Chapter 10
Foreign Policy and National
Security
Section 1: Goals and principals of
US foreign policy
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Foreign policy: a plan for shaping economic,
diplomatic, military, and political relationships
with other countries
Goals of US foreign policy:
 Maintaining
national security
 Supporting democracy
 Promoting world peace
 Providing aid to people in need
 Establishing free and open trade
"to create a more secure, democratic, and prosperous world for the
benefit of the American people and the international community.“
–US Department of State
Guiding forces that shape foreign
policy: Stuff the President must
consider
How active should the US be in world
affairs?
 What should be the goals of our activities
abroad?
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4 basic approaches to foreign
policy

Isolationism
A
nation should tend to its domestic affairs
rather than international affairs (for practical,
not necessarily moral reasons)
US had domestic problems that government
officials should concentrate on solving before we
tackle world affairs
 Because of our geographic location we don’t need
to worry about what is happening in most other
countries
 If we avoid getting involved in other nations
problems we can avoid war

Isolationism

This was the main philosophy guiding US
foreign policy throughout the 1800s and
the years between WWI and WWII
Realism (also called Realpolitik)
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The US should take an internationalist approach to
foreign policy and the policy should be evaluated by how
much it helps the US
We should intervene in other countries when we deem
necessary

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Political / economic reasons , influence in region…
Nations should create alliance to help them achieve
international goals, when making these alliances your
national interests matter more than a similar belief
system
The US must have a strong military and be prepared for
war, it is fine to use force to show your power, not just
when you are defending yourself from attack
This has been the most dominant US foreign policy
philosophy since WWII
Neo-isolationism: form of moral
isolationism present since WWII

Keep foreign involvement to a minimum
 This
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is better for the US and for other nations
We should not interfere in the internal matter of
a nation even if the people of that nation are
being oppressed
It is ethically necessary to avoid war
More moral than practical – while isolationism is
more practical
Idealism
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
Believe in an internationalist (actively involved
with other nations) policy based on what is good
for the US and what is good for other nations
US government has the right to intervene in
other nations on behalf of oppressed people
 Some
would say economically
 Some would advocate the use of force

Tend to work towards international cooperation
for economic and humanitarian needs