Theories of Foreign Policy and International Relations (Part 1/12)
Summary
TLDRThis script explores the complexities of comparative diplomacy and foreign policy, emphasizing the challenges in understanding and theorizing the diplomatic process. It traces the history of international relations from the post-World War I period, highlighting the division between realist and idealist theories. Using the Cuban Missile Crisis as a case study, it introduces Graham Allison's three models of foreign policy decision-making: rational actor, organizational process, and governmental politics. The evolution of diplomacy, rooted in the Westphalian system, underscores the continuous struggle between state sovereignty and the pursuit of global peace.
Takeaways
- 🌐 Comparative diplomacy and foreign policy involve studying the complex processes that precede diplomatic activity and foreign policy decisions.
- 🎓 The field of diplomatic studies is a branch of international relations that has historically resisted theorization due to its intricate nature.
- 📚 International relations as a discipline began in 1918, with the establishment of the first professorship in the name of Woodrow Wilson, inspired by his principles for international conduct.
- 💡 The discipline of international relations is divided into two broad camps: realists, who focus on statecraft and power projection, and idealists, who emphasize non-state actors and global understanding.
- 🤔 The formulation of foreign policy is challenging to theorize and understand due to the multitude of factors and actors involved.
- 🚀 Graham Allison's models of foreign policy formulation include the rational actor model, organizational process model, and governmental politics model, reflecting different influences on policy decisions.
- 🌟 The Cuban Missile Crisis serves as a case study where Allison's models were applied, showing the interplay between rational decision-making and organizational dynamics.
- 📜 Diplomacy has ancient roots, with examples from the Elizabethan age highlighting its long-standing importance in international relations.
- 🏛️ The Peace of Westphalia in 1648 established key principles of the modern international system, including the secular nature of international relations and state sovereignty.
- 🌍 The Westphalian system set the stage for diplomacy by recognizing the need for rules and agreements to govern transactions between states with differing interests and policies.
Q & A
What is the main focus of the course on comparative diplomacy and foreign policy?
-The course focuses on case studies of the diplomatic and foreign policy processes that precede diplomatic activity, aiming to understand the complexities of these processes in the context of today's world.
Why is it challenging to theorize diplomatic studies?
-Diplomatic studies are challenging to theorize because they involve complex practices that are not fully understood even by professional diplomats, and the field of international relations, where diplomatic studies is a branch, is relatively new and has resisted theorization.
When did the discipline of international relations begin, and what event marked its inception?
-The discipline of international relations began in 1918 at the end of World War One, marked by the establishment of a chair in the name of Woodrow Wilson at the Versailles conference.
What are the two broad camps into which the discipline of international relations is divided?
-The discipline of international relations is divided into two broad camps: realists, who believe in statecraft and the projection of power for state interests, and idealists or utopians, who propose the involvement of non-state actors and the pursuit of world peace and universal understanding.
What was the significance of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis in understanding foreign policy formulation?
-The Cuban Missile Crisis was significant as it led to the proposal of three basic models of foreign policy formulation by Graham Allison: the rational actor model, the organizational process model, and the governmental politics model.
What is the rational actor model in foreign policy formulation?
-The rational actor model posits that foreign policy is formed by a single decision-maker, such as a president, who acts rationally to achieve state interests, as exemplified by President Kennedy's decision-making during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
How does the organizational process model differ from the rational actor model?
-The organizational process model suggests that foreign policy is not made by a single actor but is influenced by various organizational entities such as ministries, advisors, and government departments, each contributing different advice and perspectives.
What is the governmental politics model as proposed by Graham Allison?
-The governmental politics model posits that foreign policy decisions may be influenced by internal governmental conflicts and politics, where decisions serve internal needs rather than addressing external threats.
Why was the presence of the Moroccan ambassador in Elizabethan England significant?
-The presence of the Moroccan ambassador in Elizabethan England was significant because it demonstrated early cosmopolitan diplomacy and the seeking of alliances beyond Europe, particularly with the Islamic world, during a time when England was isolated from Catholic Europe.
