ABSTRACT
Individual nations, as we have seen, occupy positions within systems of states, and the nature of the system has a direct bearing on the making of foreign policy. The limitations on the behaviour of states and the opportunities open to them, however, are also influenced by historical experiences of long standing. The origins of the cold war cannot be wholly explained by reference to events which immediately precipitated it. Both the United States and the Soviet Union brought to those events sets of assumptions and practices which had their roots in the experience of nationbuilding. It is worth reminding ourselves, as Michael Howard has done recently, that the study of world affairs is about international relations, not merely interstate relations. International relations is about how nations deal with foreign cultures, about nations which speak different languages, think different thoughts and respond to common challenges in quite different ways (Howard 1989a).
