21 st Century American Foreign Policy

21st Century American Foreign Policy

Dr. Bruce W. Jentleson

“Commencement” Lecture

• I. The Making of US Foreign Policy • II. Utility of the 4 Ps Framework • III. Key Issue Areas • IV. Our 21st Century World

I. The Making of US Foreign Policy

• “Water’s Edge” Myth– Domestic political consensus more the historical exception than rule– Consensus not always a good thing– Political conflict over foreign policy not always a bad thing

• The Constitution and “Pennsylvania Avenue” diplomacy• Politics, of course, but also structural: “invitation to struggle,”

separation of powers• Democracy and interest groups, media, public opinion

II. Utility of the 4 PS Framework

• “National interest” as not as straightforward as often claimed• Components: Power, Peace, Prosperity, Principles• Analytic utility: help understand choices and priorities, why

what was done was done – Complementarity (great but infrequent)– Trade-offs (choices, more frequent)– Dissensus: major debates

• Prescriptive utility: help decide what should be done– Peer Assessment #2

Foreign Policy Strategy TypologyCore NI Goal IR Theory Int’l System Main Policies

Power Realism Competitionfor Power

Coercive

Peace Int’l Inst’lism World Order Diplomatic

Prosperity Imperialism Global Capitalism Economic

Principles DemocraticIdealism

GlobalDemocratization

Political

III. Key Issue Areas

• Asia’s Rising Strategic Importance: China and the Asia-Pacific Region

• Middle East: Old and New Challenges --- War, Peace, Terrorism, Democracy

• Europe Old Friend, Russia Old Adversary: Transition to 21st Century Relations

• Latin America, Canada: History, Current Agenda• Africa: Persisting Old Issues, Pressing New Ones

IV. Our 21st Century World

• What’s the world like in which the US (and every other nation-state) is pursuing its foreign policy?

• An age of huge historical transformations:– End of the Cold War– Globalization– 9/11– Information revolution, Technology

• An “astronomical” approach:

The PtolemaicUniverse

The Copernican Universe

THANK YOU! • “Community of learning”• Lessons for politics

• My thanks to you

• @BWJ777

• “COMMENCEMENT”