Foreign

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Chapter 15

• Foreign Defense Policy

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What is Foreign Policy?

• a nations external goals and techniques and
  strategies used to achieve them
• American foreign policy includes national
  security policy, which is policy designed to
  protect the independence and the political and
  economic integrity of the United States

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Tools of Foreign Policy

• diplomacy the process by which states carry on
  relations with each other (can also mean settling
  conflicts among nations through peaceful means)
• economic aid assistance to other nations
  through grants, loans or credits to buy the
  assisting nations products
• technical assistance sending individuals with
  expertise in agriculture, engineering or business
  to aid other nations

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Competing Views of Foreign Policy
political realism sees each nation acting
principally in its own interest

• moral idealism one theory of how nations act,
  it views all nations as willing to cooperate and
  agreeing on moral standards for conduct

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Challenges in World Politics

• terrorism
• nuclear proliferation
• China
• global economy
• regional conflicts

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Powers of the President in Foreign Policy

• Constitutional Powers
• solemnly swears to preserve, protect and defend
  the Constitution of the United States
• is commander in chief of the military
• can make treaties (which are later ratified by
  the Senate)
• can enter into executive agreements
• can appoints ambassadors

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Powers of the President in Foreign Policy,
(cont.)

• Informal powers
• has access to information
• is a legislative leader who can influence
  Congresss foreign policy
• can influence public opinion
• can commit the nation morally to a course of
  action

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Other Sources of Foreign Policy

• Department of State
• supervises relations with other independent
  nations and with multinational organizations like
  the United Nations
• staffs embassies
• power has declined since World War II
• has negative constituents, Americans who oppose
  aspects of U.S. foreign policy

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Other Sources of Foreign Policy (cont.)

• National Security Council
• advises the president on policies relating to
  national security
• provides continuity from one presidential
  administration to the next

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Other Sources of Foreign Policy (cont.)

• intelligence community includes government
  organizations involved in information gathering
  about the capabilities and intentions of other
  countries
• some agencies in the intelligence community
  include
• the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
• National Security Agency (NSA)
• Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)
• the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)

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Other Sources of Foreign Policy (cont.)

• Department of Defense
• designed to bring all military activities under
  the jurisdiction of a single agency headed by a
  civil secretary of defense
• has seen size of military significantly reduced
• has seen reductions in civilian employees

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Other Sources of Foreign Policy (cont.)

• Congress
• elite opinion
• mass opinion
• attentive public
• military-industrial complex

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Major Foreign Policy Themes

• negative foreign policy during 1700 and 1800s
  (isolationism)
• mistrust of Europe
• militarily weak
• shaped by the Monroe Doctrine
• SpanishAmerican War and World War I
• seen as temporary entanglements
• lasted from 1898-1918
• followed by a resurgence of isolationism

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Major Foreign Policy Themes, (cont.)

• Era of Internationalism
• began with bombing of Pearl Harbor and U.S. entry
  into World War II
• resulted in significant increases in defense
  spending
• America emerged from World War II with a
  strengthened economy
• America was first nuclear superpower

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The Cold War the ideological, political and
economic impasse that existed between the U.S.
and the USSR following the end of their WWII
alliance

• during the Cold War, U.S. foreign policy was
  dominated by containment, the idea of limiting
  Communist power to its (then) existing countries
• the Cuban Missile Crisis was the closest the
  superpowers came to direct confrontation
• détente between the U.S. and the Soviet Union
  occurred in the late 1960s and early 1970s

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Korean War
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Cuban Missile Crisis

• containment

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Vietnam War

• Containment

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The Cold War (cont.)

• during the 1980s the Reagan administration
  lobbied for the development of the Strategic
  Defense Initiative (SDI or Star Wars), and also
  negotiated significant arms control treaties
• end of Communist rule in eastern Europe in 1989
• dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991

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Discussion

• Was President George W. Bushs war against Iraq a
  good thing?
• What are the most significant foreign policy
  challenges facing the world today?
• What is the best way to combat terrorism?
• Does the executive branch have too much power in
  determining foreign and military policy?
• Why is the attentive public so small in the
  United States?