DOES THE AGENT MATTER? THE GEOPOLITICAL AGENT IN NEOCLASSICAL GEOPOLITICS

Abstract

The neoclassical realist approach considers systemic stimuli (independent), and leader images, strategic culture, state-society relations, and domestic institutions (intervening) as the variables of an explanatory model of foreign policy and international outcomes (dependent variable).
 Starting from the central assumptions of Ethology and Classical Élites Theory with the purpose of delimitating the agent – the geopolitical agent or the foreign policy executive – this paper aims to reinforce the importance of the intervening variables geopolitical agent’s perceptions and capacities in shaping the geopolitical design and other foreign policy outcomes. The true core of the paper is to expand the scope of geopolitical studies by including the methodological task of studying the geopolitical agent’s perceptions and capacities. In doing so, the matter directly relates to the analysis of both (i) how the geopolitical agent can perceive the geographical space (Raumsinn), and (ii) what can be the geopolitical agent’s capacities in managing resources assigned to the foreign policy.
 The purpose of the paper is then threefold: (i) conceptual – because it deals with definition of terms and their differentiation, (ii) theoretical – since the paper intends to review the neoclassical realist approach and merge it with geopolitical studies trying to forge a joint approach, and (iii) methodological – as it provides methodological guidelines about the new framework.
 Therefore, the paper brings the innovation of including insights of the neoclassical realist intervening variables into the geopolitical studies’ framework for a more accurate and enhanced scope of geopolitical analysis in the future.