INTRODUCTION

FOREIGN POLICY ANALYSIS:

A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

As a sub-field of international relations (IR), the study of foreign policy

focuses on the external

behavio~

of states in the global system through their

authoris.ed representatives or governments. The concept of system assumes more

than the units enclosed by a boundary, it also presupposes that there is an interaction
between the units.

The official relations that take place between the -units of the

international system constitute the foreign policy.

Foreign policy analysis (FPA) is the study of those transactions, the domestic
circumstances that produce them, the effect on them of the system and its structures
and their influence on them. 1

In brief, the FPA is a "bridging discipline"/ which

connects the micro level of politics with the macro level of the international system ..
By concentrating on the interface benveen the state and state system, it represents
"the continuing erosion of the distinction between domestic and foreign issues,
between the socio-political and economic processes that unfold at home and those that
transpire abroad. " 3

2.
3

Margot Light, "Foreign Policy Analysis" in A.J.R. Groom and Margot Light,
Contemporary International Relations: A Guide to Theory (London: Pinter
Publishers, 1994), pp. 94.
Charles F. Hermann, Charles \V. Kegley Jr., and James N. Rosenau, eds., New
Directions in the Study ofForeim PoliC\' (London: Allen & Unwin, 1987) p. 1.
James N. Rosenau, "Introduction: ~ew Directions and Recurrent Questions in the
Comparative Study of Foreign Policy'', in Hermann, Kegley and Rosenau, eds.,
Ibid,., p. 3.

Realist Paradigm

In some respects, foreign policy analysis is firmly within the realist paradigm,

for realism is based on the state-centric assumption whereby the states are the primary
actors in world politics.

As the states constitutes the only significant actor in

international affairs, 5 realists consider that this field is best analysed in terms of interstate relations.

The state, acting through its government is seen as 'unitary' and

'rational' actor, which pursues national interests shaped by its power, and competes
with other states in an environment characterised by anarchy. 6 Because they are in a

The development of Realism as a distinctive paradigm in IR has been closely

identified with the works of E.H. Carr, The Twentieth Years' Crisis, 1919-1939
(New York: Harper & Row Torchbooks, 1964) and Hans Morgenthav's Politics
i\mong Nations, 5th ed. (New York: Knopf, 1978). These works developed what
Morgenthau called "political realism" in an effort to challenge the idealists and
liberal writers on international affairs. Despite sustained challenge in the post
World War II years from liberal integrationists and constructivists, realism
remains the most compelling general framework for understanding international
relations. This is evidenced by its revival in the 1980s under the name of
neorealism or structural realism. Kenneth Waltz's leading work Theory of
International Politics (Reading, Mass: Addison- Weshey, 1979) is referred to as
the most far reaching "attempt to systematise political realism into a rigorous,
deductive systemic theory of international politics". Robert 0. Keohane ed.,
Neorealism and Its Critics (New York: Columbia University Press, 1986) pp. 15.
Also see Joseph S. Nye, Jr., "Neorealism and Neoliberalism", World Politics, vol.
50 (January 1980), pp. 235-251; Stephen M. Walt, "International Relations: One
world Many Theories", Foreign Policy (Spring 1998), pp. 29-45; Powell,
"Anarchy in International Relations Theory: The Neo-realist - Neoliberal
Debate", International Organization, vol. 48, No. 2 (Spring 1992) pp. 313-344.

According to the realists, actors in world politics are defined on the basis ofthree
main criteria: sovereignty, recognition of statehood and the control of territory and
population. Other entities such as the MNCs or NGOs on the international scene
cannot be seen as autonomous entities because they do not combine these three
essentials for actomess. See B. Hocking and Michael Smith, World Politics (New
York: Harvester wheatshenb, 1990), pp. 80-82.

The absence of a central authority or a higher government above states is what is

meant by the anarchic environment of international politics. Empirically this
characterisation is valid, as the modem state system dated from 1648 Treaty of
Westphalia has been anarchic in the sense that it lacked a common government.
3

"self-help" system/ foreign policy behaviour of a state is determined by globalsystemic pressures rather than ideological differences and internal pressures.
It is thus the structural constraints that will explain the behaviour of the units,

not the other way around.

Regardless of their internal characteristics - whether

democratic or authoritarian, capitalist or socialist - pressures from international

system will make similarly situated states behaYe alike. "A good theory of foreign
policy", a critic of neorealism writes, "should first ask what effect international
system has on national behaviour, because the most generalizable characteristic of a
state in international relations is its relative position in the international system."e
The position or the rank of a state is determined by its relative power
resources.

