Lecture: Level of Analysis §

Class: IS401 Created Time: November 14, 2021 2:02 PM Database: Class Notes Database Last Edited Time: November 25, 2021 9:14 PM Provided Materials: 1-Foreign_Policy_Analysis_and_Theoretical_Approaches.pdf, Levels_of_Analysis.pdf Type: Presentation Notes

Level of Analysis §

• What is level of analysis?
• How many general levels are there?

Individual Level §

• In the FPD, it depends on the individuals that make those decisions
• FP makers aren’t always fully rational. Influenced by Emotional, cognitive, psychological and sometimes biological factors
  • Cognitive Factors
    • Seeking cognitive consistency: ignoring inconsistent information that contradict their existing view therefore making mistake in their decision making
    • Wishful Thinking: to justify own’s decision, human often convince ourselves the choice will succeed
    • Using Heuristic Devices: Using stereotypes to generalize and make decisions easier without guilt or injustice
  • Emotional Factor: emotional decisions can lead to mistakes and dangerous decisions
  • Psychological Factor: frustration and anger can turn into aggression without logic in decision making
  • Biological Factors: animalistic nature of gender can determine the likelihood of use of war
  • Perception Factor: people see the world in different perspectives than others. These differing perspectives or perceptions can overlook other’s perspectives and thinking us is better than them.

State-Level Analysis §

System-Level Analysis §

• Topic down approach to world politics
• To be successful, states must examine realities to how international system influences FP

Structural Characteristics §

• Current is Horizontal system: westphalian

Power Relationship §

• Number of power actors: not only includes states, but also influential IGOs
• Current system is Unipolar or majorly Unipolar system (US)

Theories of FP Analysis §

Traditional §

Behavioral §

Contemporary §

• Constructivism and English School is the same thing: challenging the Traditional IRTs:
  • everything is socially constructed, can be reinterpreted according to values and norms.