Preview

Levels of Analysis

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
338 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Levels of Analysis
Levels of Analysis
One of the key questions in international relations and foreign policy is the question of how you
Scholars see several levels of analysis through which state behaviour can be examined.

System level
System level analysis examines state behaviour by looking at the international system.
In this level of analysis, the international system is the cause and state behaviour is the effect.
Change in the international system will cause change in state behaviour.
The key variable in the international system is the power of a state within the system. Some states are powerful; others are weak.

State level
State level analysis examines the foreign policy behaviour of states in terms of state characteristics. For example, some scholars say that all democracies behave a certain way; they don’t fight with other democracies.
Some scholars might say that the foreign policy behaviour of every state is a cultural characteristic, defined by the historical legacy of the state, the religious or social traditions, or the economic and geographic nature of the state itself (Constructivist).

Organisational level
Organizational level analysis examines the way in which organizations within a state function to influence foreign policy behaviour.
Organizations bargain with each other to create a foreign policy that is a compromise between competing organizations.

Human level
People make decisions within nation states and therefore people make foreign policy. Scholars might look at the roles of different leaders.
This level of analysis might explain World War II by examining the role of Hitler. It might look at the end of the cold war by studying Gorbachev. It might suggest that the economic reforms in China are a result of the transition from Mao Zedong’s leadership to Deng Xiaoping’s rule.
This level of analysis also includes cognitive theories --- theories that explain foreign policy by looking at the way leaders perceive the

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    President and Congress

    • 1436 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The era of globalization has witnessed the growing influence of a number of unconventional international actors, from non-governmental organizations, to multi-national corporations, to global political movements. Traditional, state-centric definitions of foreign policy as "the policy of a sovereign state in its interaction with other sovereign states is no longer sufficient. Several alternative definitions are more helpful at highlighting aspects of foreign policies.…

    • 1436 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Geographic Isolationism

    • 590 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Who shapes foreign policy? According to the authors, far and away the most important category of nonofficial foreign policy player…

    • 590 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Systems analysts believe that any system operates in predictable ways--that there are behaviors that the countries usually follow. Although each of us has free will, each of us is also part of many overlapping systems that influence our behavior and make it reasonably, although far from perfectly, predictable. State-level analysis emphasizes the national states and their internal processes as the primary determinants of the course of world affairs. Individual-level of analysis focuses on human actors on the world stage. This approach begins…

    • 782 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The traditional writers have in common a state centric approach to international relations. Though some were concerned that governments should reflect more inevitably good intentions of their citizens in international affairs or that world organization should have more power to deal with warlike or renegade states, their focus of attention is the international…

    • 4141 Words
    • 17 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Us Foreign Policy

    • 2444 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Kegley, C.W., Wittkopf, E.R. & Scott, J.M. 2003. American Foreign Policy Pattern and Process. 6th ed. Belmont, CA: Thomson: 14- 69.…

    • 2444 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    When discussing foreign policy it is helpful to categorize it into three measures: goals, values, and means. The political goals are what the nation’s leaders desire to attain internationally, the values are those that are held by the relevant actors involved, and the means are how such stated goals are accomplished. In attempting to explain how this creates relevant, coherent policy, Graham Allison develops three models and uses them in the case study of the Cuban Missile Crisis to demonstrate how they apply. In Allison’s explanation of his models and subsequent application of these models to the Cuban Missile Crisis, he argues that the Rational Theory model (Model I) is not a sufficient way to explain the formation of foreign policy. He argues that there are too many gaps in Model I and thus presents two models that could better represent how foreign policy is actually made. These two models are Organizational Process model (Model II) and Bureaucratic Politics model (Model III). Each focuses on the bureaucracies in government and the role they play in policy making decision. As he explains, Allison demonstrates through Model II the importance of bureaucracies as organizations and the necessity of the Standard Operating Procedures they implement to achieve their organizational goals. Model III also focuses on bureaucracies but instead…

