Foreign policy is how countries
try to influence each other in order to advance their own interests.
And there are many tools they can use in pursuit of this aim.
Those tools generally fall into three broad categories
political, economic and military.
The primary political tool is diplomacy -- all the ways in which one
country communicates with other countries, both at high
level meetings between leaders and regular interactions between country
representatives sent abroad as diplomats and ambassadors.
Their interactions can be in public or in private and can include
both friendly consultations as well as heated negotiations.
Direct diplomacy between countries allows for clear communication
of goals and priorities.
Negotiated agreements that address problems and coordinated action,
both in the economic category of tools, loans, aid,
and other forms of economic statecraft can generate goodwill, help
stabilize the country and increase its capacity to govern.
Countries that are given money and resources are often
more open to their benefactors' influence.
Trade policies are also used to influence other countries behavior
by offering access to domestic markets and foreign investment
as an incentive for other countries to act in favorable ways.
On the flipside, economic sanctions actively restrict other countries' ability
to trade and grow economically and can punish them for acting in
undesirable ways, potentially convincing them to change their behavior.
The most powerful
tools tend to be in the military category at times
when its use of other tools has failed or when it feels directly threatened.
One country will use armed force against another until it changes
its behavior, whether through limited air strikes or a full scale invasion.
Armed force can lead to war between two countries, which often
result in damage for both sides, with no clear cut winners or losers.
But military action between countries is often
prevented through the tool of deterrence.
That is convincing other countries that if they were to attack
the targeted countries, military and the militaries of its foreign partners
would be strong enough to cause serious damage to the attacking country,
thus discouraging or deterring it from attacking in the first place.
Another way to lower temperatures is through arms control agreements,
which can increase transparency and limit the development,
deployment, number, and use of the world's most dangerous weapons,
decreasing the likelihood and potential cost of any conflict.
Sometimes military action isn't about forcing
another country to do something, but rather helping it.
For example, if two countries are fighting or one is going through a civil war,
other countries can assist in peacekeeping,
sending in their military to try to stop the fighting and restore stability.
That said, some foreign policy tools like intelligence
fall into multiple categories.
Intelligence involves gathering information about another country.
If leaders have insights into what is going on in other countries
about what their leaders or citizens are thinking or doing.
They can use other foreign policy tools more strategically,
and they can share that intelligence with friendly countries.
Intelligence also includes covert actions working to influence political,
economic and military conditions abroad
without other countries knowing about their efforts.
Another tool that touches multiple categories is nation building.
This happens when countries attempt to build a functioning political, economic
and security institutions in other countries.
This tool often involves the use of several tools military
training, intelligence, humanitarian assistance, trade, and diplomacy.
Similarly, soft power is a tool that doesn't fit neatly into one category.
It's when a country gets other countries to adopt the same goals as their own
by demonstrating that its domestic and foreign policies are successful
and worth following.
This is often achieved by promoting its cultural and political values abroad.
There are many foreign
policy tools, and each tool can be wielded in various ways.
It's up to policymakers to figure out the best combination of tools
to use and determine when to use them in order to influence
other countries in ways that advance their own country's interests.