Constructivism, Narrative and Foreign Policy Analysis: A Case Study of Finland - Softcover

Browning, Christopher

Softcover

ISBN 10: 3039105191 ISBN 13: 9783039105199

Publisher: Peter Lang AG, Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften, 2008

Synopsis

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.

About this title

About the Author

The Author: Christopher S. Browning is Assistant Professor in the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Warwick. Previously he has worked at the universities of Keele and Birmingham, the Danish Institute for International Studies and Copenhagen Peace Research Institute. His research focuses on critical approaches to security and the politics of identity. He is co-editor of the forthcoming The Struggle for the West.

Edition details

• Publisher: Peter Lang AG, Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften
• Publication date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 3039105191
• ISBN 13: 9783039105199
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 328