U.S. Foreign Policy Final

Asia-Pacific: Regardless of what the U.S. ought to be doing, what policies does the U.S. have with China? What conditions have caused us to choose these policies? How do our dealings with China shape our relations with other states in the Asia-Pacific?

(Please discuss chapter 10.)

• Rise of China as a major power and regional economic growth

  • 2011: passed Japan as the world’s second largest economy

  • improved relations with Russia after decades of tensions

  • China’s military and reach are growing

  • Most populous country

• Strategy

  • containment

    • the internal changes needed to make China less of a threat and more of a democracy are more likely to occur if the country’s external ambitions are contained and the flaws in its domestic system are exposed

    • second Bush administration

  • engagement

    • wary but not as threatening: diplomacy and negotiations

    • integration and diplomacy to provide structures, peaceful mechanisms for dealing with China’s own concerns

    • options other than economic sanctions preferred

    • Clinton administration

  • obama

    • initially- emphasize and expand engagement

    • some containment elements were accueted

    • more assertive in regional diplomacy

    • “pivot” was due to increase in US military deployments in Asia

  • trump

    • shift from soft diplomacy to hard power and tougher rhetoric

    • trade war

      • protectionism

  • biden

    • sent more signal direct against China’s actions

    • banned products over human rights abuses

• US China relations

  • Taiwan

    • Nixon and Kissinger established “one China” policy

    • Clinton administration

      • China targeted missile tests close to Taiwain

    • GW Bush

      • selling arms to Taiwan

    • Pro-independence sentiments in Taiwan

  • Chinese military

    • increasing military spending

    • modernizing forces

    • increased capabilities: military use of space and cyber warfare

    • Pentagon: inconsistent with declaratory statements

    • Hedging: mixing containment and engagement

  • East Asian-Pacific regional security

    • China-Japan relations

      • fishing rights and islands

      • regional disputes over claims in the South china Sea

    • US working with Philippines and Vietnam to push back against Chinese assertiveness

    • strengthen smaller countries but don’t antagonize

  • North Korea

    • close allies with China

    • nuclear proliferation threat (cooperation and differences of interests)

  • economic relations

    • first Bush- prioritized Power over principles (economic sanctions)

    • Clinton- stopped short of sanctions but criticized bush for not promoting democracy

    • trade grown exponentially

    • renewable energy technologies

    • china principal purchaser of Treasury bonds

    • trade with china replaced japan

  • principles

    • resisting transition to democracy

    • corruption

    • human rights

• influences on other regions

  • promoting strong Japan counterbalances china

Middle East: What are the main U.S. objectives for the Middle East? How do our policies illustrate the pursuit of those objectives? What conditions have caused us to choose these policies?

(Please discuss chapter 11.)

• Three objectives in tension

  • supporting Israel

    • Gaza war

      • December 2008 (transition Bush-Obama)

      • relations were tense

  • counter-terrorism

    • Post 9/11

    • defining issue for GW Bush

    • advantage is with the attacker

    • Afghanistan

      • initially, Taliban quickly fell

      • infiltration of enemy areas

      • “failed to diminish the threat to the US

    • obama

      • removal of troops

      • strategy no less tough

      • respectful of Muslim beliefs: bridge misunderstandings

      • integrated diplomatic, political, economic and other instruments

      • mix of change and continuity

    • Principles and power-Bush

    • Communications

      • new Arabic-language radio station

  • access to oil

• three competing regional powers

  • Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Iran

    • Iran

      • developing nuclear weapons in violation of nonproliferation treaty

        • coercive diplomacy, military strikes and grand bargaining

  • Moving to a regional unipolarity under Israel

• Global oil trade

  • declining but relevant OPEC, dangerous sea lanes, government controlled revenues

• persistence of Middle Eastern dictatorship

• The Jewish/Evangelical Pro-Israel lobby in the US

Europe and Russia: What is the nature of U.S.-Russian relationship today? What are the key ways in which U.S. relations with Europeans have changed since the end of the Cold War? What are the conditions that have shaped each of these relationships?

(Please discuss chapter 12.)

