World politics is at times a dangerous, and always a complex and resistant realm within which states seek to protect themselves and advance the interests of their societies. By virtue of size, wealth or membership in a regional grouping, some states have a head start in remaining safe and getting their way. Australia, pre-eminent in none of these characteristics, must rely on a different, more difficult-to-define quality – foreign policy capacity – to secure its foreign policy objectives. Foreign policy capacity can be measured by the extent to which a state's foreign policy making provides for flexible and quick responses to international developments, but at the same time provides dependability and a sureness of touch in a rapidly evolving policy realm. Policy capacity also combines discernment – the ability to determine what is significant, and when and where to devote foreign policy resources – with analytical skills and the capacity for creative thought and strategic judgement. Various institutions contribute to a state's foreign policy capacity; these are the subject of this and the next three chapters. In this chapter,we examine the foreign policy bureaucracy, the essential backbone of the foreign policy process.

Whether or not conceived in terms of policy capacity, effective bureaucratic organisation of foreign policy has historically played an indispensable role in the rise of the modern state form, and in the sequential predominance of various great powers.