INDEPENDENT ALGERIA’S FOREIGN POLICY: AN ANALYSIS OF SELECTED PROBLEMS

Abstract

Algeria has always been very important country in North Africa and Arab World. Since it gained independence, Algerian government promoted a vision of cooperative, equitable and just world. Algeria pursued a anti-imperialist policy of Third World solidarity under presidents Ahmed Ben Bella and Houari Boumediene. The economic and political constraints that Algeria began to face in the 1980s accelerated the country’s diminished global aspirations. President Chadli Benjedid shifted the focus of Algerian diplomacy from Third World to a regional policy focused on the Maghreb and Sahel region. There have been three priorities of Algerian foreign policy: Arab World, Africa and western countries. President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has continued the evolution of the state’s foreign policy towards natal interest pragmatism. Bouteflika has worked to extend Algeria’s international influence.