American Politics and
Foreign Policies
THE EVOLUTION AND
THEORETICAL FOUNDATION
OF US FOREIGN POLICY
JAECHUN KIM
Ideological Origins of USFP
We can conceptualize ideological prototypes of
USFP by utilizing two sets of polar concepts
•
- realism vs. liberalism
- isolationism and internationalism…


Realism and Liberalism - 2 major international
relations theory
Michael Doyle – 4 different strands of R and L…

Realist assumption about the natural
state of International Relations
- Natural state (i.e., status) of International
Relations is permanent state of war…
Why?

Because International Relations is Anarchy…

self-help system… In Intl Relations, we are
responsible for our security

Security Dilemma

Arms Race

Temptation to launch preemptive strike (or preventive
wars)

Thucydides, “The growth of power of the Athens and
the fear this caused in Sparta made war inevitable.”
Peloponnesian War

Constant possibility of war!
Prisoner's
Dilemma
John
D
C
-3
C
-3
Jane
0
-20
-20
-10
D
0
-10
DC > CC > DD


Liberalist Assumption about the Natural
State of International Relations

International Relations is not a permanent state
of war!

Even under anarchical conditions, there is a set
of natural laws…
Assumptions about the human nature


Even Realism – Human nature is evil!
Liberalism – Human nature is not that bad…
Mankind can progress…

Who is the most important actor in IR?
 Realism
– Sate
– State, but also non state actors
are important
 Liberalism

State as “unitary” actor?

Realism – State can be thought of and
analyzed as unitary actor

Liberalism – State is made up of individuals
and groups that have divergent interests;

State is “functionally similar” unit ?

Realism - States are functionally similar
units… Their primary function is provision of
“security”!

Liberalism – States are inherently different
units! Democracy and Autocracy are
fundamentally different…!

National Interests

Realism – It’s not that difficult to define national
interests; national interests should be
differentiated from interests of individuals and
groups; national interests should guide the
foreign policy…. ; there is less room for moral
consideration in making of foreign policy
“A wise Prince knows how to do wrong when it is
necessary – ends justify means!”
– Marchiavelli

Liberalism – national interests is a dubious
concept;

Primary goal of the state

Realism – increasing power and security;

Liberalism – increasing power and security
is important, but states should guarantee
human rights and liberty of people

Most important variable in Intl Relations
Realism – power (or material forces)
 Liberalism – Power is important, but some
other variables are also important as well


Future of International Relations
R– Perpetual peace is impossible…!; “For
realists it’s the same damn story over and
over again!”
 R – Any intl order not based on power (or
balance of power) is unstable


Realist advice to foreign policy makers

Balance of Power Politics! Realpolitik! Power Politics!
Realpolitik is the best foreign policy guideline!
cf. Liberalism – Perpetual peace is possible!

Liberalist advice to foreign policy making

International Order based on BoP (or material
forces) is inherently unstable;

People can establish perpetual peace by
(1) promoting liberal democratic institutions
(2) liberal economic institutions
(3) and international laws and organizations

These are three legs of liberalism!
USFP Tradition and Pattern
* We can trace the evolution of USFP by using
Isolationism vs. Internationalism and Liberalism
vs. Realism
1776 – the late 19th c.

Strong isolationist tendency and Influence of
(Classical) Liberalism

There was a consensus that it was in the best
interest of the US to stay away from the
Continental affairs

Thomas Paine: “It is the true interest of America
to steer clear of European contentions…”

John Adams : “we should separate ourselves,
as far as possible and as long as possible, from
all European politics and wars.”

George Washington (in farewell speech): “steer
clear of permanent alliances with any portion of
the foreign world” “by interweaving our destiny
with that of any part of Europe, entangle our
peace and prosperity in the toils of European
ambition, rivalship, interest, humor, or caprice?”

Don’t participate in BOP (Balance of Power)
politics in Europe

Why Isolationism?

Strong anti-statist tradition (strong tradition
of classical liberalism)  if the US becomes
entangled in foreign affairs, national (federal)
power would grow at the expense of the
states (and people)  Strong government will
hamper civil liberties… Internationalism
would subvert freedom at home!

Size, resources, and geography  we can
afford to be isolationist!
* The influence of American Exceptionalism
 revulsion against European BOP politics

We are different from (corrupt) Europeans! We
are not playing that dirty game that they are
playing!

