Interactions Foreign Policy to Benefit Different Nations - Term Paper Example

Foreign Policy Introduction Foreign policy refers to the country’s policies strategically developed to enable the country to interact with other counties and as a result benefits adequately from this interaction. But according to Tuch (1990), foreign policy is a government’s process of communicating with foreign countries in an attempt to enhance understanding for ideas and principles of its nation, its culture and institutions as well as its national policies and goals. The main objective of these interactions is to enable different nations to benefit from one another. The country’s foreign policies are always written by high level personalities in the government. This writing involves a high level decision making process where the government decides on how it will interact with other countries and evaluate on what they are likely to lose in comparison to what they will gain from the relationship(Harper, 1959). In this regard, the government is the one which make the policies that affects the relationship with other countries. The economic growth of a country normally occurs through the process of positive cooperation with other nations peacefully. Normally, countries enter into the foreign treaties in order to achieve its objectives normally in terms of economic development through doing business with foreign countries without compromising its sovereignty but ensuring that good relationship exists between them (Andrews, 1984). Evatt staked a claim to this ground at the outset when Australia opposed the incorporation of the amendments that had been agreed among the Great Powers into the Dumbarton Oaks document, before the amendments from other countries were considered. He claimed that it would be very wrong procedure to treat the amendments of any power or group of powers as the basic document. This initial opposition to preferential treatment demonstrated to the smaller and middling nations that Australia would defend their interests before the Great Powers. More substantially, Evatt fought two major fights against the Security Council veto, and in favor of broadening the ambit of the General Assembly. His position was that the Great Powers should only be able to veto economic or military sanctions against themselves. Evatt and the New Zealand representative led a last-ditch effort to exclude the veto from discussions related to peaceful settlement over three days of vigorous debate. They lost that vote 10 to 20 with 15 abstentions. It is generally agreed that the abstainers supported the amendment in principle but the threat by the Great Powers that there would be no United Nations without the veto carried the day. The only concession was that a party to a dispute could not block discussion and proposals by the Security Council for 'peaceful settlement (Andrews, 1984), but beyond that any of the permanent members could veto proposals for action. Evatt also participated in the formulation of the Chapter in the Charter on trusteeship, which formed the basis for the subsequent involvement of the UN in decolonization, and he led in moving other successful amendments. In total, Australia filed thirty-eight distinct amendments of substance, of which twenty-six were adopted without material change, adopted in principle or made unnecessary by other alterations. There are cases in which some countries enters into agreement with another country with an aim of exploiting it, for example, a developed nation getting into an agreement with a developing country to provide technology for mining, but instead the foreign companies carrying out the mining will be the ones to benefiting more than the locals in the developing nations. This will only increase the economic growth of the developed nation while living the developing nation’s poor. This requires that a government should be careful while drafting foreign policies. (Harper, 1959). One of the reasons why United Nations was established was to ensure that the interaction between countries will not reach a point where one country influence the sovereignty of another one, hence there will be good co-existence between nations. Therefore, the formation of united nation will ensure that all countries benefit from international relation. If the nations relate according to the United Nations rules and regulations, there could be no quarrel between different countries. But sometimes, some countries opt to ignore the united nation regulations and signed treaties outside the regulations and such treaties have lead to the exploitation of other countries without realizing. During the interactions of a nation with other nations, the most important thing is the interests of the nation. In this case, all the interactions of the country with any other country must therefore take in to consideration of the main benefits which the state will get from the interactions of that country with the rest. In the general view, a country will interact with another having an objective of benefiting the country itself. Therefore it is the countries interests which are a driving factor in the process of foreign interactions with any other nation. A country employs various approaches so that the country can interact with other countries. The country usually interacts with this other nations so that it can maximize the benefits of the multinational trade among other things so that it will be possible for them to become better than they were. In this regard, there is the national interest at hand when a country is entering into an international agreement with another. Basics of Foreign Policy The foreign policies of different nations have certain basics. These basics are what it defines the country’s reason why it has entered into an agreement with a certain country, since a country must ensure that there is proper arrangement in the policies signed between them to prevent one nation from being exploited by another one. Each an every country in the world has one thing in common in their international relations, this is to ensure that the country benefits from the relation and ensure that there is a good