This succinct yet comprehensive introduction is the first text to gear foreign policy analysis (FPA) theory toward advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate students. Cogently written, clearly organized, and filled with illuminating examples, the second edition has now been thoroughly revised and updated. Beginning with an overview of this broad field of study, Valerie M. Hudson then considers theory and research at multiple levels of analysis, including personality and psychology of foreign policy decision makers and decision making, small group dynamics, the organizational process, bureaucratic politics, domestic politics, cultural and societal influences on foreign policy, national attributes, and system-level effects on foreign policy. In a new chapter, the author also examines the promise and frustration of theoretical integration in FPA and overviews promising new work by non-North American scholars. She concludes with an analysis of where the next generation of foreign policy scholars can make important contributions to the field.

Author Biography

Valerie M. Hudson is professor and George H. W. Bush Chair at the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University.