Foreign policy adaptation : aspects of British and Dutch foreign policies,1945-1963

Smith, Steven Murray (1978) Foreign policy adaptation : aspects of British and Dutch foreign policies,1945-1963. University of Southampton, Doctoral Thesis.

Abstract

This thesis examines the utility of Rosenau's 'Adaptive Behaviour' approach for the comparative analysis of foreign policy in the light of that author's recent claim that that subject had become a 'normal science'. This examination is carried out by comparing the forms of foreign policy behaviour predicted by the approach with the actual behaviour of Britain and The Netherlands from 1945-63. Following a survey of the main models of, and approaches to, macro-foreign policy behaviour, the 'Adaptive Behaviour' approach is outlined in some detail and predictions are obtained as to the form of foreign policy behaviour undertaken by Britain and The Netherlands. The empirical section of the study consists firstly of a historical outline of the major features of the two states' foreign policies until the Second World War. Then, for the purpose of providing an overall examination of the approach, the two foreign policies are examined in three issue-areas: an area in which the two states were involved in bilateral interaction, the Netherlands East Indies 1945-50; an area in which the two foreign policies were essentially in parallel, the subject of Western security 1945-63; and an area in which the two foreign policies pursued different paths, European integration 1945-63. In the concluding chapter these empirical case-studies are utilized to yield policy stances in terms of the 'Adaptive Behaviour' approach. These empirically derived stances are then compared with those predicted by the theory: the resulting disparity between the empirically derived and the theoretically derived predictions is utilized to form the basis of a three-fold critique of the approach in terms of its predictive power; in terms of problems of the approach uncovered in the process of operationalization; and in terms of internal theoretical problems. The degree to which the findings of the study are weakened by the methods of testing is then examined. Finally, possible modifications to the approach are examined; however, the study concludes that the claim made by Rosenau in 1976, that the subject-area of foreign policy analysis was a 'normal science', remains, on the evidence of this study, far from being realized.

This record has no associated files available for download.

Contributors

Download statistics