Stated simply, power refers to the capabilities with which states can

influence each other. The relative amount of power resources that states possess will
shape the magnitude and ambition of their foreign policy. As their relative power
rises, states will seek more influence abroad, 9 and as it falls, their actions and

See Robert 0 Keohane, "Institutionalist Theory and Realist Challenge After the
Cold War" in David A. Baldwin, ed., ?\eorealism and Neoliberalism: The
Contemporary Debate (New York: Columbia University Press, 1993), pp. 269301, especially p. 291.
7

According to the realists, the 'self-help' beha\iour of a state is promoted by the

anarchic environment in which it operates. The central claim of this theory is that
anarchy forces states either to engage in internal efforts to increase their power
capabilities and develop effective strategies or undertake external attempts to align
or realign with other actors. Thus, basic to the anarchic system is the need for
member units to rely on whatever means or arrangement/coalition they can
generate in order to ensure survival and enhance security. See James E.
Dougherty and Robert L.. Pfaltzgrabb, Jr. Contending Theories of International
Relations: A Comprehensive Survey (New York: Longman, 1996), p. 82.

Fareed Zakaria, "Realism and Domestic Politics", International Security, vol. 17,
No. 1 (Summer 1992), pp. 197 emphasis added.

Fareed Zakaria, "Realism and Domestic Politics", pp.194. Zakaria uses the term
4

ambitiqns will be scaled down accordingly.

In all, realists assume that relations

between states are motivated by the pursuit of power.

Realists and Foreign Policy Analysts

Although foreign policy analysis broadly shares the realist assumption of a
state-centric global political system, it diverges from realism in many other respects.
Foreign policy analysts, for example, acknowledge that power relations are important,
and force is a major instrument of foreign policy. But they are at the sJme time
interested in other types of relations (economic and cultural) and other policy
instruments. More importantly, the focus of realist theory lies at the system-level
analysis

10

of thb nature of the svstem, the number of actors, and the distribution of

their capabilities. In contrast, foreign policy analysts give explanatory weight to the
structural attributes of the unit (size. level of industrialisation, form of government

"influence-maximising" rather than "power-maximising" behaviour of the states

to suggest that states seek to expand influence as a consequence of increased
resources.
10 According to K. Waltz, the explanations of the whole by explaining the behaviour
of the parts (units) is reductionism. In an effort to create a parsimonious structural
systemic theory in international politics, Waltz has giv~n explanatory weight to
the 'anarchic' nature of the :;:y:;:rem and the constraining conditions produced by
the structure of the system. The tern1 structure connotes the way in which the
parts or units are arranged. The stmcture of the international system is anarchic
because the actors/units stand in a horizontal not hierarchical relationship with
each other as in domestic politics. Because of this difference, the principle by
which structure ofthe international system is organised is anarchic. The existence
of an anarchic environment causes states to attempt self-help continuously. States
are thus driven by the system s competitive imperative producing what is called
"power-maximizing" beha,iour. On the \vhole, realists believe that system affects
states in much the same way u."tat market affects firms. See, K. Waltz, Theory of
International Politics, pp. -:-.+---: Robert Powell, "Anarchy in International
Relations Theory", pp. 32-+-.329: Colin Elman, "Horses For Courses: why not
Neorealist Theories of Fore:::_ . Policy?'', Security Studies vol.6, No. 1 (Autumn
1996), pp. 7-53.

etc.) without, however, completely downplaying the saliency of the external

environment or the international/regional systemic factors.

lnnerpolitikers
Over the years a good deal of foreign policy research has followed explicitly
in the Innerpolitik tradition, 11 which dismisses the systemic determinants, and locates
the roots of foreign policy in the social and economic structures of a state. There are
many variants of the Innerpolitik approach each favouring a different specific
domestic independent variables but they all share a common assumption that foreign
policy is best understood as the product of a country's internal dynamics.

To

understand why a particular country is behaving in a particular way, they argue, one
should open up the "black box" of the state to examine the preferences and
configurations ofkey domestic actors.

Combination of Systemic and Domestic Determinants

The Innerpolitik theories are, however, as problematic as the system-level
analysis of the structural realists. While the latter fails to explain why different states
behave differently despite similar placement in the international system, unit-level
explanations have difficulty accounting for why states with similar domestic systems

l i For a brief history oflnnerpolitik theorising about foreign policy, see Zakari~ QQ.,.
cit. Other notable recent examinations of Innerpolitik variables include Richard
Rosenerance and Arthur A. Stein, eds., The Domestic Bases of Grand Strategy
(Ethaca: Cornell University Press, 1993); Jack Snyder, Myths of Empire:
Domestic Politics and International Ambition (Ithaca: Cornell University Press,
1991) and Joe D. Hagan, "Domestic Political Explanations in the Analysis of
Foreign Policy" in Laura Neack et al., eds., Foreign Policy A11alysis: Continuity
and Change in its Second Generation (Englewood, Cliffs, New Jersey: Princeton
Hall, 1995), pp. 117-143.

often act differently. 12

The study of foreign policy, therefore, attempts to integrate

the two levels of analysis into a coherent whole. In other words, the analysts rely on
both systemic and domestic independent variables to account for different kinds of
foreign policy behaviour. 13

Systemic factors like the nature of the international

political system - whether bipolar or multipolar or unipolar - and the immediate

policy actions of other actors in the regional environment are as much important in the
formulation of the country's foreign policy as its internal power resources and
geographic location.

