A foreign policy doctrine is a general statement of foreign policy and belief system through a doctrine. In some cases, the statement is made by a political leader, typically a nation’s chief executive or chief diplomat, and comes to be named after that leader. Richard Nixon’s justification for the phased withdrawal of the United States from Vietnam, for example, came to be called the Nixon Doctrine. This pattern of naming is not universal, however; Chinese doctrines, for example, are often referred to by number.
The purpose of a foreign policy doctrine is to provide general rules for the conduct of foreign policy through decisions on international relations. These rules allow the political leadership of a nation to deal with a situation and to explain the actions of a nation to other nations. “Doctrine” is usually not meant to have any negative connotations; it is especially not to be confused with “dogma.”
Read more about Foreign Policy Doctrine: China, Germany, India, Japan, Mexico, Russia / Soviet Union, United Kingdom, United States
Famous quotes containing the words foreign policy, foreign, policy and/or doctrine:
“A régime which invented a biological foreign policy was obviously acting against its own best interests. But at least it obeyed its own particular logic.”
—Albert Camus (1913–1960)
“As the global expansion of Indian and Chinese restaurants suggests, xenophobia is directed against foreign people, not foreign cultural imports.”
—Eric J. Hobsbawm (b. 1917)
“There is absolutely no evidence—developmental or otherwise—to support separating twins in school as a general policy. . . . The best policy seems to be no policy at all, which means that each year, you and your children need to decide what will work best for you.”
—Pamela Patrick Novotny (20th century)
“The doctrine of equality!... But there exists no more poisonous poison: for it seems to be preached by justice itself, while it is the end of justice.... “Equality for equals, inequality for unequals”Mthat would be the true voice of justice: and, what follows from it, “Never make equal what is unequal.””
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)