Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Policy
Ryan Baldry
INR 6415: Foreign Policy Analysis
Dr. James D. Boys
5th November 2013
INR 6415 Major Essay Ryan Baldry
The aim of this essay is to analyse three individuals who have all
shaped foreign policy in their own, very distinct ways; Tony Blair,
to discover the degree to which that affected any, if not all, of his
foreign policy decisions. Secondly, this paper will discuss the way in
with specific focus on the Falklands invasion and her motives for not
allowing the island to fall. Thirdly, this paper will discuss the ways in
which Henry Kissinger carried out his role as NSA advisor, and later
this essay will conclude with an analysis of how there are a number
some theorists that the state is the base level of study in foreign
policy1. However, we know this to not be the case. The key question
that we must ask within Foreign Policy Analysis is who, what, when
and why? Different individuals will all make different decisions from
and even the layout of the room that the decision is being made in2.
occurs, who is making the decision and why that particular decision
affected by their state of mind. However, the main task of this essay
discussing is Tony Blair, British Prime Minister from 1997 until his
possible to conclude that from the speed at which Blair claimed the
decision to invade Iraq. One trait that has been identified in Blair,
personality traits that lead Tony Blair to the decision to assist the
others.
Firstly, it is only with this key trait that Blair would have made the
decisions to enter Iraq in the way he did. Due to his need for power
parliament that a war in Iraq was essential and that by stating the
party, Blair leapt into a decision, and as we now know, did not have
all of the facts and evidence available to him at the time. The
mass destruction10.
of Tony Blair, that there will have been a very different outcome to
very unlikely that there would have been another individual with the
important in FPA, this paper will discuss the state of mind of another
British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, and the ways in which she
imposed herself upon British Foreign Policy. As the first female PM11,
Prime Ministers. For example, one such issue would have been the
the United Kingdom and that politics was a males career. This
would have had the effect of focusing Margaret Thatcher on the task
time which she resided in Downing Street. One of the most famous
at the time for a number of reasons. Firstly, it was nearing the next
number of polls that had been taken at the time, scoring only 28%
in 1981 but reaching her peak after the Falklands war in 1983,
scoring 62%13. However, the integrity of her state of mind was also
the Argentinians had occurred. This meant that even against the
United Kingdom15.
would in turn have a great impact upon her foreign policy. Hudson
government, such as the First Seal Lord of the Royal Navy, that a
defensive operation could take place despite the cuts that she had
high extent because of the ways in which her thinking and physical
Finally, another key another key actor within the field of Foreign
David Rothkopf notes, [he] may have actually left the greatest
influence over the ways in which Kissinger carried out the foreign
also in his role as Secretary of State. In order to assess this mind set
in more detail and the ways in which Kissinger imposed this upon
his foreign policy decisions, this paper will be analysing one specific
case study. In this case, the event of the SALT treaties and Dtente
will be focused upon. One key factor that must be taken into
working together for almost two years, Kissinger was essentially free
to carry out policy as he pleased and only rarely had to run an idea
With this point in mind, it could be concluded that with the power
idea that was evident in his foreign policy. This would then lead to
the belief that the way in which Kissinger carried out the foreign
creating more fruitful relations with China; a state that both men
this paper that Kissinger was a very unique figure within the field of
To conclude, this paper has found that the individual has more
the case of Tony Blair, Margaret Thatcher and Henry Kissinger, the
choices that the individual makes can have a great impact upon the
way in which foreign policy is carried out by that state. The mental
the ways in which this can affect the decisions made by heads of
Thatcher made her decision would have differed if she hadnt been
order to progress his own idea of foreign policy. The foreign policy of
Tony Blair can be seen to have been a product of his the personality
order to answer the question that was posed at the beginning of this
Bibliography
Campbell, Alastair. The Blair Years: The Alastair Campbell Diaries. London:
Random House, 2007.
Dyson, Stephen Benedict. "Personality and Foreign Policy: Tony Blair's Iraq
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Siniver, Asaf. Nixon, Kissinger and U.S. Foreign Policy Making: The
Machinery of Crisis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011.
Sticha, Paul J. , Dennis M. Buede, and Richard L. Rees. It's the People,
Stupid: The Role of Personality and Situational Variables in Predicting
Decisionmaker Behavior. Thesis, Human Resources Research Organisation,
Alexandria: MORS, 2006, 1-16.
Suri, Jeremi. Henry Kissinger and the American Century. Cambridge, MA:
The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2007.