Power Resources
Power is the function of the size of population and territory, resource
endowment, economic capability, military strength, and political stability and

12 Lynn Eden, "The End ofU.S. Cold War History?", International Security, vol.
18, no. 1, (Summer 1993), pp. 174-189.
13 The first-generation analysis of foreign policy labeled Comparative Foreign
Policy (CFP), led by James Rosenau, viewed foreign policy as a "composite
product of internal and systemic variables. In an article first published in 1966,
Rosenau in a 'pre-theoretical' way suggested that three attributes of "national
societies" (states) -their size, economic development and political accountability
- were so basic to their way of life as to lead to fundamental differences in their
foreign policy. It is important to note that Rosenau proposed this "pre-theoretical"
framework as a way to orient foreign policy research towards being systemic,
quantitative and what he called a "normal science". James Rosenau, "PreTheories and Theories and Foreign Policy" in R. Barry Farrell, ed., Approaches to
Comparative and International Politics, (Evanston: Northwestern University Press,
1966), pp. 27-92; J. Rosenau, "A Pre-Theory Revisited: World Politics in an Era
of Cascading Interdependence", International Studies Quarterly, vol. 28, 1984, pp.
245-505; James Rosenau and Gary D. Hoggard, "Foreign Policy Behaviour in
Dyadic Relationships" in J.N. Rosenau, Comparing Foreign Policies: Theories.
Findings and Methods (New York: Sage Publishers, 1974), pp. 117-128. For a
Critiqae of Rosenau's work, see Bahgat Korany, "Foreign Policy Decision
Making Theory and lhe Third World" in B. Korany ed., How Foreign Policv
Decisions are Made in the Third World (Boulder, Colo: Westview, 1986), pp. 3945
7

competence.

No single factor adequately captures the power of state, 14

though

analysts have emphasised only the physical component of power in order to explain
the varying response of states to the external stimuli.

However, power broadly

defined as the aggregate of the capabilities available to the state is a decisive factor in
shaping foreign policy interests. By interests we mean the goals and preferences such as survival or self-preservation or influence - maximization abroad - which
guide the country's external policy behaviour. 15

Geographic Position

In addition to the above hard-power resources, the geographic position of state

has been considered an important determinant of its foreign relations.

For the

14 Realists, for instance, insist that states are not placed in top rank because they
excel in one category of power (political or material), their rank depends on how
they score on all its components. For an evaluation of Realist concept of power
and capabilities, see Richard Ned Lebow, "The long Peace, the End of the Cold
War, and the Failure of Realism", International Organization vol. 48, No.2,
(Spring 1994) pp. 249-259. For the 'material' definition of power, see William
Curti Woleforth, The Elusive Balance: Power and Perceptions During the Cold
War (Ithica, New York: Cornell University Press, 1993), pp. 1-17; for the
relational and "situationally specific" definition of power, see David A. Baldwin,
Paradoxes of Power (New York: Basil Blackwell, 1989), pp. 21-26 & pp. 134138. In contradistinction to the "hard power" or the material power resources,
Joseph Nye has developed the concept of "soft power", which refers to the state
ability to attract others through cultural and ideological such as liberal democratic
appeal. See Joseph S. Nye, Jr., Bound to Lead (New York: Basic Books, 1990).
15 National interest has been defined as the general and continuing ends for which a
nation acts. See Joseph Frankel, National Interest (London: Macmillan, 1970).
The goal of 'survival' is given a wide variety of interpretations by different
countries or countries facing different conditions. For small and weak states,
survival means preserving territorial integrity and political independence but for
great powers like the US, a shift in balance of power favouring its adversary the
former USSR was considered a threat to its own survival. For an interesting study
on the goals of foreign policy, see Arnold Wolfers, Discord and Collaboration:
Essays in International Politics (Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 1966),
Chapt. 5, pp. 67-80, and for theoretical analysis, see, Patrick J. McGowan,

geographic, factors influence the actions of the decision-making elite.

The

significance of this influence, however, depends upon the perceptions and

interpretation of geographic factors by the policy-makers. 16

Although geographic

considerations have been in the recent years tempered by modem military weaponary
and advanced communication technology, state's primary foreign policy goals of
survival and security continue to be dictated by such geophysical elements as its sea
frontiers and land boundaries.

