Holsti, National Role Conceptions in the Study of Foreign Policy

Introduction:
Theorists often characterise FP behaviour in terms of patterned or recurring
decisions => terms such as 'satellite' summarise broad but typical range of dip
lomatic behaviours
e.g. BoP => Balancer acting out their role as balancers in order to main
tain peace => confusion: is the balancing at the stratal level or at the systemi
c level?
Cold war dimension of contemporary international politics remains a filter t
hrough which regional relationships are viewed
But then again, many countries have many roles, sometimes conflicting
Concept of Role in Social Science: goes back to Dewey and Mead
Role => refers to behaviour (decisions and actions)
Role Prescriptions => norms and expectation cultures, societies, institution
s or groups attach to particular positions
Role theory emphasises the interaction between the role prescription and the
role performance
Ideally both should be independent variables BUt
Good approximation => take the perceptions, values and attitudes of
the actor occupying a position as the crucial independent variables in explainin
g role performance

Extension of Role Theory to FP Analysis
In integrated societies actors are highly defined by the alter => e.g. the m
anager
States are like this in certain situations => NATO
However, the definition of 'status' (as used in analyses of internationa
l stratification) are vague
Usually the fact of sovereignty implies that FP role performance (actions an
d decisions) derive primarily form policymaker's role conceptions (E) not from w
orld opinion
IN the above diagram you replace POsition with Status and make it dashed (si
nce the influence is intermittent, weak and incomplete)

