Chapter 17: Creating American Foreign PolicyDenison Middle

Grade 7 Civics

17.1: Introduction

• U.S. foreign policy is how our government deals with other nations.

• Nationalization is the transfer of private property to government ownership.

• Embargo is a ban on trading goods with a country.

17.2: The Basic Goals of U.S. Foreign Policy

• The basic goals of U.S. foreign policy have remained constant.

• These goals are based on what Americans see as our nation’s vital interests: protecting security, preserving peace, promoting prosperity, and pursuing humanitarian rights.

Protecting the Nation’s Security

• Ensuring national security is central to the foreign policy of every nation.

• The most important job of any national government is to protect its people from attacks.

• This may be done both by creating armed forces and by forming military alliances with other nations.

• Since 9/11, the United States has been engaged in a war on terrorism.

• Visitors seeking visas to enter the United States are now interviewed and checked against terrorist watch list.

• A visa is an official document issued by a country’s government that allows a foreigner to enter and travel in that country.

Preserving World Peace

• A peaceful world is both more secure from a military point of view and better for U.S. economic interests.

• The United States seeks peace by supporting the peacekeeping work of the United Nations.

• U.S. officials also work to mediate disputes that might lead to, or have led, to armed conflict.

Promoting Economic Prosperity

• Most governments use foreign policy to promote the economic prosperity of their people.

• Since WWII, the United States has become a leading force in globalization, or the trend toward more open, less-restricted trade and communication among the world’s nations.

• Globalization promotes the free movement of goods, money, people, and culture across national borders.

Promoting Economic Prosperity

• One large threat is the illegal production of goods that are protected by U.S. patents or copyrights.

• Patents give an inventor the exclusive right to make or sell an invention.

• Similarly, a copyright gives developers of original works, such as music, art, books, and software, the right to control their intellectual property.

Promoting Economic Prosperity

• Those benefits are lost when foreign producers ignore patent and copyright protections.

• Some of these producers make money by counterfeiting through selling copies of a patented product without permission from the patent holder.

• Others make money by modern piracy, or the illegal use of copyrighted intellectual property such as movies and software.

Pursuing Humanitarian Ideals

• U.S. foreign policy has also been driven by the goal of advancing humanitarian ideals around the world.

• Some of these ideals involve promoting, freedom, democracy, and the rule of law.

• Others involve ending poverty and promoting human rights.

17.3: The “Soft Power” Tools of Foreign Policy

• Much of foreign policy involves trying to get other countries to do what you want.

Diplomacy: The Art of Conducting Negotiations

• Diplomacy is the art of conducting negotiations between countries.

• Most diplomacy is carried out by government officials called diplomats.

• The highest-ranking diplomat sent by one country to another is the ambassador.

• The ambassador and his staff work out of an embassy.

• The embassy’s job is to represent the interests of the home country while developing friendly relations with the host country.

Diplomacy: The Art of Conducting Negotiations

• Under international law, ambassadors and their staff enjoy diplomatic immunity.• This means they are exempt from the host country’s laws.

• Diplomatic relations begin when a country grants diplomatic recognition to another country’s government. • Such recognition acknowledges that the government is the

legitimate representative of its people.

Summits: Meetings of Heads of States

• Most negotiations between countries are carried out by diplomats.

• From time to time, national leaders come together for face-to-face talks.

• These very high-level meetings are called summits.

• Summits are used to address problems of mutual concern.

Treaties: Agreements to Solve Problems Peacefully

• When conflicts arise between nations, diplomats try to settle them through peaceful negotiations.

• Treaties may be bilateral, which means they relate to two countries.

• Or they may be multilateral agreements that involve three or more countries.

• Treaties can cover a variety of issues, from ending wars to protecting the environment.

Trade Relations: Managing Cross-Border Commerce

• With the rise of globalization, cross-border trade relations have become an important soft power tool.

• Most trade agreements made by the Untied States with other countries include a most-favored-nation clause.• This means that the other country

will be granted all trade advantages, such as low tariffs, that any other trading partner receives from the U.S.

Foreign Aid: Assisting Less Wealthy Countries

• Foreign aid can come in various forms, including cash, equipment, and personnel.

• In 2004, the U.S. provided foreign aid to about 150 countries.

Foreign Aid: Assisting Less Wealthy Countries

• U.S. assistance programs can be divided into 5 major categories:1. Bilateral development assistance. Focus on economic reform,

promotion of democracy, environmental protection, and health.

2. Security assistance. Aimed at protecting U.S. political, economic, and national security interests.

3. Humanitarian assistance. Most aid goes to refugees from human-made and natural disasters.

4. Multilateral assistance. Funds international organizations such as the United Nations Development Programme and the World Bank.