Decision-Making Process
A central part of foreign policy analysis is the study of decision-making
process through which inputs or determinants are transformed into foreign policy
output meaning either decisions or acts on the four main issue areas: military-security,
political-diplomatic, economic-developmental, and cultural status. 17 "The key to the
explanation of why the state behaves the way it does" Richard Snyder, H.W. Bruck
and Burton Sap in contend, "lies in the way decision-makers as actor define the
situation. The definition of the situation is built around the projected action as well as

"Problems in the Construction of Positive Foreign Policy" iu James N. Rosenau,

Comparing Foreign Policy, pp. 25-43.
16 A recent study by Prof. Geoffrey Parker of the geopolitics of domination suggests
how geopolitical factors might influence the policy-makers' perceptions of the
external environment. See G. Parker, "The Geopolitics of Dominance and
International Cooperation" in N. Kliot and S. Waterman, eds., The Political
Geography of Conflict and Peace (London: Belhanen Press, 1991), pp. 60-76.

11 The concept of 'issue-area' was first introduced by Prof. James Rosenau, which
later on Michael Brecher used in his input-process-output model to study Israel's
foreign policy system. See James Rosenau, "Foreign Policy as an Issue Area" in
J. Rosenau, ed., Domestic Sources of Foreign Policy (New York: The Free Press,
1967), pp. 11-50; M. Brecher, The Foreign Policy System of Israel: Setting,
Images, Process (London: Oxford University Press, 1972), pp. 13-14.
9

the reasons for the action". 18

In short, it is the decision-makers' perceptions or

misperceptions of the outside world combined with their subjective assessment of

relative power resources that shape the foreign policy behaviour of the state. For the
authoritative acts of the official decision-makers "are, to all intents and purposes, the
acts of the state. State action is the action taken by those acting in the name of the
state". 19
The overall environment in which decision-makers operate is divided into the
'external' and the 'domestic', and the 'psychological environment', an umbrella term
for the set of images held by decision-makers about their world.

20

The external

environment comprises the global systemic structures (i.e. polarity or balance of

power) and peculiarities of the regional sub-system 21

such as the geographical

proximity, transstate distribution of a single etlmic population and transnational

identity based on either religion or ethnicity (pan-Islamism, pan-Arabism or panTurkism).

18 Richard C. Snyder, H.W., Bruck, and Burton Sapin, ed., Foreign Policy DecisionMaking (New York: The Free Press, 1962), p. 60.
19

Ibid., p. 65.

20

The distinction between the "operational" and "psychological" environments

within which the members of the decision making unit exist was first
highlighted by Harold Sprout and Margaret Sprout in an article published in the
Journal of Conflict Resolution in 1957. See, H. Sprout and M. Sprout,
"Environmental Factors in the study of International Politics" in James ~
Rosenau, (ed.), International Politics and Foreign Policy (New York: Free Press,
1969), pp. 106-113.

21

The concept of region is a flexible one. According to Rosenau, "its referent

depending on whether geographic, cultural, religious or historical variables are used
as the basis of delineation". James N. Rosenau, The Scientific Study of
Forein
Policy (New York: Free Press, 1971), pp. 336. For more recent definition of regional
sub-system, see Andrew Hurrell, "Regionalism in Theoretical Perspectives" in Louise
Fawcett and A. Hurrell, ed., Regionalism in World Politics (Oxford, 1997), pp. 37-73.

10

The domestic environment includes not only such standard political

phenomena as public opinio~

22

but also much more fundamental categories: political

culture, institutional patterns, major common value orientations, associational life and
continuity of the authority structure in the system.

Together they constitute the

"operational environment", in which events and objects stand as they actually are or
as they occur. In the psychological environment, on the contrary, events and objects
depend upon how decision-makers imagine them to be.
environment is divided into

The psychological

two main categories: the "attitudinal prism" or the

psychological predisposition of the decision-makers as individuals, and 'images of the

elite', which refers to the cognitive representation of reality or the distance between
the perceptions thG elite have of the world and its reality. "Elite image", according to
Michael Brecher "is the decisive input of a foreign policy system", because "decisionmakers act in accordance \v;th their perception of reality, not in response to reality
itself."23

