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Showing posts from January, 2017

Understanding foreign policy analysis

Throughout history we have read about the many heroes or heroines who changed the course of history. Almost all of them are human beings and not reptiles or amphibians. Thus, human beings are like fuel in a car that makes the car move or like flour in a cake. This understanding is the starting point for our discussion on foreign policy analysis. According to Hudson (2007, p. 4), foreign policy analysis is the study of human decision makers acting singly or in groups. Acting singly in a position of authority and power a human being like the President of the United States of America has the capability to make a decision that will change the world. This is evident is the current case involving the sanctions on Russian diplomats and intelligence officers. The accusation that the Russians influenced the outcome of the US presidential election prompted Barrack Obama to make such a decision.  To understand the factors that influence a single decision maker one must refer to the individual

Vision 2050, SDGs and IR

Vision 2050 strategic plan Sustainable Development Goals Connection Directional and enabling statement under international relations about increasing its bilateral relations with states and international organizations. Goal 17: Strengthening the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for development. Capacity-building - 17.9 Enhance international support for implementing effective and targeted capacity-building in developing countries to support national plans to implement all the sustainable development goals, including through North-South, South-South and triangular cooperation Knowledge of theories and concepts in international relations will help increase bilateral relations and strengthen cooperation to implement sustainable development goal 17. Directional and enabling statement under national security about PNG allocating funds to national security forces to guard our sea, land and air borders from external threats. Goal 16: Promote pe

Relevance of international law

As defined by Oxford (2003) international law is “a set of rules generally recognize by civilized nations as governing their conduct towards each other and towards each other’s citizens” . This definition gives us a good understanding of how this unit is connected to the program because it talks about rules governing the behaviour of nations. Apart from other strands within the program, the international relations strand is a very strong strand with around 9 units. The field of international relations is defined by Goldstein (2005) as; “The relationships among the world’s state governments and the connection of those relationships with other actors (such as the United Nations, multinational corporations, and individuals), with other social relationships (including economic, culture and domestic politics), and with geographic and historical influences” (p. 556). In international relations, nations operate in an anarchic system where there is no central form of authority unlike the