Week 3 Readings

This week’s readings were really tough for me. I especially had a hard time with the text by Mark Laffey and Jutta Weldes. Laffey and Weldes write that ideas affect foreign policy even when actors conducting themselves rationally (1997, p. 193-194). They criticize rationalists who believe that policy actions are affected by “changes in factors other than ideas” (Laffey and Weldes 1997, p. 197). However, even when actors behave rationally, ideas still play a role in policy making.

Judith Goldstein and Robert Keohane’s text was a little easier for me. Goldstein and Keohane also write that that ideas play an important role in foreign policy. However, they use ideas and beliefs interchangeably. Goldstein and Keohane define ideas “as beliefs held by individuals” (1993, p. 3).  Laffey and Weldes criticize Goldstein and Keohane because they think that beliefs are not held by individuals but rather are shared. The shared beliefs by people have an impact on why certain foreign policy decisions are made or why states act they way they do (Laffey and Weldes 1993, p. 198). In this week’s lecture we learn that ideas are norms and values, and that ideas are created in our cultural environment. Ideas, therefore, are not just beliefs held by individuals but are shared by many in a society.

In Max Weber’s Prefatory Remarks, Weber does not talk about ideas and interests per se, but rather the role of rationalization in politics, society and the economy in the West. For example, he points out that modern capitalism only exists in the West because of rational organization of companies (1920, p. 155). After watching the lecture, I would say that the rationalization Weber talks about are the interests that drive people to do what they do because the action of people (or states) requires calculations of outcomes.

I hope that this week’s class discussion will share a light on this week’s readings. I especially got confused reading the text by Laffey and Weldes. After reading it several times I still do not really know what the symbolic technologies are and why it is recommended to use symbolic technologies in explaining that ideas play a role in foreign policy making.

References

Goldstein, Judith and Robert Keohane. 1993. Ideas and Foreign Policy: Beliefs, Institutions and Political Chance. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. Accessed September 18, 2016. https://americanuniversity.ares.atlas-sys.com/ares/ares.dll?Action=10&Type=10&Value=98488

Laffey, Mark and Jutta Weldes. 1997. “Beyond Beliefs: Ideas and Symbolic Technologies in the Study of International Relations.” European Journal of International Relations 3, no. 2: 193-237. Accessed September 16, 2016. https://americanuniversity.ares.atlas-sys.com/ares/ares.dll?SessionID=C213645761J&Action=10&Type=10&Value=98492

Weber, Max. 1920. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. London: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers. Accessed September 16, 2016. https://s3.amazonaws.com/static.ironline.american.edu/Jackson+International+Relations/Readings/Weber+-+Prefatory+Remarks.pdf