ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the foreign policy arena: that is to say, the terrain on which foreign policy is conducted, and the ways in which that terrain is ‘populated’ by forces which shape foreign policy making and implementation. The chapter looks at the arena in terms of the contexts within which policy emerges: the international context, the governmental context and the domestic context. It then moves on to examine three factors that structure the foreign policy arena: actors, issues and interests. The overall argument of the chapter is that the traditional insulation and ‘specialness’ of foreign policy has come under pressure from a number of forces which emphasise linkages and complexity, and that this has important implications for governmental decisions and actions.
