Foreign Policy Analysis and Critical Geopolitics: Beginning of a New Dialog?

Abstract

This article argues that the dialog between Foreign Policy Analysis (FPA) and Critical Geopolitics (CGP) can enrich FPA, deepen FPA’s engagement with International Relations (IR) theory and present a new research agenda for FPA’s middle-range theorizing. In the study, it is put forward that the conversation between FPA and CGP can strengthen the connection between FPA and IR theory in various ways. CGP’s emphasis on agent-centrism, ability to transcend the inside-outside dichotomy, critique of natural law-like generalizations in foreign policy, preoccupation with how-possible type questions, and interdisciplinarity can all contribute to FPA and FPA’s relationship with IR. Thus, the theoretical foundations of CGP, which are largely derived from post-structuralism, have a significant potential to strengthen the connection between FPA and IR.