Dinesh Bhattarai

Foreign policy is dedicated to preserving and protecting the national interest. National interest is not contestable. Ancient Roman percept says, 'salus populi supreme lax' (the good of the nation is the highest law). Security of the Nepali people, Nepali nation, and national interest does not change with a change of government. Continuity, coherence, and consistency in foreign policy create credibility in diplomacy. The foreign policy making process is a whole of government approach. The process involves government ministers, and the bureaucracy. Sometimes, government ministries are found to be in competitive modes to influence the process. Foreign Ministry leadership coordinates and integrates them all.

Even in an increasingly interconnected and interdependent world of 21st century, geography matters in shaping the foreign policy as it was in earlier centuries. The geographic location of a country, wrote Zbigniew Brzezinski, "still tends to determine the immediate priorities of the state." Several other factors, including history, demography, culture, trade and development, natural resource endowments at home and conditions prevailing at particular times in international settings, shape the foreign policy of any country. In democracy, the parameters of foreign policy making process also include public opinion, parliamentarians, people's representatives, academia, civil society, media, general public and the political culture of national leadership in defining the overall landscape of foreign policy.

Policy guidelines
Article 5 of the Constitution of Nepal, 2015 proclaims Nepal's national interest as "safeguarding of the freedom, sovereignty, territorial integrity, nationality, independence and dignity of Nepal, the rights of the Nepalese people, border security, economic well-being and prosperity" as the basic elements of the national interests.
In Article 50 (4) of the Directive Principles, Policies and Obligations of the State talks of "enhancing the dignity of the nation in the world community," and Article 51(m) declares that "Nepal's independent foreign policy is guided by the Charter of the United Nations, non-alignment, principles of Panchsheel, international law and the norms of world peace." The conduct of independent foreign policy within an overall framework of these fundamental principles comes in conjunction with full freedom of the press, opinion and expression.

Nepal has been expanding its diplomatic representations. The appointment of ambassadors on the basis of the principle of inclusion is provided in Article 282. Under Article 292, ambassadors have to go through the 15-member parliamentary hearing committee consisting of members of both Houses of the Federal Parliament. This committee acts as oversight and scrutiny of the nominated candidates.
Parliament is the acme of the people's voices and aspirations articulated through people's representatives and legitimate concerns reflected in the formulation, articulation, and implementation of foreign policy. In democracy, opposition parties never miss opportunities to criticise and embarrass the government. Like it or not, no government can ignore the parliament. Parliament appropriates budget for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) and diplomatic missions abroad.

Article 279 of the constitution makes it mandatory that "strategic alliance, boundaries of the State of Nepal and natural resources and the distribution of their uses" to go through the parliament with a majority of two thirds of the total number of the members of both Houses of the Federal Parliament.
In the past, the making of foreign policy was far from being a democratic process. Nepal moved from isolationist policy to internationalism in 1950. The making of foreign policy during the Panchayat system from 1961 to 1990 was secretive, centralised and insulated from democratic pressures. The disconnect between elite and mass attitudes and the government was wide and deep. The glaring example is an Understanding on Import of Arms that Nepal signed with India on January 30, 1965.

The 1965 Understanding in Clause 4 states that the details of arms imports by Nepal from third countries, "can be suitably coordinated," and "the procedure for giving effect to this arrangement shall be worked out by the two governments acting in consultation." This arrangement came immediately after the abrupt dismissal of the first ever-elected government and demolition of the parliamentary democratic system by King Mahendra in 1960, when an authoritarian party-less Panchayat system was imposed on the Nepali people.

The nation was kept in dark about this document for 25 years. It became public only after it was published by The Statesman, Calcutta edition on May 27, 1989. Nepal suffered Indian economic blockade for 15 months then because, as India said, for non-adherence by Nepal of the 1965 treaty provisions. Hiding such document from the public would not have been possible in a democratic system.
In democracy, foreign policy base gets widened. It cannot be divorced from the day-to-day issues that are faced by the people and attentive citizens. Democracy allows interactions and public discourses on foreign policy issues. Intense pressures of well-organised interest groups, opinion makers, civil activists, party workers, interest groups, and business also go in the shaping of foreign policy within the framework of the fundamental principles stated in the constitution.

Media in Nepal has become vibrant after the restoration of democracy in 1990. The serious reporting of foreign policy in the print and electronic media has increased. Even if the print media is controlled, social media like Twitter, YouTube and Facebook play a major role in shaping foreign policy in democracy. Today, internet is a major source of news for all of us. Citizens get opportunities to express themselves and participate in public discourses through these tools.

Public dimension
The understanding of public dimension of foreign policy is getting increasingly important. Parliament, print media, radio, and television, academic sector, think tanks, advocacy organisations, and lobbyists constitute the principal avenues of the foreign policy. The communication of every government with domestic and foreign audiences shapes the perceptions at both ends. Correct narratives help boost reputation. As foreign policy issues are too sensitive and complicated, matters of national interests must not be treated in a cavalier manner by any section of the society.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs from 1969-1974, David Newsom who accompanied Henry Kissinger in November 1973, on his first official travel as Secretary of State, to North Africa, writes on the first stop in Rabat, "The Watergate scandal was very much on the mind of King Hassan of Morocco. President Richard Nixon has been a special friend of his country. The king pressed the Secretary of State to explain why a ruler as powerful as the president of the United States could not simply have silenced the voices that plagued him during the crisis. Kissinger could only explain that, under U.S. law, even the president could not suppress open criticism, a concept difficult for an absolute monarch-and many others- to understand."

In democracy, rule of law, norms of accountability and transparency constitute the kernel of its functioning and no one is above the law of the land, whereas in an authoritarian system they are sorely lacking.

(Bhattarai is a former ambassador.)