Foreign Policy Formulation and Implementation of Small States: The Case of Trinidad and Tobago

The foreign policy behavior of small states, which in today’s world comprise some sixty countries, is not prominently represented in academia. Studies associated with these states’ foreign policy tend to focus on their behavior in the international arena with a clear dominance of realist thoughts. Small states are often seen from a closed-box approach where the internal factors, leadership, and other domestic issues are given scant attention by scholars, leaving substantial and important gaps in the knowledge. This book which emerged from original and extensive research over five years, attempts to fill some of these gaps. The book is concerned with the foreign policy formulation and implementation of the small Caribbean state of Trinidad and Tobago, and without the claim of generalization, it is hoped that similar studies will encourage scholars to develop a wider theory about small states’ foreign policy behavior. The foreign policy process and the associated factors provide insights and help to develop an epistemic framework as to how the twin-island state behaved under objective and subjective constraints and more specifically, how the decision-makers choose their foreign policy preferences.

Table of Contents:
Chapter 1. Why is it Essential to Study the Foreign Policymaking of the Small State of Trinidad and Tobago? Chapter 2. The Decision-Making Approach to the Study of Foreign Policy Chapter 3. Explaining Foreign Policy Behavior of Small States with a Focus on Trinidad and Tobago Chapter 4. Exploring the Models: Explaining Trinidad and Tobago’s Foreign Policy Decision-Making Chapter 5. Actors Making the Foreign Policy Decisions and the Role of NSAs Chapter 6. Factors Influencing the Foreign Policy Decision-Making in Trinidad and Tobago Chapter 7. Conceptualizing and Discussing the Foreign Policy Formulation and Implementation Chapter 8. Wider Perspective of the Analysis of Trinidad and Tobago’s Foreign Policy Formulation and Implementation

About the Author :
Faies Jafar holds a Ph.D. from the Institute of International Relations at the University of the West Indies, with research interests in international relations, small states behavior, political psychology, foreign policy analysis, Middle East politics, and theories of IR.

Review :
“Faies Jafar does a great job applying theoretical understandings to the practical aspects of foreign policy formulation, making it a great resource for researchers and practitioners alike in his book Foreign Policy Formulation and Implementation of Small States: The Case of Trinidad and Tobago.”