Ideas, Bureaucratic Politics, and the Crafting of Foreign Policy

Abstract

ined by comparing the evolution of the Peace Corps and the State Department Bureau of Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs. J deas have taken on a renewed prominence in the international relations literature. There are several mechanisms through which ideas are supposed to influence preferences and outcomes, but one of the most important is that they are implanted into institutions. Scholars that emphasize constructivism (Finnemore 1996; Checkel 1997), epistemic communities (Hall 1989; Haas 1992), or other approaches (Goldstein 1993; Goldstein and Keohane 1993) have highlighted the role of institutions in pursuing ideational agendas. While this is a plausible explanation for how ideas persist and determine foreign policy, it is incomplete. Nothing is said about the strategies these institutions must pursue in order to survive and thrive in a world of competing ideas and institutions. Such an explanation assumes that once idea-infused institutions are created, the story is over. The bureaucraticpolitics paradigm suggests that the story is just starting. Bloomfield notes, For it is then that an idea, however morally powerful and however authentically grounded in the national political epistemology, encounters the instruments, the forces, and the fallible (or obstreperous) human beings who implement (or thwart) ... foreign policy programs (1982, 2). How do idea-infused institutions survive and thrive? How successful are they at promoting their ideas after their political sponsors pass from the scene? This article will argue that the placement of institutions in the foreign-policy structure helps to determine their ability to survive and thrive, but in contradictory ways. Idea-infused or institutions possessing structural insulation from the influence of other organizations are more likely to survive in a manner consistent with their founding ideas. Insulation permits the agency to develop an organizational culture dedicated to the founding idea, preventing the introduction of competing ideas or tactics. However, this insulation also lessens the missionary institution's influence over the crafting of foreign policy. Preexisting bureaucracies will automatically resist the introduction of new actors into the policy mix and