Refereed journal article or data article (A1)

UTOPIAS, COUNTERFACTUALS AND EXTERNAL AFFAIRS: (RE)VISIONING FOREIGN POLICY IN A SMALL COUNTRY CONTEXT*




List of AuthorsVille Sinkkonen, Henri Vogt

PublisherBarbara Budrich Publishers

PlaceLeverkusen

Publication year2015

JournalEuropean Review of International Studies

Journal acronymERIS

Volume number2

Issue number2

Start page66

End page83

Number of pages18

eISSN2196-7415


Abstract

This article analyses the difficulties of visionary foreign policy thinking, by

presenting a unique experiment that we conducted in the small state context of Finland in

2013‒2014. We invited eminent International Relations scholars to write lengthy newspaper

columns contemplating the country’s future foreign policy avenues. The starting point for

these contributions was a counterfactual present wherein Finland could afford to expend a

substantial amount of additional resources on its external affairs, without the traditional sense

of cautiousness symptomatic of the country. The insights attained throughout the experiment

warrant reflection upon the utility of such heuristic devices as tools for future-oriented policy

making. The exercise highlights a number of issues pertaining to the relationship between the

disciplinary contours of IR and the concrete challenges of the policy world. Above all, the

article calls for a nuanced use of the structure-agency continuum for coming to terms with the

everyday complexities of foreign policy making.



Last updated on 2021-24-06 at 10:05