The various peaceful means that are to be found in a typical foreign policy is, for one, the act of offering grants of varying degrees to these underdeveloped countries. This type of economic policy may also include technical assistance and aid, the decisions to either raise or to lower tariffs, and also to deny or to grant access to foreign markets. The management or the manipulation of information is also another important aspect of the foreign policy of a country through the system of 'diplomacy'. This plays a very important role in the development of the foreign policy of a nation, as it has the power to make or break the policy. (International Relations in Historical Perspective) The handling of the various sources of information, what with all the advancements in the acquisition of information in this information age of today, if conducted well, will prove to be the biggest asset of the country in its development of its foreign policy. The powers of persuasion must also be taken into account at this juncture, and it is the duty of the various diplomats who have been appointed by the state to make full use of this power to get their point across and cast a major influence over the other country. Another area where focus is to be laid is in the area of policy-making. The wider and more complex the political institutions of the country, the more complex will be the policies that are to be associated with these countries.

However, more often than not, foreign policy is meant to serve as the primary controlling device of the government in its attempts to exert any type of influence on the country it is meant for. USA, for the most part, believes in the policy of following secrecy where the issues of national interests and security are concerned. Bureaucracy is an important aspect of her foreign policy, and this has been supposedly achieved by the process of numerous negotiations conducted over the years with other competing bureaucracies that are at the same time concentrating on their own self-interests. (International Relations in Historical Perspective) When the September 11 terrorist attacks carried out by a militant outfit Al-Qaeda took place, there was widespread contention that it was the foreign policy of the United States of America that was in fact directly responsible for the attack. (American Foreign Policy in the Middle East, designed to create enemies, not friends)

The United States has been playing a major role in the foreign policy objectives of Kuwait, and this also means that Kuwait has also been playing an important role in its formation of foreign policy wherein it has in some way affected the United States of America. For example, after the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq in 1990, the United States did in fact declare that this type of behavior would not be permissible, and did in fact order the withdrawal of Iraqi troops from Kuwait, the U.S. foreign policy in regard to Kuwait has been at a stagnant point since then, and the U.S. has in fact failed miserably in its attempts to formulate and achieve any sort of clear cut objectives. Aggression has been attempted, as demonstrated by the strategic bombing, the arming of the opposition, and so on, but the fact remains that there has been no visible progress, and the U.S. foreign policy is now being faced with an indecision and a lack of adequate and appropriate progress. For example, after the capture and overthrow of the Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, the question most frequently asked was whether the U.S. was really justified in the...

(Moral Dilemmas of U.S. Policies towards Iraq)
Another frequently asked question was why the U.S. would want to arm all the opposition groups in her pursuit of the disobedient leader, when she could have indeed carried out such a major operation in a clandestine manner, thereby saving a large amount of resources, thereby having the result of causing a less amount of social chaos and also in offering more hope for Iraq and her neighbors. What is blatantly evident as a result of this evaluation is the fact that the moral aspect of a foreign policy must be given a certain amount of importance so that they may be evaluated accurately. When Iraq invaded Kuwait, the U.S. immediately imposed a series of sanctions on that nation, wherein the Iraqi regime would be meted out a certain level of punishment. This was seen as the best method in which to avoid a war. However, the gradual outcome was that war became inevitable, if the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait was to be reversed.

The set of conditions, like for example, that of Iraq having to pay appropriate and adequate, as declared by the U.S.A., compensation for the victims of the war, that were imposed on Iraq by the U.S. meant that Iraq would have to fulfill them if she were to hope to have the severe economic sanctions that had been imposed on her to be lifted at some point in the future. This type of moralizing and awarding 'punishments', in today's world, seems to be grossly unfair to a vast majority of people. It is the innocent people, the citizens of Iraq, that have been adversely affected by these unfair policies imposed by the U.S., and though this is in fact a moot issue, as there are some who argue that it is on account of these policies that the suffering of the people has in fact been alleviated, the fact remains that the U.S. imposed a morally justifiable foreign policy, and seeks, primarily, to help people of the third world countries, while at the same time protecting her own interests. (Moral Dilemmas of U.S. Policies towards Iraq)

References

Alexander Johnston. "International Relations in Historical Perspective" (Foreign Policy section) in Albert Venter and Alexander Johnston, eds. Politics: An Introduction for South African Students. Cape Town: Oxford University Press, 1991. Retrieved at http://www.geocities.com/~anntothill/demo/jhnwhole.htm. Accessed on 4 May, 2005

American Foreign Policy in the Middle East designed to create enemies, not friends. At http://www.aljazeerah.info/Hassan%20El-Najjar/american_foreign_policy_in_the_m.htm. Accessed on 4 May, 2005

Background on Foreign Policy. Retrieved at http://www.issues2000.org/Background_Foreign_Policy.htm. Accessed on 4 May, 2005

Fast, William. R. Knowledge Strategies, Balancing ends ways and means in the Information Age. Retrieved at http://www.ndu.edu/inss/siws/ch1.html. Accessed on 4 May, 2005

Greer, Steven. M. Going Tactical. 2004. Retrieved at http://www.disclosureproject.org/goingtactical.htm. Accessed on 4 May, 2005

Lang, Tony. Moral Dilemmas of U.S. Policies towards Iraq. Retrieved at http://www.cceia.org/viewMedia.php/prmTemplateID/2/prmID/196Accessed on 4 May, 2005

What is the Official U.S. Foreign Policy? Retrieved at http://www.issues2000.org/askme/foreign_policy.htm. Accessed on 4 May, 2005