relationship to avoid misunderstanding that might lead to a break in the relationship. The most fundamental things that a country should considered in the relationship with another country in terms of foreign relations are the country’s objectives, how these objectives will be attained, and other influences which will either limit it or advance its objectives. Objectives The country’s objectives should be formulated clearly and be aware of what they are and therefore work towards advancing them. The first thing that should be considered before a country drafts its foreign policies is what the country is aiming at and once the policies are drafted the government should be fully aware of what the policies should achieve. This will ensure that a country will not formulate policies that will contradict its objectives and will not in any way affects the interests of the citizens. Sometimes a country has various interests in foreign countries that are essential for its development. A country which is interacting with another country usually must ensure that it advances it goals and objectives and therefore not to interfere with the achievement of these objectives. Without achieving these objectives, the country will have no meaning in engaging in such an international policy since there will be no an added advantage. The country usually takes into consideration the important things which it will achieve from such an international relationship and therefore ensure that there is no interference with it. Nations will have various objectives in the process of interacting with other nations. The country will seek into opportunities in which it will benefit. For example, some countries in the west which need some things like oil usually enter into international agreements with other countries which are producing oil. In this case, the state which needs oil but does not produce oil will usually enter into such negotiations so that they will get oil. They negotiate with such a country with one objective that they will get oil. This means that the country will not accept being given anything less than what they need (Lee, David, 1995). Another example is where the country needs some security from another nation. In this case, the nation which needs the security will ensure that the country does not negotiate into any activity which will not give the country which it needs. It is therefore very important that the nation sets its objectives which will ensure that there is no compromise to the objectives. In this regard, the country will consider if it will acquire the security which it needs from that country. The objectives of a country are very necessary in which the country has based its agendas of development. In this case, it is not appropriate for the government to enter into any deal which will jeopardize the attainment of these goals and objectives. This is because the country will compromise its objectives. This is because the country will not be able to achieve its objectives. The failure of the country to follow its objectives will make the country to get exploited. Countries which do not have solid objectives are likely to be exploited in the process of the negotiations. A country which seems not to be very careful with its objectives is likely to be compromised in the negotiations. It is this which causes the country to be exploited in the international agreements. The countries which are in the developing world usually at times do not have solid objectives, making them very easily exploited by the western countries. This makes the country less likely to benefit from the international agreement. Objectives are important because they will define the countries interest in all the bilateral agreements. In these objectives, there are the definitions of the countries wishes and thus things which need to be achieved in the whole process of the agreements. The country will then seek partners who are able to help the country achieve those objectives. The countries which have the capability of fulfilling their objectives are then able to enter into negotiations with that country. The objectives will clearly define the terms with which the country will enter into any negotiations with any country. Without that, the country cannot be able to define what they want and which countries it will enter into international agreements with (Andrews, 1994). Before the senior government enters into these agreements, they will first ensure that there is the possibility of that country helping that country to achieve its objectives. This means that the government will enter into agreements depending on what they perceive will benefit them and therefore make it possible to achieve that. This will mean that the country clearly evaluates the other country’s ability to achieve its objectives. For example, a country whose objective is to get oil will not enter into any negotiations with another country which does not produce oil. This is because the country will not be able negotiate with any other country which has no the capability of attaining the objectives. This is why most of the nations will not be able to enter into international agreements with other countries because they lack the potential of attaining objective of most of the countries which they can enter into agreements with it (Crisp, & Ben, 1993). Obtaining of the Objectives The objectives of a country should be formulated and determined if it is attainable. Before a country enters into a bilateral agreement, it should first formulate its objectives and see if the country that it is expecting to go into agreement with is able to meet its objectives. The government should also study those country foreign policies, the mode of doing business in that country and its stability first because a country might be willing to partner with but its foreign policies might affect country sovereignty. The attaining of the objectives is usually carried in various ways. Some countries even enter into international relationships which will adversely affect the other countries and therefore exploit them. This can explain the reason as to why some countries usually exploit