5. Military assistance. Gives U.S. allies military equipment and training.

Cultural Exchanges: People-to-People Contacts

• The U.S. State Department actively promotes cultural exchanges as a way to “communicate America’s strengths, freedoms, hopes, and challenges”.

17.4: The “Hard Power” Tools of Foreign Policy

• Some hard power tools, such as boycotts and sanctions, are economic in nature.

• Others involve the use of spies, secret agents, and military forces.

Intelligence Gathering: Assessing Foreign Threats

• Making good foreign policy decisions depends on having reliable information about activities and intentions of other countries.• Such information is called

intelligence.

• Most countries have an intelligence agency like the CIA.• Such agencies gather information

related to national security, either through public sources or by spying.

Covert Action: Influencing Events in Other Countries

• Intelligence agencies also carry out covert actions in other countries.• A covert action is a secret operation that supports the

country’s foreign policy.

Boycotts and Sanctions: Applying Economic Pressure

• Boycotts and sanctions use economic pressure to punish a country for its actions or policies.

• A boycott usually involves a refusal to buy goods from a country as a form of protest against its policies.

• Boycotts can also involve a refusal to take part in an international event (Olympics).

• A sanction is an action taken against one or more countries to force a government to change its policies.

Military Alliances: Defending Against Attacks

• Military alliances are agreements made by countries to defend one another in cases of an attack.

• The largest military alliance today is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

• The United States, Canada, Iceland, and nine Western European countries formed NATO in 1948.

• NATO’s primary purpose was to guard against the threat posed by the Soviet Union and its communist allies in Eastern Europe.

Armed Forces: The Tool of Last Resort

• When all other tools fail, countries may resort to war as their foreign policy tool of last resort.

• President Bill Clinton resorted to armed force only after diplomatic efforts failed to end Serbia’s ethnic cleansing campaign in the province of Kosovo.• Ethnic cleansing involves the mass removal and killing of

an ethnic group in an area.

17.5: The Makers and Shapers of Foreign Policy

• What do the four items listed below have in common?• Monroe Doctrine• Roosevelt Corollary• Truman Doctrine• Nixon Doctrine

If you said that they are all foreign policy statements named after presidents, you would be right.

What the Constitution Says About Foreign Policy

• The Constitution divides responsibility for developing foreign policy between Congress and the president.

• The president has the power to negotiate treaties.• But these treaties do not go into effect until approved by

the Senate.

The Foreign Policy Bureaucracy

• The president directs the administration of foreign policy as the head of a large foreign policy bureaucracy.

• This bureaucracy consists of 4 main sections, or areas of responsibility:1. Diplomacy.

2. Intelligence.

3. National security.

4. Economy.

Congressional Influence Over Foreign Policy

• Although the president directs the foreign policy bureaucracy, Congress also has considerable influence in this area.

• Its most important tool for influencing policy is its power of the purse.

• The president cannot carry out policies that Congress is unwilling to fund.

• In addition, Congress has the power to conduct oversight hearings and investigations into foreign policy issues.

17.6: How Worldviews Shape Foreign Policy

• In the 1900s, four worldviews dominated debates about foreign policy.

• Since September 11, 2001, a fifth worldview has emerged that may affect U.S. foreign policy for many years to come.

Isolationism: Withdrawing from World Views

• The view that the United States should withdraw from world affairs is called isolationism.• People who hold this view do not favor helping other

nations with foreign aid.

Containment: Controlling Aggressive Nations

• The view that the United States should contain, or control, aggressive nations that threaten world peace is called containment.

• This view came out of WWII.• After WWII, Americans became alarmed by the Soviet

Union’s aggressive efforts to spread communism around the world.

Disengagement: Avoiding Military Involvements

• The view that the United States should avoid military actions in other parts of the world is called disengagement.

• People who believe in disengagement want to avoid military actions, they may not be against foreign aid or trade relations.

• The disengagement worldview reflects the experience of Americans during the Vietnam War.

Human Rights: Using U.S. Power to Protect Others

• By 1991, the Cold War was over and the Soviet Union had collapsed.

• With that change, containment gave way to a new worldview that was based on protecting human rights.

• Those who adopted this view held that the United States should use its power to protect the rights and well-being of people around the world.

Antiterrorism: protecting the Homeland

• The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, brought a new worldview to the forefront of foreign policy: antiterrorism.

• People holding this worldview believe that the greatest threat to the United States comes from terrorist groups such as al Qaeda.

• In their view, U.S. power should be used to seek out and destroy terrorist networks.

• It should also be used to keep weapons of mass destruction, particularly nuclear weapons, out of the hands of terrorists.