The Presidential Model and the Machinery for Foreign Policy Making. the Nigerian Experience

Abstract

This paper examines the machineries for implementation of foreign policy goals in a presidential system of government using Nigeria as a model. These machineries include; the President who is the chief implementer of the nation’s foreign policy. Followed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the chief negotiator of the state and policy advisor to the President. Most significantly, is the MFA, the key machinery that provides the platform for the conduct of the nation’s foreign policy relations. The study also looked at the role played by the parliament in foreign policy making and research institutes and Think-Tank Groups like NIIA, NIPSS and IPCR in influencing, articulating, and formulation of the Nation’s foreign policy goals. The study observes that foreign policy making is not the prerogative of the President and the MFA alone but rather the Parliament and Think-Tank groups also play prominent roles. It also observes that foreign policy goals do not emanate from the MFA alone but rather from other Ministries like defense, trade, investment, education, justice, culture, tourism etc. also play key roles in policy formulation and implementation. Thus, the MFA coordinate policies emanating from these Ministries, agencies, and think-tank groups. The study therefore, concludes that under the presidential system of government as practiced in Nigeria and the United States, a network of synergy exists among the various organs, agencies, and relevant think-tanks group.The study made use of qualitative research design and uses content and thematic approach in analyzing the data.