• decline of Russia and end of cold war bipolarity

• integration of the EU, complicated by Brexit

  • US and EU eachother’s largest trade parterners

• continuing trade tries with Europe, focused on the Atlantic Eastern side of the US

• democracy and the prospect of backsliding in Europe

  • Poland

  • Hungary

• bureaucratic politics and the desire to stay focused on Europe

• Nature of U.S. Russian relationship

  • NATO created in response to Soviet enemy

  • foreign aid to Russia and other ex-Soviet states in the 1990s

    • democratization initiatives

    • food aid

    • medical and health care aid

  • Nuclear arms controls

    • Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (HW Bush)

  • cooperative threat reduction

    • remaining nuclear weapons

  • terrorism

    • work together against a re-radicalized afghanistan

  • presidents

    • clinton- split between friend and competitor

    • Bush- competitor

    • Obama- working together )worked together on nuclear arms control and Iran but not Syria

  • today

    • adversarial

      • Russia’s actions in Ukraine

      • sanctions, military deterrence and diplomatic pressure

      • limited oppennes to dialoge

      • Russia’s growing military cooperation with chine

      • not total isolation

      • trump spoke with Putin in Alaska in August

        • Trump agrees to a Ukrainian goal 

        • Putin talks to Trump 

        • Trump agrees to a Russian goal 

        • Western leaders talk to Trump 

• U.S European relations

  • political and economic partner

    • NATO and EU expansion brought former Eastern bloc countries into Western institutions

  • tension over Iraq, defense spending and trade

  • 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine

  • EU

    • debt problems

      • Ireland/Greece. (2009)

      • euro crisis

• conditions shaping relationships

  • Russian aggression, nuclear competition, and Moscow’s alignment with China drive US policy toward deterrence plus cautious engagement

  • European integration, globalization, and new global threats reshaped US-European ties into more blanced but still interdependent partnership

Latin America: What are the main objectives of U.S. policy in Latin America? How do our policies illustrate the pursuit of those objectives? What conditions have caused us to choose these policies?

(Please discuss chapter 13.)

• Main objectives

  • the imbalance of power

  • opening US immigration to Latin America in 1965

    • Latino communities, small businesses, and white working-class rage

    • the US southwest as political battleground

  • military dictatorship, tariffs, and restricted foreign investment in Latin America in the 1960s and 1970s gives way to democracy and open trade in the 1980s

    • Free trade agreements

      • NAFTA- USMCA

• the legacy of anti-communism: cuba and nicaragua

  • embargo on cuba

    • Cuban American lobby argue ending the embargo will strengthen the Castro government and it will not guarantee an ease in levels of cuban repression

    • embargo hurting civilians more than the regime

    • prevents americans from reaping the benefits of trade with and investment in cuba

• the drug trade: the role of globalization and fragile states

  • Colombia (Clinton Administration and continued by Bush)

    • aid to government

  • Mexico (Merida initiative)

    • training and support to Mexico against cartels

    • drones

• support for democracy

  • foreign aid

    • Obama & Guatemala for human rights abuses

  • initiatives by NGOs

  • Sanctions against authoritarian regimes (Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua)

  • election monitoring, diplomatic pressure

• dealing with immigration concerns

  • Safe Third Country Agreements

    • extensions of US border

    • turned away

  • Border enforcement cooperation with Mexico

  • Temporary Protected status for migrants from unstable countries

  • Reagan’s amnesty of 1986 (anyone before 1982 forgiven)

• History

  • Monroe Doctrine

    • Americas closed to European colonization and intervention

  • Roosevelt corollary

    • provide stability, order and prosperity to neighboring countries

    • military intervention in Mexico, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama

  • “Good Neighbor Policy”

    • cooperation with latin america

  • Anti-communist efforts during the cold War

  • Lessened dependence of Latin American economies on the US

• Conditions

  • democratic backsliding

  • economic crises, corruption and violence

  • shared borders

  • interconnected economies

  • long history of US involvement has created expectations and obligations to remain engaged

  • textbook: lax gun control and societal habits

Africa: what are the main challenges that economic and political development in sub-Saharan African countries poses for the U.S.? What policies might the U.S. adopt or has the U.S. adoptedto help in these challenges?

(Please discuss chapter 14.)

