LAGOS STATE POLYTECHNIC, IKORODU

DEPARTMENT: MASS COMMUNICATION

COURSE: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

LEVEL: HND I

GROUP ASSIGNMENT

ON

ESSENCE OF FOREIGN POLICY IN INTERSTATE RELATIONS

BY

GROUP 39

1. EGBA CHRISTIANA 2109072385

2. OJEDELE PELUMI ISREAL 2109072386

3. OPESEMOWO LANRE WALE 2109072387

4. OLADIMEJI HANNAH BOLUWATIFE 2109072390

5. OBILADE RUTH TENIOLA 2109072383

6. AGORE FAITH IFOMA 2109072382

7. ADEBUSUYI ENIOLA ADETOUNOLA 2109072388

8. EBUKA AJENIFUJA TAOFEEK 2109072389

9. ILESANMI JESUWAPELUMI EMMANUELLA 2109072381

10.BABATUNDE FATIMA ADESHOLA 2109072389

11.FABAMISE OLASUNKANMI GABRIEL 2109072384

INTRDOCUTION

After the treaty of Westphalia and the end of the First and Second World War, the international system has
witnessed an increasing growth in the development of nation states. The end product of this development is
thus, the creation of an interaction between these nation states. In addition, the establishment of United
Nations and the process of decolonization that has liberated many states into sovereign entities have further
provided the impetus to interrelationships among states. Such has resulted into the formation of ‘foreign
policies’. With the aim of determining and identifying the decisions, strategies, and ends of interaction of a
state with another. Furthermore, the modern world of “globalization”; the “widening, deepening and
speeding up of global interconnectedness” :has increased this interrelationships or interactions among
states. Hence, there is unanimity among scholars on the necessity of a “foreign policy” for each state, since
no state will like to function in complete isolation. This made scholars like Feliks Gross, to say that even a
decision to have no relations with a particular state is also a foreign policy. A state without a foreign policy,
has been compared to a ship in the deep sea without any knowledge of directions 3. Thus, foreign policy
leads a state in fulfilling its national interests and acquiring rightful place among comity of nations.
Meaning of Foreign policy
Foreign policy studies is an integral part of the study of international relation. it is quite apt that we first
understand what policy means. Policy can be viewed as a course of action or a reasoned choice emerging
from the consideration of competing options. Thus, before a policy action is reached, there are competing
actions that are considered by the principle of consensus known as choice. A policy cannot only be a range
of actions, it also represents principles influencing those actions or the purposes. They are intended to
serve. Interaction to effect these policies can be between and among individuals and can be between states
(Akinboye, 2007:115).

Foreign policy like any other social science concept has defied one universally acceptable definition.
There is no generally agreed decision on the definition of foreign policy. Hence different scholars have
attempted to define the concept from their own perspectives. The definitions of foreign range from short to
more detailed proportions. Akpotor, (2005:159) defined foreign policy as a well-documented programme
of action with institutionally designated officials who seek to manipulate the international environment in
order to achieve certain objectives. Grabb (1972) regards foreign policy to consist of national objectives to
be achieved and means of achieving them. According to Dauda (2002) foreign policy is seen as that
segment of public policy of a state that is concern with state relations to other states and international
organization. Aluko defined foreign policy as an institution between internal and external forces. Osita
posits that foreign policy could be understood as the actions and reactions of states targeted at the external
environment. Nnoli (1978) foreign policy is a nations reactions to the external environment involving the
organization as well as the changes in the international environment. From Nnoli’s definition it is assumed
that all international contact is related to foreign policy. However, this is not true, not all international
contact can be really associated with foreign policy. This is because foreign policy covers only such
activities which are sponsored, supported or are known by the government. It is therefore, clear that
actions which are international in character but which are conducted without the knowledge of the
government cannot be classified under foreign policy (Obi 2006:18).
Foreign policy can therefore be seen a type of policy that transcends the boundary of a given state. It is
that type of action a state embarks upon in its interaction with other member states in the international
environment, in the process of striving to attain its objectives and goals. Foreign policy can also be
conceptualized as a set of principles that define the objectives a given state pursue in the international
arena in the process of its interaction with other internal actors. It also represents the range of actions taken
by various sections of the government of a state in its relations with other bodies or states acting on the
international scene in order to advance the national interest of that particular state (Akinboye 2007:116).

In spite of the various definition of foreign policy, there is a common recognition that foreign policy is
about national goals and the means and ways of propagating and achieving them. It also includes a
common awareness that foreign policy is not only a byproduct of the external forces to which it is directed,
but it is also as much determined by domestic factors and forces (Dauda 2002:2).

