Download foreign policy

U.S. Foreign Policy
Process
• The term foreign policy refers to a state’s international goals and
strategies to achieve those goals. Foreign policymakers follow same 5
steps with which public policy gets made:
•
•
•
•
•
Agenda setting: A problem or issue rises to prominence on the agenda.
Formulation: Possible policies are created and debated.
Adoption: The government adopts one policy.
Implementation: The appropriate government agency enacts the policy.
Evaluation: Officials and agencies judge whether the policy has been successful.
• Unlike domestic policy, foreign policymaking involves fewer people, less
publicity. In the US, president serves as chief diplomat and runs foreign
policy.
Perspectives on Foreign Policy
• American Isolationist Versus Internationalist
Attitudes
• Americans have always debated what role the US
should play on the global stage. Those people who
advocate a strategy of largely ignoring the rest of the
world are called isolationists.
• In contrast, those people who advocate taking an
active role in world affairs are called internationalists.
Since World War II, U.S. foreign policy has taken an
active leadership role in international politics.
Tools of Foreign Policy
• Use of foreign policy tools depends on foreign policy agenda. Most
contemporary issues are complex and require combination. Established
goals of a state’s foreign policy agenda, availability of resources, also
affect choice of tools.
• Diplomacy
• Foreign Aid
• Sanctions
• Military Force/Aid
• Economic Aid
• Soft and hard power (“carrots & sticks”) can be used alone or in
parallel.
• Soft power: ability to attract and co-opt rather than coerce -- the
currency of soft power is culture, political values, and foreign
policies.
• Hard power: use of force, threat of force or economic coercion.
Tools of Foreign Policy
• Diplomacy: Act of working and negotiating with representatives of
foreign nations to reach consensus and set stage for future rules.
• Negotiate accords, treaties, alliances and conventions.
• Form relationships with foreign officials to understand their
perspectives, while portraying and promoting values, interests
and position of the US.
• Most diplomatic relations occur behind scenes through private
discussions and negotiations.
• Diplomats meet other elements of foreign societies; business
officials, reps of interest groups, etc... By cultivating connections
throughout civil society, diplomats gain better understanding of a
country’s culture in order to find common ground.
Diplomacy
• Approaches to Diplomacy
• When making decisions that affect the international community, states
either behave unilaterally, bilaterally or multilaterally.
• Unilateral action means a state is acting alone, independent of common norms or
rules of world order -- tends to be based on self-interest rather than international
standards of behavior.
• Bilateral action indicates that two states are acting together.
• Multilateral actions mean coordination of efforts based on commonly shared
norms.
• Pros and cons to each: acting unilaterally allows a state to do what it
wants without compromise, but must also bear costs itself. Acting with
allies, on other hand, allows state to maintain good relations, share
diplomatic burden -- this often requires compromise.
Tools of Foreign Policy
• Foreign Aid:
States use foreign aid to build relationships with other nations and address
humanitarian issues. Forms of aid include foreign military aid, humanitarian
assistance, food aid and general development aid.
• Foreign military aid: augmenting another nation’s supply of military
equipment and technological capabilities. Can help indirectly influence
balance of power in areas abroad, therefore increasing a country’s sphere of
influence. Military aid also helps another country defend itself from
adversarial neighbors.
• Alternatively, states can give economic aid to other countries in order to
stimulate growth or help with specific project development. US currently
spends less than 1% of budget on foreign aid.
Tools of Foreign Policy
• Sanctions
Countries use sanctions to change another country’s behavior. Can be used to
express dislike for a current behavior, limit opportunities for such behavior to
continue and deter other countries from taking similar courses of action.
• Different types of sanctions include:
•
•
•
•
arms embargoes
trade embargoes
asset freezes
travel restrictions
• Historically, sanctions have been put in place when standing against human rights violations.
• Military Force
Using military force — or hard power — in foreign relations involves states
using military to influence behavior of weaker nations or directly involve
themselves in the country. The US currently has most powerful military in the
world.
Foreign Aid
• Military aid:
• States donate, sell, or trade
military equipment and
technology to affect military
balance of power in certain key
regions of the world
• Economic aid:
• States donate or loan money to
other counties to boost economic
development
American Foreign Policy Concerns
• As greatest military and economic power in the world, the US has
taken an active role in international politics. US values security and
stability, both at home and abroad, and focuses on a number of areas
to achieve those ends:
• Terrorism
• Nuclear proliferation
• Free trade
• Humanitarianism
• Environmental issues
Terrorism
• Terrorism used by groups of all ideological and political views. Foreign and domestic
terrorists launched attacks against American interests since early 80’s. In 1982,
suicide bomber killed 241 American military personnel in Lebanon. Islamic
fundamentalists attempted to destroy World Trade Center in 1993, and al Qaeda
attacked American embassies in Africa in 1998. Al Qaeda’s devastating attacks on
September 11, 2001, prompted Washington to make combating terrorism the central
focus of American foreign policy.
• War on Terror
• Following 9/11, George W. Bush rallied the nation to fight back. The US-led coalition forces
invaded Afghanistan, where Taliban regime sheltered and aided core leadership of al Qaeda,
including UBL. Bush created Dept. of Homeland Security to coordinate efforts, prevent future
attacks.
• Since 2002, US has funded many wars on terror being fought by governments in Asia, Africa,
Europe, and Latin America. US even sent military consultants to other countries.
