 16

What are the hallmarks of foreign policy analysis?

Answer 16

• Looks below nation-state level of analysis to actor-specific information
• Builds actor-specific theory as the interface between actor-general theory + the complexity of the real world
• Pursues multi causal explanations spanning multiple levels of analysis
• Utilises theory and findings from across the spectrum of social science

Question 17

Foreign policy behaviour

Answer 17

The observable artefacts of foreign policy

Specific actions and words used to influence others in the realm of foreign policy

May include behaviour that was accidental or unintended by the government

Question 18

Framing

Answer 18

Refers to the specific properties of news text (i.e. the selection of language, facts and images) that encourage readers/viewers to think about issues in a particular way

Question 19

Grand strategy

Answer 19

The overall vision of a state’s national security goals and a determination of the most appropriate means to achieve these goals

Question 20

Groupthink

Answer 20

A concept used to describe the failure of small decision units to meet the criteria of optimal decision making

By their tendency to reach a decision too quickly as a result of premature consensus seeking

Question 21

Hard power

Answer 21

A concept intimately connected with realist thinking on foreign policy

Denotes the material capabilities of a state - its size, population, wealth, and crucially, its military capacity

Question 22

Implementation

Answer 22

The translation of decisions into actions and impact; a ‘boundary’ process which connects actors to their environments via the pursuit of foreign policy

Question 23

Indexing hypothesis

Answer 23

Bennett’s (1990) widely-adopted theoretical framework that explains the tendency of US journalists to defer to, or index the news to, official US government sources when defining the news agenda and framing news stories

Question 24

International Criminal Court

Answer 24

Established by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court in July 1997

The ICC tries people for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes

It is a court of last resort - if a case is investigated or prosecuted by a national judicial system it will not act unless the national proceedings are not genuine

Question 25

Leadership

Answer 25

Can apply either to individuals and their particular characteristics - whether it be ‘tough’ or ‘charismatic’ or ‘weak’

Or leadership in the international system

In the case of the latter, leadership is often connected with the capacity of a hegemonic state to shape the rules and institutions of international society

Question 26

Levels of analysis

Answer 26

One can study and seek to explain foreign policy by considering factors operating at various levels

• Individual level
• Societal level
• State level
• International level

Question 27

Multilateralism

Answer 27

The process by which ends are sought through cooperation, or at least negotiation

At times by ad hoc processes but usually in the context of an international organisation

Question 28

Neoconservative

Answer 28

Those who believe the US should pursue a tough foreign policy on behalf of morality

Question 29

What are the four tenets of neoconservatism?

Answer 29

Insist on distinguishing between the good and bad states in the international arena, with the US spearheading the good to change or remove the bad

US should strive to remain pre-eminent militarily and are strong advocates of higher defence budgets

Willingness to use military force to attain American goals

A suspicion of international institutions

Question 30

Organisational behaviour

Answer 30

Inspired by organisational theory

The view that governmental behaviour does not conform to the notion of a unitary and rational decision maker

But rather takes the form of outputs of large organisations functioning according to standard patterns of behaviour

Question 31

Ottawa process

Answer 31

The negotiation that was launched in Ottawa in 1996 and that led to an international treaty banning the use and trade of landmines

Question 32

Pluralist model

Answer 32

A theoretical position, in opposition to the elite model

Argues that power is sufficiently distributed throughout society so that both media and public opinion are independent of political and economic groups

Thus media and public opinion are able to influence political processes

Question 33

Political conditionality

Answer 33

Setting out conditions to be fulfilled in a ‘carrot-and-stick’ approach

i.e. promising benefits in case of compliance and suspension or termination of the process in case of non-compliance

Question 34

Give an example of political conditionality

Answer 34

EU enlargement is an example of this process where strict conditions were set and progress towards meeting them were critically evaluated on the road to membership

Question 35

Process tracing

Answer 35

A technique used to trace the operation of the causal mechanism(s) at work in a given situation

One carefully maps the process, exploring the extent to which it coincides with prior, theoretically derived expectations about the workings of the mechanism

Question 36

Project for the New American Century

Answer 36

A small but influential tank set up by William Kristol in 1997

To give voice to a vision of American foreign policy that would allow it to remain the pre-eminent power

Widely construed as the reference site for neoconservative foreign policy thought

Question 37

Rational choice

Answer 37

On the most general level, a methodological approach that aims to explain both individual and collective outcomes in terms of individual goal-seeking under constraints

Question 38

Reaganite foreign policy

Answer 38

An approach to foreign policy that privileges moral argument, military might, promotion of democracy and individual liberty

And using all these resources to confront America’s adversaries

Neoconservatives believe this was how President Ronald Reagan (1981-89) dealt with the Soviet Union

He was not afraid to characterise the latter as an ‘evil empire’ and the massive increase in military expenditure during his administration helped bring about the collapse of the Soviet empire

Question 39

Realism

Answer 39

In its 20th century form, the claim that at the core of state behaviour lies the concept of interest defined in terms of power

The world is a dangerous and insecure place, and will so remain

Thus, the prime consideration of the state is the constant pursuit of its own self-interest, which can only be done in terms of the exertion of power in defence of its security

Given the nature of humans + the anarchy characterising the international system, this means that military might is what counts, not cooperation through international law or organisations

Question 40

Red-team thinking

Answer 40

In order to provide a more nuanced understanding of how an opponent will act in any given situation, security and military agencies engage in ‘red-team thinking’

Whereby a team is given the responsibility to consider a situation from the viewpoint of an opponent

Question 41

Responsibility to protect

Answer 41

The legal and ethical basis for humanitarian intervention by external actors in a state that is unwilling or unable to fight genocide, massive killings, and other human rights violations

The principle of responsibility to protect holds that is a state is unwilling or unable to carry out its responsibility to prevent such abuses, that responsibility must be transferred to the international community

This community will seek first to solve problems primarily via peaceful means but will, as a last resort, use military force

Question 42

Smart sanctions

Answer 42

Economic sanctions precisely targeted to affect the economic conditions of a particular segment of the population of a target country, usually the governmental elite

Question 43

Social discourses

Answer 43

Discourses are broad structures of meaning that make possible human-state agency in foreign policy

e.g. the discourse of terror in the US after 9/11 has made certain kinds of American foreign policy actions possible

Discourse analysis is a key method used by interpretive IR theorists inc. constructivists and post-structuralists

Question 44

Soft power

Answer 44

Indirect influence over political bodies

Through personal relationship-building and through cultural and ideological means

Can be distinguished from more directly coercive exercises of power, such as military action (hard power) or economic incentives

Question 45

Supranationalism

Answer 45

Where international institutions enjoy significant independence from member states

In the EU, supranational decisions are mainly taken by institutions such as the European Commission, the European Court of Justice, and the European Parliament

These bodies have authority over member states

Question 46

Uruguay Round

Answer 46

Last round of trade negotiations in the GATT

Continued for 8 years until 1994

Saw the creation of the WTO