Introduction

Simply defined, ‘foreign policy’ means protecting a country’s interests at the international level. Changes in foreign policy have accelerated since the end of the Cold War: at the global level, the United Nations (UN) and multilateral action have taken on greater importance, even as the search for new principles of order continues. At the regional level, the European Union (EU) has expanded while also increasing its depth. Non-state actors such as international organisations, transnational companies, and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have grown more influential, thanks to increasing globalisation and international overlap. Meanwhile, nation-state borders have lost significance. The content and implementation of foreign policy has, naturally, grown more complicated.