Assignment task: Explain how you would conduct a baseline foreign policy assessment. Justify each stage of your approach with reference to academic literature and examples of possible evidence you might use. Conclude by reflecting on the shortcomings of a baseline assessment. I need a detailed example like this with this structure please state how you would do it:
NOTE: The question is asking how would you conduct a baseline assessment.
The structure we have to follow is this
1. What is your assumption about how foreign policy decision-making works? In other terms, which elements of the Rational Actor Model will you include in my assessment?
2. What steps would you take to produce a baseline assessment. Would you look at both material power and role expectations? If so why? If not why not? Which would you look first? Why? With this question you need to: Justify each stage of our approach with reference to the following academic literature and examples of possible evidence you might use.
Reference:
1. Thies, Cameron (2012) "International Socialization Processes vs. Israeli National Role Conceptions: Can Role Theory Integrate IR Theory and Foreign Policy Analysis?", Foreign Policy Analysis 8(1): 25-46.
2. Telhami, Shibley (2002) "Kenneth Waltz, Neorealism and Foreign Policy", Security Studies 11(3): 158-170.
3. Wehner, Leslie (2015) "Role expectations as foreign policy: South American secondary powers' expectations of Brazil as a regional power", Foreign Policy Analysis 11(4): 435-455.
4. Fearon, James (1995) "Rationalist explanations for war", International Organization 49(3): 379-414.
5. Oneal, John (1988) "The Rationality of Decision Making During International Crises", Polity 20(4): 598-622.
What do you think about the arguments made by these sources and how has this influenced your response/ answer to this question?
3. How would I finish the essay by reflecting on baseline assessments as an approach - extended conclusion, how reliable do you think your baseline assessment would be? Here we need to weigh the pros and cons of the baseline assessment we have conducted.