History And Political Science : Future Of Us Foreign Policy Essay

From 1789 through 1800, the United States was greatly involved in foreign affairs. The nation had just been established, and the early United States was greatly influenced by foreign affairs as a result. International affairs even pushed the young nation to the brink of war. The young United States would attempt to become neutral, however international countries would be influencing in the nation issues, including politics.

Throughout the course of history, the United States has remained consistent with its national interest by taking many different actions in foreign policy. There have been both immediate and long term results of these actions. Foreign policy is the United States policy that defines how we deal with other countries economically and politically. It is made by congress, the president, and the people. Some of the motivations for United States foreign policy are national security, economics, and idealism. The United States entry into World War I in 1917 and the escalation of the Vietnam War in 1964 and the both had great impact on the United States.

This biography offers insight into the personal and public lives of two men who so initially agreed then feverishly denied each other’s foreign policy proposals. Concluding with Nitze, as the hawk and Kennan, starring as the dove.

Though the United States was the military power of the world prior to World War II, its foreign policy was one of detachment. The government was determined not to get involved in other countries affairs barring unusual circumstances. A World War provided big enough means to become involved, as many Americans became enraged with the military ambitions of Japan and Germany.

Congress and the president have diverse accountabilities regarding military action, which have been sanctioned by the United Sates Constitution; there are similarities with some of these tasks, creating boundary confusion when the topic of war is addressed. Dealing with the matter of a military assault against Syria in August of 2013 the Obama administration sought the endorsement of Congress. After the authorization was requested, debates regarding a president’s need for such a request

In Obama’s Wars, Woodward asserts President Obama used the Second Order (Institutional) Friction: Military Planning Systems Meet Presidential Decision Making cause of friction to make the Afghanistan surge decision.

Another example of Bush’s obstinacy is the surge in troops he approved in Iraq. “The conventional wisdom about the U.S. troop surge was that by 2006, Iraq was in complete chaos, and because of this, many Americans called for the U.S. to bring the troops home. Instead of withdrawing U.S. troops, President Bush sent in 30,000 additional ones against the advice of a number of his advisors” (Bowman). Bush assembled a panel of scholars, historians, and retired four star generals to help him create a new plan for the war in Iraq. The majority of these panel members agreed on one thing, the current track that the U.S. was on was not working, and advised Bush to change tactics. After a number of meetings with the committee, Bush decided to stay on course with his original plan and completely ignored the counsel of his own hand-picked advising panel. “The justification was for such a move was that by the end of 2007, Iraq started to stabilize. For example, in 2008, Senator Lindsey Graham spoke out on the subject at Republican National Convention and said that, "by every measure, the surge of troops into Iraq has worked”’ (Bowman). In a 2007 speech to Congress on the surge in the Middle East, General David Petraeus agreed and proclaimed, "The military objectives of the surge are, in large measure, being met" (Bowman). “On the other hand, some disagree that Bush’s aggressive strategy and blatant disregard of his advisors’ wishes were the reasons for success. Doug Ollivant, an Army

The Obama Administration faces many antagonistic states and actors including Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Russia, Syria, and ISIS. Nevertheless, Obama makes mistakes similar to the Bush Administration’s by relying on IR theories in isolation rather than conjunction in rhetoric and action. Though Obama delivers rhetorical orations drawing from liberalism, realism, and constructivism, his actions often draw from one-dimensional aspects of realist or liberal thought. In “Obama’s Foreign Policy: ‘Smart Power, Realism, and Cynicism,’” Pierre Guerlain argues while Obama’s foreign policy rhetoric emphasizes hard and soft power (together denoted “smart power” ), his actions on the field are Machiavellian. Guerlain says there are two Obamas in foreign policy: there’s “Obama the Orator,” coinciding his image as “liberal law professor,” then, in stark contrast, “Obama the Decider” who employs realpolitik strategy or soft power on the field, whichever yields the best bang for the buck. Indeed, Obama’s 2009 speech in Cairo emphasized “principles of justice and progress, tolerance, and the dignity of all human beings,” but this rhetoric hardly resonates with his “kill list” in 2012 where he authorized targeted killings or drone strikes. Obama’s rhetorical strategy appears to embrace liberal and constructivist theory on the surface,

