FPA Journal

@fpajrnl.bsky.social

Foreign Policy Analysis - An International Studies Association (ISA) Journal Editors-in-Chief: Brian Lai & Lisbeth Aggestam

@fpajrnl.bsky.social Sep 30, 2026, 3:12 PM

🚨NEW ARTICLE🚨
Galambos and Nurullayev (2026) examine dissimilar goods provision in the context of US-China aid competition. With both aid models providing different goods, they find the American hierarchical model reducies Chinese development finance.

doi.org/10.1093/fpa/...

Title: US Hierarchy, Chinese Development Finance, and Great Power Competition
Abstract: How do great powers compete for influence? A common assumption in research on aid competition posits that rival donors provide similar goods when outbidding each other for international support. Yet, political relationships like hierarchies between dominant and subordinate partners grant the former some legitimate authority over the latter in exchange for various forms of side payment—political, economic, and security. We re-visit donor competition by examining dissimilar goods provision in the US-China context. Whereas the United States maintains hierarchies with multiple forms of patronage, China challenges those relationships with a single form of inducement: development finance. The effectiveness of this revisionist financing depends on expected recipient concessions, which are inversely related to costs of realignment. Beijing disburses more financing to recipients with lower costs—those with less dependence on Washington for fungible goods. Where China cannot offer comparable alternatives, side-switching costs deter revisionist investment. We use a series of two-stage models to show that American hierarchies reduce flows of Chinese development finance.

@fpajrnl.bsky.social Sep 25, 2026, 11:09 AM

🚨NEW ARTICLE🚨

Aras and Fazlioglu (2026) ask whether middle powers use high-level diplomatic visits to reinforce democratic resilience. Using data on German Chancellor visits (1991-2023), they show how Germany strategically deploys 'symbolic capital'.

doi.org/10.1093/fpa/...

Title: The Quiet Influence: Are Germany’s High-Level Visits for Democratic Durability?
Abstract: While great powers often use diplomacy to ensure incumbent survival, this article asks whether democratic middle powers instead deploy high-level visits to foster democratic durability during times of internal turbulence. Analyzing a novel dataset of German Chancellor visits (1991–2023), we find that domestic instability acts as a strategic filter for engagement. Probit estimates demonstrate that instability significantly increases the likelihood of a visit when the host is a democracy, whereas instability in autocracies deters engagement. This indicates Germany strategically deploys “symbolic capital” to validate democratic resilience during turbulence. The analysis further reveals a partisan asymmetry: this responsiveness is driven primarily by Christian Democratic Union (CDU) governments and amplified following Germany’s post-2013 shift toward assertiveness. These findings challenge the traditional “civilian power” narrative, highlighting Germany’s evolution into a systemic stabilizer using soft power to defend the democratic periphery of the liberal order.

@mbroache.bsky.social Sep 21, 2026, 12:17 PMReposted by @fpajrnl.bsky.social

In case you're wondering how #ICC States Parties might respond to the Trump administration's latest attacks on the Court, check out my @fpajrnl.bsky.social piece (from 2023) w/ @kylereed.bsky.social on responses to the Trump I sanctions against the Court

academic.oup.com/fpa/article-...

@fpajrnl.bsky.social Sep 18, 2026, 12:07 PM

🚨NEW ARTICLE🚨
Pryor and Preble (2026) ask if Strategic Trade Controls (STCs) restrict or facilitate states' participation in trading dual-use items. They find no evidence STCs reduce trade values, challenging their characterisation as trade barriers.

doi.org/10.1093/fpa/...

Title: Strategic Trade Controls as Trade-Enabling Institutions
Abstract: Do Strategic Trade Controls (STCs) restrict trade, or can they help countries participate in the trade of sensitive goods? Despite obligations under UN Security Council Resolution 1540, more than one hundred countries have not adopted comprehensive systems for controlling dual-use exports. Concerns that these regulations may impede trade and economic growth help explain this gap. We develop a new dataset recording STC enactment and adoption across all 193 UN member states and combine it with CEPII-BACI bilateral trade data for 170 countries from 1995 to 2023. We find no evidence that adopting an STC system systematically reduces strategic trade values. Instead, the clearest positive pattern appears when both trading partners maintain STC systems. The results for countries acting without a similarly regulated trading partner are less consistent, particularly after accounting for their existing trade relationships. These findings challenge the view that STCs function primarily as trade barriers. Under the right conditions, compatible regulatory systems may help countries participate in global supply chains involving strategic and dual-use goods.

@poliscikeith.bsky.social Sep 17, 2026, 2:34 PMReposted by @fpajrnl.bsky.social

My paper with Crystal D. Pryor (UAlbany, Center for Policy Research) in @fpajrnl.bsky.social, "Strategic Trade Controls as Trade-Enabling Institutions" has just been published! /1

doi.org/10.1093/fpa/...

@fpajrnl.bsky.social Sep 11, 2026, 10:48 AM

🚨NEW ARTICLE🚨
Kirchweger and Eder (2026) theorise intelligence agencies' international relations, proposing a framework asking how those relations are embedded in FP processes, the interaction effects they generate, and the roles agencies assume.

doi.org/10.1093/fpa/...

Title: Bridging the Gap: Intelligence Agencies in Foreign Policy. A Three-Dimensional Framework for Analyzing International Intelligence Relations
Abstract: Intelligence agencies operate in complex international relations alongside official foreign policy, yet the interactions between these concealed and official layers remain underexplored in Foreign Policy Analysis. This article addresses this gap by theorizing intelligence agencies’ international relations as distinct yet embedded processes within foreign policy. It proposes a comparative framework to explain how and to what extent these relations are integrated into foreign-policy processes, what interaction effects they generate over time, and what roles they assume. Applied to Austrian–Israeli relations in the 1970s, the analysis demonstrates how both states used intelligence agencies’ relations as secret crisis management channels, yet under different patterns of political and organizational integration and foreign-policy rationales: Austria outsourced politically costly engagement to an insulated security apparatus, while Israel relied on closely integrated intelligence agencies to bypass diplomatic constraints and secure strategic objectives.

@fpajrnl.bsky.social Sep 2, 2026, 2:16 PM

🚨NEW ARTICLE🚨
Hidaka, Kubota, Matsuura, and Yukawa (2026) consider how leader biography shapes WMD proliferation. They find that leaders who studied in Western nuclear powers were more likely to pursue nuclear weapons, but discouraged from CBW development.

doi.org/10.1093/fpa/...