POLI 319 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: High Politics, Statism, North American Free Trade Agreement
13 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
POLI 342
FRIDAY — 01.12.2018
THE FRAMEWORK OF FOREIGN
POLICY
Foreign policy is not as easily defined as other
governmental policies; there are many overlapping
areas and interconnections.
•private actors and corporations can affect global
affairs but do not have foreign policy — only states
with authoritative power can engage in foreign
policy
•in Canada, provinces do have foreign policy. We will
look at how these provincial actors affect things later
on
•The UN itself does not have foreign policy, only the
state actors within the UN. The UN is a platform on
which states can very clearly state their foreign policy
and ambitions
•Cities do not have foreign policy but they do have
international interests
HIGH POLITICS VS. LOW POLITICS
There is a small elite within the government who know the
true aims of the state. Some believe that foreign policy is
just this “blackbox”; this group and their goals, and cannot
be truly known those outside of it.
High politics (diplomacy, national defence, trade) do
exist, the art of diplomacy, the above blackbox elite
matters. But one should not limit foreign policy to just this
view because we do not have access to this (other than
leaks) . We can use other aspects (low politics) to
understand foreign policy.
We will look at variables from both.
Low Politics: important issues that are not taken into
consideration in high politics; health, development,
environment. Part of the public interest. This has to be
integrated to get the full picture.
WHAT WE’LL FOCUS ON
Working definition of foreign policy: external
objectives of Canadian government; its orientation
towards the international system (like the UN); Canada’s
relationship to other governments (US, France, GB — key
allies); position in attitudes and world politics; its actions,
programs and decisions.
The approach can change in terms of rhetoric, image, etc.
but in general, interests stay stable.
•Constructivist school of thought: politicians can create
“temporary image” of what we are, but how much of a
difference does it make?
•Twitter is interesting; the US is not what comes out of
the mouth of Twitter acct of Trump
We will look at international setting, domestic setting and
governmental politics
of 1 3
Document Summary
We will look at how these provincial actors affect things later on: the un itself does not have foreign policy, only the state actors within the un. The un is a platform on which states can very clearly state their foreign policy and ambitions: cities do not have foreign policy but they do have international interests. There is a small elite within the government who know the true aims of the state. Some believe that foreign policy is just this blackbox ; this group and their goals, and cannot be truly known those outside of it. High politics (diplomacy, national defence, trade) do exist, the art of diplomacy, the above blackbox elite matters. But one should not limit foreign policy to just this view because we do not have access to this (other than leaks) . We can use other aspects (low politics) to understand foreign policy.
