US Foreign Policy

US Foreign Policy

Introduction

Foreign Policy can be described as the actions, strategies, and decisions directed at actors outside the borders of a domestic political system. That the primary intended target of policy is external to the domestic sphere distinguishes foreign from domestic policy (Kaarbo, Lantis, & Beasley, 2002). In other words, as Breuning (2007) puts it, foreign policy is “the totality of a country's policies toward and interactions with the environment beyond its borders” (p. 5). A state's foreign policy covers a variety of issues ranging from the rather traditional security and economic areas to environmental and energy issues, foreign aid, migration, and human rights (Breuning, 2007). The actors that initiate foreign policy actions, and those who are the targets of the actions, are often states—but not always.

According to Breuning (2007), FP is first and foremost interested in explaining how and why …decisions came about. In effect, this means that FP places an emphasis on the human beings involved in the decision-making processes (Breuning, 2007; Hudson, 2005, 2007). As such, FP looks beyond the state as a single entity and includes the study of multiple actors within a state, both as individuals and as groups of individuals in their capacity to make or influence foreign policy. In other words, this inquiry goes further than governments and investigates the influence of individual leaders, bureaucracies, and institutions in foreign policy making.

American foreign policy has fluctuated throughout the existence of the United States, stemming from the influence of exogenous dynamics and significant watersheds felt throughout the international system as well as endogenous changes and influences within the American government. Noteworthy declarations such as the Monroe Doctrine, international conflicts such as the Spanish-American War, World War II, and the cold war as well as regional conflicts such as the Vietnam War and the Korean War significantly influenced American foreign policy. Currently, the events of September 11, 2001, represent the major exogenous watershed that influenced the foreign policy decision-making of the U.S. government. In addition to the exogenous dynamics that have been decisive in American foreign policy, the endogenous aspects of the U.S. government such as the president, Congress, the bureaucracy, and American public opinion have considerable influence in foreign policy decision making. This paper reviews of US Foreign Policy during war and peace.

Discussion

Background

The Introductory Years 1776-1900

Central to the Isolationism policy of the US was the fact that it was surrounded by the two great oceans. This expansion to both the Pacific and Atlantic coasts by the mid 1800s created a sense of invincibility in the minds of American leaders (Krauthammer, 2004). However this rapid expansion of the American state led to conflict based on several issues including slavery and resulted in a civil war lasting four years. This conflict delayed what Kegley et al.(2003: 28) refer to as Manifest Destiny, which was a sense that America, through isolationism, could best serve its perceived convictions that it had a higher purpose to serve in the world and not become involved in its ...