Since independence in 1962, Algeria has sought to defend values linked to the country’s history and identity: Arab, Moslem, African and Mediterranean. Algerian leaders developed a foreign policy based on strong ideological principles, ranging from national independence, non-alignment, non-interference, and anti-imperialism beyond a strict and "calculated" conception of national interest. This prevailed during the era of President Boumediène with a sovereigntist assertion of Algeria’s foreign policy (Aït-Chaalal, Balta, Grimaud, Quandt, Mortimer). However, significant external and internal changes have influenced the conduct of Algeria’s foreign policy. The borderline between domestic and foreign policy became more fragile without being able to determine the primacy of one over the other. These two policies are in permanent interaction, the internal factors influencing external actions and external events reminding states of their obligations towards the world. Foreign policy can also help justify domestic policy orientations or can distract from domestic issues (Gelb, Putnam, Tsebelis). Algerian foreign policy does not depart from this rule reflecting changes and developments on the international scene intrinsically linked to the country's internal politics. This study seeks to highlight the changes in the conduct of Algeria's foreign policy and the relationship between foreign and domestic politics, under Bouteflika's rule since 1999. How has Algerian diplomacy, which had lost its vigor–after the October 1988 riots—gradually regained some dynamism? This paper argues that domestic improvements helped the president in under-examined ways to conduct an effective foreign policy. And conversely, the impact of the regional and international environment, globalization, and financial or security crises have had a significant impact not only on external and domestic policy but on strategic governing principles as well. Based on extensive fieldwork in Algeria, including an extensive analysis of primarily source material dozens of interviews over several years, this paper will focus on how Algerian foreign policy—defined around political, ideological, strategic, commercial, technical and financial axes—can serve internal political interests, and vice versa, in terms of stability, security and nation building. In addition, the way in which the political and ideological options persevere for several years have been undermined by developments on the international scene and have compelled Algeria to review its political orientation privileging the economy and security domestically, regionally, and globally.