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A country's foreign policy, also called the foreign relations policy, consists of self-interest strategies chosen by the state to safeguard its national interests and to achieve its goals within international relations milieu.^{[citation needed]} The approaches are strategically employed to interact with other countries. In recent times, 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.

International relations theory[link]

The sub-discipline that specializes in relations is known as foreign policy analysis (FPA). FPA contributes to overall communication between nations. A country's foreign policy, called the international relations policy, consists of strategies chosen by the state to safeguard its national interests and to achieve its goals in international relations. The approaches are strategically employed to interact with other countries. In recent times, 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.

History of Foreign Policy[link]

Aristotle, an ancient Greek philosopher, described humans as social animals. Therefore, friendships and relations have existed between humans since the beginning of human creation. As the organization developed in human affairs, relations between people also organized. Foreign policy thus goes back to primitive times. The inception in human affairs of foreign relations and the need for foreign policy to deal with them is as old as the organization of human life in groups.

The literature from ancient times, the Bible, the Homeric poems, the histories of Herodotus and Thucydides, and many others show an accumulation of experience in dealing with foreigners. The ancient writings (Chinese & Indian) give much evidence of thought concerned with the management of relations between peoples.

Post-Renaissance medieval period[link]

In medieval Europe, political philosophers like Machiavelli, Bodin, Grotius, Hobbes, Pufendorf, Hume, and Rousseau underlined the need for rules to regulate the interaction among emerging sovereign nation states. In the 18th and 19th centuries Kant, Bentham, Fichte, Hegel, Rank, and Mill’s political theories also had a bearing on relations between European states. At that formative stage, however, the concept of international relations remained an appendage of the general political theory rather than a distinct subject for study in its own right. In those times foreign relations were not supposed to be for public consumption.

Twentieth century[link]

The global wars were fought three times in this century. Consequently, international relations became a public concern as well as an important field of study and research. After the Second World War, during 1960’s many researchers in U.S. particular, and from other countries in common, brought forth a wealth of research work and theory. This work was done for international relations and not for foreign policy as such. Gradually, various theories began to grow around the international relations, international systems and international politics but the need for a theory of foreign policy, that is the starting point in each sovereign state, continued to receive negligible attention. The reason was that the states used to keep their foreign policies under official secrecy and it was not considered appropriate for public, as it is considered today, to know about these policies. This iron-bound secrecy is an essential part for the framework of foreign policy formulation. The second world war and its devastation was a great threat for the human survival, revealed to everyone the importance of international relations. Though foreign policy continued to remain under-cover, academic work placed international relations in a structured framework of political science. Graduate and Post-graduate courses developed. Research was encouraged, and gradually, international relations became an academic discipline in universities throughout the world.

The writers who worked with the foreign policy can be divided in two groups: 1. World war writers who treat international politics and foreign policy as an indifferent, single field of study. Who recognize foreign policy as a source rather than the substance of international politics and bring it under study as a subject. 2. The second group restricts its work to foreign policy making.

The works of second group comes closer to the theory of foreign policy but there is no attempt to formulate a basic theory of foreign policy. Morgenthau’s works on principle elements of foreign policy seem to have covered the most ground.

Need for a general theory of foreign policy[link]

McGowan and Shapiro, in their work on comparative study of foreign policy of different countries, felt that the lack of a basic theory of foreign policy was particularly disabling, and pointed out the harmful effect of the absence of a general theory of foreign policy on the foreign policy literature.

The most fundamental question that arises here is: why do we lack theories of foreign policy? Or why do we need general theory of foreign policy?

The absence of a general theory in this field leads to some serious consequences. Without theory: • We cannot explain the relationships we discover, we can make predictions only about the foreign policy behavior. • We will have to depend on luck and educative guesses to come up with worthwhile research hypothesis. • Research will become an ad-hoc or unplanned research, with no justification provided for the selection of cases, no system and no consistency. • A field without theory is hardly an area of disciplined scientific inquiry. • A diplomat will likely to have a more complex estimate or knowledge of other governments. His estimate, however, will certainly be simplistic and heavily influenced by his own perceptual blinders, leading him to faulty policy judgments. The need of a theoretical framework of foreign policy is needed to analyze the day-to-day interactions in international relations and to compare individual foreign policies. Furthermore, the need for a theoretical framework for the analysis of foreign policy is not only academic. It is also political because of the increasing degree of interdependence and collective global interests.

The vast record of empirical data and research is given academic attention to fit it into the framework of a general theory of foreign policy. The second group of writers has made contributions in its development in many ways: • Collation of systematic empirical studies with a view to articulating general pro-positions pertaining to state behavior. • Analysis of foreign policy making with an emphasis on the process itself and the determinants that influence foreign policy. • Development of scientific approaches to and model for foreign policy analysis such as the rational actor, model, domestic, public model etc. • Studies undertaken to prepare world order models.

Grand Strategy[link]

The grand strategy of a state prescribes how a nation should wield its military instrument to realize its foreign policy goals.^[1] As a result, it is a primary component of a state's foreign policy and particularly, its ability to reach the goals of that policy. For example, President Clinton's grand strategy of 'Engagement and Enlargement' had the United States pursue national security by engaging other states by enlarging its alliances and international organizations like NATO.^[2]

See also[link]

References[link]