Foreign Policy Decision Making

by Richard C. Snyder, H. Bruck, B. Sapin

This classic work has helped shape the field of international relations and especially influenced scholars interested in how foreign policy is made. At a time when conventional wisdom and traditional approaches are being questioned, and when there is increased interest in the importance of process, the insights of Snyder, Bruck and Sapin have continuing and increased relevance. Prescient in its focus on the effects on foreign policy of individuals and their preconceptions, organizations and their procedures, and cultures and their values, "Foreign Policy Decision-Making" is of continued relevance for anyone seeking to understand the ways foreign policy is made. Their seminal framework is here complemented by two new chapters examining its influence on generations of scholars, the current state of the field, and areas for future research.

Genres: International Relations, Politics

240 pages, Paperback

First published September 6, 2002

Reviews

[Aziz Qaissi]

Published in 1954 under the title of Decision-making as an Approach to the Study of International Politics, Richard C. Snyder, H. W. Bruck, and Burton Sapin's (SBS henceforth) work was highly paradigmatic and informative on Foreign Policy Analysis (FPA). Their work contributed a focus on the decision-making process itself as part of the explanation, rather than just foreign policy outputs. SBS's attempt was to mediate between Grand Theory and the complexity of the world into an interface of a "Middle-range Theory". The intellectual development of their work drew upon the then recent "breakthroughs" in the social sciences (especially sociology and psychology).

Decision-making is the central unit of analysis. Around it evolves the nalysis, understanding and explanation of other characteristics of the organisational system in which the actors take part. Looking below the nation-state (as the dominant unit of analysis) was the most important contribution of SBS.

"We adhere to the nation-state as the fundamental level of analysis, yet we discarded the state as a metaphysical abstraction/ By emphasizing decision-making as a central focus e have provided a way of organizing the determinants of action around those officials who act for the political society. Decision-makers are viewed as operating in dual-aspect setting so that apparently unrelated internal and external factors become related in the actions of the decision-makers." (Snyder et al., 1954:53).

Later attempts to broaden and at the same time refine FPA includes James Rosenau's article "Pre-theories and Theories of Foreign Policy" in which he developed the actor-specific theory that would lead to the development of generalisable propositions at the level of middle­-range theory. Man-Milieu Relationship Hypotheses in the Context of International Politics by Harold and Margaret Sprout (1957) was another expansion of FPA. The authors emphasised that foreign policy can only be explained with reference to the psycho-milieu (the psychological situational, political, and social contexts) of the individuals involved in the decision-making.

[Clayton · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most influential books I've read in my graduate career.

[Abdul Hidayat]

Really want read this book!!!