We have a manifest destiny to assimilate others
with our ideals and values…

“The New World had become ‘the asylum for
the persecuted lovers of civil and religious
liberty,’ while in England ‘a corrupt and
faithless court’ abused liberty, and elsewhere
in the Old World liberty was simply denied.
Americans thus marked out as the keepers of
the flickering flame of liberty” (Thomas Paine)

John Q Adams: “The US is a beacon of light
on liberty, but even when we assume this
responsibility for the world, even in the name
of freedom… we’re not going to be an agent
of international reform… We will just be their
role model.”
•
The US is a Shining House on the Hill

But we can’t be interventionist like European powers!
This is very different from Liberal interventionism of the
20th century
“Wherever the standard of freedom and independence
has been or shall be unfurled, there will [America’s] heart,
her benedictions, and her prayers be. But she goes not
abroad in search of monsters to destroy.” (John Q.
Adams)


American Exceptionalism  Get down with the dogs, get
up with fleas!

Americans never felt perfectly comfortable with realism
or realpolitik…

Two identifiable legacies of the long
tradition of isolationism

Intermingling of domestic and foreign policy
institutions
 Amateurism toward foreign policy making;
cf. 1946 Foreign Service Act

Unilateralism – Isolationism means no
diplomacy, no diplomacy means no
multilateralism!

Alexander Hamilton
- The first American realist?

“…men are ambitious, vindictive, and
rapacious…conflict was the law of life. States
no less than men were bound to collide over
those ancient objects of ambition: wealth and
glory” “…develop the capabilities necessary to
enable the US” to be “ascendant in the system
of American affairs . . . and able to dictate the
terms of the connection between the old and
the new world!”

The US has to engage in protectionist policies if
necessary!; The US should play ‘power politics’

Isolationism during this period does not
mean that the US was unengaged

The US expanded its sphere of influence

The US also made it sure that the Latin
America is in the sphere of American
influence.
* Monroe Doctrine of 1823: “We owe it … to
candor and to the amicable relations existing
between the US and [European] powers to
declare that we should consider any attempt
on their part to extend their system to any
portion of this hemisphere as dangerous to
our peace and safety.”

Created Liberia in the 1820s. Opened Japan to
commercial relations in the 1850s.

Isolationism during this period means that the
US did not take active role in shaping the
world order!! The US stayed away from E
affairs…
The USFP at the turn of the 19th century

Isolationism and liberalism under siege
: The rise of imperialism and interventionism

The US got actively involved in the game of
imperialism and colonization!

Spanish-American War; The PhilippinesAmerican War

A significant number of Americans was
opposed to imperialistic policies
( legacy of liberalism!)

Elites resort to liberalist sentiments to pursue
imperialistic policies.

William McKinley (before the Philippines-American War):
“I walked the floor of the White House night after night
until midnight; and I am not ashamed to tell you… that I
went down on my knees and prayed Almighty God for
light and guidance more than one night. And one night it
came to be…[T]here was nothing left to do but take them
all, and educate the Filipinos, and uplift and civilize them
as our fellow-men…And them I wend to bed, and…slept
soundly.”
cf. “We must obey our blood, and occupy new markets and
if necessary new lands.” – Sen. Albert Beveridge


Open Door Policy toward China!
Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt
(A first realist president?)

In 1900 election, he defeated William
Jennings Bryan (who was campaigning with
anti-imperialist banner).

The first US president to embrace
“unambiguously” the principles of power
politics!
“Roosevelt started from the premise that the US was
a power like any other, not a singular incarnation of
virtue. If its interests collided with those of other
countries, American had the obligation to draw on its
strengths to prevail… No other president defined
America’s world role so completely in terms of
national interests, or identified the national interest
so comprehensively with the balance of power.” (H.
Kissinger)

Roosevelt Corollary (to Monroe Doctrine)
“…the adherence of the US to the Monroe
Doctrine may force the US, however
reluctantly … to the exercise of
international policy power.”
WWI,WOODROW WILSON,
And Emergence of LIBERAL INTERNATIONALISM

Impact of the WWI on USFP

The US was basically non-factor in the
European balance of power politics. Wilson
had hard time mobilizing domestic support for
the war!

But, The US no longer has the luxury of being
an onlooker

European BoP does not work!!

Advent of Wilsonianism
(Liberal Internationalism; Idealism)

14 points: “Making the world safe for democracy…”

The League of Nations and the collective security
system.

We have to organize Intl Relations in
fundamentally different ways!! The first attempt to
put Liberalist Foreign Policy Ideas in practice!!

However, Wilson’s efforts to implement his vision
failed during his lifetime.

However, Wilson’s tradition left a strong legacy.
RETURN TO NORMALCY: INTERWAR
ISOLATIONISM

Resurgence of Isolationism

In 1920 election, Warren Harding defeated
Wilson. His foreign policy program called for a
return to normalcy.

