Unpacking Foreign Policy Capacity of Political Parties: The Case of BRICS Countries

ABSTRACT In some developing countries, political parties have been directly engaged in foreign interactions, making them foreign policy agents in their own right. As foreign policy processes are highly state‐centric, how can the varying foreign policy capacity (FPC) of political parties, who are non‐governmental actors, be conceptualized and explained? This article addresses the question by breaking down a party's exercise of FPC into two inter‐connected processes: legitimation (attainment and maintenance of legitimate actorness) and implementation (mobilization of technical resources), whereas the former is the pre‐condition and ongoing necessity for the latter. The article argues that a party's domestic political competitiveness and dominance shape the sustainability of legitimate actorness and its dominance over technical resources. The cases of major parties in the BRICS bloc—the Communist Party of China, United Russia, the African National Congress, and the Indian National Congress—illustrate how different political dynamics result in FPC of varying durability and strength. One‐party regime is found to be the most permissive environment in which the ruling party could acquire durable, strong FPC, while parties in the developing world generally face a series of constraints on developing full‐fledged FPC. This article has broader implications for understanding and reassessing FPC in the developing world. It also represents an effort to bridge research on foreign policy and public administration and development.