International policy news on international issues, diplomacy and foreign affairs from the Ford Dorsey Program in International Policy Studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
This year’s United Nations General Assembly is expected to offer a weave of jarring juxtapositions as global leaders gather amid lingering uncertainty over intractable wars in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan, growing concern over economic impacts of emerging artificial intelligence technology and anxiety over the impact of President Trump’s antipathy toward the world body.
International policy is the set of aims and strategies of a state in its interactions with other states and international organizations, formulated by domestic considerations and external threats or opportunities. It includes such activities as establishing and maintaining diplomatic relations, negotiating trade agreements, promoting foreign investment, providing humanitarian aid, and engaging in military alliances or arms control. It may also involve waging war or a desire to advance specific geopolitical designs.
The term “international policy” can be applied to all of these policies, and the development of international policy is a complex and interdependent process that affects and is affected by the policies of other actors in the world arena. The world’s most influential thinkers on the subject, from Leopold von Ranke to Francis Fukuyama, have developed different schools of thought about the nature of international politics and the underlying causes of its various crises.