Saturday, December 16, 2006

Thursday, December 14, 2006

Attention

Jackie McBratney please send me an email when you have a chance.

JSJacobsen@gmail.com

Thanks!

Friday, December 08, 2006

Foreign Policy Notes

Foreign Policy

  1. Have teacher evaluations

  1. Discuss papers and worked cited

  1. Then, onto FP

Foreign Policy

When Bush came into office, it was his stated intent that he wanted to focus on domestic politics

However, after September 11th, all that change, and Bush has spent a remarkable amount of his time in office on foreign policy (henceforth abbreviated, FP)

So what is it?

Foreign Policy – a nation’s external goals and the techniques and strategies used to achieve them

What are the US’ goals?

There are many ways to achieve these goals:

Diplomacy – process by which states carry on political relations with each other, settling conflicts by peaceful means

When has diplomacy worked? When has diplomacy failed?

Economic Aid – assistance to other nations in the form of grants, loans, or credits to buy the assisting nation’s products

Technical Assistance – practice of sending experts in such areas as agriculture, engineering or business to aid other nations

Military Intervention – using military means to resolve a conflict

Foreign Policy Process – is different with every administration. Some presidents rely extensively on the state department, while others rely on close advisors

National Security Policy – protect nation’s independence and security, is concerned with safety and defence of the nation

Decided by State dept, DoD, and National Security Council – increasingly competing with the State dept for leverage with the president

Defense Policy – deals with the US armed forces

Morality vs Reality

“American Exceptionalism” – America is a unique nation, founded on democratic and moral principles, and serves as a beacon to other nations and shines the way

Because many officials perceive the US this way, there is a tendency to form foreign policy in moral terms

Moral Idealism – philosophy that sees nations as normally willing to cooperate and to agree on moral standards for conduct

The UN model was founded on this belief, as was most of Carter’s FP

Political Realism – philosophy that sees each nation acting principally in its own interest

International politics is AMORAL – not evil, just not concerned with morality

Another word for this is REALPOLITIK, a school of thought advanced by HENRY KISSINGER

Ex: Opening relations with PRC under Nixon

Usually – foreign policy has been a mixture of both

Who Makes Foreign Policy?

Is it the President or Congress? Constitution is unclear on this – but increasingly, it’s become the President

Constitutional Powers of the President

War Powers – he is the Commander-in-chief of the armed forces

Has the power to send forces in without the consent of congress (but with stipulations)

Treaties and Executive Agreements – Needs 2/3 approval of the Senate, but rarely encounters opposition

In Addition – appoints ambassadors and consuls, and also meets heads of state personally

Presidential Leadership

Usually, whenever there is a FP crisis, everyone rallies around the president – and it’s not just Bush.

Also, when the president commits himself to a certain path, it’s very difficult to oppose him in public or excessively criticize him, as it is deemed ‘unpatriotic’

Who else is involved in policymaking?

State Department – Monitors relations for all nations

Staffs embassies throughout the world

32,000 employees

The Secretary of State is head of this dept, and in theory should be the chief FP advisor – however, this is not always the case

State Dept is declining in importance every year – discuss volumes written about post-Saddam Iraq that were ignored by the administration

State Dept has no supporters really – no one can make $ with the state dept, and therefore, few people come to its defense

National Security Council – created by National Security Act (1947)

Its aim is to provide policy continuity from one administration to the next

Why is this important?

The NSC is: Pres, VP, secretaries state/defense, director of emergency planning, chairman of the joint chiefs, head of the CIA

However – the importance of this agency depends on the president

Henry Kissinger, the NSC head under Nixon, really was aggressive with the secretary of state

While the group works nicely under Bush

Intelligence Community

Includes: CIA, National Security Agency, Defense Intelligence Agency, FBI, DEA, Dept of Energy, etc

Really though, by “intelligence” analysts mean the CIA

CIA:

Gathers information on other nations (its military and economic capabilities, for ex)

Usually these are overt actions

Sometimes though, it engaged in covert operations – involved in the overthrow of regimes in Iran in 1953, and Chile in 1973

CIA, now, is no longer allowed to engage in plots – 1976 executive order by Gerald Ford forbade the CIA, or any intelligence units, from engaging in political assassinations

Critiques of CIA

After the 9/11 tragedy, the capabilities of the CIA were really called into question

Appeared to be real competition and distrust between the CIA and FBI

Now, the intelligence agencies have been reshuffled – and there is an overseer to the CIA, although how effectual it is, remains in question.

Congress Balances the Presidency?

