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prime positioning as case studies on violent conflict. Foreign Policy Analysis in thedeveloping world has followed a similar pattern.Four major sets <strong>of</strong> problems – analytical, conceptual, theoretical <strong>and</strong> practical -appeared to hamper attempts to conduct systematic studies <strong>of</strong> foreign policymakingin the so-called Third World.Analytical ProblemsA feature <strong>of</strong> FPA for the developing world was the resort to political economyapproaches to account for the foreign policy <strong>of</strong> ‘fragile’ <strong>and</strong> ‘dependent’ societies.This simply substituted one single-factor approach, psychological reductionism, foranother, political economy. While it explained some foreign policy decisions bydeveloping countries 24 , its utility waned with the rising economic power <strong>of</strong> certaindeveloping states, which consequently experienced an increase in policy autonomy.A further analytical problem was the attempt to apply theories generated within theEuropean <strong>and</strong> North American contexts to the developing world, taking for grantedthe existence <strong>of</strong> seemingly unproblematic categories, such as ‘the state’, ‘balance <strong>of</strong>power’, ‘alliance’, <strong>and</strong> others. 25Conceptual problemsA key conceptual issue was how outputs were defined, i.e., what exactly was meantby ‘outputs’ – whether behaviour/discrete acts or objectives, or both. Korany argued thatan exclusive focus on discrete acts - a behavioural approach - would preclude theidentification <strong>of</strong> “a meaningful body <strong>of</strong> foreign policy 26 rather than merely anagglomeration <strong>of</strong> state actions”. 27 Such an approach would also make it difficult to24 For example, Cyril K<strong>of</strong>ie Daddieh, <strong>and</strong> Timothy M. Shaw, “The Political Economy <strong>of</strong>Decision-Making in African Foreign Policy: Recognition <strong>of</strong> Biafra <strong>and</strong> the PopularMovement for the Liberation <strong>of</strong> Angola”, in Korany (ed), 1984: 61-85.25 KJ Holsti, “International Relations Theory <strong>and</strong> Domestic War in the Third World: TheLimits <strong>of</strong> Relevance”, pp103-132, in International Relations Theory <strong>and</strong> the Third World,ed. Stephanie G. Neumann (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 1998).26 For Korany, foreign policy is “a continuous, wider phenomenon [than decisions],embracing general objectives, stated strategy, <strong>and</strong> a series <strong>of</strong> routine actions”. SeeBahgat Korany, “Foreign Policy Decision-Making Theory <strong>and</strong> the Third World: Pay<strong>of</strong>fs<strong>and</strong> Pitfalls”, in How Foreign Policy Decisions are Made in the Third World: AComparative Analysis, Bahgat Korany (with contributors), (Boulder <strong>and</strong> <strong>London</strong>:Westview Press, 1984): 39-60:39.27 Bahgat Korany, “Analyzing Third-World Foreign Policies: A Critique <strong>and</strong> a ReorderedResearch Agenda”, in The Political Economy <strong>of</strong> Foreign Policy in Southeast Asia, eds.27

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