ABSTRACT
The study of foreign policy is an ever-changing story of how states, institutions and peoples engage with one another within a dynamic international system. Shaped by history and institutional practices, foreign policy makers navigate the increasingly blurred lines between domestic politics and external environments using instruments as varied as diplomacy, sanctions and new media to produce policies that further state interests. A dizzying array of characters – leaders, bureaucracies, militaries, lobbyists, think tanks, United Nations (UN) agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), terrorist and criminal organizations, as well as ordinary citizens – operate within this complex environment, exercising influences over foreign policy that results in vital decisions on war, peace and prosperity. To understand foreign policy, it is necessary to develop an appreciation for this layered complexity of international politics and to grapple with competing sources of influence. This includes the following questions:
• Do ideas, identity and history matter as much as material power in foreign policy?