Whereas the elite image comprises a set of closely related perceptions of

the 'operational environment', the attitudional prism is partly made up of the

22

Scholars variously argue that public opinion determines foreign policy, that public
opinion is irrelevant to the foreign policy process or that public opinion follows the
head of the state on foreign policy matters rather than influencing decision-making.
Current analyses, however, suggest that public opinion may he influential for certain
types of issues (namely those directly concerned with national security), or under
certain circumstances and irrelevant in others. In brief, the challenge before the
foreign policy analysts is to identify the circumstances in which public opinion plays
a critical role and those in which its impact is marginal. Furthermore, the role of
public opinion in defining foreign policy choices needs to be understood in the
context of the types of regime (democratic or authoritarian) and system of government
(open or closed). For debate on the relevance of public opinion in foreign policymaking, see Ole R. Holsti, 'Public opinion and Foreign Policy: Challenge to the
Almond Lipmann Consensus", International Studies Quarterly, vol. 36, No. 2 (1992),
pp. 439-466; for issue-specific studies, see David Skidmore and Valerie M. Hudson,
The Limits of State Autonomv: Societal Groups and Foreign Policy Formulation
(Boulder, Colorado: Wesn;ew Press, 1992).
23

M. Brecher, The Forei2Il Polic\ Svstem, pp. 11-12.

11

idiosyncratic qualities of individual decision-makers (personality factor) and in

greater part, the influences derived from ideology, national character and historical
legacy.

Elite images together with the attitudional pnsm or what Ole Holsti has
labeled 'belief systems ' 24

of the decision-makers create a general psychological

framework for policy-making. Although the operational setting exists independent of

this psychological framework

(the elite mental constructs), it can influence the

policy-making process only to the extent that it is communicated to the decisionmakers. Thus, in the analysis of foreign policy issues, there is the need for examining
the communication network of the political system, and assessing the sources,
veracity and objectivity of the flow of information about the operational system to the
governing elite. However, one should not ignore or underrate the possibility of what
the psychologists term "cognitive dissonance" 25 in which any information conflicting

24

The concept of 'belief system' used by Holsti in his study of the image of the
enemy was drawn on the psychological literature on cognitive dynamics based on the
nature of attitudes, cognitive consistency and persuasive communications. Holsti, for
instance, found that former U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles's extremely
hostile image of the Soviet Union was rigid and resistant to change. This resistance to
change found in Dulles's image of the Soviet Union, according to Holsti, can be
explained by cognitive consistency theory, which emphasises that individuals acquire
beliefs and images that are interconnected and form coherent belief system. Ole R.
Holsti, "Cognitive Dynamics and Images of the Enemy: Dulles and Russia" in John
C. Farrell and AsaP. Smith, ed., Image and Reality in World Politics (New York:
Columbia University Press, 1967), pp. 3-26; Holsti, "The Belief System and National
Images: A Case Study", Journal of Conflict Resolution, vol. 6 (1962), pp. 244-252.
For an overview, see Jerel A. Rosati, "A Cognitive Approach to the Study of Foreign
Policy" in Laura Neack et al., Foreign Policy Analysis, pp. 49-59.
25

The concept of "cognitive dissonance" borrowed from a leading psychologist

Leon Festinger refers to discordant relationships between preferred and actual states
of affairs - between our beliefs and values, behaviour and environment as they
actually are and as we think or prefer them to be. Leon Festinger, A Theory of
Cognitive Dissonance (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1962). On the problem of
12

with the beliefs values or desires of decision-makers is rejected, and the facts distorted
to fit in with pre-existing notions.

In the foreign policy analysis, it is also essential to include the study of the
policy-making structures, which Snyder and his colleagues have termed as
"organisational context". Stressing the importance of the organisational context of
foreign policy decisions, they argue, "to ignore this context omits a range of factors
which significantly influence the behaviour of decision-makers (and therefore state
behaviour), including not only the critical problem of how choices are made but also
the conditions under which choices are made." 26 For the decision-makers do not act
only in an

inc~ividual

capacity when they formulate foreign policies, they also act

within an organisational setting. Moreover, recent case studies of U.S. policy-making

in West Asia 27 suggest that a link exists between decision-structures and decisionmaking processes, especially during crises. Indeed, Graham Allison's classic work,
Essence of Decision has focused on how organisational structures and politics of
competing bureaucracies shape the policymaking process and direct policy outputs. 28

cognitive dissonance in foreign policy-making, see Yaacov Y.I. Vertzberger, The

World in Their Minds: Information Processing, Cognition, and Perception in Foreign
Policy Decision making (Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1990),
Robert Jervis, Perception and Misperception in International Politics (Princeton, New
Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1976).
26

Snyder et al. Foreign Policy Decision-Making, p. 87.

27

Wee William B. Quandt, Decade of Decisions (Berkeley: University of

California Press, 1977), also by the same author, Peace Process (Washington, D.C.,:
The Brookings Institution: University of California Press, 1993).
28

Graham Allison, Essence of Decision: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis

(Boston: Little, Brown, 1971 ). At the beginning of his work, Allison has stated that
"professional analysts think about problems of foreign and military policy in terms of
largely implicit conceptual models that have significant consequences for the content
of their thought". These conceptual lenses or models determine the analyst's
13

On the whole, structure of the relationships between vanous foreign policy

organisations remains an integral part ofthe study of policy making.

