Indo-Iranian Journal of Scientific Research (IIJSR)
Volume 2, Issue 1, Pages 119-130, January-March 2018
119 | P a g e Website: http://www.iijsr.com
A Review of External Factors That Determine Foreign Policy Formulation
Zainab Gimba1 and Sheriff Ghali Ibrahim2
1Department of Public Administration, University of Maiduguri.
2Department of Political Science and International Relations, University of Abuja.
Article Received: 30 November 2017 Article Accepted: 31 January 2018 Article Published: 13 March 2018
INTRODUCTION
Each nation has the right and power to secure the goals of her national interest in international relations. It is her
supreme duty to satisfy the needs of her people. Each nation wants to be self-reliant in all areas of activity.
However, in reality no nation can achieve cent per cent self-reliance and self-sufficiency. These are ideals towards
which a nation can try to move. The Foreign Policy of a nation is always made and implemented with an eye on the
situation in various regions of the world. A situational change in West Asia or South-East Asia or Africa
necessitates a change or modification of the foreign policies of many nations. ”Nations have always been
interdependent and these are bound to remain so even after attaining high levels of development. “Interdependence
has been an incontrovertible fact of international relations.” It compels every nation to get essentially involved in
the process of establishing and conducting relations with other nations. Each nation establishes diplomatic,
economic, trade, educational, cultural and political relations with other nations. For giving meaning and direction to
her relations with other nations, each nation formulates and adopts a Foreign Policy. It is through its foreign policy
that it tries to secure the goals of national interest in international relations. The behaviour of each nation in
international environment is always conditioned by its foreign policy.
International relations
International relations, to start with, is much broader than foreign policy and international politics in the sense that
it is the sum total of relationships among actors in the international system (Ofoegbu, 1998:2). The actors in the
international system include states of Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, and the United State of America; international
organization such as Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), African Union (AU), and the
United Nations Organization (UNO); Multinational Corporations such as Coca-cola, Paterson Zochonis, First
Bank; liberation movements such as Palestinian Liberation Organization, Hamas and Fatah; and individuals such as
Osama Bin Laden and Nelson Mandela. The relationships among these actors may include political, economic,
military, religious and socio-cultural. The political interactions may include opening up of embassies and exchange
of diplomats by states as well as their membership in international organizations. The economic interactions may
include trade between states. The military interactions may include signing of defence agreements and military
ABSTRACT
The paper delves into the external factors that shape and determine a state‟s foreign policy. It also examines some conceptual interpretations as it
relates to the making of foreign policy. The paper adopts library instrument of secondary research to generate its findings. The paper discovers that,
factors such as international organizations, public opinion, states action or inaction etc greatly affect the process of foreign policy formulation of
states. The paper concludes that these external factors are dynamic and they keep changing with the foreign policy posture of states. The paper
recommends drastic adoption of strategies in policy formulation that would be in tandem with a state‟s national interest.
Keywords: External Factors, Determine, Foreign Policy and Formulation
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