The framework theory proposed here accounts for the difference between foreign policy and international politics and identifies and conceptually orders the elements generally considered or to be considered in any study of foreign policy. It brings back to six the desires or passions that can motivate any policy, including foreign policy. Although each State is in a particular geopolitical situation, the theory of regional security complexes is useful and relevant in almost all cases. It identifies the three basic orientations of foreign policy. Finally, a typology of international governance regimes is proposed that would overcome the deficiencies of the typologies of this kind proposed so far.