Chapter 17: Foreign Policy
Chapter 17
Foreign Policy
Chapter Summary
Facing the World: Foreign and Defense Policy
Foreign policy is the term used to describe a nation’s external goals and the techniques and strategies used to achieve them. Two key aspects of foreign policy are national security, the protection of the independence and political integrity of the United States, and diplomacy, the settlement of disputes and conflicts among nations by peaceful methods.
Morality versus Reality in Foreign Policy
From the beginning of the United States, many American policymakers have felt an obligation to provide moral leadership to the rest of the world. Many of the U.S. foreign policy initiatives seem to be rooted in moral idealism, a philosophy that sees all nations as willing to cooperate and agree on moral standards for conduct. The Peace Corps, established by President Kennedy, is a good example of this concept. In opposition to the moral perspective is political realism. This philosophy sees the world as a dangerous place in which each nation strives for survival. The United States has generally pursued a foreign policy that attempts to balance these philosophies.
Challenges in World Politics
In a new development, dissident groups, rebels, and other revolutionaries have used modern weapons to engage in terrorism in order to affect world politics. The long-standing regional conflict in the Middle East has produced a number of terrorist acts worldwide in the last two decades. In 2001, terrorism came to the United States with the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. The dissolution of the Soviet Union brought a lowering of tensions among the nuclear powers, but the number and location of nuclear weapons continues to be a major problem. The emergence of China as a major trading partner of the United States and the most populous nation in the world has altered world trade policies. This is just one of the major developments in the global economy. Since the 1980s the United States has become a debtor nation. We owe more to foreigners than foreigners owe to us.
The United States sent more than a half-million troops to push Iraq out of Kuwait in 1991. In 2003, the United States invaded and occupied Iraq, as part of the War on Terrorism. See Figure 17-1 for a look at ethnic and religious groups in Iraq. In addition to the war in Iraq, the issues of nuclear proliferation and the emergence of China as a superpower have caused concern for U.S. policy makers. Regional conflicts throughout the world have replaced the Cold War as a major focus of U.S. foreign policy. Unrest in the island nations of Haiti and Cuba produced a flood of immigrants, which has particularly affected the state of Florida. Clashes between Israel and its Arab neighbors have been a concern of the United States since the conflict began in 1948. As recently as the summer 2006, violence continued to erupt, as Israel went to war with the militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon. Ethnic violence in Africa also flared in the 1990s. The United States has played a limited role in these conflicts, except for an effort to bring humanitarian aid to Somalia in 1992-1995. A current conflict between government forces and rebels in Darfur, Sudan has produced millions of refugees, disease and starvation. As if this wasn’t enough tragedy, in recent years the suffering in Africa has worsened with a widespread AIDS epidemic.
Who Makes Foreign Policy?
While the President has important foreign policy powers, the Constitution gives Congress the opportunity to check these powers. The two most significant presidential powers are the negotiation of treaties and the leadership of the armed forces as commander-in-chief. However, any treaties negotiated by the president must be ratified by two-thirds of the Senate and the decision to declare war belongs to Congress. Of course presidents have figured out ways to work their will in foreign policy, committing troops in circumstances short of a formal state of war and using executive agreements to get around the requirement of Senate approval of treaties. Finally, the Constitution gives the President the right to appoint ambassadors and recognize foreign governments. The president also has informal powers in the foreign policy process, including his access to intelligence reports from the CIA and the military, his ability to influence budget priorities, and his influence on public opinion. In addition to the president, there are at least four foreign policymaking sources within the executive branch. These are:
· the Department of State, the department most directly engaged in day-to-day foreign policy.
· the National Security Council, responsible for advising the president on domestic, foreign, and military policies affecting national security.
· the intelligence community composed of all government agencies involved in intelligence activities, including the CIA, the NSA, the DIA, the FBI and the military intelligence agencies.
· the Department of Defense, which brings all military agencies under one organization.
