IntermediateJesus

I'm an German undergrad (which explains my flaws in grammar). I' have to write a paper but I think it's different to a weekly response paper (there's no such thing here). I was free to choose the topic. I write this for a course in middle eastern regional studies (not much international politics theory, which is so far my main interest). I've chosen the US's decision to invade iraq as my topic. I wanted to approach this by Kenneth Waltz thoery because I thought this might be a good chance to dive deeper into his work. You have to know that neorealists theory is not very popular in Europe even less on my university. It is attacked by many without having studied some of it's main works. I asked my professor if I could approach this matter with neorealits theory and he gave me his OK. But later I read about Waltz' distinction between foreign policy and international politics. Now I'm confused and irritated. I don't know any boards dealing with political science question. All boards I know are about politics not about political science. So I don't want straight answers but it would be very helpful if you could point me into some direction or tell me about some papers to read on this matter.

Hello Folks, I hope this is the right place to ask this kind of questions. I noticed there's a strong focus on admissions to PHD programs here but I'm here in the right place too. If not, it would be nice if you can point me to a good board more suited to my question. I'm wondering what's the difference between foreign policy and international politics. I've read Elman, Colin 1996a: Horses for Courses: Why not Neorealist Theories of Foreign Policy?, in: Security Studies 6: 1, 7-53. and Kenneth Waltz' answer to it (International Politics Is not Foreign Policy). I get some vague idea what's the difference but I'm missing some clear usable disambiguation. I'm trying to determine wether the question why the US did invade Iraq is more a question of foreign policy or more a question of international politics and if Kenneth Waltz Theory of international politics is sufficient to understand the conflict. Would be nice if you could help me.