Liberalism, Realism, Liberalism And Constructivism: The Development Of Foreign Policy

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A foreign policy is a set of political goals that outline in detail how a particular country will interact with other countries of the world. Foreign policies generally are designed to help protect a country's national interests, national security, ideological goals, and economic prosperity. Foreign policies usually consist of strategies to put forth a nation’s self interest with the sole purpose of achieving its goals. The development of foreign policy is influenced by domestic considerations, the policy or behaviour of other nations or plans to advance specific geopolitical designs. According to Paddleford and Lincoln, "fundamentally, foreign policy has its roots in the unique historical backgrounds, political institutions, traditions, …show more content…

The three most prominent theories are realism, liberalism and constructivism.

Behravesh (2011) as a form of “reflectivist” critique of the scientific approach to the study of social sciences, constructivism was initially developed as a mostly interpretive metatheory, stemming from the works of such philosophers as Wilhelm Dilthey, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and R. G. Collingwood. Hence, the central argument about constructivism, according to Adler, relates not to the theoretical clash between science and literary interpretation or stories, but to the nature of social science itself and therefore, the discipline of International Relations.”

While systemic theorizing in international relations, in the form of balance-of-power theory, is centuries old, the theoretical complexities and empirical challenges of the scientific study of international systems are exceptionally daunting. Accordingly, very few attempts at a logically coherent, empirically supported systemic theory have been made, and far fewer are seen as unproblematic. Certainly no single model has achieved the degree of consensus that the Copernican model has in

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