The Nature of Foreign Policy

According to Dauda (2002:3);
1. Foreign policy is designed to promote, protect and defend a nation’s national interest such as
preservation of national sovereignty, the defense of territorial integrity, the promotion of economic,
military strategic and diplomatic interests, the increase and maintenance of power and prestige, to
communicate ones capability to both potential allies and adversaries. Also to secure and determine the
necessary external conditions for the cultural, social-economic as well as political development of her
people

2. To pursue these objectives, states in the international system irrespective of their political orientation
and levels of economic development use various methods and instruments of foreign policy to
influence, sometimes even dictate the role, orientations, objectives and actions of others state.

3. Foreign policy must have a sound domestic base that is, there must be resources that would enhance
the policy to achieve its objectives. If there is a poor synchronization at the resources level. It would
be difficult for a policy to attain its objectives.

4. Foreign policy must rest upon conceptions of aims and objectives. Foreign policy is not only the
preserves of government. In contemporary international system, many multinational organization exist
 to promote business or cultural valves. These organisations do articulate policies which are intended to
influence the international system. Policies of these organization sometimes influence foreign policy
of states

Components of Foreign Policy

Foreign Policy Objectives
Foreign policy objectives may be specific in relations to a particular problem and it could be general.
Foreign policy objectives of a country is a reflection of its national interest. National
interest here refers to some set of purposes which a nations seek to realise in its conduct of foreign policy
or relations. National interest could be normative or descriptive. Normative implies a civic concept of
national interest while descriptive explains national interest as those purpose which the nation through its
leadership appears to pursue persistently through time. The descriptive also tried to more out of the
metaphysical into the realm of facts. Hence objectives is essentially an image of future state of affairs and
future set of conditions that government through individual policy makers aspire to bring about by
wielding influence abroad and by changing and sustaining the behavior of other states.

Government usually purse incompatible objectives simultaneously and since they might not have the
means or power or resources to pursue them logically and simultaneously. It is the task of policy makers to
rank and choose among conflicting objectives. There is need not to only rank them but also to categorize
them into what Holsti referred to as core interest, middle range interest and long range interest.

Principles governing the selection of aims and goals of foreign policy.

The main objectives of a nation’s foreign policy are diverse. While some of these objectives or goals are
central to the survival of the nation, others are not so central to it even the survival of the nation, others are
not so central to it even though they are integrated within the larger interest of the international community
(Akinboye 2007: 117). The successful execution and survival of foreign policy depend on some certain
principles underlying the selection of policy goals. Among the more important of these are the principles
of;

1. Maintaining the integrity of the state the concept of internal national unity as opposed to national
security embraces the administration, control and governance of the territory of a state including taking
care of its citizen both at home and abroad.
2. Promoting economic interest: another principles underlying the selection of the goals of foreign policy
is the obligation of government to promote the welfare of the state. The world today has become a
global village. Even the greatest and most powerful nations on earth cannot enjoy economic prosperity
and high standard of living while remaining isolated from the channels of world commerce.
3. Providing for national security: national security constitute a principle underlying the determination of
policy objectives. The assumption that a nation’s foreign policy must be devised to protect it from
attack implies the possibility of danger. Thus the framers of policy must provide a defense against any
contingency that may likely arise.
4. Protecting national prestige: the fourth important principle guiding the formulation of foreign policy
goals and objectives is the maintance of national prestige. In the same way as individuals are concerned
with their personal reputation and prestige in the community in which they live, so a state is concerned
about its influence in relations to other states in international affairs.
5. Developing power: another important principle that constitute a guiding principle in the formulation of
policy goals is the acquisition of power. Power is leverage. It is the ability to initiate and control events
and to obtain result. Politics is defined in terms of struggle for power because in any given society, one
group is in possession of government and another seek its control. In this sense power is probably the
most universal of all the principles that condition foreign policy goals (Dauda 2002: 4-8).
International relations (IR) is a continuously popular subject. It concerns peoples and cultures all over the
world. The scope and complexity of the interactions between the various groups make IR a challenging
subject to master. IR is new and dynamic and has a special appeal to everybody. However, some people
perceive IR as a distant and abstract ritual conducted by a small group of people like presidents, generals
and diplomats. This assumption is not accurate because, although leaders play a major role in international
affairs, many other people participate as well. For instance, students and other citizens participate in
international relations every time they vote in an election or watch the news.

