There Should Be No Formulae on Foreign Policies

On the recent times, there has been hullabaloo in the media about South Africa shifting positions on its foreign policy.  These changes in position have elicited accusations and counter-accusations has sparkled a debate in the international relations academia whether foreign policy guide should be a rigid or flexible .

Although scholars of foreign relations led by the likes of McGowan and Shapiro have proposed various theories on foreign relation, I strongly believe that their can never be a general formula to approach broad spectrum of issues that bombard us each day. Each issue that crops up has its own uniqueness and reactions on it cannot be pegged par se on theories and formula outlined in a policy document.  

The idea that this document should be unbending in itself  irks as it brings an impression that people need to think along certain lines. Why should South Africa severe its lucrative business relationship with china just because of an insignificant visit by the Dalai Lama?

Each country operates under different, unique political, economical and social environment. The current status quo constant, the same foreign policy document cannot dictate relationship between say a country like Kenya and Somalia and Kenya and the United States. This is for a simple reason that these two countries have completely different environments and share different kind of relationship with Kenya. Therefore relationship between Kenya and the US will be more reciprocative than the one with Somalia since Kenya has more to loose with a severed link with the US than with Somalia. This is because Kenya benefits more from its trade ties with the US than Somalia not in terms of balance of trade but in the sense of corporate advantages that Kenya draws from this relationship.

It is therefore logical to say that an umbrella policy will not give required attention to the prospective partner since she will have to share it with another not so equally rewarding.  

Take another example in the principal of non-interference that graces most of these documents. When another country’s dictator stands in the way of the world’s general order will the rest of the world stand arms akimbo watching because they want to respect that country’s sovereignty?   

Policy should just be a general guideline, but reference to it should be a wholesome approach based on the surrounding factors on an issue emerging in the international arena. Foreign Policy documents must therefore be constantly reviewed to accommodate other new circumstances. The document should not abhor our reasoning and hinder critical thinking.

AMUGASHA KALENGEKA- KAKAMEGA