Book "American Foreign Policy", Bruce Jentleson
Poli 366 - study for mid-term exam of October 15
Book "American Foreign Policy", Bruce Jentleson
Ch.1
strategies in the int'l system:
quasi-anarchy of the intl system: no recognized central authorithy in int'l syst. "anarchic" state of int'l syst.
roots in Hobbe's Leviathan, 17th C. "War of all against all".
international norms, laws and institution have provided some authoruty, not as authoritative as institutions of nation-state.
Quasi-anarchy this conditions state-to-state relations.
system structure
state of international system rest upon poles.
multipolarity: 3 or more states share authority in such a way that no one can safely calculate it can dominate the others: balance of power.à
bipolarity: 2 states, kept in check by deterrence to avoid war. deterrence : prevention of war by fear of retaliation.
unipolarity?: one state holds supremacy, peace and stability depending upon that state, wether it uses supremacy malingly on beningly
State structural position:
hierarchy of states in the int'l system determines their role and influence and weigh, basically what they can do. finding out rank of one state in int'l syst tells you what is this given state's FP strategy. Kenneth Waltz. Bipolarity makes a stable world order, deterrence as efficient.
critics says: take Cuban Missile Crisis, could cold war have ended faster if one state had conducted a different policy, or longer for that matter? structural theory is good to contextualize. Billiard ball metaphore: strike is external threaths, angle of ball is state's positions. does not take into consideration the "carzy ball". State FP is constrained by int'l structure but not determined by it.
National Interest and the 4 P's
National Interest is the essence of the choice to be made in a nation's FP.
Alexander George and Robert Kehoane
four core goals that go into defining the US national interest: POWER, PEACE, PROSPERITY, PRINCIPLES (and corresponding schools of toughts (realism, international institutionalism, economic liberalism& radicalism, democratic idealism)
national interset combines those to differrent degrees. sometimes all 4 comes together and are complementary. more often than otherwise, there are tensions and trade-offs, sometimes contradictions.
helps to figure out what FP is and what it should be.
POWER:
key requirement for self-defense and integrity of national territory, deterring aggression. "power enables an actor to shape his environment"
associated to school of realism: international relations is a struggle for power: morgenthau. intl syst a competition for power.
1 - states pursue its national interest (not peace)
2- power in terms of military and politics are best tools to pursue NI
3 - economic interest and prosperity are what military and political power rests (remain competitive, technologically advanced)
4- democracy and HR are secondary to considerations of power
result: FP that is coercive, which ultimately means war, "continuation of policy by other means" (clausewitz). "military interventions" = small wars, limited involvement of armed forces, overthrowing governments hostile to your NI, covert ops.
power is also maintaining strong defense and thus building sufficient deterrence
great enemies to detter in course of US history:
UK in early history
Germany in 2 WW
USSR in Cold War
Terrorism today
alliances key to both defense and detterrence of common enemies, providing military assistance to a government or a rebel group
diplomacy as a tool of realism: coercive statecraft, many measures, up to economic sanctions
covert ops: defend interest where military ops are not suitable and diplomacy cannot operate
PEACE
ultimately, this is the objective of all four aspects
Internationalist institutionalism, constructivism
cooperation a rational way to reduce risk and make gains that even the most powerful state could not achieve solely on its own
state power is a problem to be managed
treaties a way to contribute to the general capacity of a state to control the behavior of another
creation of intl institutions as a basis for "sustained cooperation". anarchy tempered, partially regulated
helps relations among allies: problem of collective action or coordination: institution provide structure
facilitate reciprocity
5 types of institutions:
a) global (UN, league of nations)
b) regional (nato)
c) international legal (world court)
d) arms control and nonproliferation (Atomic energy agency)
e) economic (world bank, IMF, asean)
US as a "peace broker", third party arbitration in other people's conflicts: middle-east and israel
PROSPERITY
economic goals as driving force behind US foreign policy
economic national interest is placed above all else
trough trade policies & focusing FP on countries that have a significant economic importance to the US (saudi arabia), policies that sthrenghten global capitalism
2 schools
economic liberalism: FP aimed at general economic benefits, favorable balance of trade, economic growth, healty macroeconomy. aims at collective prosperity. basis for foundation of bretton-woods institutions.
