IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/intare/v16y2013i4p390-406.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The importance of windows of opportunity for foreign policy change

Author

Listed:
  • Fredrik Doeser

    (The Swedish Institute of International Affairs (UI), Sweden)

  • Joakim Eidenfalk

    (The University of Wollongong, Australia)

Abstract

This article emphasizes how individual decision-makers and their perceptions of windows of opportunity can play a decisive role for major changes in the foreign policy of states by conducting two case studies. The first case is the change that occurred in Denmark’s foreign policy in August 1990 when its government dispatched a warship to the Persian Gulf to participate in the monitoring of the United Nations sanctions against Iraq. The second case is the change that occurred in Australia’s foreign policy in April–May 2003 when its government abandoned Australia’s long-standing “hands-off†approach toward Solomon Islands by leading a multinational military intervention. The article demonstrates that individual decision-makers, with a long-standing desire to change policy, perceived structural changes as a window of opportunity for initiating the desired policy changes. The article concludes that, had it not been for these particular individuals, and their perceptions of the world around them, events would most likely have unfolded in a different way.

Suggested Citation

  • Fredrik Doeser & Joakim Eidenfalk, 2013. "The importance of windows of opportunity for foreign policy change," International Area Studies Review, Center for International Area Studies, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, vol. 16(4), pages 390-406, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:intare:v:16:y:2013:i:4:p:390-406
    DOI: 10.1177/2233865913512117
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2233865913512117
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/2233865913512117?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Cortell, Andrew P. & Peterson, Sysan, 1999. "Altered States: Explaining Domestic Institutional Change," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 29(1), pages 177-203, January.
    2. Sonphil Lee, 2007. "Europeanism and Atlantism in the Italian Foreign Policy: Focused on Continuity and Change," International Area Studies Review, Center for International Area Studies, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, vol. 10(1), pages 175-191, March.
    3. James Meernik, 2011. "The Persistence of US Conflict Behavior: Continuity in the Use of Force," International Area Studies Review, Center for International Area Studies, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, vol. 14(3), pages 33-60, September.
    4. Stein, Janice Gross, 1994. "Political learning by doing: Gorbachev as uncommitted thinker and motivated learner," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 48(2), pages 155-183, April.
    5. Most, Benjamin A. & Starr, Harvey, 1980. "Diffusion, Reinforcement, Geopolitics, and the Spread of War," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 74(4), pages 932-946, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Stephen P. Westcott, 2021. "Seizing a Window of Opportunity? The Causes and Consequences of the 2020 Sino-Indian Border Stand-off," Journal of Asian Security and International Affairs, , vol. 8(1), pages 7-32, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Rodrigues, Lúcia Lima & Craig, Russell, 2018. "The role of government accounting and taxation in the institutionalization of slavery in Brazil," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 21-38.
    2. Silve, Arthur & Verdier, Thierry, 2018. "A theory of regional conflict complexes," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 434-447.
    3. Piotr Lis & Michael Spagat & Uih Ran Lee, 2021. "Civilian targeting in African conflicts: A poor actor’s game that spreads through space," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 58(5), pages 900-914, September.
    4. Eyal Lewin, 2016. "The Importance of National Ethos in Military Victories," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 5(3), pages 1-16, August.
    5. Stephen Bell & Hui Feng, 2009. "Reforming China's Stock Market: Institutional Change Chinese Style," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 57(1), pages 117-140, March.
    6. Spencer Dorsey, 2020. "The opportunity cost of intrastate violence and the out-of-sample validity of commodity price shocks," The Journal of Defense Modeling and Simulation, , vol. 17(3), pages 309-324, July.
    7. Benjamin A. Most & Harvey Starr, 1990. "Theoretical and Logical Issues in the Study of International Diffusion," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 2(4), pages 391-412, October.
    8. Rotolo, Thomas & Lengefeld, Michael, 2020. "Clearing the cobwebs: An analysis of the timing of youth concussion legislation in U.S. states," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 265(C).
    9. Harvey Starr, 1991. "Democratic Dominoes," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 35(2), pages 356-381, June.
    10. Ana Carolina Garriga, 2017. "Regulatory lags, liberalization, and vulnerability to banking crises," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 11(2), pages 143-165, June.
    11. Hartwell, Christopher A. & Devinney, Timothy, 2021. "Populism, political risk, and pandemics: The challenges of political leadership for business in a post-COVID world," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 56(4).
    12. Baris Kesgin, 2019. "Uncharacteristic foreign policy behavior: Sharon’s decision to withdraw from Gaza," International Area Studies Review, Center for International Area Studies, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, vol. 22(1), pages 76-92, March.
    13. Alex Braithwaite & QUAN LI, 2007. "Transnational Terrorism Hot Spots: Identification and Impact Evaluation," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 24(4), pages 281-296, September.
    14. Ghimire, Ramesh & Ferreira, Susana & Dorfman, Jeffrey H., 2015. "Flood-Induced Displacement and Civil Conflict," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 614-628.
    15. Joseph Ruane & Jennifer Todd, 2007. "Path Dependence in Settlement Processes: Explaining Settlement in Northern Ireland," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 55(2), pages 442-458, June.
    16. Leutert, Wendy, 2021. "Innovation through iteration: Policy feedback loops in China’s economic reform," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    17. Harvey Starr & Christina Lindborg, 2003. "Democratic Dominoes Revisited," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 47(4), pages 490-519, August.
    18. Zaryab Iqbal & Harvey Starr, 2008. "Bad Neighbors: Failed States and Their Consequences," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 25(4), pages 315-331, September.
    19. Lawrence C. Reardon, 2011. "Ideational Learning and the Paradox of Chinese Catholic Reconciliation," Journal of Current Chinese Affairs - China aktuell, Institute of Asian Studies, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies, Hamburg, vol. 40(2), pages 43-70.
    20. William Reed & Daina Chiba, 2010. "Decomposing the Relationship Between Contiguity and Militarized Conflict," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 54(1), pages 61-73, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:intare:v:16:y:2013:i:4:p:390-406. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.hufs.ac.kr/user/hufsenglish/re_1.jsp .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.