This paper has a primary focus on Algeria’s foreign policy in North Africa, mainly toward Morocco, Tunisia and Libya, and a secondary focus on newly developing security relations with countries in the Sahel region. In the Maghreb, Algeria’s relations have generally been cordial but distant with Tunisia and Libya but antagonistic, competitive and suspicion-laden with Morocco. Algeria had the potential to play a pivotal role in a region in need of leadership and coordination in the face of a series of challenges, including underdevelopment, violent Islamist radicalism, unbalanced relations with the European Union, and globalization. However, it did not live up to it. This paper will tackle several questions on Algeria’s policy in the region, including: 1) why didn’t Algeria take on a leadership role in spite of its economic and military capacities? 2) What role has Algeria’s diplomacy had in the stalemated implementation of the Arab Maghreb Union; 3) Have the guiding principles and content of Algeria’s regional policy remained constant, evolved or changed in response to domestic, regional and international events, shifts and shocks? 4) What role have specific members of the governing elite—both military and civilian—played in the formulation of Algeria’s policy and with what consequences? To answer these questions, the paper will cover three key periods, each characterized by some behavioral shift but no change in the fundamentals and guiding principles of the policy: 1) the 1965-1978 period, which was dominated by President Houari Boumediene; 2) the 1978-1999 period of President Chadli Bendjedid and some ephemeral leaders (Boudiaf, Kafi and Zeroual); and 3) the 1999 to date period, which covers the presidency of Abdelaziz Bouteflika. The paper will argue that Algeria’s regional foreign policy was driven mainly by geostrategic, political and symbolic concerns, that its conception and formulation involved both civilian and military elite, each controlling one or more agenda items, and that such policy was affected more by intra-elite dynamics, domestic events, regional developments, than by extra-regional factors such as the end of the Cold War, the 9/11 attack on the United States, and global economic downturns. The conceptual tools of analysis will be drawn from the literature on the study of foreign policy making, regional state power dynamics, and political realism.