Populist Leadership, Economic Shocks, and Foreign Policy Change

Abstract

This chapter approaches shocks from a vantage point that is different from the one commonly found in the foreign policy analysis (FPA) literature on foreign policy change. This literature typically conceptualizes shocks as one of several opportunities for or even drivers of policy change. Contrary to this predominant approach in the FPA literature, this chapter analyzes shocks not as drivers of and opportunities for external reorientations (hence as independent variable) but as consequences of—and potential constraints for the success of—attempted policy change (hence as intervening variable). In so doing, the chapter also contributes to the exploration of inhibitors of foreign policy modifications, which have received considerably less attention in the literature than the examination of possible drivers of change.