ABSTRACT
What then do states (including communities and unions of states) want of one another? What, as economists say, are their demands on each other and on the system? Each independent political entity has certain goals or objectives which it-or more specifically its government —wishes to achieve, certain things which the government and perhaps the people also wish to say and do. These goals, which reflect the values of the people, may be publicly proclaimed, or they may be unspoken and perhaps only half consciously held. Sometimes a government proclaims goals which are quite different from those it actually pursues. Because this is the language of politics, much is written about the policies of leaders and political parties and governments in terms of long-term goals. But a goal is something outside you, something fixed and immovable, at the end of the road or the other side of the field. Goals certainly come into the diplomatic dialogue between states, and especially into that part of it which is conducted in public. But what almost all states ask of one another in their day-to-day relations, what they discuss and negotiate with one another about most of the time, are their more immediate needs and requirements, and their responses to pressures and circumstances. Indeed, a government’s responses to pressures, its manner of coping with problems not of its own choosing, usually go far in determining its external policy. Of course the policies of a government are modified by its long-term goals and objectives, and its responses determined by its values: though often much less than governments like to proclaim.