Concept of International Relations

Indeed, no nation can live in isolation independent of other nations. Whether big or small, rich or poor,
powerful or weak, every nation depends on other nations. This explains why all states in the international
system live in an atmosphere of interdependence and relationships. International Relations (IR) is the study
of these relationships and cooperation by international actors. These relationships linked with other actors
such as international organisations (IOs), non-governmental organisations (NGOs), transnational
corporations (TNCs) and notable individuals make them interdependent. What is relevant in our attempt to
understand the meaning of IR is the fact that people from different countries or societies get in contact and
interact or relate with one another in search of one objective or the other. These relations among people of
different nations representing governments, organisations, corporations, religious bodies, groups and
individuals are referred to as international relations. The concept of international relations comprises two
words; these are: ‘international’ and ‘relations’. The prefix ‘inter’ denotes between; from one to the other.
While ‘national’ is connected with a nation; or refers to share by a whole nation. Therefore, the word
international here indicates the involvement of people from two or more countries or societies. In the other
hand, the word ‘relation’ shows that the people do not just meet but as well interact or relate among
themselves. The ‘s’ at the end of the word relation connotes plurality of these interactions. The concept of
IR has two broad meanings. - IR as an activity and as an academic discipline. IR as an activity can be
viewed as interactions among people of different nationalities in one side representing states organisations,
corporations and international personalities.
Determinants/ factors that influence foreign policy
Foreign policy is a product of many factors and forces. Some of these factors are natural, while some are
man-made. These factors are mainly the factors conditioning the foreign policy of state. In devising its
foreign policy, a nation must consider certain basic facts of its existence with the domestic and external
environment.
The domestic environment
The domestic environment influence on foreign policy can be grouped into tangible element such as
geography and natural resources as well as intangible elements such as industrial, military, population, the
economy, influence of political parties and interest group.

1. Geographical situation: the geographical characteristics of size, topography, shape and climate are
important factors. A state with a sizeable territory, good climate, natural defense boundaries, arable
land for food production and a shape which is compact and easier to defend is seen as possessing the
necessary power potentials that enables a state to prosecute an independent foreign policy. Also the
geographical location of a country, to a very large extent determines its defense policies. A country like
Israel that is surrounded by hostile Arab neighbours would always have a foreign policy that is aimed
at containing Arab aggressiveness.
2. Military power: the military strength of a nation to a large extent influences its foreign policy.
Countries that are militarily strong often adopt aggressive posture on issues they feel strongly about.
Power is a means for serving national interest. Nations that are militarily strong, most often believe that
in international politics, might is right.
3. Natural resources: the natural resources that a state is endowed with can also be a decisive element or
capability of its foreign policy (Akinboye 2007:121). However, for the resources to have bearing on
policy, the decision makers must not only be aware of their existence, they must also have the human,
technological and financial capabilities to exploit them. The Arab nations is endowed with large
quantity of oil and employed this as a weapon during the Arab-Israeli war, when they had to place
embargo on oil supplies to countries that supported Israel.
4. Economic endowment factors: the ability of every state to pursue its foreign policy successfully
depends on its economic position. The developed countries because of their developed economics have
 been able to pursue their foreign policy quite successfully. While the poor ones have not been able to
record as much success. For instance, America’s interest in the gulf region is not because of its love for
the Arabs but simply because of its interest in oil and its desire to protect America’s companies
operating in the region.
5. Decision making process: foreign policy like domestic policies are products of various process. The
structure of government also plays a role in shaping a country’s foreign policy. The elite which make
these policies are human beings who have their individual preferences, world views and emotions. The
decisions which they to a large extent is a reflection of their personalities. Also the structure and
process of decision making vary from system to system. The constitutional channels through which
decision making process flows also affect the nature of those decision.
6. Population: the size and socio-economic status of a nation’s population constitutes another intangible
element of foreign policy. Population is a factor in the strength of nations. A nation population helps in
her military might because a nation with a very small population may not have enough soldiers to turn
it into a strong nation. A country like China became a world power because of its population.
7. Public opinion: as a factor in foreign policy making is particularly important in real democratic
countries where government cannot easily go against the grain of public opininon.one major issues,
organized pressure groups can galvanize public opinion to favour their own interest and force the
government into choosing a policy that they prefer. For example, in Nigeria, the often cited example of
how pressure groups can affect foreign policy is the Anglo-Nigeria Defence pact of the first republic,
which was completely denounced by Nigerian students. The rejection of this policy by students and the
opposition party (Action group) forced the Balewa government to abrogate it.

The external environment

The nature of foreign policy makes the process of its decisions making susceptible to influences external to
the state. This is expected. The international system to which foreign policies are directed is composed of
foreign independent states, entities over which the initiating state has no authority or jurisdiction. Changes
in the international power structure may bring about fundamental changes in the objectives and actions of
states. Apart from international power configuration, the structure of international economic relations also
affect the options available to states.

