Foreign policy: defining the concept
Foreign policy has many definitions. There are common elements that feature in all of the definitions. It is important to identify these common elements in order to develop a good understanding of the concept. The common elements in many of the definitions of foreign policy that I have read are: national interest state actors non-state actors interaction international system A diagram showing the common elements Britannica includes the common elements of 'state' and 'interaction' in their definition. Foreign policy is made up of "general objectives that guide the activities and relationships of one state in its interactions with other states". The definition from Merriam-Webster is similar: "the policy of a sovereign state in its interaction with other sovereign states". The word foreign is defined by WordWeb as: "of concern to or concerning the affairs of other nations other then your own". Policy is defined as: "a line of argum