From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A country's foreign policy, also called the international relations policy, is strategies chosen by the state to safeguard its national interests and to achieve its goals in international relations.^[1] The approaches are strategically employed to interact with other countries. In the recent time, due to the deepening level of globalization and transnational activities, the states will also have to interact with non-state actors. The aforementioned interaction is evaluated and monitored in attempts to maximize benefits of multilateral international cooperation. Since the national interests are paramount, foreign policies are designed by the government through high-level decision making processes. National interests accomplishment can occur as a result of peaceful cooperation with other nations, or through exploitation. Usually, creating foreign policy is the job of the head of government and the foreign minister (or equivalent). In some countries the legislature also has considerable oversight. As an exception, in France and Finland, the head of state is responsible for foreign policy, while the head of government mainly deals with internal policy. In the United States, the head of state (the President) also functions as the head of government. According to Graham T. Allison, there are three models of Foreign Policy decision making process: 1). Rational Actor model, 2). Organizational Process model, and 3). Bureaucratic Politics model.^[2]

International relations theory

The sub-discipline that specializes in the study of foreign relations is known as foreign policy analysis (FPA). FPA contributes to overall communication between nations.

See also

• Foreign minister
• Ambassador
• International relations
• Policy
• Foreign policy doctrine
• Diversionary Foreign Policy

Individual administrations

• Foreign policy of the Barack Obama administration
• Foreign policy of the George W. Bush administration
• Foreign policy of the Hugo Chávez government
• Foreign policy of the Bill Clinton administration
• Foreign policy of the Ronald Reagan administration
• Foreign policy of the Harper government
• Foreign policy of François Mitterrand

External links

• Foreign Policy Magazine
• Foreign Policy Association
• Argentine Center of International Studies
• International Affairs Forum
• Teaching Foreign Policy in the Post-Cold War Era
• The National Committee on American Foreign Policy
• Foreign Policy Studies at The Brookings Institution
• World Politics Review: A Foreign Policy and National Security Daily

Notes

1. ^ citation needed
2. ^ See: Graham T. Allison,The Essence of Decision: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis Little Brown, 1971