The Oxford Handbook of Foreign Policy Analysis

The Oxford Handbook of Foreign Policy Analysis repositions the subfield of Foreign Policy Analysis (FPA) to a central analytic location within the study of International Relations (IR). Over the last twenty years, IR has seen a cross-theoretical turn toward incorporating domestic politics, decision-making, agency, practices, and subjectivity - the staples of the FPA subfield. This turn, however, is underdeveloped theoretically, empirically, and methodologically.

To reconnect FPA and IR research, this handbook links FPA to other theoretical traditions in IR, takes FPA to a wider range of state and non-state actors, and connects FPA to significant policy challenges and debates. By advancing FPA along these trajectories, the handbook directly addresses enduring criticisms of FPA, including that it is isolated within IR, it is state-centric, its policy relevance is not always clear, and its theoretical foundations and methodological techniques are stale.

The Oxford Handbook of Foreign Policy Analysis provides an inclusive and forward-looking assessment of this subfield. Edited and written by a team of word-class scholars and with a preface by Margaret Hermann and Stephen Walker, the handbook sets the agenda for future research in FPA and in IR.

The Oxford Handbooks of International Relations is a twelve-volume set of reference books offering authoritative and innovative engagements with the principal sub-fields of International Relations.

The series as a whole is under the General Editorship of Christian Reus-Smit of the University of Queensland and Duncan Snidal of the University of Oxford, with each volume edited by specialists in the field. The series both surveys the broad terrain of International Relations scholarship and reshapes it, pushing each sub-field in challenging new directions. Following the example of Reus-Smit and Snidal’s original Oxford Handbook of International Relations, each volume is organized around a strong central thematic by scholars drawn from different perspectives, reading its sub-field in an entirely new way, and pushing scholarship in challenging new directions.

Juliet Kaarbo, Professor of Foreign Policy, University of Edinburgh, Cameron Theis, MSU Foundation Professor and Dean, James Madison College, Michigan State University

Juliet Kaarbo is Professor of International Relations with a Chair in Foreign Policy at the University of Edinburgh and founding co-director of the Scottish Council of Global Affairs. Her research focuses on leader personality and decision making, foreign policy analysis, parliaments and parties, and national roles. She was Associate Editor of the journals Foreign Policy Analysis and British Journal of Politics and International Relations, and co-edits Routledge’s book series on role theory. Professor Kaarbo was the 2018 Distinguished Scholar of Foreign Policy Analysis in the International Studies Association (ISA) and was elected as an ISA Vice President for 2022-23.

Cameron G. Thies is Dean of James Madison College and MSU Foundation Professor. Professor Thies is a scholar of International Relations who has published broadly in foreign policy analysis, conflict processes, and international political economy. He previously served as Editor of Political Science Research & Methods and Foreign Policy Analysis, and now serves as Deputy Lead Editor of the Journal of Politics. He was named Distinguished Scholar of Foreign Policy Analysis (2016), Quincy Wright Distinguished Scholar (2017), and the Ole R. Holsti Distinguished Scholar (2020) of the International Studies Association. Thies also served as President of the International Studies Association (2019-2020).