The Absence of a Rational Process

Abstract

Structural theories are designed to explain a state’s foreign policy without reference to the thinking and actions of its decision-makers. Analysts who focus on the structure of the international system contend that the way power is distributed in an anarchical global or regional system robs foreign policy-makers of much of their executive authority Those who concentrate on the internal characteristics of a state are not of one mind as to which domestic dimension is the chief perpetrator. One group places the emphasis on the nature of a state’s political regime, another on its economic and class configuration, whereas a third on its culture.¹