Approached and Effectiveness of Italian Foreign Policy: the cases of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo

2. Literatur e r eview 2.1.1 Literatur e r eview on for eign policy and for eign policy analysis: what is it? How can it be analysed and measur ed? A country’s foreign policy can be considered as a set of principles, actions, strategies and objectives adopted when dealing with other states and international organisations during international events. Foreign policy of a country is not chosen by a single actor, but should be seen as a process that involves numerous stakeholders and actors such as politicians, diplomats, advisors, public opinion, military officials (Tayfur, 1994). Traditionally foreign policy actions aim to defend the country’s interests on the international stage and promote its values among the international community. Since the end of World War II, states have started developing fora in order to promote systematic international cooperation and go beyond the traditional realpolitik-driven foreign policy. Therefore, it is appropriate to analyse a country’s foreign policy not as isolated, but as part of the alliances the country is part of. It is reasonably correct to state that ‘states remain attached to their national interest and pursue foreign policy cooperation either as a way of maximising their power or as a process of bargaining which generates common denominator outcomes’ (Bickerton, 2010, p. 217). Considering foreign policy decisions as the result of the interaction of a wide variety of entities, scholars introduced the concept of ultimate decision unit as defined by Hermann and Hermann (1989, p. 363), namely an entity with ‘1) the ability to commit or withhold the resources of the government in foreign affairs’ and 2) the power or authority to make a decision that cannot be readily reversed without significant costs. They identify 3 types of decision units: - Predominant leader, i.e. a single individual; - Single group, i.e. a set of individuals who are all members of the same group; - Multiple autonomous actors, i.e. individuals and groups that form coalitions in order to satisfy the above mentioned requirements as no one has the ability to decide by itself. Given the fact that the second category is mainly applicable to the case of the Soviet Union and the ruling Communist Party with its Politburo or to modern China and considering the Italian parliamentary system, this study will further analyse the first and third category of 9