Foreign policy is the set of strategies a country chooses to use in order to safeguard its national interests in the world, often through diplomatic relations, economic engagement, and military alliances. Foreign policy includes diplomacy, negotiating trade agreements, managing regional security issues such as arms control and peacekeeping, and addressing global issues like human rights, terrorism, climate change, and pandemics through international cooperation and multilateralism.
Many of today’s biggest global challenges affect people around the world, including those in the United States. Whether it’s the COVID-19 pandemic, threats from autocrats and other rising powers, the effects of globalization on jobs, the environment or food insecurity, foreign policy leaders must work to ensure that all countries have the opportunity to grow and thrive.
In the United States, a number of federal agencies manage foreign policy through the Committee on Foreign Affairs, which oversees a wide range of issues ranging from advancing democracy and fighting HIV/AIDS in foreign countries to working with global partners to develop free-trade agreements. Congress also has six standing subcommittees that manage the specific aspects of foreign policy related to different regions of the world.
Many of these issues are complex and require the assistance of many different countries to resolve them. As a result, many of these issues need to be addressed through diplomatic relationships – the foundation of Foreign Policy – which requires a large and dedicated workforce based both in the United States and at American missions abroad.