Changing Dynamics of Pakistan's Foreign Policy: An Overview (original) (raw)
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Pakistan’s Foreign Policy in Changing Regional and Global Dynamics
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FOREIGN POLICY OF PAKISTAN IN THE CHANGING REGIONAL AND GLOBAL SETTINGS
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P akistan's foreign policy has passed through various phases since its founding. This article briefly analyzes the underlying dynamics of the country's foreign policy as it has developed over the years, with special reference to its security perspective.
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Pakistan Journal of History & Culture, 2016
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Analysing Pakistan's Foreign Policy
Foreign policy analysis as a field of study is categorized by its actor-specific focus. It is the study of the procedure, outcomes, origins, or outputs of foreign policy decision-making in either a comparative or case-specific manner. Foreign Policy Analysis bestows an accessible opportunity of research publication which boosts communication through theoretical, methodological, geographical and disciplinary limits, exposing the divergent, comparative and multidisciplinary nature of the field. Indeed, one finds a synergy of foreign policy studies for historians increasingly interesting as international relations move towards its own discipline. The tools of decision-making analysis are readily adaptable to detailed cases, and opening up many state archives has made it impossible to avoid the evidence of such pathologies as bureaucratic politics or small group dynamics. For a country like Pakistan, foreign policy needs to demonstrate political will and military power to have friendly relations in order to keep a check, for example, on a hostile India, the former Soviet Union, and present day terrorist threats. It also needs to perfect democratic practice. This can be synchronized by a foreign policy with a prudent realism. To conclude, it can be argued that one country’s domestic problems can be another country’s solutions. Domestic politics is the reflection of a country’s foreign policy. Another country might be gaining a lot from a particular regime while the indigenous people governed under that regime may ultimately be suffering. This is particularly so where states are intensively connected, whether through security alliances or strategic partnerships. The institutional interaction between the US and Pakistan is the best example to quote here. The Pakistan Army was hard in domestic politics but was soft in its terms with the US, apart from those two periods, i.e., during the first half of 1960s and the post-Musharraf’s era of today.
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Foreign policy of Pakistan seems to have been facing grim challenges since the very existence of the country. Indeed the challenges posed in 21 st century are more serious threat to the foreign policy and state of Pakistan. The challenges like the event of 9/11, globalization, extremism, terrorism and economic decline have impeded the effectiveness of the foreign policy of Pakistan. The State is perceived by the world community as the most dangerous place on earth and hub of terrorism. This research paper unleashes the threats and challenges to the state and foreign policy of Pakistan and suggests some viable options for the stability, progressiveness and effectiveness of the state and foreign policy of Pakistan as linchpin for the stability of the South Asian region and an important ally of US in war on terrorism.