Congress Balances the Presidency
The struggle between the president and Congress over foreign policy questions reached a high point during the Vietnam War (1964-1975). In 1973, Congress passed, over President’s Nixon’s veto, the War Powers Resolution. This law required the president to consult, whenever possible, with Congress before using troops in military action. Prior to 9/11 Congress had become cautious in supporting the president’s desire to use American troops in foreign conflicts. After 9/11 Congress gave considerable leeway to President Bush as he employed the military in Afghanistan and Iraq. The results of the 2006 midterm elections proved the costs of blindly supporting the president as the American people turned out the Republicans and handed majorities to the Democrats in both houses of Congress. Thus, once again, a confrontation between the president and Congress over foreign policy looms in the future.
Domestic Sources of Foreign Policy
Besides the president and Congress, foreign policy is also influenced by sources in society, which include elite and mass opinions and the military-industrial complex. Public opinion as articulated by the attentive public, that portion of the general public that pays attention to foreign policy issues, is particularly important. The attentive public represents about 10 to 20 percent of all citizens. The military-industrial complex, which President Eisenhower warned against in his final speech, is the mutually beneficial relationship between the armed forces and defense contractors and a driving force in foreign policy.
The Major Foreign Policy Themes
A historical review of American foreign policy reveals several major themes. In the early days of our nation, the founding fathers held a basic mistrust of alliances with European nations. The Monroe Doctrine of 1823 warned European nations not to become involved in the affairs of nations in the Western Hemisphere. The Monroe Doctrine also set forth a U.S. policy of isolationism toward Europe, a policy characterized by abstaining from an active role in international affairs or alliances, particularly with Europe. The end of the isolationist policy started with the Spanish-American War in 1898 and continued with American involvement in World War I (1914-1918). After World War I, America returned to a policy of isolationism.
The folly of isolationism was demonstrated as Japanese bombs fell on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and the United States became embroiled in World War II. The United States embarked upon a policy of internationalism that would continue for the remainder of the century. The United States and the Soviet Union were wartime allies against Adolph Hitler’s Germany. After the war, the alliance fell apart and they began a fifty-year struggle for supremacy known as the Cold War. The Soviet Union seized Eastern Europe and divided the continent with what Winston Churchill called an “iron curtain.” The United States adopted a policy of containment and entered into a number of military alliances designed to prevent the spread of Communism. See Figure 17-2 for a look at Europe during the Cold War. The military alliances were tested in a series of military actions, usually by “client” nations of each side. In the Korean War (1950-1953) and the Vietnam War (1964-1975), the United States engaged directly in military action against forces supported by Communist regimes. The Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 brought the world to the brink of nuclear war, but after this crisis was peacefully resolved, the United States and the Soviet Union entered a period of relaxed tension known as détente. The Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT) began a process of reducing nuclear weapons. President Reagan’s hard line with the Soviet Union recalled the early days of the Cold War. Reagan instituted massive increases in defense spending, including a proposal for an expensive, space-based, missile defense system. The Soviet Union tried to match the spending of the Reagan Administration, but its attempt to keep up led to the collapse of the Soviet economy, the end of the Cold War and ultimately the fall of the Soviet Union. See Figure 17-3 for a look at Europe after the fall of the Soviet Union.
Key Terms
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Chapter 17: Foreign Policy
attentive public
Cold War
containment
détente
foreign policy
intelligence community
iron curtain
isolationist foreign policy
military-industrial complex
Monroe Doctrine
moral idealism
most-favored-nation status
national security policy
political realism
Strategic Arms Limitation
Treaty (SALT I)
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Chapter 17: Foreign Policy
OTHER RESOURCES
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“Isolateralism or Unilationism?”
The premise of this article is that the rejection of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty by the Senate in 1999 has created a new foreign policy model, which combines Isolationism and Unilateralism.
Study Questions
What is the concept of Isolationism?
What is the concept of Unilateralism?
How do these concepts fit the foreign policy of George W. Bush?
What are the reasons that presidents are more successful in foreign policy?
Who are the president’s competitors for control of foreign policy?
