A state's foreign policy or external policy (as opposed to internal or domestic policy) is its objectives and activities in relation to its interactions with other states, unions, and other political entities, whether bilaterally or through multilateral platforms. The Encyclopedia Britannica notes that a government's foreign policy may be influenced by "domestic considerations, the policies or behaviour of other states, or plans to advance specific geopolitical designs."
Diplomatic history
The idea of long-term management of relationships followed the development of professional diplomatic corps that managed diplomacy.
In the 18th century, due to extreme turbulence in European diplomacy and ongoing conflicts, the practice of diplomacy was often fragmented by the necessity to deal with isolated issues, termed "affairs". Therefore, while domestic management of such issues was termed civil affairs (peasant riots, treasury shortfalls, and court intrigues), the term foreign affairs was applied to the management of temporary issues outside the sovereign realm. This term remained in widespread use in the English-speaking states into the 20th century, and remains the name of departments in several states that manage foreign relations. Although originally intended to describe short term management of a specific concern, these departments now manage all day-to-day and long-term international relations among states.
Think tanks are occasionally employed by government foreign relations organisations to provide research and advocacy in the development of foreign policy proposals, alternatives to existing policy, or to provide analytical assessments of evolving relationships.
There are several objectives that may motivate a government's foreign policy. Among other reasons, foreign policy may be directed for defense and security, for economic benefit, or to provide assistance to states that need it. All foreign policy objectives are interconnected and contribute to a single, comprehensive foreign policy for each state.
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Approcher la Chine contemporaine par le biais des phénomènes qui émergent à l'international permet non seulement de s'intéresser à l'impact sur le reste du monde de cette Chine qui s'internationalise
Cet enseignement aborde les grands enjeux des relations internationales de la Suisse aux XIXe et XXe siècles. Les étudiant·e·s apprendront à analyser de manière critique des documents d'époque (source
Realism is one of the dominant schools of thought in international relations theory, theoretically formalizing the Realpolitik statesmanship of early modern Europe. Although a highly diverse body of thought, it is unified by the belief that world politics is always and necessarily a field of conflict among actors pursuing wealth and power. The theories of realism are contrasted by the cooperative ideals of liberalism in international relations. Realists are divided into three classes based on their view of the essential causes of interstate conflict.
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called allies. Alliances form in many settings, including political alliances, military alliances, and business alliances. When the term is used in the context of war or armed struggle, such associations may also be called allied powers, especially when discussing World War I or World War II.
A great power is a sovereign state that is recognized as having the ability and expertise to exert its influence on a global scale. Great powers characteristically possess military and economic strength, as well as diplomatic and soft power influence, which may cause middle or small powers to consider the great powers' opinions before taking actions of their own. International relations theorists have posited that great power status can be characterized into power capabilities, spatial aspects, and status dimensions.
Marshall Plan (1948-1952), introduced for postwar reconstruction in Europe, marks the Cold War economy-political and foreign policy of the US. Besides building the Western Bloc, its financial and technical assistance programs launched the self-help paradig ...
This is a historical inquiry on self-help housing, or autoconstruction as its French equivalent, a term mainly overlooked by architects but favoured by policymakers for low-cost housing development. Self-help housing has been a field of ‘aid’ or ‘assistanc ...
The rise of neurotechnologies, especially in combination with artificial intelligence (AI)-based methods for brain data analytics, has given rise to concerns around the protection of mental privacy, mental integrity and cognitive liberty - often framed as ...