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Ideas and Foreign Policy: Beliefs, Institutions, and Political Change
Do people's beliefs help to explain foreign policy decisions, or is political activity better understood as the self-interested behavior of key actors? The collaborative effort of a group of distinguished scholars, this volume breaks new ground in demonstrating how ideas can shape policy, even when actors are motivated by rational self-interest.
After an introduction outlining a new framework for approaching the role of ideas in foreign policy making, well-crafted case studies test the approach. The function of ideas as road maps that reduce uncertainty is examined in chapters on human rights, decolonialization, the creation of socialist economies in China and Eastern Europe, and the postwar Anglo-American economic settlement. Discussions of parliamentary ideas in seventeenth-century England and of the Single European Act illustrate the role of ideas in resolving problems of coordination. The process by which ideas are institutionalized is further explored in chapters on the Peace of Westphalia and on German and Japanese efforts to cope with contemporary terrorism.
After an introduction outlining a new framework for approaching the role of ideas in foreign policy making, well-crafted case studies test the approach. The function of ideas as road maps that reduce uncertainty is examined in chapters on human rights, decolonialization, the creation of socialist economies in China and Eastern Europe, and the postwar Anglo-American economic settlement. Discussions of parliamentary ideas in seventeenth-century England and of the Single European Act illustrate the role of ideas in resolving problems of coordination. The process by which ideas are institutionalized is further explored in chapters on the Peace of Westphalia and on German and Japanese efforts to cope with contemporary terrorism.
- GenresInternational Relations
304 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 1993
About the author
Judith Goldstein
9 books4 followersJudith L. Goldstein is the Chair for the Department of Political Science, the Janet M. Peck Professor of International Communication and the Kaye University Fellow in Undergraduate Education. Her research focuses on international political economy, with a focus on trade politics. She has written and/or edited six book including Ideas, Interests and American Trade Policy and more recently The Evolution of the Trade Regime: Politics, Law and Economics of the GATT and the WTO. Her articles have appeared in numerous journals.
Her current research focuses on the political requisites for trade liberalization focusing both on tariff bargaining and public preferences. As well, she is engaged in the analysis of a large survey panel, which focuses on how economic hard times influences public opinion.
Goldstein has a BA from the University of California Berkeley, a Masters degree from Columbia University and a Ph.D. from UCLA.
Her current research focuses on the political requisites for trade liberalization focusing both on tariff bargaining and public preferences. As well, she is engaged in the analysis of a large survey panel, which focuses on how economic hard times influences public opinion.
Goldstein has a BA from the University of California Berkeley, a Masters degree from Columbia University and a Ph.D. from UCLA.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
August 1, 2016
One would think that books like this might lose some of their relevance over time. As long as you are no classic (as e.g. Moravcsik or Waltz) nobody really cares what you wrote in 1993. If you published it in a collective volume… well, good luck.
This volume has been edited by Goldstein and Keohane. These famous names promise quality. Unfortunately they are the only “famous” ones. (Nevertheless, I picked it up because of Garrett and not because of Goldstein/Keohane.)
The idea/theoretical basis is good. What´s more, I can pretty good imagine it was a revolutionary one in 1993. Today, 23 years later the majority of the approaches have already been redesigned and modified. So… yes, this book has lost some of its relevance. BUT! The core idea has remained the same. For this reason I would still recommend it to constuctivist and IO audience.
This volume has been edited by Goldstein and Keohane. These famous names promise quality. Unfortunately they are the only “famous” ones. (Nevertheless, I picked it up because of Garrett and not because of Goldstein/Keohane.)
The idea/theoretical basis is good. What´s more, I can pretty good imagine it was a revolutionary one in 1993. Today, 23 years later the majority of the approaches have already been redesigned and modified. So… yes, this book has lost some of its relevance. BUT! The core idea has remained the same. For this reason I would still recommend it to constuctivist and IO audience.
Displaying 1 of 1 review