Course for international guest/part time students

Faculty

Faculty of Social Sciences

Organization

TÁTK Department of European Studies

Code

IRB119

Title

Foreign policy analysis

Usual semester

Autumn

Published semester

2026/27/1

ECTS

4

Language

en

Learning outcomes

The aim of the course is to introduce students to the most important frameworks of analysis in the field of foreign policy analysis. The course is meant to show and refine the tools observers can use to understand foreign affairs. Students will be acquainted with different levels of analysis and the use of different analytical angles while studying the foreign policy decisions of states and other decision-making entities in the international system.

Course content

Annotation: The course aims to develop the students’ skills regarding foreign policy analysis and to introduce them to foreign policy in general. First, students will learn the basics: state behavior, how the subdiscipline is rooted in International Relations, and how the subfield developed in the past decades since the second half of the 20th century. Students will also learn how states utilize the toolkit of foreign policy, and how the toolkit developed along with different considerations of each schools and factors. During the semester on each occasion, students will learn different approaches and schools of the analysis, as well as different ground theories to certain topics. Therefore, the course helps students to understand the complexities of policy-making and its interconnectedness to politics and to other disciplines of IR. Finally, by the end of the semester, students will work through case-studies in different groups and will be evaluated based on their joint projects as well as their individual mid-term exam results. Outline: Orientation, requirements, syllabus overview. Introduction to Foreign Policy Analysis and its history as a subfield. (14 September) Determining factors. State actors, Rational Actor Theory and the realist tradition of FPA. (21 September) The Liberal and Neoliberal Schools of FPA. (28 September) The Constructivist Approach to FPA. (5 October) Government and organization theory. (12 October) Marxism and postmodern; structural and post-structural theories of FPA. (19 October) The Bureaucratic process paradigm, BURP in FPA. (26 October) Autumn break Leadership paradigm, profiling and the individual in FPA. (9 November) Domestic structures and society. (16 November) Media and the domestic ratification of foreign policy, misinformation and disinformation and novel challenges. (23 November) Foreign policy and globalization, transnationalism. (30 November) Foreign policy and the synthesis of analysis (4 December) Group projects: delegation of cases, discussion of the project outlines. (11 December)

Assessment method

Requirements:  Students will have to read the assigned studies for each class, as besides the comprehensive literature for the semester, there is a short readings list given for each topic. Students are expected to discuss the study and vocalize their own experience or opinion. At the end of the semester, forming 3-5 member groups, students will also have to create a short analysis in the form of a group project, based on the provided readings and/or through individual research. The aforementioned activity cover 60% of the grade. The remaining 40% of their annual grade will be evaluated through a mid-term exam, covering the topics previously discussed on the course.

Bibliography

Alden, Chris & Aran, Amnon (2017): New Approaches. Routledge, London. Doyle, M. W. (2012). Liberalism and Foreign Policy. In Smith, S.; Hadfield, A. & Dunne, T. (eds.) Foreign Policy: Theories, Actors, Cases. Oxford University Press, 54-77. Fearon, J. D. (1998). Domestic Politics, Foreign Policy, and Theories of International Relations. Annual Review of Political Science,1. 289-313. Flockhart, T. (2012). Constructivism and foreign policy. In: Smith, S.; Hadfield, A. & Dunne, T. (eds.) Foreign Policy: Theories, Actors, Cases. Oxford University Press, 79-94. Hansen, L. Discourse analysis, post-structuralism, and foreign policy. In Smith, S.; Hadfield, A. & Dunne, T. (eds.) Foreign Policy: Theories, Actors, Cases. Oxford University Press, 95-111. Herman, Edward – Chomsky, Noam (1988): Manufacturing consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media. Pantheon Books, na.. Hermann, M. G. (1980). Explaining Foreign Policy Behavior Using the Personal Characteristics of Political Leaders. International Studies Quarterly, 24: 1, 7-46. Holsti. K. J. (1970). National Role Conceptions in the Study of Foreign Policy. International Studies Quarterly, 14: 3, 233-309. Hudson, V. M. (2005). Foreign Policy Analysis: Actor-Specific Theory and the Ground of International Relations. Foreign Policy Analysis 1:1, 1-30. Hudson, Valerie M. & Day, B. S. (2020). Foreign Policy Analysis. Classic and Contemporary Theory. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield. 1-36. Klose, Fabian (eds.): The Emergence of Humanitarian Intervention. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2016. 1-31, 31-56, 281-356. Moravcsik, Andrew (1992): ‘Taking preferences seriously. A Liberal Theroy of International Relations.’ International Organization, Vol. 51. nr. 4. pp. 513-553. Nadelman, E. A. (1990). Global Prohibition Regimes: The Evolution of Norms in International Society, International Organization, 44:4, 479-526. Putnam, Robert D. (1988): Diplomacy and domestic politics: the logic of two-level games. International Organization, 42/3, pp. 427–460.

Programmes of the course