Foreign Policy
“Bill Clinton's foreign policy experience
stems mainly from having breakfast at the
International House of Pancakes.”
-Pat Buchanan
“Whatever it is that the government does,
sensible Americans would prefer that the
government does it to somebody else. This is
the idea behind foreign policy.”
“Soviet Union foreign policy is a
puzzle inside a riddle wrapped in
an enigma, and the key is
Russian nationalism.”
- Winston Churchill
“Human rights is the soul of our
foreign policy, because human rights is
the very soul of our sense of
nationhood.”
-Jimmy Carter
-P.J. O’ Rourke
“Domestic policy can only defeat
us; foreign policy can kill us”
-JFK
What is foreign policy?
Foreign policy is defined as the
diplomatic policy of a nation in its
interactions with other nations, but
there are many aspects to a nation’s
foreign policy, and many specific terms
used.
Superpower
A superpower is a state with a leading
position in the international system and
the ability to influence events and
project power on a worldwide scale.
US, USSR, British Empire (before Cold War)
Brazil, China, EU, India, Russia (after Cold
War)
Nonaligned
A country not allied with any other
nations, neutral
Balance of Power
The distribution of power in which no
single nation is able to dominate or
interfere with others
Arms Race
A competition between nations to have
the most powerful armaments.
Neutrality
The state or policy of being non
partisan, especially during war
Isolationism
National policy of abstaining from
political or economic relations with
other countries.
Monroe Doctrine
(1823) US doctrine proclaiming the
British had no right to interfere and
colonize with the affairs of the newly
independent nations of the Americas.
Roosevelt Corollary
(1904) Declaration made by Teddy
Roosevelt which authorized US
intervention in the affairs of
neighboring American countries in order
to counter threats posed to the US
security and interests.
Containment
US strategy in the early years of the
Cold War to prevent Communism from
spreading.
Domino Theory
Theory promoted by the government
that if one region came under
Communist influence, then the
surrounding regions would also.
“Finally, you have broader considerations that
might follow what you would call the "falling
domino" principle. You have a row of
dominoes set up, you knock over the first
one, and what will happen to the last one is
the certainty that it will go over very quickly.
So you could have a beginning of a
disintegration that would have the most
profound influences.”
-Dwight D. Eisenhower
Domino Theory Continued
Past
Present
Foreign Policy: The Presidential
Campaign
John McCain on foreign policy
"Increasing U.S. troop levels will expose more
in Iraq
brave Americans to danger and increase the
number of American casualties. When
Congress authorized this war, we committed
America to a mission that entails the
greatest sacrifice a country can make, one
that falls disproportionately on those
Americans who love their country so much
that they volunteer to risk their lives to
accomplish that mission. And when we
authorized this war, we accepted the
responsibility to make sure those men and
women could prevail. Extending combat
tours and accelerating the deployment of
additional troops is a terrible sacrifice to
impose on the best patriots among us, and
they will understandably be disappointed
when they are given that order. Then they
will shoulder their weapons and do
everything they can to protect our country's
vital interests in Iraq."
Hillary Clinton on foreign policy
in Iraq
Non-interference. Working with the
U.N. representative, the group
would work to convince Iraq's
neighbors to refrain from getting
involved in the civil war.
Mediation. The group would
attempt to mediate among the
different sectarian groups in Iraq
with the goal of attaining
compromises on fundamental points
of disputes.
Reconstruction funding. The
members of the group would hold
themselves and other countries to
their past pledges to provide
funding to Iraq and will encourage
additional contributions to meet
Iraq's extensive needs.
Barack Obama on foreign policy
in Iraq
Bringing Our Troops Home
Obama will immediately begin to
remove our troops from Iraq. He will
remove one to two combat brigades
each month, and have all of our
combat brigades out of Iraq within
16 months. Obama will make it clear
that we will not build any permanent
bases in Iraq. He will keep some
troops in Iraq to protect our embassy
and diplomats; if al Qaeda attempts
to build a base within Iraq, he will
keep troops in Iraq or elsewhere in
the region to carry out targeted
strikes on al Qaeda.
Barack Obama continued
Press Iraq’s Leaders to Reconcile
The best way to press Iraq’s leaders to take responsibility for
their future is to make it clear that we are leaving. As we
remove our troops, Obama will engage representatives from all
levels of Iraqi society – in and out of government – to seek a
new accord on Iraq’s Constitution and governance. The United
Nations will play a central role in this convention, which should
not adjourn until a new national accord is reached addressing
tough questions like federalism and oil revenue-sharing.
Barack Obama Continued
Regional Diplomacy
Obama will launch the most aggressive diplomatic effort in
recent American history to reach a new compact on the stability
of Iraq and the Middle East. This effort will include all of Iraq’s
neighbors — including Iran and Syria. This compact will aim to
secure Iraq’s borders; keep neighboring countries from
meddling inside Iraq; isolate al Qaeda; support reconciliation
among Iraq’s sectarian groups; and provide financial support for
Iraq’s reconstruction.
