Russian Politics and Foreign Policy in the 21st Century

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Russian Politics and Foreign Policy in the 21st
Century

• Week 1
• Basic concepts of foreign policy

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Principles of Foreign Policy Outline

• Defining Foreign Policy
• Analyzing Foreign Policy in a Comparative Context
• Factors determining Foreign Policy
• A framework to understand foreign policy
  processes

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Largest Countries
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International Relations and Foreign Policy

• Basic concepts
• Security (national security)
• identity and culture (national identity or group
  identity)
• economy
• International Relations the Menu for Choices for
  Policy makers
• opportunities
• willingness

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Defining Foreign Policy

• Ways by which states translate their objectives
  and national interests into tangible policies
• Foreign vs. Domestic
• Policy
• Observable behaviors
• Verbal pronouncements
• Areas of interest
• Actors who do make policy
• Comparative Foreign Policy
• Search for regular patterns
• Similarities vs. differences
• Analysis of factors
• Domestic vs. External

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Foreign Policy Prioritizing Objectives

• Interests
• Protection of Borders and Territory Military
• Well being of Citizens-Economic and Social
  (Demographic)
• Independence in Political Decision Making
• Great Power vs. Middle or small country
• Threats (Constraints)
• Geography
• Population
• Size of the country
• Type of neighborhoods
• Opportunities
• Alliances

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External and Domestic Factors

• External Influences
• Anarchy and Power in International System
  (Realism)
• Dependency and Interdependence (Liberalism and
  Marxism)
• Internal Factors
• Public Opinion and Interest groups
• Political culture and Society
• Political System
• Democracies and Bureaucracies
• Role of Leaders

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What is Theory? you cannot conduct foreign
policy except on the basis of some coherent set
of ideas. H. Kissinger

• Theory An intellectual construct, a set of
  interconnected statements which helps us to
  select facts and interpret them in ways that
  facilitate our understanding of regularities and
  repetitions of observed phenomena.
• organizes and simplifies reality
• determines the questions we are asking
• hypothesis and empirical testing
• explanation vs. prediction
• Different methods of knowing/explaining what is
  known
• Type of questions asked
• How do we ask the questions

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External Influences I

• (Realism)
• Assumptions of realism
• State centered international system, principle
  sovereignty
• Rational, unitary actor
• Anarchic or loosely hierarchical international
  system
• Main focus of studying Power relations among
  states
• State behavior maximize security and/or power

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Power-politics (Realism)

• Dominant and authoritative role for states
• Clear differentiation between the domestic and
  international arenas.
• A direct and indirect military dimension
• Conflict Gain for one actor loss for the other
  actor (national interest)

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The global system during the Cold War

• Prominence of states
• Bi-polar distribution of power
• International relations a zero-rum game
• Security was defined in military terms
• Ideological cleavages between East-West

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The global system after the Cold War

• Unilateralism and the emergence of non-state
  actors
• The new challenges for the state
  actorsproliferation of states
• Regional integration
• New issues Trade and development, environment,
  and human rights
• New concepts interdependence, dependency,
  globalization
• New concept of security environmental-development
  -regional
• Concepts of time and space have changed.

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Actors in the International System

• States
• Sovereignty
• Nation
• Political Regime
• Non-state actors
• International Organizations (IGOs)
• Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)
• Substate actors
• Individuals
• Ethnic groups (communal actors) and other groups

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External Influences II

• Liberal (cooperation-IPE)
• Assumptions of liberalism
• Main actors Individuals, Groups, States,
  Organizations, Institutions, Global civil
  society.
• Mutually beneficial exchanges,
• Importance of institutions and norms (regimes)
• Trade can promote peace
• Democratic institutions promote peace
• Focus
• Impact of trade on state relations
• Interdependence and Globalization
• Role of IO and NGOs in the international system
• Alternative view of power and power

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External Influences III

• Revolutionary (Marxist)
• Main actors social classes or states
• Conflictual, zero-sum game
• Importance of power and income distribution
• 2 major versions Imperialism and Dependencia
  (Neo-colonialism)
• Core and periphery
• The causality of international underdevelopment

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Overview of Domestic Influences

• Institutional and Cultural structures
• e.g. democratic peace argument, religion
• Social structures
• population movements
• manipulation of ethnic differences
• demographic structures
• massive changes that transform societies,
  e.g.demographic transitions and industrial
  revolution
• Political and Governmental Organization
• Public Opinion and Interest Groups

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The role of leaders in Foreign Policy Decision
Making

• Groupthink (Janis)
• Small groups, exclusion of bad news,
  reinforcement
• Decision-making pressures
• Incomplete information, time pressures, surprise,
  personal stresses, limited options
• Perception and Cognition
• Inaccurate perceptions
• Misreading of history
• Miscommunications
• Overconfidence and wishful thinking