FOREIGN POLICY MAKING

The Relative Importance of the Domestic and External Context of Foreign Policy Making

The Relative Importance of the Domestic and External Context of Foreign Policy Making

Introduction

Foreign policy is one of the crucial aspects of any government. It can be defined as a set of guidelines on which a state engages with other countries, to achieve its national interests. Though such issues are discussed with government officials of other countries, it may also involve dialogue with non state actors as well. The paper intends to indicate the importance of the internal and external context of foreign policy making. The foreign policy making is the process of decision making where states make actions and strategies safeguard the national interest as well as endeavor to achieve its goals through international relations. For this reason, it can also be called international relations policy. These international relations policies are developed by the government through the high level of decision making processes. It also attempts to build the peaceful relations and co operations with other nations (Hagstrom, 2005, p. 395-430). The foreign policy primarily represents the set of goals which the government makes to communicate with the other countries of the world. These set of goals are designed to protect the national interest of the country, national security, and economic prosperity (Mintz and DeRouen, 2010). Therefore, the foreign policy making is the process in which adjustments are made through the feedback from the outside world. The policy making process is influenced by the information and actions of the world (The White House Oval Office, 2010).

In short, the paper has provided the comprehensive overview of the topic through exploring the importance of foreign policy making in the national, as well as external context. This indicates that the foreign policy making is based on multilevel and multifaceted perspectives of domestic and international sources which are required to be confronted effectively (Bendor, and Hammond, 1992, p. 301-322). This is because, the domestic pressures and international pressures impact the policy making process which in turn requires more attention and efforts from the policy makers.

Discussion

The foreign policy is made under the complicated domestic and international environments where the policy makers have to consider both perspectives at the time of creating the policy as both of the sources have the direct and indirect influence over the policy making. The leaders at the time do not pay much attention towards the international environment rather they primarily focus on the concerns which makes to contribute in the less effectiveness of the policy or weaken policy making. Hence, the political scientists usually call this the two level, dual, and nested game where the leaders need to focus on both levels to play an effective game (Neack, 2008, p. 5-251). The foreign policy making also focuses on the work of coalitions of domestic as well as international sources. As it is the nested game, it is linked with the various countries and reflects their strengths. Therefore, it means that the foreign policy making in the domestic ...