Foreign policy

Foreign PolicyForeign PolicyMeghan Mumpower

Government CPMeghan Mumpower

Government CP

What is Foreign Policy?

• Foreign policy is a mix of all of the stands and positions a nation holds with other countries.

• For instance, the United States foreign policy includes what the government has said to/about other countries and what the government does in other countries.

American Foreign Policy

American Foreign Policy

• What are the big parts of American Foreign Policy?

• Treaties and Alliances

• Trade

• The Defense Budget

• Aid (Foreign, Economic, and Military)

• The United Nations

• Nuclear Defense Testing and Disarmament Agreements

• The seas being free of any nation’s control is an inflexible part of America’s foreign policy.

• Flexible aspects have included resisting the Soviet Union, but it has now changed toward a friendly relationship.

The Presidency and Foreign

Policy• The president is the chief diplomat of the United States. Due to this,

he has to perform various tasks to ensure he maintains positive relations with many countries around the world.

• One of the ways the president can promote foreign policy is by negotiating international agreements. These can include: peace treaties, alliances, disarmaments agreements, and trade agreements.

• Another way is to create policy statements. Policy statements are formal documents that the president would write to tell how the nation and its government would react and deal with certain affairs. For example, during Reagan’s term as president, he wanted to continue relations in the Multinational Force and said that the United States had interests in Lebanon.

Congress and Foreign Policy

• Even with foreign policy, Congress still has to exercise various checks and balances on the president.

• One of the ways Congress can check or stop the President’s efforts for some foreign policy is with legislation restrictions/funding denials. For example, when Reagan wanted to make policies in order to continue Multinational Force relations and continue in Lebanon, Congress officials

stopped funding so Reagan could not make his policy work.

• Another way Congress can shape foreign policy is giving informal advice to the President. This form is exactly what it sounds like. Members of congress can offer the Executive Branch advice on what they think should happen regarding affairs, but in non-official meetings where decisions are not meant to be made. An example is when Eisenhower decided not to intervene in Indochina after having a meeting with certain members of Congress.

The Truman Doctrine and its Shadow on

Foreign Policy• The Truman Doctrine was a statement made by the United States

after World War II. President Truman made this agreement to help all democratic countries financially, militarily, and politically if they were trying to resist suppressive authoritarian rulers...aka the Soviet Union. The countries specifically targeted at the time were Turkey and Greece. By helping them, the United States would be able to place nuclear missiles on their land (which just happened to be close to the Soviet Union).

• This doctrine is important to US foreign policy because it set a tone for the next decades. Much of America’s foreign policy led to combatting Communist rule in various countries, commonly known events being the Cold war, the Vietnam War, and the Korean War, and even conflicts with “Red China.” These affects were not just on the foreign countries as well, but this foreign policy shaped America’s history by having several periods of red scares. So much so that even a political party as well as anti-communistic trials were led by Eugene McCarthy.

NATO • “NATO’s essential purpose is to safeguard the freedom and security of its

members through political and military means (http://www.nato.int/nato-welcome/index.html).”

• NATO’s purpose is to protect conflicts and to promote democratic society ideals. The purpose is to settle disputes without another WWI (similar to the League of Nations). President Wilson came up the idea of the League of Nations in his 14 points plan, the League of Nations being number 14. Unfortunately, Wilson fell ill and the United States did not join the League of Nations due to congressional disapproval and Wilson’s failure to accept revisions. After WWII and the failure of the League of Nations, the Soviet Union and their domination of smaller countries in the middle east and eastern Europe spread fear through many nations. Thus, NATO was established by 12 host countries including the United States in 1949.

• Part of their activities include: decisions and consultations with member countries, operations and missions, partnerships, and responding to threats.

• Current Events: NATO is currently dealing with the newly established principle of the Strategic Concept forcing them to deal with crisis in foreign countries before, during, and after. They are currently making defense treaties with countries in the Mediterranean, Gulf, and even Arabian countries.

The United Nations

• The United Nations is a organization founded by 51 countries after WWII to protect countries, form alliances, and promote human rights.

• Today the United Nations has 193 member states that actively participate in keeping peace throughout the world. The UN deals with a variety of issues due to their diverse populous of countries providing for.

• Current Event: The UN is trying to support and aid Gaza through giving food and providing peace throughout the country. Now, the UN is reporting a possible cease fire.

The World Hunger

Association• The World Hunger Association was established 1976 to help educate the public on the causes and effects of hunger and malnutrition around the world. They help find solutions, fund organizations that are helping with world hunger, and promote individual efforts to combat hunger everywhere.

• A large problem they deal with is malnutrition in third world countries. Head lines today state that even children in India are having malnutrition despite being well fed. They have discovered that the drinking water is a major cause of this. Water is a major part of their organization’s efforts in combatting hunger as well as health.

How does this Affect Us as

Citizens?• Foreign policy does not just affect the

country the United States is assisting or associating with.

• If the US is going to war with that country, the United State’s citizens are going to have to fight. If we are providing other countries money, our money supply may be affected.

• The United State’s choices in countries directly affect the citizens of the country.

References• http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/policy-statement.html

• http://www.worldissues360.com/index.php/presidents-role-in-foreign-policy-14202/

• http://fpc.state.gov/6172.htm

• http://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/truman-doctrine

• http://www.nato.int/history/nato-history.html

• http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?

• NewsID=48287#.U8gpiVZH1Ms