radicalism: policies dominated by serving interest of elite, dominating class (banks, multinationals), private benefits, unequal distribution of wealth. indirect neocolonialism.
neo-communists critiques of USFP
PRINCIPLES
involves values, ideals and beliefs
2 tenets
1 - rights chosen over might: US role in promoting republican, democratic values; Thomas Jefferson, Woodrow Wilson, Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, G H W Bush
2 - democratic peace principle: ultimately, promoting democracy is promoting peace. democratic countries does not go to war against each other. Immanuel Kant and Perpetual Peace: citizens involved in deciding to go to war will be very cautious about it: they have more to loose in it.
soft power: attractiveness of one state for what it stands for, cultural attractiveness
US often accused for not living up to its standards, abroad and domestically, great scrutininy and sometimes failure of credibility.
POWER realism competition for power coercive
PEACE International instit World order Diplomatic
PROSPERITY Economic realism Global capitalism Economic
radicalism
PRINCIPLES Democratic idealism Global democracy Political
the 4 P's coming together:
Gulf War, 1990-91
To restore PEACE through a large, UN-resolution backed multinational coalition
formidable demonstration of US military POWER: war went fast with few US casualties
PROSPERITY: about the oil and the disruption of economy that oil shortage provokes
PRINCIPLES: standing up before a dictator, standing up for the right of a state to be free from aggression, albeit Kuwait cannot qualifies as a democracy.
Chapter II The Domestic Context
about consensus of presidency, congress and people over Foreign Policy
1) consensus is the exception over conduct of FP
2) "consensus" not always been a good thing: mccarthysm, delegitimizing dissent, repressive measure over expression
3) domestic conflicts not necessarily a bad thing for debate and creative tensions bring about better decisions and actions
set of five domestic actors in FP shaping
1) president and congress
2) policy and decision making processes in the executive branch
3) major interest groups
4) news media
5) public opinion
1 - relationship b/w president and congress
cooperation
constructive compromise: the two branches comes to an arrangement better than two earlier positions
institutional competition: fight between two branches over institutional prerogatives, and less about content of policies
confrontation: substantial conflict, great tension b/w Congress & presidency
war powers:
Constitution: President is commander in chief but Congress as power to actually declare war, each thus having a share of the same power
treatise and international commitments
president negotiate them, senate approves them (2/3 majority)
president can go around that with executive arrangements (minor gov to gov matters) or with declamatory commitments, delivered in speeches.
Also, presidents claimed the right to withdraw unilateraly from treaties wiithout approval from senate.
Appointment of FP officials
President names them, Congress (senate) confirms
presidential aides doesn't require senate approval (kissinger, brzezinski, condolezza rice, all NSA's)
Commerce With Foreign Nations
Congress clearly have constitutional authority to "regulate commerce with foreign countries". consequence: weight of protectionism
since mid-70's, as economy becomes more politically motivated, tensions arosed on this issue
General Powers
executive powers: roughly defined powers from which stems "executive arrengements" and "executive orders", actions not requiring legislative approval
veto power: the most potent executive power, block legislation until Congress pass it a second time by a 2/3 majority
"informal powers": authority of presidential office and political skill of individual in office to influence things
legislative powers: oversight and investigative powers (commissions); "power of the purse": power to decide to which extent it'll fund a policy; legislative veto (war resolution act), a"procedural power"; substansive power, like power to ratify and approve treaties.
Supreme court: ultimate referee
executive branch politics
5 criterias to sound policy-making:
1 - adequate information
2- good analysis of info
3- a set of policy options
4 - implementation strategies
5 - feedback to assess and adjust policy
a) Prez as FP leader
- experience of Prez in terms of FP
- Individual characteristics of prez as an individual (personality affects FP making)
- the prez's belief system about the world and images of others
b) senior FP advisors
- of the "big four": NSA, secretary of state, secretary of defense, CIA director... who as most influence over the prez? prime example of Kissinger, who became both NSA and Secretary of state, strong personal relationship with prez
- wether consensus or conflict prevails among senior advisors. Consensus is good, but too much of it means unanimity and isolation of the ones thinking outside the box
c) bureaucratic politics and organisational dynamics
Book "American Foreign Policy", Bruce Jentleson
Ch.1
strategies in the int'l system:
quasi-anarchy of the intl system: no recognized central authorithy in int'l syst. "anarchic" state of int'l syst.
roots in Hobbe's Leviathan, 17th C. "War of all against all".
international norms, laws and institution have provided some authoruty, not as authoritative as institutions of nation-state.
