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Chapter 17. Foreign & Defense Policy. What is Foreign Policy?. A nation’s external goals and techniques and strategies used to achieve them
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Chapter 17 Foreign & Defense Policy
What is Foreign Policy? • A nation’s external goals and techniques and strategies used to achieve them • American foreign policy includes national security policy, which is policy designed to protect the independence and the political and economic integrity of the United States
Tools of Foreign Policy • Diplomacy – the process by which states carry on relations with each other (can also mean settling conflicts among nations through peaceful means) • Economic aid – assistance to other nations through grants, loans or credits to buy the assisting nation’s products • Technical assistance – sending individuals with expertise in agriculture, engineering or business to aid other nations
Foreign Policy • A major goal of foreign policy is national security, which is often a difficult and complex task. • Defense policy is a subset of national security policy that includes the directing of the scale and size of the American armed forces. • Defense policy considers the types of armed forces we need and the types of weaponry required.
Competing Views of Foreign Policy • Moral Idealism – one theory of how nations act, it views all nations as willing to cooperate and agree on moral standards for conduct. • When the U.S. has encountered leaders of foreign nations who did not fit this model, the U.S. did not alter from its position. • Foreign policies that are based on moral idealism are unsuccessful because they assume that every nation has the same idea of morality as America. • Political Realism – sees each nation acting to maximize its own interest. • Foreign policy will be used not to further idealistic goals, but rather reflect the values that produce the best results for the nation.
Current Challenges in World Politics • Terrorism • The Dissolution of the Soviet Union • Nuclear proliferation • Terrorism • Regional Conflicts
Powers of the President in Making Foreign Policy • Constitutional Powers • solemnly swears to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States” • is commander in chief of the military • can make treaties (which are later ratified by the Senate) • can enter into executive agreements • can appoints ambassadors • Informal powers • has access to information • is a legislative leader who can influence Congress’s foreign policy • can influence public opinion • can commit the nation morally to a course of action
Other Sources of Foreign Policy • Department of State • supervises relations with other independent nations and with multinational organizations like the United Nations • staffs embassies • power has declined since World War II • has “negative constituents,” Americans who oppose aspects of U.S. foreign policy • National Security Council • advises the president on policies relating to national security • provides continuity from one presidential administration to the next
The Intelligence Community – includes government organizations involved in information gathering about the capabilities and intentions of other countries Some agencies in the intelligence community include The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) National Security Agency (NSA) Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Other Sources of Foreign Policy (cont.)
The Department of Defense – designed to bring all military activities under the jurisdiction of a single agency headed by a civil secretary of defense has seen size of military significantly reduced has seen reductions in civilian employees Other Sources of Foreign Policy
Congress Balances the President • How much power should the president have in the area of foreign policy? • Constitutional restrictions on treaties and declarations of war by the president. • Passage of the War Powers Act limited the president’s use of troops in military action without congressional approval.
“Negative” foreign policy during 1700 and 1800’s (isolationism) mistrust of Europe militarily weak shaped by the Monroe Doctrine Spanish –American War and World War I seen as temporary entanglements lasted from 1898- 1918 followed by a resurgence of isolationism The Era of Internationalism began with bombing of Pearl Harbor, and U.S. entry into World War II resulted in significant increases in defense spending emerged from World War II with a strengthened economy controlled nuclear weapons Major Foreign Policy Themes
The Cold War: the ideological, political and economic impasse that existed between the U.S. and the USSR following the end of their WWII alliance • during the Cold War, U.S. foreign policy was dominated by containment, the idea limiting Communist power to its (then) existing countries • the Cuban Missile Crisis was the closest the superpowers came to direct confrontation • détente between the U.S. and the Soviet Union occurred in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s
The Cold War (cont.) • during the 1980’s the Reagan administration lobbied for the development of the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI or “Star Wars), and also negotiated significant arms control treaties • the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the developments in Eastern Europe made negotiating arms control more difficult, as nuclear weapons are now held by a number of sovereign nations, rather than one.
