Levels of Analysis in a State’s Foreign Policy

Foreign policy analysis is a separate, specific research area of international relations, their epistemology „at the intersection” of the state interior and the international system. It concerns foreign policy as an element of the ontology of international relations. Considering the complexity of the research area, and in order to organize it, it was proposed to distinguish three levels of analysis: 1) analysis below the state level, 2) analysis „at the intersection” of the state interior and the international system, 3) analysis above the state level. For each of these levels, specific research tools or ways of thinking were identified. In relation to the analysis below the state level, the following were taken into account: 1) psychological conditions; 2) decision-making in crisis situations; 3) bureaucratic structures in deciding on foreign policy; 4) the social context of foreign policy. The following were considered specific for the analysis at the „intersection” of the state interior and the international system: 1) determinants, conditions of foreign policy, 2) the concept of levels of international negotiations, 3) the theory of political adaptation, 4) the concept of epistemic communities. The analysis above the state level includes the theory of international roles and the theory of international regimes. The aim of the article is to distinguish three levels of foreign policy analysis and to identify and analyze research constructs specific to each of these levels.