Chapter Five: International Politics from Group and Decision-making Perspectives

Study

Chapter Summary

The perspectives in this chapter break down the “unitary actor” assumption of structural theories and peek inside the “black box” of the state to predict international behavior. Domestic approaches explain foreign policy as a result of the state's internal characteristics. Constructivist approaches explain state actions as resulting from the state's conception of its identity, its role, and normative constraints imposed by the community of states: in short, constructivism is a theory of state preference formation. The strategic perspective, on the other hand, integrates both domestic and international influences into its framework, and it does not preclude issues of role or identity influencing state preferences.

Study Questions

• How is a decision made in the interest group perspective?
  
  

• Does a “national interest” exist? What happens to it during crisis response negotiations?
  
  

• What are the key assumptions of the strategic perspective? On which of these does it agree with neorealism, and which with neoliberalism?
  
  

• Identify two or three key hypotheses of constructivism.
  
  
  
• How does Principles see constructivism complementing the strategic perspective?
  
  
  
• Indifference curves: Principles argues that structural perspectives privilege national (policy) security and that interest curves privilege (personal) political security. What is Bueno de Mesquita's argument about the relationship between these two types of security in the strategic perspective?