Rotation Breeds Single‑Issue Diplomacy

Frequent ministerial turnover conditions civil servants to expect short tenures, which makes them favor low‑risk, staff‑driven continuities; over time this incubates a narrow, single‑issue foreign policy that privileges bureaucratic defaults over political strategy. The article illustrates this with FCO churn and Britain’s near‑exclusive emphasis on supporting Ukraine at the expense of other priorities. — If true, the dynamic explains why democracies can conduct strategic foreign policy without sustained political mandates and why bureaucratic incentives — not electoral politics — can set long‑run national priorities.