Quasi-anarchy this conditions state-to-state relations.
system structure
state of international system rest upon poles.
multipolarity: 3 or more states share authority in such a way that no one can safely calculate it can dominate the others: balance of power.à
bipolarity: 2 states, kept in check by deterrence to avoid war. deterrence : prevention of war by fear of retaliation.
unipolarity?: one state holds supremacy, peace and stability depending upon that state, wether it uses supremacy malingly on beningly
State structural position:
hierarchy of states in the int'l system determines their role and influence and weigh, basically what they can do. finding out rank of one state in int'l syst tells you what is this given state's FP strategy. Kenneth Waltz. Bipolarity makes a stable world order, deterrence as efficient.
critics says: take Cuban Missile Crisis, could cold war have ended faster if one state had conducted a different policy, or longer for that matter? structural theory is good to contextualize. Billiard ball metaphore: strike is external threaths, angle of ball is state's positions. does not take into consideration the "carzy ball". State FP is constrained by int'l structure but not determined by it.
National Interest and the 4 P's
National Interest is the essence of the choice to be made in a nation's FP.
Alexander George and Robert Kehoane
four core goals that go into defining the US national interest: POWER, PEACE, PROSPERITY, PRINCIPLES (and corresponding schools of toughts (realism, international institutionalism, economic liberalism& radicalism, democratic idealism)
national interset combines those to differrent degrees. sometimes all 4 comes together and are complementary. more often than otherwise, there are tensions and trade-offs, sometimes contradictions.
helps to figure out what FP is and what it should be.
POWER:
key requirement for self-defense and integrity of national territory, deterring aggression. "power enables an actor to shape his environment"
associated to school of realism: international relations is a struggle for power: morgenthau. intl syst a competition for power.
1 - states pursue its national interest (not peace)
2- power in terms of military and politics are best tools to pursue NI
3 - economic interest and prosperity are what military and political power rests (remain competitive, technologically advanced)
4- democracy and HR are secondary to considerations of power
result: FP that is coercive, which ultimately means war, "continuation of policy by other means" (clausewitz). "military interventions" = small wars, limited involvement of armed forces, overthrowing governments hostile to your NI, covert ops.
power is also maintaining strong defense and thus building sufficient deterrence
great enemies to detter in course of US history:
UK in early history
Germany in 2 WW
USSR in Cold War
Terrorism today
alliances key to both defense and detterrence of common enemies, providing military assistance to a government or a rebel group
diplomacy as a tool of realism: coercive statecraft, many measures, up to economic sanctions
covert ops: defend interest where military ops are not suitable and diplomacy cannot operate
PEACE
ultimately, this is the objective of all four aspects
Internationalist institutionalism, constructivism
cooperation a rational way to reduce risk and make gains that even the most powerful state could not achieve solely on its own
state power is a problem to be managed
treaties a way to contribute to the general capacity of a state to control the behavior of another
creation of intl institutions as a basis for "sustained cooperation". anarchy tempered, partially regulated
helps relations among allies: problem of collective action or coordination: institution provide structure
facilitate reciprocity
5 types of institutions:
a) global (UN, league of nations)
b) regional (nato)
c) international legal (world court)
d) arms control and nonproliferation (Atomic energy agency)
e) economic (world bank, IMF, asean)
US as a "peace broker", third party arbitration in other people's conflicts: middle-east and israel
PROSPERITY
economic goals as driving force behind US foreign policy
economic national interest is placed above all else
trough trade policies & focusing FP on countries that have a significant economic importance to the US (saudi arabia), policies that sthrenghten global capitalism
2 schools
economic liberalism: FP aimed at general economic benefits, favorable balance of trade, economic growth, healty macroeconomy. aims at collective prosperity. basis for foundation of bretton-woods institutions.
