Analyzing Foreign Policy: Agent-Structure Problem in Foreign Policy Analysis

The primary aim of this study is to find out which approach/approaches of IR provide the most appropriate framework for analyzing foreign policy. This is mainly because it is believed that existing approaches of IR have major deficiencies in analyzing foreign policy. In this regard, firstly an evaluation will be made about how main approaches of the discipline analyze international politics in general and foreign policy in particular. This evaluation will be made on the basis of the agent-structure problem, for as much the main factor which shapes perspectives over foreign policy is the agent-structure problem. The problem named as the agent-structure problem in the discipline, refers to the debate over the ontological priority given to the agent or structure. Since it is believed that a satisfactory analyze of foreign policy should neither prioritize agent nor structure, and should have the ability to explain both agent and structure, the agent-structure problem stands at the heart of this study. With this aim this study tries to answer which approach/approaches provide the appropriate framework for solving the agent-structure problem in analyzing foreign policy. At the same time, the claim of the constructivist approach, which is directly based on the agent-structure problem, that it has provided the best solution to the problem will also be questioned in this regard.