others for the sake of achieving their goals. The country should ensure that they enter into agreements and do their best to achieve those objectives. This is because the countries set objectives are very important and they need to be achieved. Recently, there have been the situations where some countries exploit others. The countries have been accused of trying to exploit other countries, making them help them achieve their objectives and the other country not achieving its objectives. The state usually tries to make all it can to attain their objectives. The agreement may be very good in such a way that the country will benefit a lot and achieve all the objectives, but this is very useful if the country is not able to attain the objectives. For example, if a country enters into negotiations with another country to mine oil, it must make the effort of mining the oil and thus be able to have it. Without such, the country will still have the agreement authorizing them to exploit the oil but not benefit from it. The attaining of the objectives may either be peaceful through agreements or by force, through wars. In the peaceful attainment of the objectives, the country enters into an agreement with another country and they agree to be in a bilateral relationship in which both of the countries will, benefit. This therefore will make both of the countries to have some benefit from that agreement. The countries are usually in some business agreements and makes sure they all attain their objectives. This is the most important type of foreign policies which are advocated by the international organizations such as the United Nations. The countries will enter into these agreements based on the mutual understanding between the countries (Day, 1996). The other way in which a country can be able to achieve its objectives is the use of force. In this case, the country will need to use its military power to force some type of an action in another country so that it fulfills its objectives. An example is the United States invasion of the state of Iraq in which the United States argued that their interest was in the maintenance of security in that country. This is because the United States viewed Iraq as a country which was threatening the security of the world and that of United States specifically and therefore affecting the objectives of the United States. This was because the Iraq state was thought to be manufacturing weapons of mass destruction such as the nuclear weapons and therefore putting the security of Americans at risk. To achieve this objective, the United States tried to negotiate with Iraq government to stop the production of such weapons but the government was not cooperative. Since the United States needed to achieve its objectives by all means, they had to use military power to control the continued manufacture of mass weapons which would put the Americas security at risk (Waters, 1996). The use of force is what People like Evatt were against. Evatt advocated for the international policies which were not favoring a certain nation because it was a powerful nation or because it had a powerful army. As a result, Evatt differed with superior nation such as the United Kingdom and the United States as he advocated for the United Nations to control the type of negotiations the countries will enter into. In his views, countries like the United States were exploiting other poor and small countries because they had the power and the ability to force them (Evans, Gareth, 1997). Evatt view of the foreign policy was that the countries must enter into agreements which are not exploitative to the other state. He was particularly not happy with the United States protection of the Australia as this was exploiting the country. He proposed that the weak countries should be protected by the United Nations so that it will be possible for them to exist in the international space without being exploited. This means that there will be no poor nations will be exploited in all negotiations (Cumpston, 1994). Influences Affecting Attainment of Objectives When drafting foreign policies, many countries consider first whether there are factors that could hinder them from attaining the country objectives. These factors or influences can either advance the attainment of the objectives or reduce the ability of a state from attaining its objectives. These are the factors that will determine the country’s ability to achieve its objectives in a country that has entered into partnership with. If a country finds that the factors are favorable for its attainment of the objectives, then the government should go ahead and engage that country in business. But if the government finds that there are some factors that could adversely hinders from attaining the projected objectives, then the country authority should be careful in entering into such agreements with countries that has the potential of doing business with but it has some factors that could limit free engagement. (Curthoys, 1984). For example, political factors are some of the factors that could influence the attainment of the objectives. Usually, when there is political stability in a country you want to partner with, there is a high likelihood of not having a peaceful operation which will then be a disadvantage. For a country to achieve its objectives from the partnership with another country, its atmosphere should be conducive for the engagements. Which means that in a country that is politically unstable, the chance of that country fulfilling the objectives of another country is very minimal? Hence many countries avoid entering into international agreements with countries that are politically unstable. The change in leadership of a country is an important factor before a country enters into an agreement with any other country. Many people consider the possibility of changing the overall leadership of a country as a favorable condition because of the fact that with the change in the overall leadership of the country, it will prevent the future leaders that will be elected from revoking the past treaties that could have been made with other countries. This may become a