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17
Foreign Policy
Foreign Policy
• Programs and policies that determine
America’s relations with other nations and
foreign entities
• The nation’s chief foreign-policy actors are
– The president
– The Congress
– The bureaucracy
• Foreign policy is often thought of as nonpartisan
Foreign Policy Goals:
Promoting Security
• Promoting security is the most important
goal of American foreign policy
• Ensuring that food supplies, infrastructure,
energy supplies, and the physical security
of the population are protected from
foreign threats
State and Non-State Actors
• Nation-states – Political entities consisting
of a people with some common cultural
experience (nation) who also share a
common political authority (state),
recognized by other sovereignties
• Non-state actors – A group other than a
nation-state that attempts to play a role in
the international system
• Terrorist groups are non-state actors
Isolationism
• The desire to avoid involvement in the
affairs of other nations
• The Monroe Doctrine established the
Western Hemisphere as a region under
the sphere of influence of the United
States – an early departure from
isolationism
Deterrence and Appeasement
• Deterrence – The development of a
nation’s military capacity in order to
discourage attack
• Appeasement – The idea of giving in to
the demands of a hostile power in order to
maintain short-term stability
Preemption
• Foreign policy principle that permits a first
strike attack in order to prevent an enemy
attack
• The Bush Doctrine, formulated after 9/11,
argued that the United States had the right
to preemptively attack other nations if it
was believed they posed an imminent
threat
The Cold War
• Ideological struggle between the United
States and the Soviet Union from 1940s to
1991
• Unlike “hot wars,” the United States and
the Soviet Union never directly engaged
each other in military conflict
– Berlin
– Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)
– Vietnam
– Latin America
The End of the Cold War
• The Truman Doctrine announced that the
major goal of American foreign policy
would be to contain the spread of
communism
• The 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union
marked the end of the Cold War and a
victory for the policy of containment
Foreign Policy Goals:
Economic Prosperity
• A second foreign policy goal, after security,
is promoting economic prosperity
• Trade Policy – Most-Favored-Nation status
/ normal trade relations offers reduced
tariffs
• North American Free Trade Agreement as
an example – 1994 agreement between
the United States, Mexico, and Canada
International Trade
Organizations
• World Trade Organization (WTO) – An
international group promoting free trade
that grew out of the General Agreement on
Tariffs and Trade
• General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
(GATT) – An international trade
organization, in existence from 1947 to
1995, that set many of the rules governing
international trade
Foreign Policy Goals:
Humanitarian Concerns
• A third goal of foreign policy is
humanitarian concerns
• Environmental, human rights, and peacekeeping efforts aimed at improving the
lives of individuals in other nations
• Humanitarian concerns frequently take a
backseat to American security and
economic interests
Clicker Question
Which of the following goals do you believe
best describes overall American foreign
policy objectives?
A. Humanitarian concerns
B. Economic concerns
C. Security concerns
D. Other
US International Trade in
Goods and Services
Who Makes American Foreign
Policy? The President
• The President of the United States is head
of state and commander in chief
• This allows the president to exercise
substantial control over American
diplomatic and military institutions
• Presidential authority over foreign policy
has grown substantially in the post–World
War II era
Who Makes American Foreign
Policy? The Bureaucracy
• Numerous bureaucratic agencies exist to
implement American foreign policy
– State Department
– Department of Defense
– Central Intelligence Agency
– Joint Chiefs of Staff
• These agencies do not always agree or
have the same interests
Principal Foreign Policy
Provisions of the Constitution
Who Makes American Foreign
Policy? The Congress
• Constitutional power to declare war
• Senate (only) ratifies treaties and confirms
presidential appointments
• Power of the purse
• Power to regulate commerce with foreign
nations
• Investigation and oversight
Who Makes American Foreign
Policy? Interest Groups
• Economic interest groups – Single-issue
groups (like the tobacco industry) are most
effective
• Ethnic lobbying – Israel Lobby and Irish
Lobby as examples
• Human rights
– Amnesty International
– Christian Coalition
Clicker Question
Which one of the following branches of the
US government is explicitly given the power
to declare war by the Constitution?
A. The President
B. The Congress
C. The Department of Defense
D. The Department of State
Crisis and Foreign Policy
• Times of crisis tend to concentrate foreignpolicy power in the hands of the president
• In general, presidents wield far more
power over foreign policy than domestic
policy
The Instruments of Modern
American Foreign Policy
• Diplomacy is a policy tool that attempts to
resolve international conflicts through
direct discussion and negotiation
• The Department of State is the national
government’s chief diplomatic arm
• The Foreign Service Act (1946) created a
fully professional diplomatic corps
The United Nations
• Founded in 1945, the UN is a multilateral
body created to solve international
disputes before they lead to armed conflict
• The five permanent members of the UN
Security Council (United States, Russia,
France, China, and the UK) exercise the
greatest degree of influence
Clicker Question
Which of the following nations is NOT a
member of the UN Security Council?
A. India
B. United States
C. France
D. China
The International
Monetary Structure
• The World Bank is a primary funder for
long-term capital projects in developing
nations
• The International Monetary Fund is a
primary source of stabilization funds
during crises
Economic Aid and Sanctions
• The vast majority of American economic
aid is used to further American security or
economic interests
• Israel and Egypt are the largest recipients
of aid as a lasting effect of the Camp
David Peace Treaty
• Sanctions are the economic “stick” of
foreign policy
Collective Security
• North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
is a multilateral military organization
comprised of the United States, Canada,
and most of Western Europe
• Though initially created to counter the
Soviet Union, since the 1990s NATO has
played a central role in a number of
regional conflicts around the world
Military Force
• Because of its tremendous cost, military
force is seen as a tool of last resort
• Because of the amount of variables
involved, military action is seen as
inherently risky
Shares of World Military
Expenditures – 2010
Arbitration
• An alternative form of dispute resolution
relying upon an independent third body to
adjudicate between competing claims
• The International Court of Justice plays an
important role here
Thinking Critically About
Foreign Policy
• Realism is a school of foreign policy
thought that places national security and
economic interests above all other
concerns
• Idealism is a school of foreign policy
thought that emphasizes the promotion of
a nation’s values and ideals