Examine United States Foreign Policy SInce WWII - Term Paper Example

It seeks to establish a strategy that will discuss the boundaries between the environment outside of the nation state and the domestic environment. For a well rounded foreign policy it is essential that it covers a wide array of sub-national sources of influence. The need for a foreign policy arises from the need to protect. Governments need some sort of a safety backing that ensures their country’s well being. The intent behind such policies is that they are designed to help guard a country.

They protect the country on the grounds of national security, national interests, ideological goals, and economic prosperity. Two extreme methods used by governments to achieve safety are peaceful cooperation with other nations and exploiting weaker nations.1 An excellent example of how one issue is dealt with in a different manner by different countries is related to the War on Terrorism launched by the United States of America. Pakistan and Iran although neighboring countries, chose opposing stances on the terrorism issue based on their individual foreign policies.

Pakistan decided to help America in the terrorism that prevails in the region whereas at the same time Iran which is Pakistan's neighbor and exists in the same region decided not to extend its support to combat terrorism in its neighborhood. Every country wants a peace process to prevail in a turbulent region and wants to help a country that is trying to solve the prevalent problem of terrorism. Given facts such as that the United States was willing to bear the major portion of the costs of war in return for some support and a little bit of resources, Iran chose not to help.

It was because of the history they share with America and their ideologies being complete opposite to each other’s. Exposition of such behaviors by countries in such delicate situations is driven by their foreign policy. Foreign policy of a country as the name suggests, governs a country's relationship with other countries in the international arena. Based on the example given above the obvious question that arises in the common man’s mind is related to what made Pakistan participate in the war on terror whilst Iran chose to stay aloof?

Why were the policies of neighbors that share a border with one another so different? Why were their reactions to the same situation so vastly opposing? It must be noted here that foreign policies are not set in stone; they tend to change overtime owing to a number of different reasons. Even in today's global arena we can see numerous examples of countries that were allies at one time but are arch enemies now. Changes such as these all take place based on how the foreign policy of a country looks at a certain point in time.

The guidelines, rather instructions contained in the foreign policy depend on a lot of factors. There are 3 key factors that influence the construct of most successful foreign policies. The framework of these factors includes domestic considerations, policies of other states and geopolitical objectives.2 There are several other reasons that push a country to opt for changes in its foreign policy. As the world progresses and with the advent of rapid globalization foreign policies are becoming more and more volatile.

A very obvious reason for changes is a country’s foreign policy is related to a changing government. Each government comes forth with its own unique manifesto, a document that dictates its stance on many issues, foreign policy being one very important