What was the core agreement of the Peace of Westphalia in 1648?
-The core agreement of the Peace of Westphalia was to establish a secular international system that respected the sovereignty of states, granting them legal personality and protected status within international relations.
How did Woodrow Wilson's ideas contribute to the development of public international multilateral diplomacy?
-Woodrow Wilson's ideas contributed to the development of public international multilateral diplomacy by advocating for an end to secret diplomacy and the establishment of principles for building peace, leading to the formation of international organizations alongside established states.
Outlines
🌍 The Complexity of Diplomacy and Foreign Policy
The first paragraph introduces the complexities of diplomacy and foreign policy. It highlights the challenges in understanding and theorizing these processes due to the evolving and multifaceted global landscape. Diplomats themselves often struggle to articulate their roles. The discipline of international relations, which began in 1918, saw early divisions between realist and utopian schools of thought. Realists emphasized state power and interests, while idealists focused on non-state actors and the possibility of achieving global peace.
🏛️ Foreign Policy Models and Decision-Making During the Cuban Missile Crisis
This paragraph discusses Graham Allison's three models for understanding foreign policy decision-making, using the Cuban Missile Crisis as an example. The rational actor model suggests that President Kennedy made logical decisions during the crisis. The organizational process model highlights the influence of various departments, like Defense and State, in shaping decisions. The governmental politics model examines the internal conflicts and political pressures within the government, which could have influenced the president's decisions. Allison proposed that these models together help explain the complexity of foreign policy formulation.
📜 The Evolution of Diplomacy and the Treaty of Westphalia
This section dives into the history of diplomacy, tracing its origins back to early international relations between England and Morocco during the Elizabethan era. It explains how the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648 marked a turning point by establishing principles for state sovereignty and secularism, following the devastating Thirty Years' War. This treaty shaped the modern international system, emphasizing state independence and legal personality, though it has been frequently challenged throughout history.
🕊️ Diplomacy After World War I: The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson
The final paragraph explores the aftermath of World War I and the rise of multilateral diplomacy. Woodrow Wilson's vision for international peace and public diplomacy was controversial but laid the groundwork for global organizations. Despite opposition, especially within the U.S., his principles aimed to prevent further devastating conflicts. The paragraph emphasizes that modern diplomacy and international relations, influenced by Wilson's ideals, remain complex and are still subjects of debate and study today.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Diplomacy
💡Foreign Policy
💡Realism
💡Idealism
💡Cuban Missile Crisis
💡Rational Actor Model
💡Organizational Process Model
💡Governmental Politics Model
💡Westphalian System
💡International Relations
💡Statecraft
Highlights
The course explores the complexities of the diplomatic and foreign policy processes.
Diplomacy is difficult to theorize and practice, even for professional diplomats.
International relations as a discipline began in 1918, inspired by Woodrow Wilson.
The discipline of international relations is divided into realist and idealist camps.
Realists focus on statecraft and power projection, while idealists consider non-state actors and world peace.
Foreign policy formulation is challenging to theorize and understand.
The Cuban Missile Crisis led to the proposal of three models of foreign policy formation by Graham Allison.
The rational actor model posits that a single decision-maker, like President Kennedy, can influence foreign policy.
The organizational process model suggests that foreign policy is shaped by advice from various government organizations.
The governmental politics model considers the internal politics and rivalries within government branches.
Diplomacy is an ancient practice, with records dating back to the Elizabethan age.
The Peace of Westphalia in 1648 established secular international relations and state sovereignty.
The Westphalian system has been challenged, including by recent religious conflicts.
Diplomacy is crucial for managing relations between states with differing interests and policies.
The study of diplomacy and foreign policy is more relevant today due to ongoing international challenges.
Woodrow Wilson's vision for public, multilateral diplomacy has influenced modern international relations.