    • 766 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Part of the power is transferred from nation state to other actors. Castells argues that the power of nation state is rearranged in network society. Non-state actors are also involved in decision making process (694). Form the realist perspective, states are the key actors in international politics. States concern their own interest and safety when making choices. For example, the balance of power in Europe was maintained before World War I when the Triple Entente was formed by United Kingdom, France and Russia to against the Triple Alliance constitute by Germany, Italy and Austria-Hungary. However, the role of nation state is changing because cities are linked by multi-national companies (MNCs) and media. MNCs help to promote trade and financial transactions between cities. In addition, social movements in cities can spread around the world quickly through Internet. Therefore, Barney believes that the power of nation state is “now shared amongst a constellation of domestic and international public and private actors and institutions, ranging from private, transnational corporation to an increasing array of international policy making venues, including the IMF, the WTO, the G7, the European Union, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation and Mercosur, to name but a few”…

    • 1523 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    'To what extent do states remain the most powerful actors in the Global Politics' Discuss.…

    • 900 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    were fought three times in this century. Consequently, international relations became a public concern as well as an important field of study and research. After the Second World War, and during the 1960s many researchers in the U.S. particularly, and from other countries in common, brought forth a wealth of research work and theory. This work was done for international relations and not for foreign policy as such. Gradually, various theories began to grow around the international relations, international systems and international politics but the need for a theory of foreign policy, that is the starting point in each sovereign state, continued to receive negligible attention. The reason was that the states used to keep their foreign policies under official secrecy and it was not considered appropriate for public, as it is considered today, to know about these policies. This iron-bound secrecy is an essential part for the framework of foreign policy formulation.…

    • 533 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    American Foreign Policy

    • 2876 Words
    • 8 Pages

    To properly be able to understand the topic of foreign policy decision making, it is crucial that we are first able to understand the individual at the centre of that process. It has been suggested by some theorists that the state is the base level…

    • 2876 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    General objectives that guide the activities and relationships of one state in its interactions with other states. The development of foreign policy is influenced by domestic considerations, the policies or behaviour of other states, or plans to advance specific geopolitical designs. Leopold von Ranke emphasized the primacy of geography and external threats in shaping foreign policy, but later writers emphasized domestic factors. Diplomacy is the tool of foreign policy, and war, alliances, and international trade may all be manifestations of it.…

    • 10084 Words
    • 41 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Small states in IR Gstohl

    • 12434 Words
    • 39 Pages

    International Relations (IR) is a state-centric discipline as well as a powercentered discipline, and this volume will not challenge either of those two…

    • 12434 Words
    • 39 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Homework

    • 2443 Words
    • 10 Pages

    a. In the search for identifiable patterns, the field of foreign policy analysis rejects the view that every event is completely unique. Finding patterns is important to reach the end goal of a general understanding and an increased capability for prediction. In other words, we seek to explain the factors that influence not just a specific policy, but state behavior generally because general knowledge can be used to anticipate future action. If we know the factors that shape decisions for war, we are better able to predict, control, and possibly even prevent future international conflicts.…

    • 2443 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Firstly, the exist of relations between multiple actors of international relations. According to Lamy (2011), one of the characteristic of complex interdependent theory is the increasing bond between state and non-state actors. The existence of a relationship ties formed either formal or informal between all actors of international relations from the branches of government to the numerous non-state actors (Jackson & Sorensen, 2013, p. 107). These non-state actors are those multinational corporations (MNCs), non-government organizations (NGOs) and also inter-governmental organizations (IGOs). Thus, state need to interact among these actors with multiple channels across national boundaries (Lamy, 2011, p.…

    • 800 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Diplomacy in the XXI century it’s absolutely different than in the past but since then it has influence on foreign policy. Today we have new technologies and lots example to communicate with every embassy. States have the ability to react fast and they can quickly send new instruction to ambassadors, ministers and envoys what they should to be consistent with national interest.…

    • 657 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays