For use with Keeping the Republic. Copyright © 2006 by CQ Press. Foreign Policy Chapter 19.

For use with Keeping the Republic. Copyright © 2006 by CQ Press.

Foreign Policy

Chapter 19


In this chapter we will learn about

• The nature of foreign policy• Who makes foreign policy• The international and domestic contexts of foreign policy• The strategies and instruments of foreign policy• American foreign policy in a new century• The challenges of secrecy to keeping the republic


Understanding foreign policy

• U.S. government’s goals and actions directed toward actors outside our borders– Statements, pronouncements, written policies– Actual behavior, such as

• Trade• War• Arms sales• Diplomacy• Aid


External actors in world politics

• Other countries

• Intergovernmental organizations (IGOs)

• Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)

• Multinational corporations (MNCs)

• Nonstate actors (like terrorist groups)


The setting of American foreign policy:the Cold War

• USA–USSR, 1947–1989

• Competition but not a direct “hot” war

• “Iron Curtain”

• Proxy wars in Middle East, Latin America, Africa, Asia


The setting of American foreign policy:the Cold War, cont’d.

• U.S. policy of containment of USSR from 1947 until end

• Berlin Wall fell 1989

• Soviet Union collapsed 1991


The post–Cold War setting ofAmerican foreign policy

• New world order?– What guides U.S. foreign policy then?– What are our interests? What threats do we face?– Panama, Persian Gulf War– Somalia

• Post September 11– “Axis of evil” and “war on terror”– Iraq– Sudan


Foreign policy types

• Crisis policy

• Strategic policy

• Structural defense policy


Crisis policy

• Threats to national interest, limited time to respond, come about as a surprise, often with use-of-force implications

• Principal actors are president and advisers• Visibility of policymaking is low; involvement of Congress

(or others from outside) is informal. • E.g., Cuban missile crisis or Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait


Strategic policy

• Designed to assert and implement the basic military and foreign policy stance of the United States toward others.

• Involves primarily executive branch members and agencies. Public debate and congressional involvement usually occur after the formal decisions are announced. Congress may get involved, often via subcommittees to lobby the executive.

• E.g., containment, foreign trade, arms sales, foreign aid, immigration


Structural defense policy

• Defense spending policies and programs• Policy process usually centered in Congress with

Pentagon and Defense contracts and interest groups• E.g., base closures, or building the new Joint Strike

Fighter


Who makes foreign policy?

• The president– Chief executive– Head of state– Commander-in-chief– Chief diplomat– Chief legislator


Who makes foreign policy?, cont’d.

• Executive branch – National Security Council– State Department– Defense Department– Joint Chiefs of Staff– Intelligence community

• New director of national intelligence– Department of Homeland Security


Who makes foreign policy?, cont’d.

• Congress– Ratify treaties (Senate)– Confirm appointments (Senate)– Declare war– Exercise spending power– Oversee executive branch– Pass legislation


Power struggles

• Since both Congress and the president have foreign policy powers, the Constitution may be an invitation to struggle

• Declarations of war out of date?


War Powers Act

• President must notify Congress if troops are moved into hostilities or where hostilities are imminent

• Those troops can stay for only 60 days unless Congress passes a specific authorization

• Meant to stop endless (Vietnam) and secret (Cambodia) wars

• Unconstitutional?• Widely ignored?


American style of foreign policy

• Global activism– Hegemonic power?– Active in the affairs of others

• Pursuit of moral values– Human rights

• Balancing interests– Defend our security– Promote our economy– Spread democracy


Global context for making foreign policy

• Condition of “anarchy”– No binding authority above states

• Reliance on power– Self-help international system; must cultivate and rely

on power

• Security a primary goal• Also an interdependent world

– What happens in one place is felt around the world– Free trade underscores this interdependence


Global economic interdependence

• “Bretton-Woods” system– International Monetary Fund– International Bank for Reconstruction and

Development (World Bank)– General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT);

now the World Trade Organization

• Most favored nation (MFN) trade status• Terms of trade


Domestic context for making foreign policy

• Public opinion– Mass public’s beliefs relatively stable; risk (casualty)

averse– Can push policy change– Resource in diplomacy– Connected to government through elections and

through the media


Domestic context for makingforeign policy, cont’d.

• The media– Decreasing coverage of foreign news– Access to information can be limited by the

government, especially during war– Two-way street of influence– 24-hour news cycle may speed up the foreign policy

making process


Domestic context for makingforeign policy, cont’d.

