Nouvelle Politique étrangère

1. Context
The profound changes in world politics that we have seen since the late 1990s—the shifts in world order following the end of the Cold War, the rise of regionalism, the emergence of new economic powers, increasing challenges to international security, democratic transitions, climate change and technology, and currently the COVID-19 pandemic, among others—have all had considerable impacts on foreign policy systems. But it is not only foreign policy actors and processes that have been affected by these environmental changes; foreign policy analysis itself has been challenged by these changes. At the same time, changes in domestic politics have not only had an impact on the world of diplomacy, but also to a reconsideration of the theoretical tools that we use to analyse foreign policy. Have these changes blurred or clarified the sub-disciplines of political science (foreign policy and related analytical fields)? Do changes in foreign policy and the evolution of world order make it easier to discern dependent and independent variables? Are our understandings of levels of analysis in foreign policy challenged by the emergence of new diplomatic actors, the use of traditional mechanisms of foreign policy by non-traditional actors, the emergence of new issues in the international diplomatic agenda? These are some of the issues that this collection seeks to explore.

2. Analytical perspectives
While we do not intend to limit the reflections of our contributors, we hope that they will reflect on one or more of four main themes.

The first is the epistemology of foreign policy, seeking to reflect on some of the following theoretical issues:

• Theorizing foreign policy: is objectivation possible?
• The evolution of foreign policy theorizing: the emergence of new debates, the persistence of old unresolved debates;
• Contemporary approaches to foreign policy: the rediscovery of judicial, historical, sociological and economic approaches to foreign policy analysis.
• Foreign policy analysis: the state of the discipline.

The second theme focuses on foreign policy as public policy.  This theme would focus on such topics as:

• Sociological analyses of foreign policy decision-making;
• Multi-level foreign policy—putting federalism to the test;
• Foreign policy decision-making: decision, indecision, and non-decision: the limits of rationality;
• Ethics, morals and responsibility in foreign policy decision-making: how to set benchmarks for success or failure?

The third theme focuses on the relationship between foreign policy and the global system, including such issues as:

• New levers in foreign policy: is the promotion of human rights and democracy alternatives to, or attributes of, systemic peace?
• Alliances and alignments: what are the strategic determinants of international coalitions?
• Foreign policy in developing countries and economies in transition: symmetry or asymmetry?  Imitation or parallels?

The fourth theme focuses on experimental forms of foreign policy, and the problems to which experimentation gives rise. This theme would focus on such issues as:

• Foreign policy as both high and low politics: the impact of transnationalism, decentralization, and privatization;
• Foreign policy and new forms of diplomacy: constraints and opportunities;
• Locating foreign policy uneasily between democracy and public diplomacy;
• Foreign policy narratives: trajectories and doctrine.