Mistakes and Fiascos in Foreign Policy

Abstract

The panel is intended to enable an original and innovative exchange of ideas on the comparative study of foreign policy ‘fiascos’. The panel is open to perspectives which consider foreign policy mistakes to be objectively measurable as well as perspectives which focus on the social construction of mistakes. It is interested in the question of what makes a foreign policy ‘fiasco’, be it objective criteria or intersubjective attribution. It will seek to further theorizing on what characterizes a mistake and which actors (e.g. political elites, the media etc.) take an active part in mistake construction; how domestic and international audiences interrelate in this process; and what conditions are conducive to making mistakes or to constructing political decisions as ‘mistakes’. Furthermore, the panel compares and seeks out patterns of mistakes and their construction across countries and policy areas. It hopes to shed new light on cases that have traditionally been discussed as foreign policy ‘fiascos’ and extend the scope of cases that can usefully be analysed as instances of mistakes or the process of their construction.