• US attitudes to Africa (imperialism or apathy)

• retreat of the European empires: the U.S. as the lone great power until China

• Besides natural resources, Africa is the continent least connected to the global economy

• persistence of fragile states: Somalia, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Congo

• legacy of corrupt dictatorships gives way to fragile democratization in the 1990s

• future of demographic growth and divergent political paths

• Main challenges

  • political instability

  • corruption

  • genocide

    • rwanda

      • Clinton administration didn’t act

      • UN and Europe didnt act either

  • ethnic conflict

  • somalia

    • US forces withdrawn by Clinton- starvation would spread or the risks and costs of the mission

    • suffers from weak governance and humanitarian crises amid food shortages, disease outbreaks, pervasive unemployment

  • Chinese-Influence

    • $15 billion in one decade

    • no pressure for human rights and democracy stipulations

  • democratization

    • South africa (success)

      • Nelson Mandela- anti apartheid

  • environment (textbook)

    • desertification and deforestation

    • climate change: rising sea levels

    • US foreign aid programs

• Policies

  • Obama: Africa not after thought

    • tough love: development depends on good governance

  • Bush: tied US foreign aid to good governance practices

  • foreign aid

    • programs for rule of law, anticorruption, elections, civil society, and governance

    • technical assitance and training for greater agricultural productivity, improved sanitation, literacy and education, women’s empowerment

    • HIV/AIDS

      • George W Bush received credit for combating global AIDS

  • AGOA

    • The Africa Growth and Opportunity Act

      • trade preferences for African countries that reform their economies consistent with free-market principles

      • stimulated investment, trade, and job creation in sectors like apparel, agriculture and mining

The international system: What position does the U.S. have in the distribution of power today? Is the U.S. in decline or does it maintain a strong lead? Are we in a unipolar, bipolar, or multipolar world? What do these conditions mean for U.S. foreign policy today?

(Discuss, Lieber, Ikenberry, and/or Kupchan’s essays in the textbook in your answer)

• Major powers

  • USA

  • China

  • Russia

• Viewpoints

  • Lieber: US power is not declining. Steps need to be taken to ensure the maintenance of power and prosperity

  • Kupchan: The West is declining. Western values are not in the same primary position that they once were. China, India, Russia, and Brazil are emerging

  • Ikenberry: Liberal internationalism is a multilateral framework of rules and institutions promoting democracy and markets. This is changing, but the US has to decide if it is willing to sacrfice some power to work in a multilateral framework

• Power

  • no single way of “measuring” power

  • relative

• Polarity

  • Unipolar systems rarely last for long

  • bipolar systems produce two tight alliance systems and are more stable

  • multipolar systems produce loose and flexible alliances and are less stable

• multipolar

  • cold war- bi polar

  • unipolar: post cold war

  • china rising pole

  • Europe, India, and Russia act as regional powers

  • US remains strongest pole

• Foreign policy

  • alliances and coalitions to balance China and Russia

  • containing russia

  • countering Chinese influence

  • promote norms such as democratic governence, open markets and rule of law

  • manage conflicts (Taiwan, Ukraine) without escalation

Pennsylvania Avenue diplomacy: Pick two examples of decisions to use military force (or not to use force in one or two cases). Compare and contrast how the institutional powers of the president and Congress, the role of the political parties, and the role of public opinion are the
same or different across the two cases

(Discuss chapters 3 and/or 9.)

• four shared powers

  • war powers

    • president is the commander-in-chief of the military

    • congress can raise and maintain a military. only the congress has the power to declare war

    • War powers resolution of 1973

      • presidents must inform Congress within 48 hours after the deployment of troops

      • after 60 (or 90) days Congress may cut off the operation’s funding if it does not declare war or a resolution

  • treaty-making

    • The president negotiates all treaties with states we recognize 

    • The Senate ratifies treaties with a ⅔ vote

  • appointment powers

    • The president appoints all ambassadors to over 190 states

    • Senate must give majority approval to appointment of all ambassadors

  • commercial powers

    • The Constitution grants Congress the ultimate authority on trade. Both houses of Congress must pass laws on international commerce witha simple majority 

• Afghan war 2001: overwhelming bipartisan support from Congress

  • public opinion: in support

  • everyone was unified in counter terrorism efforts

  • most consensual since pearl harbor

  • united states had been attacked

  • public eventually turned against the war - Obama scaled back troops

• Iraq War 2003: Congress voted in favor, but later public opinion soured and democrats took congress in 2006

  • intense and directly in the field (media)

  • Congress voted in favor by smaller margins

  • all republicans and most democrats

  • context of terrorism

  • WMD

  • exploited fear of being “soft”

