--- title: Foreign Policy description: This field analyzes how states formulate and implement their strategies in the international arena. Learners will understand decision-making processes, diplomatic tools, and the domestic and international factors that influence national foreign policies. category: social-sciences subcategory: international-relations difficulty: beginner, intermediate, advanced url: /subject/foreign-policy --- # Foreign Policy This field analyzes how states formulate and implement their strategies in the international arena. Learners will understand decision-making processes, diplomatic tools, and the domestic and international factors that influence national foreign policies. ## Available Resources 4 Books • 1 Courses • 5 Websites ## Courses ### 1. Global Diplomacy – Diplomacy in the Modern World The Global Diplomacy course is a unique offering to the MOOC environment. Bringing together cutting edge research in the broad fields of Diplomatic and International Studies, award winning distance learning delivery and the instructors previous experience of delivering a successful MOOC. Please see the volume Global Diplomacy: Theories, Types and Models authored with Dr Alison Holmes, (Westview, 2016), and the Understanding Research Methods MOOC from Coursera. The Global Diplomacy MOOC has a direct heritage in the University of London International Academy/SOAS Global Diplomacy MA Programme launched in April 2013 which have attracted hundreds of students from around the world. The Global Diplomacy MA Programme is provided by the Centre for International Studies and Diplomacy which has been teaching postgraduate courses in Diplomacy for over twenty five years. After completing the 'Global Diplomacy' MOOC, learners will have: 1. The ability to demonstrate a critical understanding of the nature and development of global diplomacy, drawing on a variety of relevant contributing disciplines in the broad field of International Studies. 2. An understanding of changes in diplomatic practices and procedures and the relationship of those changes to contemporary politics. 3. A sound grounding in both theoretical and empirical approaches to debates in diplomacy so that students have been exposed to the and skills needed to analyse global diplomacy. 4. knowledge of issues in global diplomacy in historical and contemporary contexts. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.coursera.org/learn/global-diplomacy **Tags:** diplomacy, international-relations, global-governance, foreign-policy ## Websites ### 1. Brookings Institution Washington-based think tank publishing commentary, working papers, and book-length studies across economics, governance, foreign policy, and metropolitan development. Useful for tracking how established scholars argue current policy debates and for locating primary data behind widely cited claims. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.brookings.edu/ **Tags:** think-tank, policy-analysis, economic-policy, governance, foreign-policy ### 2. foreignpolicy.com ForeignPolicy.com is a magazine-style site offering in-depth reporting, analysis, and commentary on global politics, diplomacy, security, economics, and international policy. It provides breaking news, feature articles, expert analysis, and data-driven graphics across international affairs. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://foreignpolicy.com **Tags:** websites, humanities-social-sciences, international-relations ### 3. cfr.org cfr.org is the online home of the Council on Foreign Relations, a leading nonprofit think tank focused on U.S. foreign policy and global affairs. It provides expert analysis, policy briefs, reports, backgrounders, data, and multimedia on geopolitics, along with events and interactive features. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://cfr.org **Tags:** websites, humanities-social-sciences, geography ### 4. state.gov Official portal of the U.S. Department of State, outlining U.S. foreign policy and diplomacy. Explore press statements, speeches, country and policy briefs, travel advisories, visa and consular information, and other diplomatic updates. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://state.gov **Tags:** websites, humanities-social-sciences, international-relations ### 5. fpa.org FPA.org is the site of the Foreign Policy Association, providing nonpartisan, educational resources on international affairs. It offers issue briefs, background articles, teaching materials, and information about programs and events to help individuals and classrooms understand global policy challenges. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://fpa.org **Tags:** websites, humanities-social-sciences, international-relations ## Podcasts ### 1. Power Problems **Author:** Cato Institute Cato Institute podcast offering a skeptical, restraint-oriented take on U.S. foreign policy. Hosts and guests from across the political spectrum debate alliances, military intervention, great-power competition and defense spending, helping listeners weigh arguments about American grand strategy. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** en | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.cato.org/rss/multimedia/power-problems **Tags:** us-foreign-policy, international-security, grand-strategy, restraint ### 2. The President’s Inbox **Author:** Council on Foreign Relations A rising China. War in Europe. A warming planet. The United States faces a complex and rapidly changing world. With more than four million downloads, The President’s Inbox goes beyond the headlines as host James M. Lindsay speaks with leading experts about how the United States should respond to global challenges and opportunities that are shaping the future. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** en | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.cfr.org/podcasts/presidents-inbox **Tags:** us foreign policy, international relations, geopolitics, current affairs ### 3. Pod Save the World **Author:** Tommy Vietor and Ben Rhodes Weekly podcast from Crooked Media in which former Obama National Security Council officials Tommy Vietor and Ben Rhodes discuss current global events, US foreign policy decisions and national security. Listeners get insider context on diplomacy, though the commentary is openly partisan. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** en | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.crooked.com/podcast-series/pod-save-the-world/ **Tags:** us-foreign-policy, national-security, geopolitics, diplomacy, current-affairs ### 4. The CEPA Podcast **Author:** Alina Polyakova Interview podcast from the Center for European Policy Analysis, hosted by its president Alina Polyakova, featuring diplomats, military leaders, officials and technologists on transatlantic security, European defense, the war in Ukraine and technology policy. Listeners gain context on current US-European foreign policy debates. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** en-us | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.buzzsprout.com/2455633 **Tags:** transatlantic-relations, european-security, foreign-policy, geopolitics, defense-policy ### 5. War on the Rocks **Author:** Ryan Evans Discussions over drinks with security, defense, and foreign policy insiders and experts. The original War on the Rocks podcast series. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** en | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://warontherocks.com **Tags:** national-security, defense-policy, military-strategy, foreign-policy, podcast ## Books ### 1. Foreign Policy: Theories **Author:** Steve Smith, Amelia Hadfield, Tim Dunne Oxford University Press textbook covering foreign policy analysis: theoretical approaches, the actors and institutions that make decisions, and case studies of crises. Readers finish able to apply competing analytical frameworks to real state decisions. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0199215294?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** books, humanities-social-sciences, international-relations ### 2. Diplomacy **Author:** Henry Kissinger Kissinger's survey of European and American statecraft from Richelieu through the Cold War, organized around balance-of-power thinking. Readers come away understanding how realist logic has shaped alliances, negotiation, and great-power behavior across three centuries. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0684855674?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** books, humanities-social-sciences, international-relations ### 3. Special Providence **Author:** Walter Russell Mead Mead argues that American foreign policy has been driven by four competing traditions: Hamiltonian, Wilsonian, Jeffersonian, and Jacksonian. Readers gain a framework for identifying which school is shaping a given administration's choices abroad. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0415935369?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** books, humanities-social-sciences, international-relations ### 4. The Jakarta Method: Washington's Anticommunist Crusade and the Mass Murder Program that Shaped Our World **Author:** Vincent Bevins Vincent Bevins traces the 1965 Indonesian mass killings and the anticommunist extermination programs the United States supported across a dozen countries. Readers come away understanding how Cold War violence shaped the politics of the global South. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/1541724003?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** cold-war, indonesia-1965, us-foreign-policy, anticommunism, global-south --- *This content is part of Dantes.io - Your Treasure Map to Knowledge* *Curated by humans at Dantes.io. Personal study use welcome; republishing this curation requires permission (team@dantes.io).* View this page online: https://dantes.io/subject/foreign-policy