The Social Interpretation of Foreign Policy
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 10438465 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Mare Trachtenberg (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1978 |
| Volume | 40 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 328-350 |
| Publication date | 1978-07-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Review of Politics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0034-6705 • E-ISSN: 1748-6858 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0034670500028539 |
| OpenAlex | W2066381473 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 22 |
That foreign policy is a social product, that it is in particular the outcome of a political process and an element in the national political system—these are general notions that few scholars would in principle dispute. But in practice foreign policy has been commonly portrayed in exactly the opposite way. It is viewed as some-thing with its own life, essentially cut off from domestic politics, existing primarily in the international sphere. Scholars do of course recognize that domestic factors play a role, but the implied connection is often extremely amorphous and general, with no attempt on the whole made to specify the mode of linkage in a concrete and testable way. Thus America's return to isolation after the First World War is commonly attributed to the unwillingness of her people to bear the burden of world power; British and French foreign policy after 1924 is explained in terms of the deep-seated pacifism of the masses. The actual mechanism of linkage is not spelled out. On those occasions when a specific relation is described the very language used often betrays an unwillingness to see it as a legitimate, integral part of a normal political process. Such things as public opinion and party and interest-group politics are seen basically as exogenous forces, “intruding” or having an “impact” on the policy-making system, not as regular parts of it
Economics · Element (criminal law · Epistemology · Foreign policy · Interpretation (philosophy · Law and economics · Linkage (software · Mechanism (biology · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Positive economics · Power (physics · Relation (database · Sociology · European Union Policy and Governance · International Relations and Foreign Policy · Law · Philosophy · Political Influence and Corporate Strategies
Domestic Sources of Foreign Policy
Foreign Policy and Democratic Politics
American business and public policy
Community power and political theory
Francois de Wendel en Republique
Politics and Diplomacy of Peacemaking
The Public's Impact on Foreign Policy, by Bernard C. Cohen
Theory and Practice in American Politics
Politics and Diplomacy of Peacemaking
Public Opinion and Historians
Reparation at the Paris Peace Conference
Arno Mayer and the British Decision for War
Public Opinion and Historians
An Approach to the Scientific Study of Past Public Opinion
Answering the President's Call
Public Opinión, Nature, Formation and Role
The Primacy of Domestic Politics
Policy Voting and the Electoral Process
Theory and Practice in American Politics
American Foreign Policy
| Citations per year | 0.05 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 1984 - 1990 (7) |
| Highly cited | No |