Foreign Policy Opinion as a Function of International Position

Abstract

The main thesis of this paper is that the world images and foreign policy attitudes of the leading foreign policy and opinion-making strata of a given national actor are a function of the position which that actor enjoys in the international system. This thesis is based on a structural-sociological approach to the functioning of the international system and the ways in which the images and attitudes of elites and other social strata are formed. It proposes a way of classifying national actors according to their position in the international structure along a center-periphery dimension. It emphasizes the importance of symmetry vs. asymmetry in the relationship between actors and the role of penetration and external dominance of national politics. The paper also discusses the potential influence of various factors in the formation of images and attitudes and shows how factors other than the external, ‘systemic’ one may play a role under certain conditions. It ends up with a discussion of where Norway fits into the model and makes certain propositions concerning images and attitudes held by Norwegian foreign policy elites, being ‘centrist’ and in certain respects of an ‘over-centrist’ type.