Interdependence and Foreign Policy Management in Sweden and Finland

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Abstract
This study examines the implications of interdependence for the national institutions placed between the international and the domestic arenas of policy-making. These foreign affairs communities are hypothesized to be affected in several ways by the pressures of complex interdependence: The expanding scope of issues and the numerous actors engaged at home make for increased management complexity. The decentralization of the handling of foreign relations contributes to increased concern over national coordination of foreign policy. A survey of contemporary evidence from studies of the United States and some West European states seems to support these trends. A detailed empirical analysis over time of Finland and Sweden gives further supporting evidence. However, no dramatic trend toward a loss of central control of foreign relations can be discerned in the two cases examined. The persistently vital role of the traditional elements of foreign policy—making is notable also under conditions of international interdependence and domestic complexity. The mutually supporting relationship between the external and internal dimensions of the active state of the postwar era is emphasized as an explanation for the changes noted in the foreign affairs communities. The importance of building widely accepted theoretical generalizations on an empirical base broader than that of the special circumstances of the United States is illustrated by this comparative study.

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