Suchergebnisse

Freed from the shackles imposed by the Cold War, many states have chosen to make radical changes in their foreign policy orientations. This trend is reflected within Foreign Policy Analysis, where the study of change appears to be moving towards the top of the research agenda. In this article, six different models of foreign policy change are examined. After concluding that these contributions contain both promising ideas and analytical pitfalls, I present a model of my own, arguing that this constitutes a more promising route to the study of foreign policy change. In short, I argue that theoretical efforts in this field should focus on the simultaneous occurrence of changes in fundamental structural conditions, strategic political leadership, and the presence of a crisis of some kind. Though the existing models pay attention to some of these elements, none is designed to include all three.

Examines six different models of foreign policy changes since the end of the Cold War. Looks at foreign policy models such as checklist models, structural constraint models, and cyclical models.

This study addresses the problem of foreign policy change. While the 1990s has been characterized by remarkable changes in world affairs, political scientists have been slow to study the processes through which such changes take place. Drawing on the limited research that does exist in this field, the study presents an alternative explanatory model of foreign policy change, arguing that states tend to alter their foreign policy orientations when changes in fundamental structural conditions coincide with strategic political leadership and the presence of a crisis of some kind. This model is then applied to the Swedish government1s decision in October 1990 to restructure its relationship to the West European integration process. The author argues that with the end of the Cold War, the poor prospects in the EEA negotiations and the emerging recession, the basic preconditions for Sweden1s long-standing policy of non-EC membership had been significantly altered. The structural changes in the international and domestic environment were perceived and acted upon by Prime Minister Ingvar Carlsson. Forming an informal coalition with Minister of Finance Allan Larsson, Carlsson launched the policy reorientation in the midst of a severe balance of payments crisis. By redefining Swedish EC membership from a political to an economic issue, he successfully capitalized on the seriousness of the economic situation and marginalized potential opponents to EC membership within the cabinet.