They are perfect to carry out my plan.” He gives a faint smile and asks, “Do I have your permission to carry out the mission?” The president makes very clear, “If you fail you will no longer have any part of this administration.” “I have a meeting to hurry to; I must discuss the war effort with our

“Any military commander who is honest with himself, or with those he's speaking to, will admit that he has made mistakes in the application of military power. He's killed people unnecessarily — his own troops or other troops — through mistakes, through errors of judgment. A hundred, or thousands, or tens of thousands, maybe even a hundred thousand.” This quote which is the opener of Errol Morris's “The Fog of War” is a statement that is emblematic of the choices and decisions Robert S. McNamara had to make during his time serving in World War II, as Secretary of Defense during the Vietnam War and as president of The World Bank.

It is not uncommon for a President’s approval rating to go down after he makes a big decision that involves a lot of American lives. So naturally, it is not hard to see why Barack Obama’s rating has fallen dramatically since he ordered the deployment of over 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan. He believes this will help end the conflict there, but many Americans don’t see it that way. Many are worried about the time frame he has set for the troops withdraw and eventual trip home. Eighteen months is a very short time to end a war that has been dragging on for almost a decade against an enemy that has an obvious advantage due to their knowledge of the terrain. History has shown us the difficulties of war, especially without public support. I

In Obama’s War, Martin Smith, a veteran correspondent, travels across Afghanistan and Pakistan to see for himself how the president’s new strategy is going on, delivering vivid reporting from the ground. It is evident that American Soldiers are struggling to make things better in Afghanistan villages, but equally vixen encounters remain across the boundary in Pakistan. This is based on the inadequate resources and less time available to do what needs to be done. The major problem in Pakistan is that the American troops are not sure of what to do. This affects my career as an Army officer as we need proper guidelines in completing our tasks

As far as his foreign policy regarding American involvement in Iraq, The New York Times and The Washington Post both covered what was expected of President Obama, but neither suggest his intention to withdraw the troops completely. "Foreign Policy" in The New York Times references some key events that took place up until the proposal to withdraw all of the troops, including President Obama's implementation of more troops and the killing of Osama Bin Laden. The issue with President Obama's actions, as a piece written in part by John McCain suggests, if President Obama had not taken action to bring the troops back to America he would not be keeping his 2008 Presidential Election preseason promise; however, being that he is beginning to "draw down" the troops he is acting inefficiently as American involvement in Iraq is still necessary. Although the withdrawal of the troops seems like a victory for the American people, John McCain's criticism shows the issues with President Obama's idea.

During the Cold War from 1946 to 1990 the United States had formed a policy called the containment policy which was adopted by President Harry Truman. The containment policy was a doctrine uniting military, economic, and diplomatic strategies to turn back communism and to insure that America would hold the leading role in world affairs.

Foreign policy is a policy that is pursued by nation in its dealings with other nations that is designed to achieve national objectives. Therefore, the general objectives are to guide activities and develop a relationship of one nation through the interaction with another nation. Moreover, this development of foreign policy is somehow influence by international considerations as the policies or the behavior of other foreign governments and the peoples through negotiation, other measurement short of violence and war. Also to have plans that will advance into a particular geopolitical setting. The United States foreign policy is an overview of major trends regarding American Revolution to the present times. The major themes of foreign policy is to promote democracy that expands across the continent to support liberal internationalism, contesting wars, cold wars, fighting international terrorism in the developing or exploited of third world countries and as to build a stronger world economy system. As history put it, “ Morocco was the first Muslim country to formally deals with the United States as represented by the Moroccan – American treaty of friendship in 1786”. Now the foreign policy of Barack Obama has been the policy of the United States since the Obama administration was inauguration in January of 2009. Since then Congress and President Obama are working on the shared power of foreign policy.