The Domestic Sources of Foreign Policy section is broadening itself to become THE Foreign Policy section of the APSA, so we are interested in receiving proposals addressing both domestic and international sources of foreign policy. We will be looking for papers and panels that are theoretically-informed, well-executed and address interesting policy concerns. While the section welcomes a diversity of topics and approaches, this year's theme of Power, Choice and the State suggest areas of particular interest.
To consider the first aspect of the theme, papers incorporating power into theories of foreign policy would be interesting. In regards to choice, three different questions seem relevant. Have studies focusing on domestic collective choice mechanisms helped us understand why states behave as they do? How are states constrained by non-material factors (ideas, identity, ethnicity) when making foreign policy? Are politicians more constrained now than before due to political competition, the rise of global media, and increased sensitivity to casualties or is this just an American phenomenon? To consider the State in foreign policy, paper and panel proposers might want to re-consider the relative autonomy of the state in foreign economic policy in light of the recent economic crises.
Of course, this year's theme is not only meant to consider these three separate foci of political science, but to examine how they interact and to force us to consider what unifies our discipline. One way to determine what binds or divides the study of foreign policy is to apply the theories and methods from one subfield to another. For example, papers applying bureaucratic or perceptual approaches to foreign economic policy and applying globalization and transaction costs analysis to security policy would be intriguing.
Additionally, to determine how Power, Choice, and the State are central aspects of foreign policy, we can consider the dynamics and dilemmas that states face as they make transitions to democracy and capitalism. These transitions make it less clear who has power internally and whether such states are powerful relative to others. These states simultaneously face relatively few and relatively severe constraints, as old coalitions have broken down and crises present opportunities for new groups to form, but these states also face tremendous cross-pressures from both within and without. Finally, such states face the difficult task of building a state while institutions are still in flux, which should have implications for their foreign policies.