Transcripts
Comparative diplomacy and foreign policy
in this course we're looking at case
studies of the diplomatic process of the
foreign policy process that precedes
diplomatic activity and this is
something which is very difficult to
understand because of the complexities
of the world today and it's also
something which is very difficult to
theorize because you're trying to
theorize or practice which is not
understood as a practice even diplomats
who are professional practitioners of
let us call them the dark arts of
diplomacy sometimes have grave
difficulties in understanding and
explaining what it is that they do to an
outside world insofar as diplomatic
Studies is a branch of the discipline of
international relations it is one of
those branches that has always resisted
theorization but international relations
itself was a very new discipline it only
really began in 1918 at the end of World
War one and then an eccentric Welsh
millionaire called David Davies inspired
by Woodrow Wilson the American president
who tried to lay down certain principles
for international conduct that the
Versailles conference after the end of
World War one established a chair in the
name of Woodrow Wilson and that became
the first chair the first professorship
of international relations instantly the
discipline became a minefield of
discussion about how to theorize
international relations and the upshot
really was a division of the discipline
into two broad camps one of which we
would call realist it basically proposed
the world was an entity that proceeded
according to state craft that depended
on the projection of power on behalf of
state interests obviously the stronger
the state the more power it had to
project the more successful that state
would be in international relations the
opposing camp basically were described
as utopians as idealists but
that said nevertheless that it didn't
just have to come down to States
International Organization citizen
organizations the idea that there could
be non-state actors in international
relations that could try to achieve
despite the interests of states some
kind of world peace some kind of
universal understanding proposed itself
as an alternative to the more acerbic
the more cynical as it were aspect of
international relations and depended on
states and the projection of their
interests but foreign policy is very
very much the formulation of exactly
that policy that represents state
interests how to do this and even if
it's very difficult to theorize foreign
policy formulation it's very very
difficult at the same time to understand
how this policy is formulated it
actually took until the 1962 Cuban
Missile Crisis involving the Soviet
Union and the United States for an
American academic could Graham Allison
to propose that our ideas of how foreign
policy might be formed can be very very
difficult to demonstrate he proposed
three basic models and the models were a
rational actor model in the case of the
Cuban must Missile Crisis was at
President Kennedy as the rational actor
who made this tremendous decision to
face up to the Soviets to put all kinds
of things at risk many people in the
world thought that we were on the brink
of a nuclear Armageddon and with the
young president pull it off would he
blink first word to the Soviet Chairman
Nikita Khrushchev blink first
but somehow somewhere in the mix has
seen the two powerful men to rational
actors we're trying to deploy some kind
of right on the edge rationality that
might or might not succeed or might
succeed instead in bringing the world to
its end but grandmother Sam also
proposed that there was an
organizational process model in other
words the president could not act by
himself he had to depend or pound has
organized ministries the advisors the
advice that they brought to his war
cabinet what kind of advice would the
Department of Defense bring what kind of
advice were the State Department bring
the National Security Adviser the CIA
etc etc how he would bring to bear quite
different forms of advice and how this
advice would be formulated in each of
these distinct cabinet organizations
what kind of processes would be at work
in each one of these separate
organizations that would finally bring
some kind of advice to the president so
he could try to act with all of these
different forms of differently organized
and gathered advice as a rational actor
and this led to Graham Allison's third
model what if this organizational
process was not clean what of all of
these different branches of government
argued what of the Department of Defense
and the State Department were very
jealous of each other they had to fight
each other to ensure that it was their
advice that was heard by the president
what of all of these different organs of
government surrounding the president
were in constant turmoil and constant
conflict and he called this the
governmental politics model what if the
president was simply making a decision
based on what was politically suitable
for his internal processes which might
not necessarily address the huge
external threat that he was facing what
of the formulation of foreign policy was
to serve internal needs
placate internal needs as opposed to
addressing external threat now in the
Cuban Missile Crisis the answer would
probably was a combination of all of
those three different models but it
means dissect