  • included congressional leaders

  • criticism for “rushing to war”

    • deceptive and manipulative

• two approaches

  • structural: the politics of Presidential-Congressional relations are rooted in the institutional rivalry of the two branches

  • partisan: the politics is rooted in the rivalry of the two major parties

• Two views of presidential power 

  • The “shared powers” view

    • The presidency and Congress are separate institutions that share power 

    • A president’s power depends on relations with four audiences:

      • The majority party in Congress 

      • Public approval 

      • Bureaucratic responsiveness 

      • Relations with foreign leaders 

  • The “unilateral” presidency 

    • Over time, the presidency has become the dominant branch with power to act alone 

    • The presidency has advantages in acting unilaterally: 

      • “First-mover” advantage 

      • Executive orders 

      • Bureaucratic expertise 

    • Successive presidents have added to the power of the presidency, limited in growth only by checks and balances 

Bureaucratic politics: Pick two examples of bureaucratic politics discussed in class and/or the textbook. Compare and contrast how bureaucratic politics worked to yield conflict or consensus in policymaking.

(Discuss relevant readings in chapter 2 and 9, or Allison’s essay.)

my chosen question to not study

Lobbying: What were some of the “old,” original games of lobbying that influenced foreign policy? What are some new changes to the way lobbying influences foreign policy?

(Note chapters 3 and/or 9.)

• Lobbying games

  • Players

    • Economic interests

    • identity groups

    • political (civic, issue-oriented) groups

    • state and local governments

    • foreign governments

  • Kinds of issue politics

    • regulatory politics: about laws and regulations. the costs of the policy are concentrated in a few people, but the benefits are diffuse (spread out) across a lot of people

    • distributive politics: often about paying for targeted programs. the benefits of the policy are concentrated in a few, but the costs are diffuse across a lot of people

    • redistributive politics: transfers money from some to others. the costs are applied to specified groups and the benefits go to other specified groups

  • Old lobbying game (trade politics)

    • comparative advantage: a country can produce a product more cheaply than other products (US computers vs US textiles)

    • focusing on comparative advantage increases production and consumption. free-market economists argue that trade is good for growth

    • but the less cost-effective businesses will lose profits, capital, and labor due to trade, and lobby for protection

    • trade politics as distributive politics

      • the businesses and their workers protected from foreign competition —> concentrated benefits

      • normally consumers pay the higher prices —> diffuse costs

  • Old lobbying game (military-industrial complex)

    • defense industries, the Pentagon, and key committees in Congress would form mutually supportive relations resulting in an “iron triangle” dominating defense spending policy

    • defense spending is distributive politics

  • the new lobbying game

    • the rise of the “counter terrorism complex”

    • the rise of identity group lobbying: the “Israel lobby” and the “Cuba lobby”

    • the rise of NGOs and globalization issues

      • “information politics”

      • symbolic politics

      • leverage politics

      • accountability politics

    • issue networks instead of iron triangles

Grand strategy: What is grand strategy? What are the main sections of chapters 7 and 8 about? Which of these sections is most important for a grand strategy today and why?

• Objectives

  • power

    • unilateral vs. multilateral

      • unipolarity post cold war

    • terrorism deterrence

    • hegemony

    • nuclear deterrence

    • cybersecurity

  • peace

    • WMD non-proliferation

    • UN

    • ICC

    • NGOs

    • Regional organizations

    • preventative diplomacy

  • prosperity

    • foreign aid

    • globalization

    • international finance

    • global public health

    • international trade

  • principle

    • democratic peace

    • democracy promotion

    • free press

    • genocide

    • human rights

• grand strategy

  • an overall plan or organizing principle of how foreign policy should address the current and future global situation

  • priorities certain key objectives

  • identifies the means to achieve these objectives

  • provides a holistic vision for a variety of policies

  • guides policy into the long term

• example of grand strategy

  • nixon and kissinger

    • focus on stabilizing relations and balanc9ing against the Soviet Union

    • arms control

    • engagement with China

    • withdraw from vietnam, but support south vietnamese forces

    • secretly expand the bombing of communist forces near vietnam

• most important

  • promotion of democracy

    • democratic backsliding

  • cybersecurity

  • multilaterism

  • international trade

  • preventative democracy