The United States And Foreign Policy

Prior to World War I, the United States generally chose to follow Washington’s farewell address and stay out of “foreign entanglements”. The United States foreign policy from 1918 to 1953 shifted from isolationism or independent internationalism to a more involved internationalism and containment of communism due to various international events, economic conditions, and US public opinion.

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.

Foreign policy is how one nation deals with many other nations. The book talks about Ronald Regan trying to create foreign policy and then here you have congress like a bunch of ants floating on a log down river each ant thinking there in charge. Foreign policy from the way “How Congress Works’” says is set up by the president and not really. Having congress get involved makes foreign policy way more complicated then needed. Harry Truman was one man who was asked a question. A random person wanted to know who created foreign policy? His answer was that he did. Now this leads to a important example of foreign policy. This leads to John F. Kennedy and we all know what major foreign policy deal he had to deal with. It was the Cuban missile crisis.

The U.S. foreign policy has always been linked to the domestic policy since the U.S. never feared of expanding its national interests over the national boarders. Isolation for the U.S. usually implied slow economic growth and the large number of destructive conflicts within, while impudent foreign policy always guaranteed an abrupt economic growth for the U.S. economy. After the U.S. intervened in the WWI and the WWII, the U.S. economy witnessed a tremendous economic growth, nearly elimination of the unemployment, rapid urbanization and overall growth of the standards of living across the country. Decisive foreign policy has always been providing the U.S. economy with the sustainable and rapid economic growth, unlike the policy aimed at isolation of the U.S.

The foreign policy of the United States has changed drastically between eras. During the Gilded Age, America experienced isolationism. The US focused on expanding their borders locally and seizing control of Central America. With the first rise of global and total war, America transitioned to being somewhat interested in foreign affairs while still staying neutral to its own cause. However, that did not last long with America's hand forced and entered World War I as an associate to the Allied Powers. Twenty years after World War I, another World War started after Germany wanted revenge for their “unfair” treatment. America was once again forced into the war after Japan, Germanys ally, surprise attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. After the end of World War II, American isolationism completely ended and the US found itself as a global superpower. With the end of the world wars came a Cold War solely focused between the US and the Soviet Union. The US got itself into unwinnable wars, attempts to overthrow communist regimes, a weapons race, and a technology race. Foreign policy shifts between Détente and escalation. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Cold War came to an end and America focused on allies and trade. The long peace ended with the September 11 attacks. These attacks launched America into a War on Terrorism, and they adopted the Bush Doctrine. Over the course of American history, foreign policy transitioned from isolationism into the “Empire of Liberty,”

America believed that it was isolated from the rest of the world, and its foreign policy reflected these ideas and beliefs. The United States was on its way to becoming a world power and advancing its own interest in the world, especially in the North and South America. Isolationism caused the United States to avoid being involved in other countries politics and for the U.S. to remain neutral in foreign policy

American foreign policy has gone through many changes during our 200 years as an independent nation; our position as a global power has obligated us to participate in world affairs, even when public opinion has been unsupportive. After World War 2 we were only rivaled by the Soviet Union as a superpower; our policy at the time was to establish a righteous world order while simultaneously protecting that order against threats that could tear it down (i.e.: communism). After the end of the cold war the U.S was indecisive on what type of foreign policy to establish for itself, since American diplomacy before the end of the Cold War was centered on fighting the spread of communism. The answer to this question came within the academic article I

From Independence through WWI, the US tried to refuse to become generally and permanently involved in the affairs of the rest of the world. It started in the early years of this nation when George Washington declared that “our true policy” was “to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world.”. After, in 1801, Thomas Jefferson warned the nation against “entangling alliances”. So it was basically in the genetics in this country to isolate itself. Yet this policy did not demand a complete separation from the rest of the world. The US developed ties abroad by exchanging Ambassadors, signing treaties with many nations, et cetera.

