It is a well-established theme of international relations that the conduct of external policy has become increasingly fragmented and diffused, challenging the role of the foreign ministry as the key agency in the formulation and implementation of foreign policy. But there is relatively little evidence as to precisely how foreign ministries are responding to the challenges of a changing policy environment. The general proposition that they are in decline has become widely accepted but there is evidence that foreign ministries have been able to engage in strategies which may help to underpin their influence within the policy processes. The aim of this book is to examine the role and functions of foreign ministries in diverse settings and to examine the strategies which they employ in dealing with the challenges confronting them. The fourteen contributions to this volume provide valuable insights into foreign policy and the processes through which it is formulated and implemented in the rapidly changing post-Cold War environment.

List of Tables and Figures
Foreword; J.Bilodeau
Acknowledgements
Notes on Contributors
Introduction: Foreign Ministries: Redefining the Gatekeeper Role; B.Hocking
Diplomacy towards the Twenty-First Century; R.Langhorne & W.Wallace
Australia: Change and Adaptation in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade; S.Harris
Canada: Trying to Get it Right: The Foreign Ministry and Organizational Change; A.F.Cooper
France: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs: 'something new, but which is the legitimate continuation of our past...'; P.Enjalran & P.Husson
Israel: Succumbing to Foreign Ministry Declinism; A.Klieman
Japan: Towards a More Proactive Foreign Ministry; K.Komachi
Malaysia: Change and Adaptation in Foreign Policy: Malaysia's Foreign Ministry; Z.H.Ahmad
Mexico: Change and Adaptation in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; A.Rozental
Norway: The Foreign Ministry: Bracketing Interdependence; I.B.Neumann
Russia: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Through Decline towards Renewal; I.Tiouline
South Africa: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs: from Isolation to Integration to Coherency; M.Muller
United Kingdom: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office: 'Flexible, Responsive and Proactive'?; D.Allen
The United States: The State Department's Post-Cold War Status; M.A.East & C.E.Dillery
Foreign Ministries in National and European Context; D.Spence
Index
List of Tables and Figures

BRIAN HOCKING is Professor of International Relations at Coventry University. His publications include Localizing Foreign Policy: Multilayered Diplomacy, Non-central Governments (Macmillan, 1993) and (with Michael Smith) Beyond Foreign Economic Policy: the United States, the Single European Market and the Changing World Economy (Pinter, 1997).