radicalism: policies dominated by serving interest of elite, dominating class (banks, multinationals), private benefits, unequal distribution of wealth. indirect neocolonialism.
neo-communists critiques of USFP
PRINCIPLES
involves values, ideals and beliefs
2 tenets
1 - rights chosen over might: US role in promoting republican, democratic values; Thomas Jefferson, Woodrow Wilson, Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, G H W Bush
2 - democratic peace principle: ultimately, promoting democracy is promoting peace. democratic countries does not go to war against each other. Immanuel Kant and Perpetual Peace: citizens involved in deciding to go to war will be very cautious about it: they have more to loose in it.
soft power: attractiveness of one state for what it stands for, cultural attractiveness
US often accused for not living up to its standards, abroad and domestically, great scrutininy and sometimes failure of credibility.
POWER realism competition for power coercive
PEACE International instit World order Diplomatic
PROSPERITY Economic realism Global capitalism Economic
radicalism
PRINCIPLES Democratic idealism Global democracy Political
the 4 P's coming together:
Gulf War, 1990-91
To restore PEACE through a large, UN-resolution backed multinational coalition
formidable demonstration of US military POWER: war went fast with few US casualties
PROSPERITY: about the oil and the disruption of economy that oil shortage provokes
PRINCIPLES: standing up before a dictator, standing up for the right of a state to be free from aggression, albeit Kuwait cannot qualifies as a democracy.
Chapter II The Domestic Context
about consensus of presidency, congress and people over Foreign Policy
1) consensus is the exception over conduct of FP
2) "consensus" not always been a good thing: mccarthysm, delegitimizing dissent, repressive measure over expression
3) domestic conflicts not necessarily a bad thing for debate and creative tensions bring about better decisions and actions
set of five domestic actors in FP shaping
1) president and congress
2) policy and decision making processes in the executive branch
3) major interest groups
4) news media
5) public opinion
1 - relationship b/w president and congress
cooperation
constructive compromise: the two branches comes to an arrangement better than two earlier positions
institutional competition: fight between two branches over institutional prerogatives, and less about content of policies
confrontation: substantial conflict, great tension b/w Congress & presidency
war powers:
Constitution: President is commander in chief but Congress as power to actually declare war, each thus having a share of the same power
treatise and international commitments
president negotiate them, senate approves them (2/3 majority)
president can go around that with executive arrangements (minor gov to gov matters) or with declamatory commitments, delivered in speeches.
Also, presidents claimed the right to withdraw unilateraly from treaties wiithout approval from senate.
Appointment of FP officials
President names them, Congress (senate) confirms
presidential aides doesn't require senate approval (kissinger, brzezinski, condolezza rice, all NSA's)
Commerce With Foreign Nations
Congress clearly have constitutional authority to "regulate commerce with foreign countries". consequence: weight of protectionism
since mid-70's, as economy becomes more politically motivated, tensions arosed on this issue
General Powers
executive powers: roughly defined powers from which stems "executive arrengements" and "executive orders", actions not requiring legislative approval
veto power: the most potent executive power, block legislation until Congress pass it a second time by a 2/3 majority
"informal powers": authority of presidential office and political skill of individual in office to influence things
legislative powers: oversight and investigative powers (commissions); "power of the purse": power to decide to which extent it'll fund a policy; legislative veto (war resolution act), a"procedural power"; substansive power, like power to ratify and approve treaties.
Supreme court: ultimate referee
executive branch politics
5 criterias to sound policy-making:
1 - adequate information
2- good analysis of info
3- a set of policy options
4 - implementation strategies
5 - feedback to assess and adjust policy
a) Prez as FP leader
- experience of Prez in terms of FP
- Individual characteristics of prez as an individual (personality affects FP making)
- the prez's belief system about the world and images of others
b) senior FP advisors
- of the "big four": NSA, secretary of state, secretary of defense, CIA director... who as most influence over the prez? prime example of Kissinger, who became both NSA and Secretary of state, strong personal relationship with prez
- wether consensus or conflict prevails among senior advisors. Consensus is good, but too much of it means unanimity and isolation of the ones thinking outside the box
c) bureaucratic politics and organisational dynamics
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