• Interest groups– Groups that have individual members who share a

common interest– Group lobbies on behalf of these individuals– Often organized around

• Ethnic “diasporas”• Business and trade interests• Other public interests like human rights• Defense spending


Foreign policy strategies

• Deterrence– Using threats to prevent an opponent from doing

something you think they otherwise would do– E.g., “assured destruction” during the Cold War

• Compellence– Using threats to make an opponent do something you

think they otherwise would not do– E.g., trying to force Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait


Foreign policy strategies, cont’d.

• Preemptive war– Use force first when a threat is imminent– Nuclear “anticipatory retaliation” strikes– Israel attacks Egypt in 1967

• Preventive war– Use force now to prevent a chain of events from

unfolding that could later present an “imminent” threat– Israel strikes Iraqi nuclear reactor in 1981– U.S. invades Iraq (2003)


Carrots and sticks

• Can each be used as inducements or rewards and as threats or punishments

• Political instruments– Propaganda

• Radio Free Europe, Radio Marti– Diplomacy

• Summits– Covert political operations


Carrots and sticks, cont’d.

• Economic instruments– Foreign aid– Sanctions– Embargoes

• Military instruments– Armed forces

• Conventional• Nuclear

– Military technology– Special operations– Military aid


New threats: terrorism

• International terrorism– Violence that targets noncombatants to induce fear

that will lead to policy change– Used by states against their citizens– Used by nonstate actors against others, sometimes

with the support of a country– Terrorism as theater

• Superterrorism– Creating mass death for its own sake


Combating terrorism

• Antiterrorism measures– Meant to defend us against a terror attack– E.g., metal detectors– Control access to violence, especially access to

weapons of mass destruction

• Counterterrorism measures– Meant to stop the terrorists before they attack– E.g., electronic surveillance, following money flows


Weapons of mass destruction

• Umbrella term:

– Nuclear weapons

– Biological weapons

– Chemical weapons


Nuclear weapons

• Atomic bombs– Fission devices: kilotons– Manhattan Project– Los Alamos, Hiroshima, Nagasaki

• Hydrogen bombs– Fusion devices: megatons– “The Super,” mid-1950s


Nuclear weapons, cont’d.

• “Dirty bombs”– “Regular” bomb with radioactive material

• Delivery options:– Warhead on a ballistic or cruise missile– Drop from a bomber– Shoot from an artillery piece– Leave in a suitcase


Biological weapons

• Living agents

• Pathogens: organisms that cause disease in humans– Bacterial agents: anthrax, plague, Q-fever– Viruses: smallpox, Ebola


Biological weapons, cont’d.

• Toxins: poisonous compounds produced by living organisms– Botulinum, ricin

• New DNA strains of super-bugs from genetic engineering

• Salad bar Salmonella poisoning in Oregon in 1984


Biological weapons:pros and cons

• Advantages: – No reliable biological weapons detection devices

currently available– No recognizable signals to human exposure– Can specifically target personnel, crops, livestock, or

specific kinds of materiel• Disadvantages:

– Ultimate consequences uncertain– Deliver to target without getting sick?– Potential for international outrage

• Tool for a superterrorist?


Chemical weapons

• Blister agents (mustard gas)• Blood agents (hydrogen cyanide [PB])• Choking agents (chlorine)• Nerve agents (VX, Sarin)• Delivery:

– Unitary or binary system


Chemical weapons: pros and cons

• Tricky delivery systems• Bulky; weather can affect use• Good against a concentrated target• Iraq against Iran (1982–1987)• Tokyo subway attack with Sarin by a cult in 1995 didn’t

kill nearly as many as the cult had hoped because it didn’t work right


Other new challenges

• Future of NATO– Still necessary after the Cold War?– Purpose now?– Its relationship with Russia?

• Regional conflicts– India-Pakistan– Middle East– Korea– Implications of war on terror for these relationships


Other new challenges, cont’d.

• Future of free trade and regional trading blocs• Promoting democracy• Responsibilities to stop genocide after Rwanda?

– Darfur, Sudan

• Transnational challenges– Crime– Disease– Drugs– Environment


Citizens and foreign policy

• Democracy requires openness and accountability.• Security requires secrecy.• Is foreign policy inherently antidemocratic?• Certainly tensions between the requirements of

democracy and the necessities of national security are unavoidable.

• Secrecy is a form of regulation.

For use with Keeping the Republic. Copyright © 2006 by CQ Press. Foreign Policy Chapter 19.

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Transcript of For use with Keeping the Republic. Copyright © 2006 by CQ Press. Foreign Policy Chapter 19.