To begin America’s foreign policy has changed quite a lot. The first policy we had was the Monroe Doctrine which was established in 1823. The policy provided precedent and support for U.S. expansion on the American continent. This meant Europe could not interfere in Western Hemisphere affairs and could not be involved in the expansion. Soon after that we were changing our policies again which lead us to Wilson’s 14 points. Basically after we had entered WW1 we wanted to establish peace so we drew up specific recommendations for a comprehensive peace settlement. As you can see already we are becoming more involved and our policies are allowing us to become a whole and make peace. Then once again we were getting involved and our policies had to changed again we created the United Nations in 1945. It consisted of the following

Until the end of the twentieth century America’s policy towards war was to stay neutral. We stayed out of other governments battles and we avoided war. The United States did not force our ideals on any foreign governments. The US did not want to be the bully who forces countries into having freedom and independence. This noninterventionist America, devoted to solving its own problems and developing its own civilization, became the wonder of the world. People were compelled to come to this wonderful country and share in the freedoms it enjoys. Between 1898 and 1919, trade and cultural exchange flourished, as American civilization progressed and we became an economic powerhouse. American traditions in

For the most of the twentieth century we have defined our foreign policy in regards to our competition with the Soviet Union up until the end of the Cold War. Even though we never directly went to war with the Soviet Union, we were still engaged in a race to the top. However, once the Soviet Union collapsed, we saw a drastic change and a shifting away from foreign policy towards domestic policy. It was not until 9/11 that we have started to focus our attention back again towards foreign policy.

The foreign policy of the United States has changed over time reflecting the change in its national interest. As a new nation after the Revolutionary War, America’s prime national interest was to maintain its independence from the European countries. Through the 19th century,

Third and finally, Bremmer’s preferable approach, the Independent America approach, focuses on America’s errors with an imperialistic style of foreign policy. Bremmer states that the United States should let those boiling points in Europe and the Middle East be handled by their own countries. This idea focuses on the betterment of the United States economy and social problems. Pointing to the recent events in Ukraine the Independent approach makes the point of the fact that the American people do not want to continue the involvement in the Baltic States and would much rather focus on issues within the homeland. However, the United States government has already put in too many lives and economic expenditures to just pull out, at this point it would simply be a waste. While the involvement in the first place was the wrong choice it cannot be helped at this point. Bremmer’s action of pointing to the Vietnam War stands to be an unfair representation of current foreign policy as the war itself was more than forty years ago. As it stands now the United States foreign policy is a well-built system, sure there are some things that require changing but there is always going to be a flaw in it as with time the world changes. Bremmer states that the United States should not force its ideals onto countries that do not want change, saying that trying to force them will cause dispute that they are more willing to win. While this is true it is for a good cause, democracy is needed within

In their book American Foreign Policy since World War 2, Steven W. Hook, and John Spanier take a historical look at American foreign policy. Since its independence, all through to the start of the 20th century, the United States had a policy of detachment. This was rooted in the believe that Europe, the only other meaningful powerful in the world in the 18th and 19th century, had intrinsic issues related to feudism that kept the continent in a constant state of war (Hook & Spanier, 2015). The U.S on its part was far away from Europe and had a unique chance to chart a different course, one free from the troubles of Europe. As a democracy free from the class systems of Europe and hence maintain peace and stability (Hook & Spanier, 2015). To maintain this peace and stability, it was in the United States interests to maintain detachment from Europe. In fact, Monroe wrote that Europe and its flawed system was evil and America should strive as much as possible to stay away from it (Hook & Spanier, 2015). However, in the 20th century, this policy of detachment was put to the test when the United States was drawn into the first and second world wars by external factors. This led the United States to get more engaged in global affairs. The idea behind engagement was to promote the ideals of democracy which, the U.S believed were the pillars of peace, as well as to protect itself from aggressors like Japan in the Second World War. After the

Chapter 1 – The History and Evolution of Foreign Policy Analysis by Valerie M. Hudson