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underlines a party’s dominance, such as a parliamentary system, or one that limits it,such as a presidential system.Intermediate states have made a scant impact on mainstream International Relationstheorising. The key developments in theorising about these states have centredupon their middle power status, and more recently, their possibilities of acting asdifferent types of power. Neorealism overlooks lesser powers altogether. Liberalismhas, however, been able to account for both the domestic factors influencing theinternational outlooks of intermediate states, as well as the centrality ofmultilateralism to their foreign policies. The theoretical outlook that is able toaccount for both systemic and domestic determinants of states’ foreign policies isfound in the neoclassical realist approach to foreign policy analysis. As noted byTaliaferro, “Neoclassical realism suggests that state power – the relative ability ofthe state to extract or mobilize resources from domestic society as determined bythe institutions of the state, as well as by nationalism and ideology – shapes thetypes of internal balancing strategies a state is likely to pursue”. 156 Zakaria adds thatstate power is “that portion of national power the government can extract for itspurposes and reflects the ease with which central decision makers can achieve theirends”. 157This chapter proceeds in four sections. First, in response to the possible puzzlementthat might greet a theoretical association between internationalism in foreign policyand neoclassical realism, a discussion of ethics and realism in foreign policy analysisis conducted. This is followed by an exposition of three key contributions of theneoclassical realist approach and their place in the thesis. Finally, the role ofgoverning parties and leading individuals in resource mobilisation and extraction isinterrogated. The chapter concludes that by combining the strengths of system-leveland unit-level analysis, it is possible to gain deeper insight into what motivatesinternationalist foreign policy approaches by intermediate states. In addition, andmore importantly, combining material-structural and ideational factors in an analysisavoids the untenable and false dichotomy that is frequently established with regard156 Taliaferro, “State Building for Future Wars”, 467.157 Cited in John Glenn, John, “Realism versus Strategic Culture: Competition andCollaboration?”, International Studies Review,11 (2009): 525.83