Foreign Policy

Foreign policy of a state refers to the core principles and the strategic orientation guiding that state’s relations with political communities situated outside its sovereign territory. Usually, these political communities are other states; however, they can be other regional governments and other nonstate actors as well. Given the noninterference norm embedded in mutual recognition of sovereignty that forms the foundation of the state system, many states use the terms external relations or external affairs for their government ministries responsible for the conduct of their foreign policy, as is the case with India and was the case with Canada. With the deepening of globalization, the boundaries separating what is “external” or “foreign” to the state and what is an “internal” or “domestic” matter of the state ...