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Essay Foreign Policy Analysis (Pols3023)
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Essay Foreign Policy Analysis (Pols3023)
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FOREIGN POLICY ANALYSIS ESSAY 1 PREP:Question: The Foreign Policy of any particular country is
influenced and impacted by a range of national attributes or
domestic determinants. Discuss.
1 INTRODUCTION
This essay will serve as a platform to discuss the veracity of the statement
that the foreign policy of a state is determined by a range of factors, with
particular attention on a country’s national attributes and key domestic
determinants. According to James Rosenau, the national attributes theory
outlines that a state’s behaviour is affected by its attributes. He mentions
that states are naturally constrained in their foreign actions depending on
attributes and capabilities which highlights their significance in foreign
policy formulation and implementation. Although there are a range of
national attributes that are important, this essay will analyse five of the
main attributes, using four case studies for elaboration namely Geography
and Population, History and Ideology, and Political Systems.
2 GEOGRAPHY AND POPULATION
According to Breuning (2007), geography can be defined as a factor that
measures the area of a country and population as the number of citizens
within a particular state. Using Poland as an example to elaborate on how
geography affects a country’s foreign policy, Breuning outlines that Poland
is directly adjacent to Ukraine in the Southeast and also Belarus in the
East, also neighbouring Moldova – this categorizing Poland as a buffer
state in the European region. He crucially outlines that, given the
geographical closeness, Poland also has intense interaction with Eastern
Partnership countries economically, politically, and socially. The
establishment of Eastern Partnership has been said to have enhanced
cooperation with the countries involved with Poland which in the future
can also benefit Poland.
Under the topic of geography comes the crucial concept of geopolitics that
refers to the influence of geography upon politics. Geopolitics seeks to
distinguish through a lens of power and geography, things that are
perpetual, ephemeral and long-lived. For Poland, geopolitics is an
existential threat. Losing on its fronts can lead to an all-out invasion and
, triggers a national catastrophe. For other countries, geopolitics is not as
existential as an issue. Sometimes, it doesn’t really matter whether you
win or lose. When looking at the history of Poland we are introduced to a
sense of paranoia, resulting in protectionist measures – where the Polish
economy implemented drastic reforms to emerge from decades of state
control morphing into more privatized industries and market competition.
The geography of a state - its position in a geographical region and in the
world as a whole, presents opportunities to, and imposes limitations on,
the state. It is established that understanding geography is essential for
geopolitical analysis where it is the most crucial factor in international
politics because of its permanency. For this reason, geography imposes on
states’ leaders or rulers well-defined political perspectives and thereby,
affects their decision-making in matters of foreign policy.
The MacKinder theory outlines the importance of a country’s geographical
location by breaking a region down into four parts namely: the heartland or pivot
area in the core of the then Eurasia. He highlighted that the Euraasian landmass
was never to be dominated by a single power or coalition of powers. Outside this
area is the marginal or inner crescent, entirely oceanic, to the south, east and
west of this area being the marginal regions. Poland evidently being the
heartland, which was said to have been the root cause of tragedy. The national
strategy of Poland has been to protect its national identity and independence
being situated in the middle of two war giants Germany and Russia. This left
Poland susceptible to the moves of these Eurasian powers with its flat terrain
making it easier to invade. Putting population into focus it can be argued
that larger a state is the more impactful it is in foreign affairs. Smaller
states tend to be more dependent on larger states for protection and
resources.
On a lighter note, one of Poland’s biggest trading partners in
contemporary world politics is Germany, which is also a result of the close
proximity between the two countries both trading in the major resources
of the automotive industry.
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