and analyzing foreign policy formulation
is very very difficult and of course the
diplomatic practice that then evolves
from the formulation with that policy
can also be very very difficult
diplomatic practice itself there's
something which is not new it's very old
in fact curiously if you look at the
archives the portraits of the
Elizabethan age if you look at 15th
century England in the days of
Shakespeare in the days of Queen
Elizabeth the first then you'll find
portraits of the Morocco to London from
Morocco the Ambassador from Morocco and
he was there precisely because Elizabeth
after Henry 8 was isolated from Catholic
Europe
she needed England needed allies in
other parts of the world and sought
allies from the Islamic world that seems
very odd that all of those many hundreds
of years ago four to five hundred years
ago there should be this cosmopolitan
backwards and forward nurse in
international relations of those days
and in fact the presence of the Islamic
world from these early times of
international diplomacy there's
something which is continued obviously
problematically right down to the
present day how to govern these kinds of
transactions between very different
forms of state facing a world and
turmoil those transactions demanded
certain rules and those rules the rules
of international statecraft the rules of
international diplomacy were very very
long and coming really it took until
1648 to what they call the Peace of
Westphalia sometimes is called the
Treaty of Westphalia but really it was a
series of treaties that was finally
brought into one coherent set of
agreements one coherent set of
principles in 1648 among the quarreling
parts of Europe this was after the
so-called 30 Years War Europe was
devastated
this was a thirty years war based on
religious differences between Catholics
and Protestants what we now know as
Germany and what we now know as parts of
the Bohemian region were all lying in
ruins the differences were so great and
the number of European actors so many
hundreds of ambassadors from hundreds of
small states convened themselves in
Westphalia to try to hammer out a new
form of international relations and it
was this new form of international
relations that finally after much
discussion and argument at Westphalia
drove the international system forward
into something that resembles what we
have today and which has come under
challenge very recently but the core of
the agreement of Westphalia was that the
international system should be secular
not religious so the religious wars of
the past the international religious
wars of the past would be a thing of
history obviously that is a concept
under challenge today with the rise of
organizations such as Islamic state for
instance but the sovereignty of States
would also be respected in other words
each state began the process of assuming
within international relations
a legal personality which gave it
certain rights and a certain protected
status this again has been honored more
in the breach than anything else
Napolean world war one world war two all
of these occasions threatened the
integrity of states states coalesced
into larger entities they divided as
NATO's the 20th century with Yugoslavia
for instance into smaller entities so
States waxed and waned but the idea of
recognizing a state and once recognized
that state having an legal personality
that was in violet and having a
sovereignty which it could maintain on
its own by itself according to its own
form that
system of government that was one of the
Heritage's of the Westphalian system but
what Advent was with all of these
independent states with all of their
internal forms of integrity what kinds
of difficulty in international relations
which made diplomacy all the more
important how do you transact
relationships between states that have
their own personality their own
institutions their own interests and
their own policies towards their
neighbors and this is where the idea of
some kind of way of avoiding simply a
clash of opposing interests entered into
diplomacy the ultimate clash of
interests was seen really in World War
one no one had predicted world what one
would start and certainly no one
predicted that it would occur in such a
savage way the technology that had
developed by them wiped out so many
millions of young people and innocent
civilians in World War one that the
carnage was something that the world
vowed to overcome leading the way was
the American President Woodrow Wilson
who wanted to put an end to secret
diplomacy he wanted the beginnings of a
public international multilateral
diplomacy and he wanted principles upon
which peace could be built this was very
controversial his own Congress refused
to give him a proper majority so that
the treaties that he proposed were not
in fact ratified by the u.s. itself but
a meant the beginnings of an
international organization which now
sits alongside established States as
part of what we might be still loosely
call the Westphalian system how this
advances what theories grow out of this
what kinds of forms of international and
national security can be derived from
this still leads to principles that
clash which means that the study of
international diplomacy the study of
foreign policy formulation
is more fascinating today than ever it
was
you
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