War Powers Act – 1973 – Congress defies Nixon, limits president’s use of troops in military action unless approved by Congress

Usually, presidents will send in troops without consulting Congress, and expect Congress to pass monetary bills to finance military action afterwards

Congress has the authority to deny monetary aid to foreign military groups (ex: Angolan rebels)

And can also withhold funds for military weapons (ex: the B-1 bomber)

Domestic Sources of Foreign Policy

A president must drum up public support before engaging in military action – otherwise, you have Vietnam

Many organizations – like the Council on Foreign Relations and the Jamestown Foundation – work to educate and inform individuals on important FP developments

But usually, only the ATTENTIVE PUBLIC pays attention

Military-Industrial Complex : term originates with Eisenhower, who warned that this could overtake the nation

Essentially, it is a mutually beneficial relationship between the armed forces and defense contractors

What it means is, the US decision to begin a war might be more dependent on independent economics and the lobbies of powerful contractors than anything else

Example?

OVERVIEW OF FOREIGN POLICY THROUGHOUT AMERICAN HISTORY

The Formative Years

Upon leaving office, Washington issued his famous “Farewell Address,” when he warned future presidents to avoid “entangling alliances”

Meaning – Europe was still in the midst of annihilating itself, and Washington knew the US was not strong enough to take on any European power in a European conflict

This remained until 1823 when Monroe announced the

Monroe Doctrine – Three ideas:

  1. European states will not establish new colonies in Western hemisphere
  2. European states will not interfere in the politics of independent states in the Western hemisphere
  3. The United States would not interfere in the affairs of European nations

Essentially, the US said, stay out of the Western hemisphere or the US would attack

FP was unimportant throughout most of the 19th century – why? (Civil war/reconstruction)

Also known as period of ISOLATIONISM – an American oddity, because it was isolated geographically and could afford to remove itself from global affairs

This changed with the Spanish American War – 1898

Brought new ideas – Yellow Journalism

Imperialism (Guam, PR, Philippines)

End of Isolationism – US entered WWI in 1917 – why?

Sinking of the Lusitania

Era of Internationalism

Woodrow Wilson – League of Nations, increased involvement in international affairs, hoping to prevent another WWI (War to End All Wars)

However – this period was short-lived due to the Depression, which hearkened the US back to an era of isolationism

Entry into WWII

FDR story about Pearl Harbor

Historians describe WWI and WWII as the same war with a 20-year ceasefire (WWI ended 1919, WWII began 1939)

The US was essentially the only power in the world that emerged from the conflict well (a lot had to do that no fighting was actually done on US soil).

Beginnings of the Cold War

Remember – the US and the USSR were on the same side in WWII

After the war ended, the USSR took over all of eastern Europe and established its bloc

And IRON CURTAIN

Blockade of BerlinUSSR took over the city, to establish its control, would not allow food to come in or out

US air drop story

Containment Policy – advocated by George F. Kennan, adopted by Truman administration

Believed in the “Domino Theory” – and the idea is, don’t fight USSR – but prevent communism from spreading – or CONTAIN it

It also meant that the US would assist all nations that could possibly fall under Communist control

Enabled him to introduce the MARSHALL PLAN – the European Recovery Plan – 17 bn dollars – HUGE amount of money in 1947 (explain why important)

Superpower Relations

Cold War – meant, there was no actual violent conflict between the two superpowers

However, there were many PROXY wars – Vietnam/Indochina, Angola, Mozambique

The US and the USSR got close to nuclear war ONCE – during the Cuban Missile Crisis

Remember, both the USSR and Cuba were Communist, and Cuba relied extensively on Russian funds

Kruschev attempted to move missiles into Cuba for “safekeeping,” but it was way too close to US soil

So Kennedy could either attack, or hope that Khruschev would blink first

Kennedy set up a naval blockade around Cuba, to intercept the Soviet missile

Khruschev ordered missile back

Khruschev did, thankfully, and the two powers averted (narrowly) nuclear war

Détente – relaxation of tensions, largely under Nixon, who engaged Soviet and Chinese leaders in an effort to dissipate some of the threat

Big Success – Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT 1) - stabilized arms race between the powers, first effort to curb the nuclear threat

Also, recognized the PRC for the first time, and put pressure on the Soviet Union to be more open to talks with the US

Under Reagan – greater cooperation, worked openly with Gorbachev to reduce nuclear arms altogether

Bush also continued this pattern of cooperation – but then the USSR dissolved rather unexpectedly in 1991, thus marking the end of the Cold War

Post-Cold War World

Suddenly – the cap on conflict was blown off, and many crises occurred in the 1990s, which political leaders didn’t know how to handle in the new political climate

Somalia

Rwanda/Burundi

Bosnian-Serb atrocities

Mexican currency crisis

Haiti

Thursday, December 07, 2006


Political cartoon from this morning's Guardian Online...

NO CLASS TODAY

Please check this website for the notes