Advantages of Decision-Making Approach

The decision-making approach to foreign policy analysis offers certain

advantages in the way of useful concepts and constructs, which, in tum, justify the
analytical framework employed in the present study (see Fig. 1).

First of all, it

provides for multiple levels of analysis linking global systemic factors to state
structures and perceptual orientations of the decision-makers either as a group or as
individuals.

Unlike the innerpolitik theories of foreign policy, it does not

underestimate the systemic consLraints that limit the autonomy of decision-makers.

No< does this model assume, like the realists, that the systemic pressures and relative
power resources alone determine state external behaviour. In fact, this approach is
fundamentally opposed to the 'billiard ball' conception of international interactions -

explanations. Allison, therefore, has explicated three sets of "conceptual lenses" for
analysing the same Cuban Missile Crisis over three times. Model I, known as
Rational Actor Model summarises the classical realist thinking about foreign policy
decision-making. Allison Model II depicts foreign policy as the output of clusters of
organisations in the government that act on imperfect information under pressures of
time, and that decide not on the best choice but on reasonably satisfactory one within
their rigid decision-making decisions routines, known as "standard operating
procedures" or "SOPs". Ibid., p. 89. Finally, Allison's Model III builds on the
metaphor of a "game" played by high-ranking officials. Better known as the
"bureaucratic politics" model, it depicts foreign policy as the result of competitive
maneuvering and compromise by decision-makers who interact frequently, and hold
different beliefs about policy-issues. Thus, according to Model III, national interest
of the state is not a given, nor can it be by analysing the views of a single decisionmakers, even the chief executive or head of the state. Instead, bureaucrats bargain
with each other to define national interest. In sum, "players make governmental
decisions not by a single rational choice, but by pulling and hauling". G. Allison and
Morton, H. Halperin, "Bureaucratic Politics: A Paradigm and Some Policy
Implications", World Politics, vol. 24, (1972), pp. 43. AHhough Allison's work has
attracted a great deal of criticism, it does provide useful insights into understanding
the "politics" of foreign policy-making and its structures.
14

m which foreign policy positions are seen as being primarily determined by the
interplay of international forces.
Instead, the model suggests that foreign policy behaviour can be explained by
conjunction of external and internal conditions. 29

To understand the way states

interpret and respond to their external environment, one must analyse how
international systemic pressures are filtered through unit-level intervening variables
such as the domestic state-structure and decision-makers' perceptions of their
situation. The composition and relative influence of the decision-making elite varies
depending on the domestic state structure, that is the types of regime (consensual or
authoritarian) or system of governments (open or closed). 30

29

Almost an identical observation by K. Waltz, the founding father of the Neorealist

as a supplement to
school clearly shows a surge of interest in domestic politics
systemic explanations in the broader IR literatures. See, K. Waltz, "The Emerging
Structures oflnternational Politics", International Security, vol. 18, no. 2 (Fall 1993),
p. 79. In the face ofmounting criticism ofbeing theoretically deficient in anticipating
the non-violent transformation of bipolar international system and collapse of the
USSR, the neorealists have begun to focus on domestic factors within the countries
that may powerfully shape their role in international politics. For instance, Jack
Snyder's Myth of Empire: Domestic Politics and International Ambitions (Itheau,
New York: Cornell University Press, 1991) highlights how internal conditions within
the former Soviet Union had sapped it economically and politically reducing it to a
second-rank power. Likewise, Fareed Zakaria's From Wealth to Power: The Unusual
Origins of America's World Role (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1998), and
William Curti Wohlfarth, The Elusive Balance: Power aPd Perceptions During the
Cold War (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1993) have underscored the need for
examining the strength and structures of states relative to their societies, and the
perceptions of decision-makers about their countries' global position and their relative
power. For a critique of IR theories, see Prof. John F. Gaddis, "International
Relations Theory and the End of Cold War", International Security, vol. 17, no.3,
(1992-93), pp. 5-58; Gideon Rose, "Neoclassical Realilsm and Theories of Foreign
Policy", World Politics, vol. 51, no.l, (October 1998), pp. 144-172.
30

In many Third World states, for example, decision-making is dominated by the

executive powers around or through la monarchie presidentielle. Because of the
influence of the man at the top, weak state-society links and fragile institutions, the
policy-making process is highly personalised. This category of decision unit has been
described as principal decision maker, who can exercise profound normative
influence on the population as a whole. (See Chapter II). For further theoretical
15