1. International law: the existence of international law and international ethical norms acts in greater or
lesser degree to limit the freedom to manevour of states in the system. States in their own interest do
observe these laws and norms most of the time, despite the absence of an enforcement agency.
2. International organization: a country’s foreign policy options is also often affected by its membership
of international organization. The existence of many of these institutions which are established for a
 variety of reasons ranging from cultural to economic and political strategic is a major feature of the
post 1945 international system. Member states policies are usually affected by the nature of the
particular institution and its policy objectives on the one hand, and the effect of their institutional
membership on the policies of other states towards them on the other hand.

In their own classification, Padelford, Lincoln and Olvey (1976) divided the determining factors of foreign
policy into two broad categories: subjective and situational factors. While subjective factors covers
national interest; the situational factors covers the international environment. The subjective factors are;
internal factors; psychological factors; internal public opinion, policy makers and proposed policy.
The situational factors are: internal situation and external situation.
1. Internal factors: the internal factors are problems associated with preservation, security and
welfare of the state, the size, geography, population and the economic needs of the state. Since all
states have these problems or concerns, but in varying degree, their impact on their foreign policy
vary. However, it is an established fact that these factors are taken into consideration when
formulating foreign policy.
2. Psychological factors: this includes elite image, attitude, valves, belief, experiences, ideologies
and analogies shared collectively by the people of a nation and which invariably affects the foreign
policy decision of that nation.
3. Public opinion: the opinion of the generality of the people in a nation affect government policies,
foreign policy inclusive.
4. Importance of decision makers: policy choice flow from the composite image of decision
making elites within the political system. How the policy makers interpret what the national
interest is and their perception of international issues would definitely affect their foreign policy
decisions.
5. Proposed policy: when a nation formulates a policy on its external relations, it becomes a
proposed policy to other nations and if it is favourably accepted and beneficial to the host nation.
However, such policies can change if it comes under heavy criticisms or there are immense
pressure on the proposing nation, not to implement it, or continue its implementation. Thus a
proposed policy is not a fixed policy but for as long as it remains unchanged it does determine the
behavior of a nation.
Situational factors
Situational factors are divided into two categories: internal and external situations.
The internal factors include the capability of a nation and its power position. The external factors are
three namely:
1. International organization: organizations such as the United Nations that are concerned with
 maintaining world peace. Their interest is merely maintaining the status-quo.
2. World public opinion: world public opinion is dynamic. It is constantly changing and nations try
through their actions not to go against it.
3. Reaction of friendly states: it is axiomatic to state that every country in the world has friendly
countries, whose opinions and views on issues it valves. In pursuing a particular policy, the
reaction of such countries may deter a nation from continuing with an action because in most cases
countries do not want to hurt their allies who may be very useful one way or the other.
Conclusion
In conclusion, foreign policy plays an enormous role in the international affairs of a state. Without a
properly formulated foreign policy, a state is tended to lose its position and prestige in world affairs and
will eventually lead to a decline in achieving its national interest, whereas the opposite is true of countries
with well formulated foreign policies. Thus, fully understanding the meaning and concept of the term
foreign policy is quite important for both policy makers, students and researchers.
The foreign policy of every state is influenced by mainly two determinants; ‘international’/external and
‘domestic’/internal. These are considered as factors which help in shaping and moulding foreign policy of
a country. However, the linkage between international and domestic determinants has long been a widely
debated topic in the field of international relations and Foreign Policy Analysis (FPA) in particular. While
others argue that domestic politics and foreign policy are two ‘independent’ arenas of issue, others are of
the view that foreign policy and domestic politics are ‘interdependent’ and could spill over into each other.
Since foreign policy in general is about the interaction of a state with another, this interaction only takes
place at the ‘international’ level and as such, cannot be ignored in analysing the foreign policy of any state.
Hence, the international system or power structure, international law, international organizations, alliances,
and military strength or arm race, all influence foreign policy implementation.
The internal environment of a state also influences the nature and course of its foreign policy. Countries
differ in size, socioeconomic development and political regime. They also differ in their political
institutionalization and societal structures, military and economic capabilities, and strategic cultures. In the
same vain, public opinion, national role conceptions, decision making rules and personality traits of
political leaders vary from one state to another. These differences directly affect both foreign policy
making process and foreign policy decisions. By this, it is argued that the stuff of foreign policy derives
from issues of domestic politics as well as foreign relations. While both school of scholars made
convincing arguments, however, the level of influence between domestic and international determinants of
foreign policies varies from state to state and the political environment in which these states exist. In some
cases, international factors play a major role, whereas in other cases, domestic determinants are more
important.
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