Practice Exam
(Answers appear at the end of this chapter.)
Fill-in-the-Blank Supply the missing word(s) or term(s) to complete the sentence.
1. ________________ ________________ describes U.S. goals, techniques, and strategies in the world arena.
2. ________________ refers to the peaceful settlement of disputes and conflicts among nations.
3. The ________________ ________________ is the department most directly engaged in foreign affairs.
4. The ________________ ________________ formed the basis for the U.S. foreign policy of isolationism.
5. The lasting change in American foreign policy came with the end of _______________ _______________ ________.
6. The doctrine created by George F. Kennan, which became the driving force of western foreign policy, was ________________.
7. President Eisenhower warned the nation about the influence of the ________________ ________________ ________________.
8. The French word that means a relaxation of tensions is ________________.
9. In 2006 Israel waged war with the militant group ____________ in Lebanon.
10. The fall of the Berlin Wall signaled the beginning of the dissolution of the _________ ___________.
True/False Circle the appropriate letter to indicate if the statement is true or false.
T F 1. National security policy concerns itself with the defense of the U.S. against actual or potential enemies.
T F 2. Diplomacy is the set of negotiation techniques by which the U.S. attempts to carry out its foreign policy.
T F 3. The Peace Corps is a good example of America’s moral idealism in practice.
T F 4. Political realism has always been the only guiding principle in foreign policy decisions for the U.S.
T F 5. China has become a major trading partner of the United States.
T F 6. The State Department’s preeminence in foreign policy has gradually increased since WWII.
T F 7. The attentive public seems to be less interested in foreign policy than domestic policy.
T F 8. U.S. foreign policy during its formative years could be described as interventionist.
T F 9. The Star Wars policy of President Clinton brought an end to the Communist threat.
T F 10. The Truman Doctrine is a clear expression of the U.S. policy of containment.
Multiple-Choice Circle the correct response.
1. Diplomacy differs from national security policy in that
a. diplomacy is a process to settle conflicts among nations by peaceful means.
b. diplomacy is the all encompassing goal while foreign policy is a sub-set.
c. the president develops diplomacy and the State Department develops foreign policy.
d. diplomacy always comes first followed by a specific foreign policy.
e. diplomacy always makes use of the United Nations.
2. Foreign policy based on moral imperatives is often unsuccessful for the U.S. because it
a. makes policy-making difficult to understand.
b. assumes that other nations agree with American views of morality and politics.
c. requires the president to establish absolute standards of conduct for U.S. personnel.
d. makes too many enemies.
e. assumes our leaders are moral.
3. The foreign policy that allows the U.S. to sell weapons to dictators who support American business interests around the world and to repel terrorism with force is the policy of
a. détente.
b. moral idealism.
c. counterintelligence.
d. political realism.
e. economic materialism.
4. The concept of “preemptive war“ as a defense strategy is
a. based on World War II experiences.
b. based on Cold War experiences.
c. not part of United States foreign policy.
d. known as the Clinton doctrine.
e. known as the Bush doctrine.
5. Concern over nuclear weapon proliferation intensified in 1999, when the Senate rejected the
a. China/North Korea Treaty.
b. Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
c. Middle East Peace Treaty.
d. Nuclear Terrorism Treaty.
e. India/Pakistan Treaty.
6. Tensions between the U.S. and Cuba increased tremendously in 1999-2000 because of the
a. Cuban Missile Crisis.
b. embargo of Cuba by the U.S.
c. status of Elian Gonzales.
d. Cuban takeover of Guantanamo Naval Base.
e. attack of Cuban terrorists in New York.
7. One of the major problems in Africa is the
a. spread of nuclear weapons.
b. spread of Communism.
c. government of Saddam Hussein.
d. AIDS epidemic.
e. weapons of mass destruction in the Sudan.
8. The major provision of the War Powers Act was to
a. limit the president’s use of troops in military action without congressional approval.
b. allow the president more freedom in the use of military troops throughout the world.