Second most important merit of the decision-making model is its focus on the
process of foreign policy-making rather than the outputs or forms of foreign policy.
In fact, decision-making has been defined as "a process which results in the selection
from a socially defined, limited number of problematical, alternative projects, of one
project intended to bring about the particular future state of affairs envisaged by
decision-makers". 31 This selection process is determined by certain variables, which
embrace a wide range of concepts and disciplines: psychology, sociology, economics
and political science. 32

In short, the decision-making model presents an inter-

disciplinary approach to understand how and why the actors (states) in international
system behave as they do.
Last but not the least, analysts of foreign policy decision making are
uncomfortable with the treatment of states as undifferentiated unitary-rational actors.
For they disagree with the assump.tion that those who act in the name of the
inputs on the type of ultimate decision unit, see Margaret G. Hermann, Charles F.
Hermann and Joe D. Hagan, "How Decision Units Shape Foreign Policy Behaviour"
in Hermann, Kiegley and Rosenau, ed., New Directions in the Study of Foreign
Policy, Chapter 16.
31

Snyder et al., Foreign Policy Decision-Making, p. 90.

32

Despite the diversity and multiplicity of variables included in the decision-making

model, critics have pointed out two major methodological handicaps : a) an
overemphasis on decision-makers' perceptions of the world - the psychological
environment has led to the exclusion of "ope;:ational environment", the real world; b)
this research imbalance has resulted in psychological reductionism verging on monovariable (i.e. psychology) analysis. According to Korany the decision-making
approach has created "a great man theory of history" for "psychological reductionism
equates the most visible with the most important and substitutes the man at the top for
the analysis of social dynamics". Bahgat Korany, "Analysing Third World Foreign
Policies: A Critique and a Reordered Research Agenda", in David Wurfel and Bruce
Burton, ed., The Political Economy of Foreign Policy in Southeast Asia (London:
Macmillan Press, 1990), p. 27. Also see, Franklin B. Weinstein, "The uses of
Foreign Policy in Indonesia: An Approach to the Analysis of Foreign Policy in the
Less Developed countries", World Politics, vol. 24, April 1972, pp. 356-380.

16

,government - the policy-makers - are monolithic units speaking with one voice,
holding one view with one set of goals. In other words, the rational actor model
"presupposes that governments consist of united, purposive strategists, who in
possession of full information, calculate and implement actions on the basis of how
best to maximise power and security."33 It not only disregards the possibility of
dissent within the decisional unit, but also ignores the social dynamics, including
ideological and cultural differences within the state.

The Framework For Turkish Foreign Policy Analysis

In view of the above methodological-conceptual advantages, we have chosen
to base uur analytical framework (Fig. 1) on the decision-making model for
explaining continuity and change in Turkey's foreig11 policy between 1970 and 1985.
The assumption on which the study has proceeded is that state foreign policy
. behaviour (B) is a function (F) of interaction between the actor (A) and its
environment (E).

In equation form it can be expressed as B

F (AE). 34

33

Christopher Hill and Margot Light, "Foreign Policy Analysis", in M. Light and
A.J.R. Groom, ed., International Relations: A Handbook of Current Theory (London:
Lyane Publishers, 1985), p. 157. In fact, Allison in his Model I, the rational actor
model, has explained the 1962 installation of Soviet Missiles in Cuba by showing how
this action was reasonable given Soviet strategic objectives. According to Allison,
rationality refers to consistent, value maximising choice within specified constraints.
However, those who have challenged the rational actor framework argue that decision
makers do not 'maximise' but satisfice. Decisicn-makers, in other words do not
examine all alternatives, but decide when they find an acceptable choice, which is
called "bounded rationality". See, Herbert Simon, Models ofMan (New York: Wiley,
1957) quoted in Deborat J. Gerner, "The Evolution of the Study of Foreign Policy",
Laura et al, Foreign Policy Analysis, pp. 24-25.
34

Adapted from Social Psychologist Kurt Lewin, quoted in Bhagat Korany, Social
Change, Charisma and International Behaviour: Toward a Theory of Foreign PolicyMaking in the Third World (Leiden: A.W. Sijthoff, 1976), p. 71.

17

Methodologically, although this work is interdisciplinary, it is not limited to the mere

borrowing of "foreign" concepts from other social sciences.
Instead, it tries to adapt these concepts to our analysis of Turkey's foreign
policy-making (see Chapter II).

