U.S. GOVERNMENT & POLITICS, SPRING 2011

FOREIGN POLICY, DAY ONE

OSY chapter 14

Friday, May 13

OSY chapter 14 terms: isolationism, collective security, Cold War, Truman Doctrine, NATO, détente, emphasis on human rights (Carter), Reagan Doctrine, enlargement, war on terrorism, reasons why US invaded Iraq in 2003; foreign/defense policy role of the following units: Department of State, Department of Defense, Joint Chiefs of Staff, Department of Homeland Security, intelligence community, National Security Council; congressional foreign/defense policy powers: oversight, treaties and executive agreements, appointments, appropriations; War Powers Act, military-industrial complex; protectionism, strategic trade policy, free trade policy, NAFTA, WTO, China-US trade issues, US-Mexico immigration issues, policies and challenges related to terrorism, policies and challenges related to nuclear weapons

KEY POINTS FOR TODAY

• The roots of American foreign policy are found in the Founding era. George Washington’s famous Farewell Address when leaving the presidency is a sharp warning about getting entangled in European politics – and the wars that would inevitably follow. Instead he cautions the new US to form commercial (economic) ties but not political ones, in order that the US can develop without draining its energies on armed conflict.

• Before World War II, the US followed Washington’s advice and generally avoided long-term engagement with other nations (this policy was usually termed isolationism). After World War II, the US has remained engaged militarily, politically, economically, and diplomatically

• The Cold War era (1945-1991) saw a fairly consistent US policy to counter the Soviet Union, with occasional crises (Cuban Missile), new ideas (détente, Nixon Doctrine (US provides arms, military aid but no direct fighting of communism), Reagan Doctrine), some successful wars (Korea, Gulf War) and unsuccessful wars (Vietnam)

• Following the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, the initial US foreign policy was multilateralism (under George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton), carried out in the Gulf War and conflicts in the former Yugoslavia; attention turned to domestic affairs and to international trade rather than war/defense (with exceptions: conflicts in Somalia, former Yugoslavia; ongoing sanctions/monitoring of Iraq), what becomes known as enlargement

• The rise of extremist Islamic groups such as al-Qaeda has led to a new era following the September 11, 2001 attacks, with greater vigilance in the US (Patriot Act, creation of the Dept. of Homeland Security, reorganization of US intelligence agencies) and efforts to fight terrorists abroad (Afghanistan, Iraq). President Bush’s National Security Strategy (published 2002) specified that the US will wage preemptive wars against potential threats, monitor regional conflicts (e.g. Middle East, India-Pakistan) and support free trade, democracy and human freedom around the world (which repeats Clinton’s theme of enlargement); basic premise is that US must remain the #1 military power and will be a force for good

• While the American public was initially supportive of the two wars, public opinion changed by 2005; the future of the “war on terror” and the status of U.S. troops in Iraq have shifted slightly under President Obama, drawing down troop levels in Iraq and ramping up military action in Afghanistan. Foreign governments had a mixed response to the post-9/11 US policies but have reconsidered somewhat with a new administration in charge

• Crises lead to institutional change. Executive branch agencies and departments were reorganized or created after World War II, to prepare for the Cold War and the unique threats of the nuclear age – renaming the War Department to the Defense Department, creation of CIA and NSC; reorganization of these Cold War-era structures after 9/11 was inevitable (intelligence agency shifts, creation of Dept. of Homeland Security). This same phenomenon occurred with domestic policy during the New Deal, creating or expanding agencies to oversee banking, stock markets and other investment tools, labor relations, agricultural and industrial production (another example of the New Deal’s lasting impact on U.S. politics) – all in response to crisis.

• Foreign policy is yet another area of policy making where the President and the agencies/departments working for the President are clearly the preeminent powers over Congress

• As can be seen from all the ‘doctrines,’ foreign policy is also an area where presidents establish legacies; these legacies are not always clearly apparent when a president leaves office, as the consequences of foreign policies take time to emerge – Nixon’s foreign policy has risen in the eyes of analysts, for example; the current, primarily negative judgments on George W. Bush’s policies are also likely to shift, depending especially on how democracy building proceeds in Iraq