|
|
 |
INTERACTIVE LECTURE FOREIGN POLICY RELATIONS |
 |
|
Foreign policy is another important concern of American National Government. It includes the international economic, humanitarian, diplomatic, and military actions taken by the United States. Throughout history, the United States has adopted an assertive commercial, political, and military position toward the people of other nations. One of the great shaping forces of American foreign relations have been the idea of westward expansion and democratization. In 1845, a news reporter named John O'Sullivan wrote that the "manifest destiny of the United States is to overspread the continent allotted by Divine Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions." O'Sullivan and others believed that Americans had a divine obligation to extend even by force the benevolence of democracy to less civilized people. This concept of manifest destiny, coupled with a heavy dose of ethnocentrism, justified expansion into the Western Hemisphere. The westward expansion of the United States led to the conquest of 75,000 Spanish-speaking people and 150,000 Native Americans. Eventually the United States left behind the idea of westward expansion and took up defending American interests on a global scale. During the twentieth century, the United States emerged as a superpower committed to fighting against the spread of communism. Foreign policy today continues to reflect the idea that the United States serves as a global police officer. The foreign policy of early America reflected the political realities of a young nation. Early Americans were content with focusing on westward expansion and not in a position to directly influence European events. Most early Presidents adopted the position that avoiding involvement with other nations was the way to protect American interests. In his farewell address, President George Washington warned the people to "steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world." This policy of isolationism became a permanent fixture during the 1800s. In 1823, President James Monroe formally established his Monroe doctrine of noninvolvement. He stated to Congress that the United States will not allow foreign intervention into American affairs and in return promises to stay out of European affairs. But isolationism gradually evolved into a policy of interventionism as the United States began to expand westward and trade with other nations. The push for westward expansion led to international conflicts with Mexico, France, Spain, and England. In the Spanish-American War of 1898, the United States successfully fought to free Cuba from the nation of Spain. A defeated Spain ceded control of Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines to the United States. It gained a colonial empire and emerged as a world power. Soon thereafter Americans established an open trade policy with China, opening Chinese markets to trade with other nations. The 1914 outbreak of World War I created
new challenges. Initially, the United States took a policy stance
of neutrality. President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed that Americans
would not take sides in the international conflict. But After the end of World War II, the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union began to break down. What emerged was a Cold War and nuclear arms race. In the past fifty years, the President and Congress have shared general long-term attitudes about international relations. Most government officials have entertained similar foreign policy goals that motivate them to take action and react to events in certain ways. No doubt there has at times been sharp disagreement over whether the United States should adopt an isolationist or internationalist orientation. There has also been occasional division over the short-term objectives such as national security versus human rights. But post World War II foreign policy has generally emphasized three common themes: interventionism, anticommunism, and economic hegemony. Such widespread consensus has transformed the United States into an activist superpower willing to intervene into global problems for purposes of furthering the interests of democracy, capitalism, and so on. What are some of the costs and benefits of these American themes to international relations? Some Compelling Questions One of the central questions of American politics asks what has been the historical evolution and patterns of foreign policy? How has the making of such policy been shared between the President, Executive Cabinet, and Congress? Another basic question of American politics asks what is the current status of weapons of mass destruction within the world? How can the threat of biological and chemical weapons be guarded against by the United Nations and United States? |
Please fill in all items:
If you do not want to have your email address posted, then you must type the @ sign in replace of your e-mail address.
|
in 1917, the United States was drawn into the war when American
ships were attacked without cause by German submarines. After the
end of World War I (1918), the United States returned to a policy
of isolationism. It even refused to join the newly created League
of Nations, the international body intended to prevent future
international conflicts. Several decades later the United States
was drawn into World War II with the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl
Harbor. Americans joined the Allies--Australia, England, Canada,
China, France, and the Soviet Union--that fought Axis nations of
Germany, Italy, and Japan. The war came to an abrupt end when the
United States dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki, instantly killing thousands of innocent
civilians and noncombatants.