Rethinking U.S. Foreign
Policy: Bush vs. Obama
“Cowboy Diplomacy”or the only alternative in a
dangerous world?
Foreign Policy and Presidential
Approval
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http://www.gallup.com/poll/124922/presidenti
al-approval-center.aspx
Disapproval of US Foreign Policy
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68% of global citizens thought US presence in
the Middle East provoked more conflict than it
prevented
Only 34% of Americans approve of the
situation in Iraq, compared with only 20%
globally
Unilateralism v. Multilateralism
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Isolationism before 9/11
ICC
Kyoto Protocol
Land Mines Treaty
Invasion of Iraq
Sanctions on Sudan
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Afghanistan
North Korean Nuclear
Weapons
Iran’s nuclear program
Preventive War
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The case against Saddam Hussein
Preventive war v. preemptive strikes
Just war doctrine
Deterrence against non-state actors
Nuclear weapons and rogue states
Exporting Democracy
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Can be imported, but not exported
Exported at the point of a gun?
Germany and Japan
 Grenada and Panama
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Democracy v. development
Democracy v. civil society
US Democracy
Exporting Democracy
Is It The
Best
American
Product?
Three Waves of Democracy
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1.
Samuel Huntington
identified three waves in the
spread of democracy in the
World.
Early 19th century extension
of the franchise thru the
new democracies of the 20th
century – 29 Democracies.
Reversal to 22 began with
rise of Mussolini
Three Waves of Democracy
2. After the allied victory in World War II. The
number of democracies rose to 36 free nations.
By the mid-70s there was a reversal back to 30.
3. The Third Wave began in the 80s with 30 new
democracies, 15 new free states in the 90s and
10 new democracies in the 00s. (85 total)
Are we going to begin a reversal or it is the “End
of History?”
The Third Wave of Democracy
The Third Wave of Democracy
The End of the Third Wave
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Democracy Faltering in
Latin America
Democracy’s Demise in
Putin’s Russia
The failure of democracy
to take hold in the new
states of the former
Soviet Union
Retrenchment in SubSaharan Africa
Democratic Peace Theory
Idealism v. Realism
American Ideals v. American Interests
Woodrow Wilson and a U.S. foreign policy based
upon moral imperatives
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1.
2.
Fourteen Points
League of Nations
FDR’s support for self determination
Jimmy Carter’s human rights foreign policy
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1.
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The overthrow of the Shah of Iran
The defeat of the Somoza Regime in Nicaragua
Carter’s inconsistencies
Idealism v. Realism
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Truman’s Containment
Eisenhower’s support for
Latin American dictators
& failure to support
Hungarian dissidents
Reagan’s support for the
Nicaraguan “Contras”
Bush 41 discourages
democracy in the new
states of the former USSR
President Bush’s Plan to Export
Democracy
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American Exceptionalism
and the UniPolar moment
The power of Western
liberal democracy and
capitalism
The lack of freedom and
opportunity in the Middle
East is the cause of 9/11
(Majority of hijackers were
Saudis)
The Bush Plan: The Good News
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Elections in Iraq
Elections in Afghanistan
The “Orange
Revolution” in the
Ukraine
Success in Lebanon
Reform In Egypt
Revolution in Kyrgzstan
Funding for democracy
The Critics
The Critics
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Democracy can’t be spread at the point of a gun.
Economic development, stability, the rule of law and
growth of civil society must precede democracy
We are not safer. The Bush policy brings more recruits
to Jihad and increases the threat of Terrorism
Where is the support for democracy in China, Saudi
Arabia or Pakistan?
The bad role model: Abu Ghraib, military tribunals and
Guantanamo
Iraq & Afghanistan are unlikely to become real
democracies
Is Democracy Appropriate?
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Cultural Imperialism
The U.S. Constitution in
the Philippines
Women’s Rights
Elections do not a
democracy make.
Does the “bottom up”
approach really seem to
work best?
Origins of Obama’s Foreign
Policy
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Advisors vs. Cabinet
Appointments
The War in Vietnam
& the Democratic
Party
Joe Biden
The War in Iraq
Obama’s Foreign Policy Report
Card
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Image in the Muslim World
Wars in Iraq & Afghanistan
GWOT - UBL
Middle East Peace
Arab Spring
WMD in Iran
Russia “Reset”
Asia “Pivot”