Barack Obama Continued
Humanitarian Initiative
Obama believes that America has a moral and security
responsibility to confront Iraq’s humanitarian crisis — two
million Iraqis are refugees; two million more are displaced inside
their own country. Obama will form an international working
group to address this crisis. He will provide at least $2 billion to
expand services to Iraqi refugees in neighboring countries, and
ensure that Iraqis inside their own country can find a safehaven.
Some questions to ponder…
Do we support any nation that goes along with us, or
only those that are reasonably free and democratic?
(Pakistan, Argentina, Cuba, Russia, China)
Are we the world’s policeman? We did not intervene
to prevent China from occupying Tibet, to end the
massacre of thousands of Tutsis in Rwanda. But we
did intervene to try to end a dictatorship in Haiti, to
help starving people in Somalia, to turn back an Iraqi
invasion of Kuwait, and to punish Serbs who were
attacking Kosovo…
Why the bipolarity? Or are these decisions
strategically made?
Kinds of Foreign Policy
Majoritarion politics (perceived to have widely
distributed benefits and impose widely
distributed costs)
War
Establishing military alliances with western Europe
SALT
Interest Group politics
Tariffs (help businesses, impose costs on other
firms and unions)
Ex: if the price of Japanese steel imported into this
country is increased by tariffs, or quotas, it helps
American steel companies and workers, but it
hurts firms that had been purchasing the oncecheap Japanese steel.
Client Politics
Washington often provides aid to American
corporations doing business abroad because the
aid helps those firms directly without imposing any
apparent costs on an equally distinct group in
society.
Ex: “our policy toward Israel has in part reflected
the fact that Jews in this country feel strongly
about the need to support a Jewish state abroad
and are well organized to make those concerns
felt.” – our textbook
The President’s Role
1845: James K Polk sent troops
into Mexico to defend newly
acquired Texas
1861: Abraham Lincoln
blockaded southern ports and
declared martial law
1950: Harry Truman sent
American troops into S. Korea to
help them repulse an attack
from N. Korea.
1960’s: JFK and LBJ sent
American forces into S. Vietnam
without a declaration of war
1983: Reagan sent troops to
overthrow a pro-Castro regime
in Grenada
1989: George HW Bush ordered
invasion of Panama to depose
dictator Manuel Noriega
1990: Bush ordered troops to
Saudi Arabia in response to
Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait
1999: Bill Clinton ordered the
military to attack with bombs
and cruise missiles Serbian
forces that were trying to
control Kosovo
2001: George W. Bush sent US
troops to liberate Afghanistan
from the Taliban
2003: The city of Baghdad was
bombed
Worldviews and how they shape
foreign policy
Worldviews (paradigms) are
comprehensive mental pictures of the
critical problems facing the United
States in the world and of the
appropriate and inappropriate ways of
responding to these problems.
Four key worldviews in American
Foreign Policy
1. Isolationism:
Adopted after WWI because our efforts
to help European allies had turned sour,
lost thousands of American lives, and had
not made the world “safe for democracy”
as Woodrow Wilson had stated. This was
very popular from the 1920’s to late 30’s.
2. Containment:
Result of WWII/Pearl Harbor
An attempt to build a network of
defensive alliances in Europe and Asia to
intervene with the spread of communism/
other corrupt governments (Korea,
Vietnam, Eastern Europe)
3. Disengagement:
aka “Vietnam” view, meaning entry into
Vietnam, or any current entanglement,
had/has led to a military defeat and a
domestic political disaster.
Considered an elitist viewpoint; thinking
war is immoral and being reluctant to
American military involvement elsewhere.
4. Human rights:
Idea that the US should intervene in
other countries’ affairs when human
rights are being violated.
Geneva conventions provide guidelines
http://www.spj.org/gc-texts.asp
Other things that shape foreign
policy
Economy (current “recession”)
Environment (Kyoto protocol)
Personal dogmas
The United Nations (NATO, SALT, other
international agreements/alliances)
What do you think?
These are a few highlights from John
Perkins’s book Confessions of an Economic
Hit Man. According to the author, “economic
hit men are highly paid professionals who
cheat countries around the globe out of
trillions of dollars. They play a games as old
as Empire but one that has taken on
terrifying dimensions during this time of
globalization.”
1974- Saudi royal family agrees to invest billions
of dollars of oil income in US securities and to
allow the US Dept. of Treasury to use the
interest from those investments to hire US
firms to build power and water systems,
highways, ports, and cities in the kingdom.
In exchange, the US guarantees the royal
family will continue to rule.
1981- Ecuadorian president Jaime Roldos (who
is against American oil interests) and
Panamanian president Omar Torrijos (wants
Panama Canal to be strictly under their rule)
die in fiery airplane crashes that have
markings of CIA assassinations.
So events like this have shaped our foreign
policy…
Or maybe…
The US should not negotiate with communist
countries such as Cuba, Colombia, and should also
avoid relationships with unstable countries such as
Iran and North Korea that want nuclear proliferation.
The US was attacked out of the blue on 9/11 and had
every right to invade Afghanistan to find and
eradicate Taliban and Al Qaeda.
In a continuing effort to secure the nation, the
government believed that a pre-emptive strike was
necessary in Iraq, a volatile dictatorship that has
been known for its support of terrorist groups such
as the Taliban and Al Qaeda.