C has some influence on B and E => laws still have some constraining effect
=> but on intl stage it usually refers to daily, quotidian matters
The intl system can be con vied as a particular distribution of various nati
onal role conceptions at any given time
Descriptions of National Roles: The Literature
The idea that independent political unite maintain general orientations towa
rd external environment and fulfil certain functions => can be found throughout
the ages
Kautilya => 6 types o Foreign Policy => accommodation, indifference, att
ack, protection double policy) => in his book Arthasastra
Balance of power => is it an active objective or merely the result of uncons
cious FP decisions?
Problems with categorisation => no way to logical or empirically derive any
prediction
Similarity of Role Theory to Morgenthau's 3 Policies (keep power, increase e
mpower, demonstrate power)
Disagreement on what 'Roles Are' => fundamental problem in IR => conception
of a single national role (could very well be more)
But the standard IR literature conceives of the active/passive spectrum
well
This classification is arrived to through an analysis of speeches by variou
s heads of gvt etc.
National Role Conception of Policymakers: Research Procedures:
1) Only Highlevel statements were used 2) obtain a representative sample of
national role conceptions for each state => minimum 10 sources => not arbitrary
3) 1965-1967 (could be restricted) 4) Difficulty in differentiating specific iss
ues etc
Absence of evidence = Evidence of Absence => largely yes (pg. 259)
Variety of National Role Conceptions: Some examples => on a continuum of passivi
ty/activity
Revolution-Liberator => liberate others and act as a bastion for revolitiony
movements => China
Regional LEader: duties and special responsibilities that a gvt perceives fo
r itself in its relation to state in a particular region = Egypt
Regional Protector => sort of includes the regional leader BUT ALSO provide
protection for adjacent regions => USA
Active Independent = non-alignment + cultivate active relations (beyond brut
e, own interests) and occasional interposition into bloc conflicts => self-deter
mination, mediation functions => Turkey
Liberation Supporter => does not indicate formal responsibilities for organi
sing, leading, or physically supporting liberation movements abroad => support i
s routine and formal => Bulgaria
Anti-Imperialist Agent => see themselves as agents of 'struggle' agains the
evil => USSR
Defender of Faith => see FP objectives and commitments in terms of defending
value systems (rathe than specific territories) from attack => ideological puri
ty from other states => DDR/US
Mediator-Integrator => perceived themselves as capable/responsible for under
taking special tasks to reconcile conflicts between there states or groups of st
ates => Lebanon, Sweden
Regional-Subsystem Collaborator => do not merely envisage occasional interpo
sition into areas of conflict => indicate far-reaching commitments to cooperativ
e efforts with other states
To create wide-ranging movements = > e.g. Belgium, Japan
Developer => special duty/obligation to assist underdeveloped countries => r
eference to the 'special skills they have' => Kuwait, USA
Bridge => often appears in vague form => bridge concept not like mediator-in
tegrator but is more ephemeral => as a translator of messages => Cyprus, Pakista
n
Faithful Ally => not as pronounced as one would expect (Pakistan and Iran ma
ke virtually no reference to US despite being close allies) => Luxembourg, North
Vietnam, Bulgaria
Independent => statements suggest that state will only pursue its own intere
st, no decision based on perception/interest of others => policy self-determinat
ion => Afghanistan, Zambia
Example => importance of promoting prestige and gaining influence in the int
l system by pursuing certain domestic policies => (low end of activity b/c not r
equires diplomatic apparatus)
Malaysia, Philippines
Internal Development => wish to remain independent but statements do not pre
clude some sort of cooperation => Brazil, Finnland
Isolate: The Internal Devleopment role => external cooperation in the econom
ic and cultural fields => Cambodia, Burma
Protectee => allude to other states' obligation to defend them but do not ar
ticulate particular orientation => North Vietnma, Czechoslovakia
Other Roles:
Many others, (balancing only used by DeGaule)
There can be changes => UK and Australia
Conclusion:
An increased number in national role conception typology (almost double
than before)
Analysis:
The traditional view that states fulfil 1 role => not borne out by the state
ments of policy makers => average of 4.6 roles
Traditional views of bloc leaders and allies => not fulfilled => e.g. Iran n
ot mentioning once the USA
Variation in Specificity => how definite are the commitments => if vague dif
ficult to predict diplomatic attitudes based on the knowledge
The 'vague states' could be seen as ones who do not try to change extern
al conditions to their favour =>
Difficulty in determining => how specific is that role?
Average Number of conceptions per source vary greatly => usually, the mo
re highly a state is involved in the external environment the more highly struct
ured its national role conceptions are
Egypt actually the most active after his statistical weighting thing
, Israel is surprisingly low (but that is because sit is so preoccupied with its
own situation)
Further research should look into comparing this o 'hard data' e.g. trade, m
ilitary, regional organisations etc.
The Pattern of Role Conceptions in the International System
Most frequent role conception => regional-subsystem collaborator => foster p
olitical and economic cooperation
World may be 'polar' in terms of military capabilities but chief concerns ar
e closer to home => becomes apparent when you consider this through the eyes of
non-dominant states
The poles (USSR, China and USA) are disproportionately active but not predom
inantly
Most of the national role conceptions can be placed in either conflict or co
operation
It is likely that active and conflict type roles are over-represented and th
at passive (not nec. cooperative) are underrepresented
The Sources of National Role Conception: The analysis has two related flaws => i
s static and does not offer an account of change
No consensus => variety of internal and external pressures with no ranking
Different 'categories' have different sources => e.g. ideological, political
etc
National Role Conception as Independent Variables: The Problem of Congruence bet
ween role conceptions and diplomatic actions
The more national role conceptions become part of the political culture of a
nation, the more likely it is to curb the perceived limits/political feasibilit
y etc. => less impact of idiosyncratic
e.g. little difference if Humphrey had become president instead of Nixon
BUT, role conceptions and prescriptions cannot dictate every aspect of forei
gn policy behaviour
Also, role and issue must be perceived to be linked before knowledge of role
conceptions can be used to predict typical responses
What diminishes the relevance of national role conceptions?
The detail of role specification also impacts predictability => the more
detailed the more predictable
Ambiguous or highly unprecedented circumstances arise and degree of dome
stic support => if there is no coherent public view no national role can be deve
loped (Finnland 1930s)
No major FP decision is typical
Some autocrats can pull off 180 turn around => e.g. Stalin with the non-aggres
sion pact
What about states with incompatible national role conceptions => difficulty
in determining which national roles were being performed in any set of circumsta
nces
1) Usually the incompatible role conceptions are not necessarily logical
ly or empirically contradicting => they are somewhat clashing
2) Usually the incompatible role conceptions are towards different sets
of relationships => people develop different role orientations (Eula) in differe
nt sets of relationships
There is a looseness of blocs => there are a variety of relationship
nets
Therefore prediction becomes difficult in case of incompatible roles
if they are enunciated within the context of a single set of relationships
National Role Conceptions as the Dependent Variable in FP Analysis:
He argues that a theory trying to explain individual outcomes is shit, and r
ather you should use role conceptions as dependent variables
This is because most decisions are consistent with role conceptions anyw
ays
Because otherwise studies will be merely reconstructed histories focusin
g on idiosyncratic traits
It is easier to construct national conceptions, incorporating any number
of variables
Also, it would make FPA cumulative => i.e. no incompatibility between re
search
Role conceptions can serve as a dependent variable in FPA (the output of FP)
and as an independent variable in systems analysis (an input in the internation
al system)
National Role Conceptions: orientations toward t external environment and commit
ments to certain tasks or functions within various sets of international relatio
nships
Careless use of terms like 'Nonaligned' may hide more than they explain
The Notion of national role conception offers one avenue for describing types of
, and explaining changes in, international systems
It lends itself to empirical analysis and therefore can supplement interacti
on and transaction flow studies based on 'hard data'