IR411 One Unit
Foreign Policy Analysis III
This information is for the 2025/26 session.
Course Convenor
Dr Federica Bicchi
Availability
This course is available on the MSc in International Affairs (LSE and Peking University), MSc in International Relations, MSc in International Relations (LSE and Sciences Po), MSc in International Relations (Research), MSc in Political Science (Conflict Studies and Comparative Politics) and MSc in Theory and History of International Relations. This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit. This course uses controlled access as part of the course selection process.
How to apply: All students must include a brief written statement of no more than 200 words explaining why they wish to take the course and how it will benefit their goals.
Deadline for application: The deadline for applications is 12:00 noon on Friday 26 September 2025.You can expect to be informed of the outcome of your application by 12:00 noon on Monday 29 September 2025.
This course has a limited number of places (it is controlled access) and demand is typically very high. While applications from outside students will be considered, priority will be given to IR students on the programmes specified in the availability section of this course guide. Offers to students from other programmes will be subject to remaining availability.
Requisites
Additional requisites:
Students need not have studied Foreign Policy Analysis before, but some familiarity with 1) theories of International Relations and 2) contemporary international history is essential.
Course content
Foreign Policy Analysis (FPA) looks at the way in which policies affecting external relations are made and shaped by state actors, as well as by actorsbelow and above the state level. This makes it distinct from approaches to International Relations that take the structure of the international system as a starting point for analysis. By understanding how policies are shaped by domestic and international politics and structures, it is possible to arrive at new understandings of the foreign policies of individual states and to critique and enrich scholarship in the mainstream of International Relations. This course prepares students for such tasks by introducing them to the major theoretical concepts and approaches of FPA, and applying them to a range of case studies selected from a wide variety of states and international organisations.
Teaching
10 hours of lectures and 13.5 hours of seminars in the Autumn Term.
10 hours of lectures and 15 hours of seminars in the Winter Term.
This course has a reading week in Week 6 of Autumn and Winter Term.
Formative assessment
Essay (1500 words)
Essay (1500 words)
Students will be expected to produce two 1,500 word essays for their seminar leader (1 essay in the AT and 1 essay in the WT).
The formative essays provide students with an opportunity to write essays which engage critically with key readings on course topics, and to receive constructive feedback to support their preparation for the summative assessments.
Indicative reading
• Brummer, K. and Oppermann, K. (2024) Foreign Policy Analysis. Oxford: Oxford University Press
• Morin, Jean-Frédéric, and Jonathan Paquin, Foreign Policy Analysis: A Toolbox, (Springer, 2018).
• Smith, Steve, Hadfield, Amelia and Dunne, Tim, (eds.), Foreign policy; theory, actors, cases, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016).
Assessment
Exam (70%), duration: 120 Minutes in the Spring exam period
Essay (30%, 1500 words) in January
Key facts
Department: International Relations
Course Study Period: Autumn, Winter and Spring Term
Unit value: One unit
FHEQ Level: Level 7
CEFR Level: Null
Total students 2024/25: 45
Average class size 2024/25: 15
Controlled access 2024/25: YesCourse selection videos
Some departments have produced short videos to introduce their courses. Please refer to the course selection videos index page for further information.