FOREIGN AND MILITARY POLICY
Chapter 19
OConnor and Sabato
American Government:
Continuity and Change
Foreign and Military Policy
In this chapter we will cover
The roots of American foreign and military policy
U.S. policy during and after the Cold War
The role of the president in foreign policy
The ways that Congress influences foreign policy
The challenges that the U.S. faces in the
twenty-first century
The Roots of U.S. Foreign
and Military Policy
The Constitution lays
out the institutional framework for foreign and defense policy.
Foreign policymaking
power is clearly a federal power, not a power of the states.
The Framers intended to
divide responsibility for foreign affairs between the president and Congress.
The Monroe Doctrine
In the 1820s Latin American
countries began to declare their independence from European colonial powers.
The U.S., under
President James Monroe, announced that any attempt to re-extend political
control over Latin America would be met with force.
World War I
World
War I broke out in Europe in 1914.
The
U.S. tried to remain neutral but was eventually forced into the war by the
German policy of unrestricted submarine warfare.
Over
5 million Americans served in WWI.
Following
the war the U.S. and most other countries returned to policies of high tariffs
and isolationism.
The United States Becomes
a World Leader
The
Great Depression and Adolf Hitler shook the U.S. out of its isolation and back
onto the world stage.
In
1939, WWII began. The United States soon found that its strategy of
isolationism, unilateralism, and strict neutrality failed to make the country
secure and keep it out of war.
In
December 1941, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and Germany declared
war on the U.S.
United Nations
Learning
from the lessons of isolationism and trade wars following WWI, the Allies took
an internationalist approach following WWII.
Before
the end of WWII, FDR, Churchill, and the Allies created the United Nations to
promote security of member nations and promote economic prosperity around the
globe.
The
five great powers U.S., Soviet Union, China, France, and Great Britain were
seated on the Security Council.
The Origins of the Cold War
At
the end of WWII, Joseph Stalin, leader of the USSR, encouraged the spread of
communism through eastern and central Europe and into the Balkans.
President
Truman responded with the Truman Doctrine to contain the expansion of
communism.
This
was the beginning of a bipartisan consensus in foreign affairs to resist
communism and oppose the Soviet Union that lasted until the late 1980s.
Bretton Woods and
The Marshall Plan
Following
WWII, international institutions were established to solve global economic
problems.
The
common view at the Bretton Woods meeting was that the depression of the 1930s
and the rise of fascism could be traced to the collapse of international trade
and isolationist foreign policies.
The
Marshall Plan was enacted to aid the recovery of war-torn European nations.
At
Bretton Woods the World Bank and IMF were established.
President of the World?
The United States is the
worlds greatest superpower.
The US president is the
most powerful foreign policymaker and world leader.
This reality would have
shocked the Founding Fathers.
Presidential Primacy in Foreign Affairs
Since George Washington,
the president has been preeminent in foreign affairs and has gotten even more
powerful in recent years.
Alexander Hamilton
argued for presidential supremacy in foreign relations because foreign policy
was different than domestic policy in several ways.
It requires:
accurate and
comprehensive knowledge of the world
a steady and systematic
adherence to the same view
a uniform sensibility to
the national character
decision, secrecy, and
dispatch
Congress and Foreign Policy
Congress has some constitutional
powers (advice and consent) in foreign relations and sometimes seeks to assert
them.
Congress primarily
exercises its oversight powers to hold the president accountable for his/her
foreign policy.
Treaties and
Executive Agreements
The Constitution grants the president the
power to commit to legally binding international commitments.
Treaties
Executive Agreements
Congressional Executive Agreements
The War Powers Act
In 1973 Congress passed
the War Powers Act to limit the presidents authority to introduce American
troops into hostile situations.
All presidents since
Nixon insist that this Act is unconstitutional and have ignored all or parts of
the act.
The Act limits
presidential deployment of troops to 60 days without a congressional vote. The
period could be extended 30 days to allow for withdrawal of troops. The
president would be allowed to respond to an emergency but not wage a war
without Congressional approval.
In reality, this Act has
not hindered presidents at all.
U.S. Defense Spending
The Public and Foreign Policy
Americans
are mostly indifferent to questions of foreign policy
Americans
(while uninformed) are still able to discriminate among issues and to identify
those that are salient.
Relevant Foreign Policy Beliefs
More
important than interest and knowledge is whether the American people are able,
in the aggregate, to hold politically relevant foreign policy beliefs.
Most
Americans cannot point to Serbia on a map and yet they do know that they do not
want Americans to be sent to fight in the region.
For
the decision-maker the latter is the important fact.
American Elites
One of the sharpest distinctions in foreign
policy attitudes occurs between elites and the general public.
Elites are markedly more supportive of active involvement
in world affairs than the mass public.
They are substantially more likely to oppose economic
protectionism and to support free-trade principles
They are more likely to adopt a generally more
interventionist orientation toward world affairs than the mass of the American
people.
Post-Cold War World Goals
Favor global activism
but oppose aid to other nations
Favor peace through
strength but are wary of international organizations
Fear nuclear weapons and
support arms agreements
Oppose the use of force
abroad and yet support presidents when they choose force
Worry about free trade
and yet are willing to open the US to broader involvement in the political
economy
Twenty-First Century Challenges