This article criticizes the inappropriateness of neoclassical realism in evaluating factors and variables at the domestic level. Instead, the manner of which states assess threats and choose types of foreign policy should be based on empirical methods. The authors explain that neoclassical realism is not a result of solving anomaly but that it combines non-structural and ideational factors into the logic of the system theory. Factors at the domestic level are supposed to be systematically categorized and simplified by types of reactions among decision makers under various pressures. Based on the perception of decision makers toward external pressure and domestic politics calculation, the article concludes that there are four categories of foreign policy among states: balancing, bandwagoning, accommodating, and hedging. Focusing on the types rather than specific content as an intervening variable, the theoretical development of neoclassical realism will continue to be a progressive research approach, while avoids becoming degenerative.