Effective foreign policymaking requires an understanding of not only international and transnational systems, but also the intricacies of domestic politics in multiple countries. It also demands recognition of just how little is known about “building nations,” particularly after revolutions – a process that should be viewed in terms of decades, not years. In 1789, few observers in Paris would have predicted that a Corsican would lead French forces to the banks of the Nile within ten years. And foreign intervention in the French Revolution only fanned nationalist flames.
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