Theoretically, it follows three levels-of-analysis:

global systemic, domestic (societal and political) and organisational (decision-making

apparatus). Finally, the study is organised in five chapters followed by a conclusion,
which is essentially a postscript.
Chapter I discusses the domestic environment, which includes the historical
background of contemporary Turkey, its polity and material power resources
(population, economy, level of industrialisation and military capability), and the
geographic location of the state. What is, however, important to note in this chapter is
the space devoted to the elaboration of Turkey's imperial past and national liberation
movement under the charismatic Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. For it is believed that in the
case study approach35 , history is particularly useful in serving two prime research
objectives. Firstly, it helps the analysts comprehend the uniqueness of the country's
foreign policy orientations; secondly, it explains the psychological predispositions of
the decision-making elites. In short, past affects the way the present is perceived, and
hence, "a knowledge of the past enables us to fully understand the present." 36
In Chapter II, the focus is on identifying those individuals, groups and
institutions who constitute the decision-making elite, and explaining their role in the
process of foreign policy-making. Chapter III is concerned with Turkey's external

35

The case study approach insists on the uniqueness of the foreign policy of each
state. For details, see S. Smith, "Foreign Policy Analysis" in S. Smith, ed.,
International Relations: British and American Perspectives (New York: Basil
Blackwell, 1985), pp. 45-55.
36

Michael Howard, The Lessons ofHistory (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991), p. 11.

18

environment in the immediate aftermath of the World War II, which to great extent
explains the "Americanisation" of Turkish foreign policy during the early years of the
Cold War period. Central argument in this chapter is rooted in the realist assumption
that state behaviour is an adaptation to the changes in external environment. 37 Thus,
Turkey's close alignment with the West following its inclusion in NATO alliance is
seen as a response to the external threats represented by an ambitious neighbour, also
the super-power.
However, as the international system underwent signific::tnt changes in the
mid-1960s with the onset of super-powers detente and receding Soviet threat, Turkey
began to diversify its external relations signalling 'change' in state behaviour
espec!ally after the 1974 Cyprus crisis. In the second section of the Chapter, an
attempt is made to explain the concept of foreign policy change. It identifies at least
two 'sources' of such change: a) external shock represented by the US arms embargo;
b) domestic political imperatives. Also, this chapter addresses to the type of change
in the post-1974 foreign policy of Turkey. Was it simply an 'adjustment change' or
'programme change' or something that would amount to overall 'restructuring' of
foreign policy? 38
In the ensuing two chapters, an attempt is made to contextualise Turkish
foreign policy change by linking it to the beginning of Turco-Arab fratemity of the

37

The idea of foreign policy as adaptive behaviour has been developed by Rosenau.
For an insightful analysis, see Patrick J. McGowan, "Problems in the construction of
Positive Foreign Policy Theory" in Rosenau, Compa!:"ing Foreign Policies: pp. 2543.
Charles F. He~ann, ''Changing Course: When Governments choose to Redirect
Foreign Policy", International Studies Quarterly, vol. 34, (1990), pp. 3-21; David
Sidmore, "Explaining State Responses to International Change: The Structural
Sources of Foreign Policy Rigidity and Change", in J.A. Rosati, J.D. Hagan and M.W.
Sampson, ed., Forei~ Policy Restructuring: How Governments Respond to Global
Change (Columbia Uni\ersity of South Carolina Press, 1994), pp. 43-61.

38

19

1970s in West Asia. Chapter IV investigates the history of Turkish-Arab relations to

identify the unifying and not the separating elements, which could be the basis for
Turkey's involvement in the Arab Gulf region.

The last Chapter is devoted

exclusively to an evaluation of Turkey's efforts towards developing closer relations

with the Gulf states between 1974 and 1986 in areas ranging from security and
economic to political and cultural.
In the end, the study presents an overvrew of Turkey's foreign policy
strategies towards West Asia in general, and the Arab Gulf region in particular since
the termination of the 8 year-old war between Iran and Iraq.

On the whole, for

analytical convenience this study could be divided into two sections: first section
deals with the dynamics of Turkish foreign policy, while the second half is more
specif!c, exploring as well as explaining the gamut of Turkey's relations with the
Arab Gulf states.

20

_cj

4-S3'J

THE FRAMEWORK FOR ANALYSIS

OPERATIONAL
ENVIRONMENT

Foreign Policy Establishment

DOMESTIC

\11

I. Historical Background
2. Political System
.1
3. Power Resource:
ra-.
a} Population
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b}Economy
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Industrialization
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INPUTS

DECISION-MAKING ELITE
Political Elites:
Prime Minister
Foreign Minister
Defence Minister
Finance Minister and
Political Parties and Civil society organisations

State Elites:
Through
~,;ommuni-

cation

President
NSC
Bureaucracy

{media &
interest
groups}

EXTERNAL

I. International System:
a} Bipolarity,
b}Balance of power,
2.Regional sub-system:
a} Transstate distribution of

---.

Kurds,

COGNITIVE MAP

Ideology, History

/Elitte Images

1
Personal dispositons

Feedback

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Ministry

PSYCHOLOGICAL ENVIRONMENT

Attitudional Prism

b} Transstate/ supra- state

ideologies(Islam and
Pan-Arabism),
c}regional power balance

Foreign

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For, ign
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Out puts