International Studies Compendium Project

Extract

Comment on this article   At the heart of foreign policy analysis is the human decision maker ( Hudson 2005 :1). The actor-centered approach is what sets foreign policy analysis apart from international relations more generally. This actor-centered approach is also what makes foreign policy analysis an excellent introduction to international relations: it is easier for uninitiated (undergraduate) students to ponder the sometimes puzzling foreign policy decisions made by leaders than to wrap their minds around the abstractions of international relations theory. Interestingly, rather than tapping into this curiosity about decision making and decision makers, most introductions to the study of international relations take a far more theoretical and abstract approach. In other words, international studies (as well as political science) curricula generally regard international relations as the starting point (taught as an introductory course) and foreign policy analysis as a specialization that follows later in a student's education. This represents a missed opportunity because this field's actor-centered approach is intuitively appealing to many students. Therefore, if the field were to take foreign policy analysis as the starting point for learning about international affairs, this would have the potential to generate a much broader interest in international relations, especially ... log in or subscribe to read full text