catastrophic since the leader who signed the agreement will have retired and the new leaders want a change. That is the why many nations will opt not to enter into the international agreement with other countries when they are about to change its leadership. Some new leaders have been very disappointing to the foreigners who signed agreement with the previous leaders. When this new leaders gets into power, they revoke all the agreements which the country had with some interested international partners without considering the benefits the country gain from those partners. As a result of this, most of the countries will opt to wait until the country change its leadership and then enter into international agreements. The reason behind this is that, before there is another change in leadership, the country will have attained its objectives from that country. War is another factor that is not favorable to the attainment of the objectives of the country that is partnering with. This is an important factor because a country that is in a state of war is not in a position of allowing the development of another country’s objectives. In addition, a country that is in a state of war cannot be safe enough for other country to send its representatives there. It is therefore very important that a country should first consider the possibility of war in country it wants to partner with before entering into any international agreement with. The international organizations are also factors that may limit or advance objectives attainment. These organizations such as the United Nations have a role to assist developing countries especially to boost its economic development. In their support, the United Nations ensures that the developing countries are not abused by the developed countries. Therefore, UN always monitors developed nations when making foreign policies towards the developing countries in order that the policies they made are favorable to the developing countries. By doing this, the United Nations will be limiting the ability of the developed countries from achieving their objectives in developing countries. On the other hand, the United Nations can advance the country objectives in relating countries. For example, if there is insecurity in a certain country and that insecurity are threatening the security of business in another country. The country that wants to advance its objectives in that country with the security problem will be complimented by the United Nations by helping boost the security in that country. Anti-Americanism refers to the notion that some people are against the ideologies of the United States. The reason why people from different countries do not like United States has been more of an attitude than the substance thus making them to oppose the policies of United States out of ignorance. Evatt ideas were against the government of United States. He developed these notions because he was against developed countries that exploit the developing countries since his consciousness tell him that United States was exploiting poor countries and as a result of this criticism against the United States government he earned a negative publicity from the Americans. Evatt insisted that United States should not control poor countries through unrealistic foreign policies that lead to exploitation and mistreatment of the developing nations. He stands against the United States since he was concerned about its interference with other countries based on the fact that it is a superpower (Millar 1991). Conclusion Countries foreign policies should be tailored according to that country objective. The most important thing in a country is to ensure that the foreign policies do not compromise the countries objectives and sovereignty. Before a country enters into any international treaty with a different country, first the government should ensure that the country that is about to enter into an agreement with has a good environment and good foreign policies that could support the country advance its ambitions. A country should also formulate ways through which it will help attain its objectives and also considers possible factors that could lead the country not to achieve the objectives it is targeting. Bibliographies Andrews, Eric. A History of Australian Foreign Policy. Melbourne: Longman Cheshire, l984. Bell. Coral. Dependent Ally. 3rd ed. (Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 1993), 90. Buckley, Roger, Barbara Dale and Wayne Reynolds, Doc Evatt. (Melbourne: Longman Chesire, l994), 89. Crisp, L.F. & Ben Chifley: A Political Biography. Sydney: Angus and Robertson, 1977. Crockett, Peter. Evatt: A Life. (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1993), 45. Cumpston, I. M. A History of Australian Foreign Policy. (Canberra: Union Offset, l995) ch. 37-38. Curthoys, Ann and Merritt, John. Australia‟s First Cold War: Society, Communism and Culture. Vol.1. (Sydney: Allen and Unwin, 1984), 56. Day, David. Brave New World: Dr. H.V. Evatt and Australian Foreign Policy. (St. Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 1996). Evans, Gareth. The Labor Tradition: A View From the 1990s. In Evatt to Evans: the Labor Tradition in Australian Foreign Policy. Ed. David Lee and Christopher Waters, 11-22. (Sydney: Allen & Unwin, l997), 17. Evatt, H.V. Australia in World Affairs. Sydney: (Angus and Robertson, 1946). Harper, Norman. A Great and Powerful Friend. St Lucia: Queensland University Press, l987. Hudson, W. J. Australia and the New World Order. (Canberra: ANU Press, l993). Harper, N. and Sissons, D. Australia and the United Nations. (New York: Manhattan Publishing Company, 1959). Lee, David. Search for Security: The Political Economy of Australia‟s Postwar Foreign and Defence Policy. (Sydney: Allen and Unwin, 1995), 78. Millar, T. B. Australia in Peace and War: External Relations Since l788. (Canberra: ANU Press, l991). Waters, Christopher. Liberal Internationalism in Practice: H.V. Evatt and the Iranian Crisis of 1946. In Brave New World: Dr. H.V. Evatt and Australian foreign policy .Ed.David Day, 82-101. (St. Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 1996 ), 89. Read More