Foreign Policy Analysis

Foreign
Policy
Analysis
Dr Stefanie Ortmann

Course Description
Who acts in international relations, and why? All too often, in IR theory the
answer seems to be states, or other collective actors, with their interactions
determined by the logic of broad systemic forces. This however leaves out a
lot of factors: does is matter whether these states are democracies or
dictatorships, who is taking the decision to act and why? Foreign policy
analysis breaks up the ‘black box’ of the state and looks at the way that the
domestic environment and indeed the individual decision maker matters.
Foreign policy making is a messy, sometimes political process, and 'the
national interest' is by no means as clear and uncontested as foreign policy
elites would like to make out. The course draws on classical and critical
literature in foreign policy analysis to explore the broad tension between
agency and structure (domestic and international) in international politics.
It asks how decision-making in international politics may be less than
rational, for a variety of reasons; how lobby groups and (perhaps) public
opinion may influence foreign policy, and whether foreign policy can ever be
ethical. The course will conclude with a look at the contemporary foreign
policies of selected states.

Learning Objectives
• By the end of this course, you will be able to:
(i) identify, understand and critically evaluate a variety of
theoretical approaches to the analysis of foreign policy;
(ii) Identify key empirical issues in the contemporary
foreign policy of selected states and relate them to
theoretical accounts of how foreign policy is produced and
implemented;
(iii) Practice and improve your critical reasoning and
argumentation skills by writing an empirically and
theoretically informed essay and participating in class
discussions;

Course organisation
• The course is organized in two parts:
• A first part is theory- and issue-oriented and introduces
key issues in the analysis of foreign policy: agency versus
structure in foreign policy making, what is the ‘national
interest’? the foreign policy making process and the ‘art of
muddling through’, whether or not decision making is
rational, the influence of cultural factors, does the
domestic political context and type of regime matter, and
the ethics of foreign policy
• A second part looks at the contemporary foreign policies
of selected states.

Classes
• The course is taught by a 2h seminar per week, with short
lecture presentations, group discussion and analytical
exercises.
• Learning materials will include policy documents and other
primary sources as well as academic material.
• You are required to:
• Attend every seminar
• Read – at a minimum – the required weekly readings and
formulate questions based on these readings that you’d like to
have discussed in class
• Write a final research essay, with a question that you agree
with me during the course.

Assessment Criteria
• The course is formally assessed by a final essay of 5000w
• In order to prepare for this essay, I will ask you to hand in an essay
outline by week 8 of the spring term. This is not formally assessed, but I
will provide written feedback on your basic argument and structure. It
is an opportunity for you to try out some of your ideas before you will
actually be marked on them. As always, the more you put into this
exercise, the more useful the feedback I provide will be.

Questions?
You can email me about the course at s.ortmann@sussex.ac.uk