Materiality and Foreign Policy

This pioneering volume in Foreign Policy Analysis aims to resituate New Materialism in International Relations research by investigating how ‘matter comes to matter’ in shaping the foreign policies of a key political actor: the State. Our book shows how this relatively new approach can generate middle-range theories and innovative methodologies, transversally cutting across disciplines rather than merely integrating scholarly debates. We explore the ways in which ‘entanglements’ and ‘objects’ help us translate a foreign policy issue into an intersection of political, social, technical, and human dimensions. Each case study analyses a particular state's foreign policy objectives in a specific area. Empirical research reflects the contributors’ theoretical concerns with ‘materiality’ and rigorously applies chosen data analysis methods by drawing on methodologies spanning the quantitative, qualitative, and interpretive divides. Finally, this book is an open invitation addressed to all scholars willing to reimagine Foreign Policy Analysis in the 21st century.