A foreign policy doctrine is a general statement of

foreign policy A state's foreign policy or external policy (as opposed to internal or domestic policy) is its objectives and activities in relation to its interactions with other states, unions, and other political entities, whether bilaterally or through ...

and

belief system A belief is an attitude that something is the case, or that some proposition is true. In epistemology, philosophers use the term "belief" to refer to attitudes about the world which can be either true or false. To believe something is to tak ...

through a

doctrine Doctrine (from la, Wikt:doctrina, doctrina, meaning "teaching, instruction") is a codification (law), codification of beliefs or a body of teacher, teachings or instructions, taught principles or positions, as the essence of teachings in a given ...

. In some cases, the statement is made by a political leader, typically a nation’s chief executive or chief diplomat, and comes to be named after that leader.

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was t ...

’s justification for the phased withdrawal of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

from the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

, for example, came to be called the

Nixon Doctrine The Nixon Doctrine (also known as the Guam Doctrine) was put forth during a press conference in Guam on July 25, 1969 by President of the United States Richard Nixon and later formalized in his speech on Vietnamization of the Vietnam War on Novemb ...

. This pattern of naming is not universal, however; Chinese doctrines, for example, are often referred to by number. The purpose of a foreign policy doctrine is to provide general rules for the conduct of foreign policy through decisions on

international relations International relations (IR), sometimes referred to as international studies and international affairs, is the Scientific method, scientific study of interactions between sovereign states. In a broader sense, it concerns all activities betwe ...

. These rules allow the political leadership of a nation to deal with a situation and to explain the actions of a nation to other nations. “Doctrine” is usually not meant to have any negative connotations; it is especially not to be confused with “

dogma Dogma is a belief or set of beliefs that is accepted by the members of a group without being questioned or doubted. It may be in the form of an official system of principles or doctrines of a religion, such as Roman Catholicism, Judaism, Islam ...

.”

Argentina

Calvo Doctrine The Calvo Doctrine is a foreign policy doctrine which holds that jurisdiction in international investment disputes lies with the country in which the investment is located. The Calvo Doctrine stood in contrast to historical rules governing foreig ...

Drago Doctrine The Drago Doctrine was announced in 1902 by Argentine Minister of Foreign Affairs Luis María Drago in a diplomatic note to the United States. Perceiving a conflict between the Monroe Doctrine and the influence of European imperial powers, and ...

Denmark

* Ellemann–Jensen doctrine

Germany

* Hallstein Doctrine * Ulbricht Doctrine

Finland

* Paasikivi–Kekkonen doctrine

India

Gujral Doctrine Inder Kumar Gujral (4 December 1919 – 30 November 2012) was an Indian diplomat, politician and freedom activist who served as the 12th prime minister of India from April 1997 to March 1998. Born in Punjab, he was influenced by nationalist ...

Japan

Fukuda Doctrine The Fukuda Doctrine is based on a speech by Japanese Prime Minister Takeo Fukuda. In 1977, while on a tour of the ASEAN member states, the prime minister made a speech in Manila in which he articulated Japan's foreign policy that later became kno ...

* Yoshida Doctrine

Mexico

Estrada Doctrine The Estrada Doctrine is the name of Mexico's core foreign policy ideal from 1930 to the early 2000s, and again since 2018. Its name derives from Genaro Estrada, Secretary of Foreign Affairs during the presidency of Pascual Ortiz Rubio (1930–193 ...

* Castañeda Doctrine

Poland

Giedroyc Doctrine The Giedroyc doctrine (; pl, doktryna Giedroycia) or Giedroyc–Mieroszewski doctrine was a political doctrine that urged reconciliation among Central and Eastern European countries. It was developed by postwar Polish émigrés, and was named fo ...

Russia / Soviet Union

Brezhnev Doctrine The Brezhnev Doctrine was a Soviet foreign policy that proclaimed any threat to socialist rule in any state of the Soviet Bloc in Central and Eastern Europe was a threat to them all, and therefore justified the intervention of fellow socialist st ...

* Gerasimov Doctrine * Karaganov Doctrine * Falin-Kvitsinsky Doctrine * Primakov Doctrine *

Sinatra Doctrine The Sinatra Doctrine was a Soviet foreign policy under Mikhail Gorbachev for allowing member states of the Warsaw Pact to determine their own internal affairs. The name jokingly alluded to the song My Way popularized by Frank Sinatra—the ...

United States

* 1823:

Monroe Doctrine The Monroe Doctrine was a United States foreign policy position that opposed European colonialism in the Western Hemisphere. It held that any intervention in the political affairs of the Americas by foreign powers was a potentially hostile a ...

* 1842: Tyler Doctrine * 1900: Roosevelt Doctrine * 1932:

Stimson Doctrine The Stimson Doctrine is the policy of nonrecognition of states created as a result of a war of aggression. The policy was implemented by the United States government, enunciated in a note of January 7, 1932, to the Empire of Japan and the Repu ...

* 1947:

Truman Doctrine The Truman Doctrine is an American foreign policy that pledged American "support for democracies against authoritarian threats." The doctrine originated with the primary goal of containing Soviet geopolitical expansion during the Cold War. It w ...

* 1957:

Eisenhower Doctrine The Eisenhower Doctrine was a policy enunciated by Dwight D. Eisenhower on January 5, 1957, within a "Special Message to the Congress on the Situation in the Middle East". Under the Eisenhower Doctrine, a Middle Eastern country could request Ame ...

* 1961:

Kennedy Doctrine The Kennedy Doctrine refers to foreign policy initiatives of the 35th President of the United States, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, towards Latin America during his administration between 1961 and 1963. Kennedy voiced support for the containment of ...

* 1965: Johnson Doctrine * 1969:

* 1980:

Carter Doctrine The Carter Doctrine was a policy proclaimed by President of the United States Jimmy Carter in his State of the Union Address on January 23, 1980, which stated that the United States would use military force, if necessary, to defend its national i ...

* 1981: Kirkpatrick Doctrine * 1984: Weinberger Doctrine * 1985:

Reagan Doctrine The Reagan Doctrine was stated by United States President Ronald Reagan in his State of the Union address on February 6, 1985: "We must not break faith with those who are risking their lives—on every continent from Afghanistan to Nicaragua—to ...

* 1990: Powell Doctrine * 1999: Clinton Doctrine * 2002:

Bush Doctrine The Bush Doctrine refers to multiple interrelated foreign policy principles of the 43rd President of the United States, George W. Bush. These principles include unilateralism, preemptive war, and regime change. Charles Krauthammer first used t ...

* 2002: Rumsfeld Doctrine * 2016: Obama Doctrine