Public disillusionment with the US
engagement in WWI: Why did we fight
European war?

Changing world environment and American
hands-off approach

The US Congress passed a series of neutrality
acts between 1935 and 1938.

Foreign Policies with Liberalist Flavo

1928 Pact of Paris (Kellog-Briand Pact) - The
agreement sought to deal with the problem of
war by making it illegal.

They regard it as “the perfect expression of
the utopian idealism which dominated
America’s attempts to compose international
conflicts and banish the threat of war in the
interwar period…. The Pact of Paris simply
declared that its signatories renounced war as
an instrument of national policy…. It
contained absolutely no obligation for any
nation to do anything under any
circumstances.”
WWII, INTERNATIONALISM,
RISE OF REALISM, LIBERAL CRUSADE

The effects of WWII

We have no option but to engage in
international affairs!

Liberal Internationalism was back. Now
Americans were enthusiastically plunged
into the task of shaping the world to
American preferences. Isolationism is no
longer a viable force in the US…

Advent of Liberal International Monetary
and Trade Regimes

Established intl trade regime based on GATT
and also created intl monetary regime based
on IMF and World Bank.  “If goods do not
cross the border, armies will.”

Not just for commercial interests…

Americans also created United Nations.
Created NATO and called for collective
security.

Advent of Interventionism

Truman Doctrine in 1947:
“The free peoples of the world look to us for support
in maintaining their freedoms… If we falter in our
leadership, we may endanger the peace of the world –
and we shall surely endanger the welfare of our own
nation.” “I believe that it must be the policy of the US
to support free peoples who are resisting attempted
subjugation by armed minorities or by outside
pressures.”
* Importance of Korean War!!

Realism became dominant mode of thinking

Realpolitik We also have to engage in power
politics. Morgenthau. E.H. Carr… Henry
Kissinger…! These guys are from Europe!!

Establishment of formal diplomatic relationship
with the PRC.

Ends justify means: support of dictatorship!

Careful realists didn’t really appreciate Vietnam
War.

The Limits of Liberalist Policies during the
Cold War

JFK: (Alliance for Progress). “Our Alliance for Progress
is an alliance of free governments, and it must work to
eliminate tyranny from a hemisphere in which it has no
rightful place. Therefore let us express our special
friendship to the people of Cuba and the Dominican
Republic – and the hope they will soon rejoin the society
of free men, uniting with us in common effort.”
“There are three possibilities in descending order of preference:
a decent democratic regime, a continuation of the Trujillo regime,
or a Castro regime. We ought to aim at the first, but we really
can’t renounce the second until we are sure that we can avoid the
third.”

Jimmy Carter – moralistic foreign policy


Setback of Internationalism and PostVietnam syndrome

Erosion of the Cold War Consensus…

Give priority to domestic policies!
Reagan’s Power Politics
 Realism
and Strong Interventionism
 Increase in Defense Budget; Developing
New Weapons e.g., SDI  the collapse of
Soviet Union?
THE END OF COLD WAR
AND CLINTON’S LIBERALISM

Promotion of Democracy

The Democratic Peace theory inspired the Clinton
administration's strategy of expanding the zone of
democracy…

In his State of the Union Address in 1994, President
Clinton noted: “Ultimately, the best strategy to
ensure our security and to build a durable peace is
to support the advance of democracy elsewhere.
Democracies don't attack each other, they make
better trading partners and partners in diplomacy.”

Promotion of Democracy in Latin America, Asia,
Africa, and the former Soviet Union is in the interst
of the US!…

Promotion of Market Economy

Secretary of State Warren Christopher: “Americans
will be more secure and prosperous if democratic
institutions and market economies take hold”

Multilateralism

Nation Building (State Building) around the
world

Human Rights Intervention

Buchanan’s call for isolationism fell on deaf
ears…
911, REALISM, AND NEOCON

Realism of GWB
- GWB started as a classical realist!
Denounced Clinton’s enlargement policy…
-
“Enlargement policy had no connection to
reality… it is an aspiration rather than a
strategy.” He was very scornful of statebuilding efforts.
- Denounced Clinton’s multilateralism…
Became increasingly unilateralist…

911 and the advent of Neocon
- Neocons are different from realists!
- Bush has become a liberal crusader!?

Neoconservatism here…



Walter Russell Mead, Special Providence:
American Foreign Policy and How It
Changed the World
http://www.futurecasts.com/book%20revie
w%205-7.htm
How useful is Mead’s classification?

Obama’s foreign policy

Smart power