Foreign Policy Analysis: power, capability & instruments

Aims & Learning Objectives
Identify key concepts of power and national interest
Describe the impact of the international system in defining the tasks of foreign policy for states
Discuss the utility of different foreign policy instruments in achieving foreign policy goals

Foreign Policy and Power
In FPA, a state’s power as key determinant of a successful FP
Power is ‘the ability of a state to cause another state to take actions which are to the 1st state’s advantage and which the latter state might not have pursued.’
Two ways to achieve this, through direct action (force/coercion) or indirect action (influence/persuasion)

Role of power in Foreign Policy
(i) as an end in itself
(ii) a means to an end
(iii) a context within which states operate

Hard power vs Soft power
‘Hard power is the ability to get others to do what they otherwise would not do through threat of punishment or promise of reward.
Soft power is the ability to get desired outcomes because others want what you want.’
Joseph Nye

Limits on Power as seen by Superpowers
‘We still have to find the technique for bringing our great bargaining power to bear on leaders of client states to do things they ought to do but don’t want to.’ Walt Rostow, advisor to JFK 1961
‘In the interests of our common task, we must sometimes overlook their stupidity.’ Soviet official on its allies 1973 (Gaddis 2005)
Limits of exercising influence and fungibility of power

Formulating Foreign Policy: national interest & balance of power
National Interest
Palmerston: ‘England has no permanent friends or permanent enemies, only permanent interests.’
How to determine, short vs long term interests?
Balance of power – states offset accumulation of power by one or more states by joining up with like-minded states
BoP promoter of stability or perpetuating it?

Values, Goals
& Interests +
Capabilities/
Instruments +
Issue + Target
Target
Values, Goals
& Interests +
Capabilities/
Instruments +
Issue + Target
Values, Goals
& Interests +
Capabilities/
Instruments +
Issue + Target

Formulating Foreign Policy: national interest & balance of power
For realists, anarchic nature of int’l system determines FP preferences & choices
For critics, NI not self-evident either from system or society sources but an elevation of the concerns of a segment of society to that of a national priority

National Interest and FP formulation
1.‘National interest consists of state survival (security), wealth maximisation, preservation and promotion of values’ (Reynolds)
2. ‘The national interest which is at stake is that of people, not of the state, which is itself an abstraction. Service of the ends and values of the people may require the submergence of the state. The state is not a person.’ (Reynolds)

Formulating Foreign Policy
Values
Milieu goals: aimed at changing the int’l system
Possessional goals: derived from actor/state’s particular needs
Temporal Factors (short, long, core)
Means/Instruments
Target

Instruments of Foreign Policy
Traditional instruments in repertoire:
Diplomacy, economic tools, subversion and the military
‘New’ instruments in repertoire:
Promotion of values through gov’t and NGO means

Diplomacy
Consists of formal and informal discussions aimed at resolving matters of mutual concern
Talks, negotiation or mediation can take place at a bilateral or multilateral level
Codes of practice rooted in 18th & 19th century European experience
Public diplomacy and summitry

Economic tools
Positive incentives including foreign aid and trade concessions
Punitive measures through the application of sanctions, either general or targeted, on economic activity of target state
Only effective if sanctions applied collectively by most (if not all) states
Target regime type key determinant of appropriate method and likelihood of success
Importance may be more symbolic

Subversion
Gathering of intelligence and its analysis with the aim of assessing motives and policy choices by target state
Promotion of covert operations aimed at destabilising an opponent (white, grey and black propaganda)
Favoured by leaders as it purports to give a tactical advantage to them in dealing with target state

Military
‘Politics by other means’ -ultimate expression of a state’s willingness to pursue a particular foreign policy
Employed to defend vital interests (territorial, citizens) or in pursuit of these aims (new territory, access to strategic resources or upholding int’l principle)
Diversity of usage

Values promotion
Explicitly ‘soft power’ approach whereby domestic actors in target state embrace values of promoter state & becomes basis for FP choice which conforms to promoter’s interests
Gov’t agencies promote societal values through educational exchanges/scholarships to elites aimed at shaping aims & choices
States fund NGOs (human rights, trade union, electoral) as do private foundations