W. W. Norton Home

Feedback | Help | Credits

• Progress Report

Organize

• Study Plan
• Chapter Outline

Learn

• Ebook
• Chapter Summary
• Flashcards
• Diagnostic Quiz

Connect

• Analyzing the Evidence
• Norton American Politics Online Reader

Introduction 

Although foreign policy-making is similar to domestic policy-making in some respects, it differs in at least three important ways:  1) historical memory plays a larger role in the foreign policy realm; 2) questions regarding the national interest are more important in foreign policy than in domestic policy; and 3) foreign policy is affected by America’s historic wariness of foreign commitments.  This chapter considers the relevant players, values, and instruments of American foreign policy and the various roles America has played in the world over time.

1) Who Makes and Shapes American Foreign Policy? Who are the major “players” that make, influence, and implement American foreign policy?  What roles do these various actors play and how do they interact with one another?

·         The President shapes much of foreign policy, often with domestic audiences in mind; the president is commander-in-chief, negotiates treaties and receives foreign ambassadors, nominates America’s ambassadors to other countries, and enters into executive agreements.

·         The foreign policy bureaucracy includes the Departments of State, Defense, Treasury, and Homeland Security, along with the Joint Chiefs, the National Security Council, and the Central Intelligence Agency; the heads of these various departments and agencies serve as key foreign policy advisers to presidents.

·         Congress has the Constitutional power to declare war and the Senate must approve treaties; the most relevant congressional actors in the foreign policy arena are the Senate Foreign Relations, Armed Services, and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committees, and the House Foreign Affairs and Homeland Security and Armed Services Committees.

·         Interest Groups – economic, ethnic or national-origin, and human rights and green groups – are increasingly important players in foreign policy making.

·         The media provides a lens through which people view foreign policy decisions; during war time, the government goes to extraordinary lengths to influence news coverage.

·         The president dominates foreign policy making; other than the president, the influence of the players varies by issue. During times of crisis, presidential dominance is even greater and decision-making involves the fewest players.

 

2) What are the Values of American Foreign Policy? What are the fundamental values that have shaped American foreign policy?  How have those values changed throughout American history?

·         Following George Washington’s advice from his Farewell Address, America followed a largely nonexistent (or at least solitary) foreign policy in the nineteenth century.

·         Washington’s sentiments became the traditional American foreign policy in part because of our deep and abiding opposition to a strong national government, a defense of decentralized federalism that valued states’ rights, and the position of the United States as a client state rather than as a world power.

·         This traditional system produced two chief legacies:  the intermingling of domestic and foreign policy and unilateralism (that is, the tendency of America to “go it alone” in its dealings in the world).

·         The traditional system came to an end with World War I. When the European “balance of power” system collapsed, the United States was no longer a client state but a burgeoning world power, and the transformation of American federalism demonstrated that we were more comfortable with the growing power of the national government.

·         After World War II, the United States was a definitive world power that increasingly pursued multilateralism, containment, and deterrence in fighting the Cold War with the Soviet Union.

3) What are the Instruments of Modern American Foreign Policy?  What are the tools that American government officials use to achieve their foreign policy aims?  How are diplomacy, economic strength, and military might deployed to advance American interests in the world?

·         Diplomacy is the representation of a government to other foreign governments to promote national values or interests by peaceful means.

o   Although the Rogers Act of 1924 established the initial framework for a professional foreign service staff in America, it was not until World War II and the Foreign Service Act of 1946 that America developed a professionalized diplomatic corps.

o   Given the high stakes of foreign policy and the president’s clear responsibility for success or failure, many presidents are reluctant to entrust major responsibilities to diplomats in the State Department.

·         The United Nations, an organization of nations founded in 1945, serves as an institutional channel for negotiation and a means of settling international disputes peaceably.

o   The UN General Assembly is the supreme body of the organization. It consists of one representative of each of the 192 member states. The UN Security Council, of which the United States is a permanent member, is the executive committee of the United Nations.

o   In its first years, the United Nations was a consistent advocate of American interests, but the United States can no longer control UN decisions as it once did.

·         The International Monetary Structure, including the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, were created in 1944 to stabilize the world economy, mostly by providing loans to countries.

·         In the wake of World War II, the United States began providing economic aid to countries like Greece and Turkey and, with the Marshall Plan, to war-ravaged European countries. America uses economic aid as an instrument of diplomacy and to incentivize desirable behavior by other countries and to produce stability.

·         After World War II, the United States stepped up efforts to engage in collective security agreements with other countries; multilateral treaties such as NATO and bilateral treaties with individual countries are employed to solidify relationships and maintain security.

·         No longer relying on ad hoc mobilization of military forces, the United States now has a large, prepared standing military and a massive build-up of weaponry, both of which it uses to deter foreign attacks and otherwise influence international outcomes.

4) Roles Nations Play What are the different roles that nations play in the international arena?  What are the strengths and weaknesses of each role?  What roles has America chosen to play in the contemporary world?

·         The various instruments of foreign policy are marshaled in service of an overall “role” that the government (mostly the president) determines America should play in the world. Four dominant roles from history include the Napoleonic Role, the Holy Alliance Role, the Balance-of-Power Role, and the Economic Expansionist Role.

o   The Napoleonic Role, named for Napoleon Bonaparte, involves preventing hostility from other countries by changing the internal affairs within that country.

o   The Holy Alliance Role is a role that a superpower might play to preserve the current order, including stopping revolutions in other countries.

o   The Balance-of-Power Role involves several countries forming alliances to counterbalance the behavior of other, usually more powerful, nation-states.

o   The Economic Expansionist Role is when a capitalist country pursues foreign policies to maximize the success of domestic corporations doing business in the world.

·         These four roles are not mutually exclusive but rather are patterns of foreign policy conduct that capture and describe many scenarios in the international arena and, indeed, in the history of American foreign policy.

o   After September 11, 2001, the United States’ efforts to track down al Qaeda and to fight the Taliban regime in Afghanistan relied on cooperation from other countries, exemplifying the Holy Alliance role.

o   Lacking similar international support in its war with Iraq, President Bush’s willingness to take preemptive action against a hostile state, eliminate the regime, and even remain as an occupying power seemed a departure from the Holy Alliance role and a move toward a Napoleonic Role.

o   Though there are patterns and tendencies, American foreign policy seems to balance these multiple roles with a sustained role, not only for military might but for diplomacy as well.