The actors of Foreign Policy/International Relations are multiple and distinct.

A foreign policy actor can be

defined as a person or entity with the capacity of having an impact in international relations.

Role of state actors:

• They should have overall capacity to decide on their purposes and interests.
• They should also have the capability to mobilize necessary resources to achieve these purposes and
interests and be passionate about appealing for global cooperation.
• Their actions should be significant enough to influence the state-to-state relations or the behavior of
other non-state actors in the global system.

Actors of foreign policy are usually divided into two categories: state actors and non-state actors.

The first category comprises States, while the second comprises a multiplicity of actors such as Sub-State
actors, International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGOs), International Governmental Organizations
(IGOs), Economic Agents and Media. The reason for this categorization is that States have typically been
considered the main (and for a long period, the only) actors in Foreign Policy. Modern theories have recognized
the impact of actors other than States in Foreign Policy and therefore the list of actors recognized as such by
Foreign Policy theory has been enlarged. These different actors will be analyzed individually below.

State Actors

The most widely used definition of a State in the field of Foreign Policy is drawn from Article 1 of the
Montevideo Convention of 1930 on Rights and Duties of States. The Article reads: “The state as a person of
international law should possess the following qualifications: a) a permanent population; b) a defined territory;
c) government; and d) capacity to enter into relations with the other states”. While there are alternative
definitions of States according to different theories of Foreign Policy the one codified in the Montevideo
Convention is still to be considered common ground.

The current number of sovereign states differs depending on the criteria used for counting, as there are several
cases where recognition is disputed. It can be said that a State achieves full recognition once it has been
recognized by a significant number of other States and admitted into the United Nations.

Non-State Actors

As mentioned above this category includes several actors, with the common characteristic of not being States.
They will be analyzed below:

INGOs

The INGOs can be defined as private and interstate non-profit organizations composed of individuals others
than representatives of states or governments. The definition of INGOs is not a peaceful or settled one, as can
be seen in the one suggested above, which could be read as including terrorist, religious or ethnical groups.
These will be studied elsewhere though.

INGOs operate as actors in Foreign Policy mainly through their ability to influence other Foreign Policy actors.
This influence happens either ex ante or ex post facto. In other terms, INGOs may influence agenda setting (ex
ante) and provide legitimacy and/or implement solutions decided elsewhere (ex post).

The capacity and ability of INGOs to influence the international/global setting of agendas has been widely
recognized. Through their actions, INGOs are able to put certain items on the agenda of global decision makers.
Once the agenda has been fixed and issues have been tackled, INGOs still play a decisive ex post facto role, in
the two ways mentioned above. First, through their influence in the public opinion, they are able to provide (or
deny) legitimacy to the solutions agreed by international/global decision makers. Second, they are useful and
often indispensable for helping implement the solutions agreed by the global decision makers.

Examples of prominent INGOs include Greenpeace, Amnesty International, Oxfam International, etc.

IGOs

International organizations are entities established by formal political agreements between their members that
have the status of international treaties. Their existence is recognized by law in their member countries and they
are not treated as resident institutional units of the countries in which they are located. They can be divided into
different categories:

Global organizations

These are open to States worldwide when meeting certain criteria for admission. There can be specialized or, on
the contrary, cover a wide range of issues. The most salient example of the latter case is that of the United
Nations Organization (UNO), whereas examples of specialized global organizations include International
Criminal Police Organization (ICPO - Interpol), the World Customs Organization (WCO), etc.

Regional Organizations

These IGOs are open to members placed in a specific region of the world, membership being limited to States
placed in those regions. These include the European Union (EU), the African Union (AU), the Organization of
American States (OAS), the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), etc.

Ethno-cultural organizations

Open to members sharing a common cultural, linguistic, ethnic, religious or historical background. These
organizations include, amongst others, the Commonwealth of Nations (CoN), the Organization of the Islamic
Conference (OIC), the League of Arab States (LAS), the Organization International de la Francophone (OIF),
etc.

Economic organizations

The economic organizations are IGOs composed of sovereign States (with the possibility of limited membership
of other IGOs) and that have as their primary goal that of promoting certain economic objectives. These
organizations include the International Monetary Fund (IMF), The World Bank (WB), World Trade
Organization (WTO) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), amongst
others.

Collective Security Organizations

These organizations have as primary objective the prevention of and counteraction to military threats or attacks
to its members. These organizations are composed by States and are usually based on the principle of mutual
support in case of military aggression. As a consequence, if a third State or party attacks one of the members of
the organization, all other Member States are committed to support the attacked member, the degree of
commitment depending on the organization. The list of Collective Security Organizations includes the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the
Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), etc.
Additionally, some global or regional IGOs may have a security dimension, as is the case of the United Nations
or the European Union.

Economic Agents

Despite their increasing size and reach, multinational companies do not enjoy the unfettered power attributed to
them by many critics. The long-term, physically static nature of much investment, coupled with the new
transparency through which investors can monitor performance, mean that the supposed transfer of power from
governments to corporations is largely an illusion. It is true that companies are more involved with and
dependent on international relationships than ever before. Trade and investment have both grown more rapidly
than output. The removal of political barriers has opened new areas to investment, and the development of
communications has created a new degree of scrutiny and a new political agenda around issues such as human
rights and environment, which multinationals cannot ignore. In response, companies have become part of the
process of change and development, and actors in the international system. The challenge for all concerned is to
ensure that their presence and influence are engaged as a force for positive change

Media

The role of media is essential to shape national/transnational public opinion. Coverage of events may modify
the awareness and attitude of public opinions worldwide, which in turn may influence international actors. The
coverage of certain events by broadcasters such as CNN has influenced their development.

It is important to keep in mind that traditional media have been in the last years complemented, and to some
extent replaced, by social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, etc.

Other non-State actors

These include criminal, ethnic and religious groupings. These non-State actors are non-categorized as their
aims, structures and means of actions do not fit into the previous categories, nor are they similar between them.

The fact that these actors do not fit into any of the previous categories does not say anything about their
importance. In fact, many of these actors have contributed to shape, along history, essential developments in the
field of Foreign Policy. Probably, the most prominent example is that of Al-Qaida, global Islamist organization
that has shaped international developments for more than a decade now.