American Government and Politics Today

1
American Government and Politics Today

• Chapter 15
• Foreign Policy

2
Facing the WorldForeign and Defense Policy

• Foreign policy the techniques and strategies
  used to achieve external goals, as well as the
  goals themselves
• These techniques include
• Diplomacy
• Economic aid
• Technical assistance
• Military intervention

3
Facing the World Foreign and Defense Policy
(continued)

• National security policy
• Defense policy management of the armed forces
  is a subset
• Diplomacy
• Diplomatic strategies
  can be successful only if
  all
  parties are willing to
  negotiate peacefully

4
Morality versus Reality in Foreign Policy

• Moral idealism
• Sees nations as normally willing to cooperate and
  agree on moral standards
• Political realism
• Supports a strong military and a willingness to
  make deals with dictators
• American foreign policy is a mixture of both
• Every president has based his foreign policy on
  both principles, though some have stressed one or
  the other

5
Challenges in World Politics

• The emergence of terrorism
• Terrorism and regional strife
• Terrorist attacks against foreign civilians
• September 11, 2001
• London bombings
• The war on terrorism
• Military responses
• A new kind of war
• President Bush has set out a doctrine of
  preemptive war to deal with terrorism

6
Wars in Iraq

• The Persian Gulf - the first Gulf War
• Saddam Husseins annexation of Kuwait in August
  1990 was the most clear-cut case of aggression
  against an independent nation since World War II
• The Persian Gulf - the Second Gulf War
• Occupied Iraq
• Uprisings in spring of 2004
• The continuing insurgency

7
Ethnic/Religious Groups in Iraq
8
Nuclear Weapons

• America gained nuclear weapons in 1945, the
  Soviet Union in 1949, Britain in 1952, France in
  1960, and China in 1964
• Pakistan and India tested nuclear weapons in 1998
  
• North Korea tested nukes in 2006
• It is believed that Iran is pursuing nuclear
  capability
• The U.S. and the Soviet Union (Cold War)
• Nuclear proliferation

9
The New Power China

• Since 1972, the U.S. has had
  a policy of engagement with China
• Chinese-American trade
  ties
• Chinese-American tensions

10
Regional Conflicts

• Cuba
• Israel and the Palestinians
• The collapse of the Israeli-Palestinian peace
  process
• The Israeli-Hezbollah (Lebanon) War
• AIDS in South Africa
• African civil wars
• Rwanda, Angola, Sudan

11
Who Makes Foreign Policy?

• Constitutional powers of the president
• War powers
• Treaties and executive agreements
• Other constitutional powers
• Informal techniques of presidential leadership
• Having broad access to information
• Influencing funds allocation
• Swaying public opinion
• Committing the nation to a moral course of action

12
Other Sources of Foreign Policy Making

• The Department of State
• The National Security Council
• The intelligence community
• Comprised of more than 40 agencies, with the CIA
  as the key member
• Covert actions
• Criticisms of the intelligence community
• The Department of Defense

13
Congress Balances the Presidency

• After the War in Vietnam, Congress sought to
  restrain the presidents ability to unilaterally
  commit forces to combat with the War Powers
  Resolution (1973)
• Still, most presidents have not consulted
  Congress before committing troops, creating a
  situation in which Congress does not dare recall
  them
• Congress can sometimes take the lead by denying
  requests for military support or new weapons

14
Domestic Sources of Foreign Policy

• Elite and mass opinion
• Both presidents and elites try to influence that
  subset of the public that has a strong interest
  in foreign policy, the attentive public
• The military-industrial complex
  describes the mutually beneficial
  relationship between the armed
  forces and defense contractors

15
Major Foreign Policy Themes

• The formative years - avoiding entanglements
• The Monroe Doctrine
• The Spanish-American War and World War I
• The era of internationalism
• The Cold War
• Containment policy

16
Europe During the Cold War
17
Superpower Relations

• Conflict during the Cold War was not between the
  U.S. and the U.S.S.R., but rather among smaller,
  client nations
• The Cuban Missile Crisis
• A period of détente
• The Reagan-Bush years
• The dissolution of the
  Soviet Union

18
Europe After the Fall of the Soviet Union
19
Questions for Critical Thinking

• How strong militarily was the United States in
  the 1790s? Could the U.S. have been very active
  in world affairs? What was the major goal of U.S.
  policy then?
• Is it easy for the president and Congress to set
  a course for foreign policy? What kinds of
  measures can the U.S. use to combat terrorism?

20
Questions for Critical Thinking

• Why will relations with China prove important in
  the years to come?