• Terrorism and Other States
• Many states around world have lived with threat of terrorism far longer. IRA terrorists
frequently attacked English civilians in London in the 80’s to protest British control of
Northern Ireland. Israel suffers frequent terrorist attacks from PLO and currently
from Hamas, an Islamist terrorist organization based in Lebanon.
Nuclear Proliferation
• US works to prevent other countries from acquiring, developing nuclear weapons.
• US worries that rogue states might use nuclear technology irresponsibly to attack
their enemies without thinking of global repercussions.
• 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
• Aimed at stopping spread of nuclear weapons. At the time, only 5 nuclear states: the US,
Soviet Union, Great Britain, France, and China, all of which had permanent seat on UN Security
Council. Nearly every country in the world signed treaty, thereby agreeing not to seek or
spread nuclear weapons.
• Despite the agreement, however, a few states have still acquired or developed
nuclear weapons, including India, Pakistan, and, most recently, North Korea.
• Most foreign policy analysts believe Israel also has nuclear weapons, though Israel refuses to
confirm.
• Iran seeking to acquire nuclear technology, ostensibly to be used only for electrical power,
even though few world leaders believe this claim.
Free Trade
• Since the end of World War II, US has led way in creating number of
international institutions that govern international trade. The World
Trade Organization (WTO) is the largest and most powerful of these
institutions.
• WTO promotes free trade by reducing or eliminating domestic
subsidies and protective tariffs. WTO members agree to abide by
organization’s trade regulations -- almost all the world’s countries are
members.
• WTO has authority to punish members that violate rules.
• Many US workers believe WTO hurts American industry, leads to
outsourcing. Proponents of free trade — including USG — argue that
benefits of free trade outweigh costs because free trade lowers price
of consumer goods, improves Americans’ purchasing power.
Humanitarian Issues
• The US has always been major proponent of international human rights and criticized many
developing countries for abusing those rights. President Jimmy Carter made humanitarianism a
major tenant of his foreign policy in the late 70’s. Since end of World War II, the US has also been
largest donor of international aid.
• US still lacks codified humanitarianism foreign policy, responding to some global humanitarian crises
(Somalia in 1992) but not others (Rwanda in 1996, Darfur in 2004).
• In fact, both conservative and liberal presidents and senators have refused to sign most international
human rights treaties out of fear that Americans may be stripped of their rights as U.S. citizens when
tried in international courts for crimes against humanity. This refusal has prompted much
international criticism, especially in the wake of gross human rights violations, most notably at the
American-controlled Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq in 2003 and at the American military detention center
at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
• Americans and foreign policymakers alike are divided on whether the United States should make
humanitarianism a more formal component of its foreign policy. Proponents argue that the United
States should promote human rights as the so-called leader of the free world and as the country
with the most resources to help others. Others, however, argue that promoting human rights and
sending troops on humanitarian missions achieves nothing tangible for the United States and could
lead to wasteful uses of resources and the needless loss of American lives
Environmental Issues
• Environmental issues have taken center stage in foreign policy. Recognition
that environmental issues require transnational solutions.
• Most ambitious agreement is Kyoto Protocol, a 1997 treaty signed to curb global
warming by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. A number of states, including China
and the US, refuse to ratify Kyoto Protocol, claiming it was formulated on faulty science.
Remains to be seen whether Kyoto can be effective without US participation.
• Despite Kyoto Protocol being unratified, a number of state and local jurisdictions
adopted many of the treaty’s requirements. Similarly, a number of corporations
voluntarily complied with some of the protocol’s standards
Environmental Issues
• For decades, the world has understood the threat of climate change. But until
recently, the economic and political obstacles to tackling the problem stymied
global action. Today, that calculus has changed. Technological progress has made
clean energy a profitable investment, and growing popular pressure has forced
politicians to respond to the threat of ecological disaster. These trends have enabled
major diplomatic breakthroughs, most notably the 2015 Paris Agreement. 195
countries pledged to make significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
• Agreement now under threat. Trump has replaced urgency with skepticism and
threatened to pull US out of Paris. Instead, administration tried to roll back Obama
administration’s environmental regulations, promising return of coal industry.
• Trump administration has not decided whether to formally leave Paris agreement.
Negotiators designed it to withstand political shocks. Economic, technological, and
political forces that gave rise to it are only getting stronger; but inaction from
Washington on climate change will cause serious economic and diplomatic pain and
waste precious time in race to save the planet. Sticking with the deal would mitigate
damage and is clearly in US national interest; Washington’s failure to lead on
climate change would still hurt US and the world.
The Bush Doctrine
• In 2002, President Bush argued that the US has the
right to eliminate its enemies before they attack
American interests, a policy now known as the Bush
Doctrine.
• Although previous presidents believed that the US
could defend itself by striking its enemies first, Bush
was the first president to put policy into effect by
authorizing the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
• Ostensibly, basis for war in Iraq was to prevent Saddam
Hussein from using WMD against US and its allies. Numerous
critics challenged Bush Doctrine, claiming that this largely
unilateral policy damaged American integrity abroad. Other
critics contend that the Bush Doctrine has undermined
America’s ability to criticize other aggressive states.
The Obama Doctrine?
• Too early to tell, but…
• “For all of our warts, the United States has clearly been a force for good in
the world.” – Barack Obama
• Led to complaints on the right that Obama did not believe in American
exceptionalism.
• Emphasis on:
•
•
•
•
•
Restoring America’s image as responsible superpower
Restoring commitments to human rights around the world
Burden sharing amongst our allies
Multilateralism
An open hand and open mind (Iran)
Trump Doctrine?