as continental or global rather than local or regional’. He
points out that ‘they defend their interests more aggressively
and with a wider range of instrumentalities, including
the frequent threat or use ofmilitary force’. It is not obvious
why a state – even a powerful one – would expand its foreign
policy ambitions in this way.Doing so has always been
costly and has frequently ended in defeat and ruin. Not
every state that has had the capacity to pursue this course
has done so. The efforts of others, such as Saddam
Hussein’s Iraq, have ended (often disastrously) well before
they were recognized by other states as major powers.
This article will test several explanations for expanding
foreign policy ambitions. This question is rarely addressed
explicitly but international relations theory nevertheless
suggests several explanations. Because foreign policy ambition
cannot be directly observed, tests of these explanations
must focus on its behavioral manifestations. Expanding