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One of the most important aspects of study of international politics is foreign policy. It is the very basis of international relations. Inter-state relations could not be understood without understanding foreign policy. Since all the nations of the world are inter-dependent, every nation keeping in view its national interest, makes an effort to take utmost advantage of the actions of other nations. Every nation formulates and adopts a foreign policy to secure and serve the interests of its own people and also to achieve the goals of national interest in international relations. Foreign policy gives a kind of direction to a state and also suggests adequate means to adopt for the journey of the direction. It involves the strategic and tactical commitments which are taken for the fulfilment of a states’ goals and interests.

Meaning / Definition of Foreign Policy

  • According to C. C. Rodee, Anderson and Christol, foreign policy implies “formulation and implementation of a group of principles which shape the behaviour pattern of a state while negotiating with other states to protect or further its own interests”.
  • Padelford and Lincoln pointed out that “foreign policy is the way through which a state decides what course of action it will generally pursue in world affairs, within its limits or strengths and realities of international environment.

Constituents of Foreign Policy

The foreign policy of a nation includes:

  1. A set of principles, policies, and decisions, adopted and followed by a nation globally.
  2. Objectives and goals of national interest which are to be achieved.
  3. For conducting international relations, it includes broad principles and decisions.
  4. Assessment of achievements and losses of the nation in terms of its goals of national interest.
  5. Means or nature of actions to be taken to achieve the goals or objectives of national interest.
  6. Policies, decisions, and action-programmes for maintaining continuity or change in international relations.

Objectives of Foreign Policy

Padelford and Lincoln identified 4 main objectives of the foreign policy of a state as significant:

  1. National Security
  2. Economic Advancement
  3. Argumentation of National Power in relation to other states
  4. International Prestige

Determinants of Foreign Policy

The foreign policy of a country is determined by the number of elements which are influenced by various factors. The determinants vary in terms of its importance as per the circumstances. In general, the basic determinants of foreign policy can be broadly classified into two categories – Internal Factors and External Factors.

Internal Factors

  1. Geography – It is a permanent and stable factor which determines the states’ foreign policy. Geography includes location, size, topography, state boundaries, climate, population, natural resources, etc. of a nation. The size of the nation influences the psychological and operational environment within which policy makers and public respond. Large size of the state cannot be considered as an independent determinant as state power is increased by large, it has the capacity to accommodate large population and contains varied supply of natural resources. The geostrategic location of the state is also an important factor in policy formulation. Climatic conditions of the state are another geographical feature that plays a crucial role in the determination of a state’s foreign policy. Position of natural resources increases bargaining capacity of a state internationally and helps in foreign policy choices, but it must be stated that effect of geography has lost much lost much of its importance due to the recent developments of science and technology.
  2. History and Culture – History of a nation has its influence on foreign policy making. Political tradition of a nation is rooted in its history and culture. The basic foreign policy objective is guided considerably by the historical and cultural tradition of the state. For example: many developing countries including India have strongly taken stand for anti-imperialism, anti-colonialism, and anti-racism, due to the bitter experience of colonialism, imperialism, and racism.
  3. National Capacity – It includes military strength, economic development and technological progress of the nation. The economic position of the nations in terms of Gross National Product (GNP) which enables a nation to understand its ability to utilise its natural and human resources, also helped a nation in foreign policy choices. The highly developed countries in terms of economy, technology, and military have the advantage in gaining desired objective in their relations with economically and technologically weaker countries. Developing countries due to their dependence on the developed countries for capital, technology and military research and development loses the power to formulate an independent foreign policy.
  4. Public Opinion –  It is not possible for the government of a state to ignore or go against the public opinion for long. In democratic state especially, the government cannot dare to ignore the importance of the public opinion in both domestic and foreign policies. Public opinion has gained more importance in the world at present. Public opinion in case of foreign policy, sets limitations on choices of policies and constraints in policy execution.
  5. Ideology – Ideology of a state generally influences the foreign policy of a state so far as it determines the goals to be achieved by the state in international relations. The emergence of 2 types of foreign policy in the post-World War – II period is largely due to the ideological conflict between USSR and USA. Generally, there is a lot of affinity in the policy of states professing a particular ideology and feelings of enmity among the states propounding other ideologies.
  6. Social and Political Structures – The foreign policy of a state is influenced to great extent by the nature of political system and ruling elite. For Example: foreign policy of a democratic state would be different from the foreign policy of an authoritarian state. Whenever there is a sudden change in the government of the state, it leads to change in course of foreign policy in the state.
  7. Role of Policy Makers: Attitude of the policy makers also determine the foreign policy. Foreign policy is based significantly on the leadership qualities as it determines the strength and direction of foreign policy of the state. It is very strongly related to psychological traits, personality, and willingness of the leaders in the formulation of foreign policy. There is major role played by ruling elite and the decision makers and in accordance with their perception of reality. The policy makers take due note of the relevant values, relevant sectors of the environment, and accordingly determine the objectives of foreign policy. The decision makers interpret the national income and also perceive the external environment by formulating the foreign policy. The impact of views and personalities of the ruling elite on foreign policy formulation is quite natural. Foreign policy is however, not the result of role played by few leaders only. It is also the interplay of various other determinants and pressures of bureaucrats.

External Factors

External environment is also very necessary while formulating foreign policy of a scale. International laws, treaties, agreements, facts, international and regional organisations considerably influence and also limits the making of foreign policy of the state.

The external determinants include:

  1. International Organisations – International organisations such as the UN and others aimed at maintaining world peace and order and international law. UNO’s activities and other agencies such as IMF, World Bank, SAARC, ASEAN, etc. also have profound influence on the foreign policy formation of the state.
  2. World Public Opinion – Like domestic public opinion, world public opinion has a strong influence on foreign policy making. No nation can dare to go against the world’s public opinion or challenge it. World public opinion has its impact on various issues such as human rights, war, peace, environment, and this is mainly due to increasing consciousness among people.
  3. Interest of other state – While formulating foreign policy, a state has to take into account the interest of other member states as well.  If a state tries to base its foreign policy on self-interest, it would not only bring the state in conflict with other state but also will make the interest of other states impossible to meet.

Significance of Foreign Policy

The most important significance of foreign policy of a nation is its national interest. All nations conduct their foreign relations for attainment of national interest. It helps in clearly reflecting the national policy as well as traditional values of a country.

The importance of foreign policy is that it helps the national government to device strategies, guidelines, methods, and agreements, and assist them in dealing in the international arena. Sovereign states interact with each other by keeping in view their foreign policy. Thus, foreign policy acts as a charter.

Foreign policy states the points on which a state can agree with the other state and where they cannot get into terms with each other. The sole reason behind the possibility of this agreement and disagreement is the national interest of a state.