The article under investigation is written by Anders Wivel, and it is called Explaining why state X made a certain move last Tuesday: the promise and limitations of realist foreign policy analysis. The author delves into the peculiarities of foreign policies and the challenges that appear in the course of its analysis. Wivel (2005) states that any attempt to explain foreign policy faces two fundamental problems which are the complexity of combining structural factors with other variables and the outstanding difficulty of connecting the realist emphasis on the importance of materialist factors with the observation that these factors are not objective. In this regard, the primary research question of the paper is how the above-mentioned challenges could be answered in terms of contemporary realism.
To support his assumptions, the author uses numerous strong arguments like real-life examples, relevant experiences, and previous researches. Altogether, there are numerous references to other credible sources and investigators to make the argument more powerful. The author manages to incorporate the review of the relevant literature with his own ideas to provide credible information about the difficulties that appear when talking about modern foreign policy.
Moreover, Wivel (2005) also refers to the realism theory and its different subgroups like neoclassical, postclassical, etc. He uses these basic ideas as the background for his research, supporting the most important thoughts with a detailed explanation in terms of the above-mentioned theoretical framework. The given approach perfectly fits the subject of the investigation which also has numerous dimensions and should be analysed from different perspectives to improve its comprehending as well as guarantee that readers will understand the authors main assumptions.
At the very beginning of the paper, the author introduces the basic concepts that will be further used. These are foreign policy analysis, neoclassical realism, postclassical realism, and structural realism (Wivel 2005). These notions are central to his research, and Wivel tries to provide a clear explanation for each of them. However, he does not only give definitions, but he uses them in a specific context to attain the improved comprehending of their main sense, importance, and the role they play in the suggested framework.
Besides, considering the main research question of the given paper and the object for the investigation, we could say that the author obviously suggests empirical evidence to his suggestions. He offers his own observations related to the peculiarities of the foreign policy and tends to investigate them using different perspectives. This sort of evidence contributes to the improved comprehending of the basic ideas that could be found in the paper and obviously impact the final results.
Altogether, the paper could be considered a good example of the academic article that incorporates numerous approaches to the investigation of a certain issue. The usage of different concepts and perspectives to investigate the foreign policy and answer the main challenges that appear when trying to analyse it could be considered the strongest part of the paper. However, there are also several spheres that could be improved. For instance, more real-life examples and additional emphasis on the concept of foreign policy will obviously enhance the paper.
Finally, the paper relates to other readings in political sciences as it touches upon the same issue. For instance, Lepgold (1998) also delves in the peculiarities of international relations and their investigation in different contexts. Putnam (1998) suggests similar cogitations when trying to explain the mechanisms of international politics. Wivels ideas could also be investigated in term of Vertzbergers vision on foreign policy analysis as he also tends to understand the main peculiarities that impact this phenomenon (Vertzberger n.d. ). Finally, Hermanns article is closely related to the issue as it revolves around the main actors and forces that impact political decisions, which is crucial for the analysis of the foreign policy.
Reference List
Lepgold, J 1998, ‘Is anyone listening? International relations theory and the problem of policy relevance’, Political Science Quarterly, vol. 113, no. 1, pp. 43-62.
Hermann, M 2001, ‘How decision units shape foreign policy: A theoretical framework’, International Studies Review, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 47-81.
Putnam, R 1998, ‘Introduction: the entanglements of domestic and international politics’, International Organization, vol. 24, no. 3, pp. 427-460.
Vertzberger, Y n.d., Foreign policy analysis. Steady progress and half empty glass.
Wivel, A 2005, ‘Explaining why state X made a certain move last Tuesday: The promise and limitations of realist foreign policy analysis’, Journal of International Relations and Development, vol. 8, pp. 355-380.