Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book explores the persistent search for national identity and foreign policy effectiveness in this transformed world. It explores in some detail that the analytical issues raised by the study of foreign policy, and provides an introduction to the notion of the 'foreign policy arena' and to those who participate in it. The book contains a number of boxes and tables. These are intended to provide schematic illustration of concepts or comparisons and to furnish basic data of the relevant regions and the states which occupy them. However, the approach is cognizant of these other actors, be they non-governmental organisations (NGOs), large transnational corporations, stateless nations such as Kosovo, Chechnya and Kurdistan or international organisations such as the European Union (EU), the United Nations (UN) and so on.