Foreign Policy and the American Founding
Foreign policy always important to American politics.
Foreign policy - Washington encouraged the United States to remain independent in pursuit of its interests in the world.
“Manifest Destiny” - foreign policy (war and diplomacy) with Native Americans, Canada, and Mexico in its quest to dominate North America.
The early 20th Century posed challenges to American isolationism.
● Monroe Doctrine stated the United
States’ special interest in the
international politics of the Western
Hemisphere.
Increased international commerce
enmeshed America in world affairs.
America’s increased economic
strength also fed an increased
military strength.
The Emergence of a World Power
After World War II and with the beginning of the Cold War –
United States became a world power.
Foreign Service Act of 1946
Creating a full-fledged diplomatic corps, the United States engaged the world:
Entered the United Nations.
Helped create the World Bankand the IMF.
Collective security agreements like NATO.
International Institutions
Economic
– World Bank
Long term loans to
needy countries
– International
Monetary Fund
Short term money to
overcome temporary
trade deficits
Diplomatic
– United Nations
Global Interdependence
Trade Agreements
– General Agreement on
Tariffs and Trade
(GATT)
– North American Free
Trade Agreement
(NAFTA)
– World Trade
Organization (WTO)
Collective Security
– Organization of
American States
(OAS)
First for U.S.
– North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO)
– SEATO
– ANZUS
Who Makes and Shapes Foreign Policy?
Three principle governmental actors or
institutions that make foreign policy:
– President
– Bureaucracy
– Congress
President of the United States
When first elected,
Presidents are more
domestic politicians
As Commander in Chief -
unusual amount of influence
in foreign policy making,
even compared to his
influence in the domestic
realm.
Executive Departments
Several executive departments and agencies advise the president and Congress on creating and implementing foreign policy:
– the Department of State
– the Department of Defense
– the Joint Chiefs of Staff
– the Central Intelligence Agency
– the National Security Council
– the Department of Homeland Security
Intelligence Agencies
Central Intelligence
Agency (CIA)
– 1947 – supervise,
coordinate final
integrator of all
intelligence
National Security
Agency (NSA)
– Breaks codes, electronic
eavesdropping.
National
Reconnaissance Office
– Satellites
Defense Intelligence
Agency
– Military intelligence
FBI
INS
Congress - power to declare
war, role in making policy and
funding programs, and the
Senate’s role in ratifying
treaties
Congress also makes foreign
policy, often competing with
the White House.
Congress Role in Foreign Policy
Congressional Committees
Key Foreign Policy Committees:
Senate
Foreign Relations Committee
Armed Services Committee
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee
House
Foreign Affairs and Homeland Security Committee
Armed Services Committee
Interest groups
Businesses and defense contractors to
ethnic and environmental interest groups
and organized labor
Unofficial role in foreign policy.
Seek to shape American defense,
diplomatic, and trade policies.
Protests at WTO meetings in 1999 and 2001
led by environmental interest groups
Media
The media plays important
role in foreign policy,
informing and shaping public
perceptions of the world
American citizens have
relatively little knowledge of
world politics.
Instruments of Modern American Foreign Policy
The key tools of foreign policy include:
– Diplomacy
– United Nations
– International Monetary Structure
– Economic Aid
– Collective Security
– Military Deterrence
Diplomacy
Department of State and the foreign
service - conducts foreign policy by
maintaining friendly relations with the
governments of other countries.
Such cooperation involves politics and
trade-offs
American presidents frequently have been
suspicious of diplomacy.
United Nations
Established in 1945, the United
Nations has served as a venue for
negotiating international conflicts
and seeking peaceful solutions.
Despite some notable conflicts, the
United States has frequently relied
on the UN to accomplish its foreign-
policy aims.
American foreign-policy aims - achieved through economic solutions.
Institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank stabilize the world economy and facilitate international exchange.
Direct economic aid, Unites States can provide assistance to needy countries and shore up its political position in the world.
International Monetary Structure
Through collective security arrangements and bilateral treaties with individual countries, the United States seeks to cooperate and have a somewhat shared fate with its partner countries.
United States - shares the largest part of the security burden in most of these relationships.
Collective Security
Military Deterrence
America’s high levels of
military spending are
elements of an overall
strategy of military
deterrence whereby the
United States
purportedly seeks
“peace through
strength.”
Bush Doctrine
United States policy of preemptive action
against threats to its national security.
Response to terrorist threats around the
globe.
“Axis of Evil”
Patriot Act
Public concern over the Patriot Act
Trade-offs between maintaining a
strong presence in the world, providing
for the national defense, and
maintaining republican liberty are
difficult.