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Foreign policy:

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For the American magazine, see Foreign Policy. For the academic study of foreign policy, see Foreign policy analysis.

A country's foreign policy, also called the international relations policy, is a set of goals outlining how the country will interact with other countries economically, politically, socially and militarily, and to a lesser extent, how the country will interact with non-state actors. The aforementioned interaction is evaluated and monitored in attempts to maximize benefits of multilateral international cooperation. Foreign policies are designed to help protect a country's national interests, national security, ideological goals, and economic prosperity. This 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, it is the head of state who 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.

1 International relations theory
2 See also
- 2.1 Individual leaders
3 External links

[edit] International relations theory

Main article: 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.