The fifth volume in this series applies states' actions in the world to the study of foreign policy. Part I introduces constructivism for foreign policy studies. Part II presents case studies of it's application and Part III reviews the results.

This volume demonstrates the application of the constructivist approach to the analysis of foreign policy (i.e. states' actions in a world of states). Part I introduce constructivism for foreign policy studies. Part II presents five model case studies -- the Cold War, Francoism, the two Chinas, inter-American relations, and Islam in U.S. foreign policy. Part III reviews their results.

This book develops an alternative way of understanding international relations as social relations. Mainstream theorists--and their post-modern critics--leave people out. Constructivism puts people, their activities, and their social arrangements at the forefront. It is now recognized as the most important recent breakthrough in international relations theory. Written in a lucid style, the book shows how this new approach can be applied to major issues of our times, such as national identity, gender and labor equality, and Internet governance.

No nation has maintained such an immense stature in world politics as the United States has since the Cold War’s end. In the wake of the 9/11 attacks, prompting the global war on terrorism and the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, along with American economic and "soft power" primacy, there has been increased interest in and scrutiny of American foreign policy. The Routledge Handbook of American Foreign Policy brings together leading experts in the field to examine current trends in the way scholars study the history and theories of American conduct in the world, analysis of state and non-state actors and their tools in conducting policy, and the dynamics of a variety of pressing transnational challenges facing the United States. This volume provides a systematic overview of all aspects of American foreign policy and drives the agenda for further, cutting edge research. Contributors bring analytic depth and breadth to both the ways in which this subject is approached and the substance of policy formulation and process. The Handbook is an invaluable resource to students, researchers, scholars, and journalists trying to make sense of the broader debates in international relations.

Language matters in international relations. Constructivists have contributed the insight that global politics is shaped by the way agents narrate history and produce discourses about themselves and about the world. This insight has induced a profound reexamination of assumptions in the study of international relations. The contributors to this volume examine (Part I) the critical linguistic/discursive techniques of postmodernists and constructivists, and apply them (Part II) to international relations.

Language matters in international relations. Constructivists have contributed the insight that global politics is shaped by the way agents narrate history and produce discourses about themselves and about the world. This insight has induced a profound reexamination of assumptions in the study of international relations. The contributors to this volume examine (Part I) the critical linguistic/discursive techniques of postmodernists and constructivists, and apply them (Part II) to international relations.

This handbook examines the regional and international dynamics of the Middle East. It challenges the state society dichotomy to make sense of decision-making and behavior by ruling regimes. The 33 chapter authors include the world’s leading scholars of the Middle East and International Relations (IR) in order to make sense of the region. This synthesis of area studies expertise and IR theory provides a unique and rigorous account of the region’s current dynamics, which have reached a crisis point since the beginning of the Arab Spring. The Middle East has been characterized by volatility for more than a century. Although the region attracts significant scholarly interest, IR theory has rarely been used as a tool to understand events. The constructivist approach in IR highlights the significance of state identity, shaped by history and culture, in making sense of international relations. The authors of this volume consider how IR theory can elucidate the patterns and principles that shape the region, in order to provide a rigorous account of the contemporary challenges of the Middle East. The Routledge Handbook of International Relations in the Middle East provides comprehensive coverage of International Relations issues in the region. Thus, it offers key resources for researchers and students interested in International Relations and the Middle East.

In this collection of refreshing and provocative essays, the contributors to Theorizing Foreign Policy in a Globalized World reflect on the game-changing political impact of globalization, outlining the situation as it currently stands and suggesting strategies for analyzing foreign policy and global governance.

Building on constructivist approaches to international relations this book develops a narrative theory of identity, action and foreign policy, which is then applied to account for the evolution of Finnish foreign policy. The book adopts an innovative approach by showing how foreign policy orientations need to be seen as grounded in overlapping and competing sets of identity narratives that reappear in different forms through history. By emphasising the dynamism implicit within identity narratives the book not only challenges traditional rationalist materialist approaches to foreign policy analysis, but also the current tendency to depict the story of Finnish foreign policy, identity and history as one of a gradual move towards a Western location. Rather the book emphasises elements of multiplicity and contingency, whilst re-establishing foreign policy as a highly political process concerned with power and the right to define reality and national subjectivity.

Distinctive due to explicit and systematically developed links between international relations (IR) and related disciplines, this book addresses global and regional interactions and the complex policy problems that often characterise this agenda. Such enhanced communication is crucial for improving the capacity of IR to engage with concrete issues that today are of high policy relevance for international organisations, states, diplomats, mediators and humankind in general. Whilst the authors do not reject the present IR, they offer a wider research agenda with new directions intended not only for those IR scholars who are unsatisfied with the analytical power of the current discipline, but also for those working on 'international', 'foreign', 'global' or 'interregional' issues in other disciplines and fields of research. In this instance they pay particular attention to linking up with peace research, international political economy (IPE) and cultural political economy (CPE), sociology, political geography, development studies, linguistics, cultural studies, environmental studies and energy research, gender studies, and traditions of area studies.