In seeking to test the conventional wisdom that foreign ministries are 'in decline', the contributors to this book examine the role and status of foreign ministries in twelve countries together with their place within the European Union. Valuable information on the response of the foreign policy machinery to change at both the domestic and international levels is provided as are important insights into the linkages between foreign policy and the mechanisms through which it is conducted. This book will be essential reading for those concerned with foreign policy-making in the post-Cold War era as well as those interested in the evolving machinery of government in its broader context.

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).