William_T._Bianco,_David_T._Canon]_American_Polit

The tools of foreign policy 641

ties with these nations, as a counter to the increased regional economic and military

power of China. Withdrawing from these agreements, as Trump has decided to do,

means that these foreign policy issues will need to be addressed using other means.

Economic policies are also used to threaten or sanction countries as a way of

inducing them to change their behavior. Working with the United States and other

nations, the UN Security Council authorized economic sanctions against Iran aimed

at forcing the nation to stop enriching uranium, a first step in the production of nuclear

weapons.^49 These sanctions banned arms sales to the country and made it all but

impossible for Iranian citizens and corporations to do business outside their nation’s

borders. The damage caused by sanctions was one important reason why Iran agreed

to negotiate a deal with the United States and the European Union, resulting in the 2016

deal in which Iran agreed to curb its nuclear research programs and Western nations

agreed to remove economic sanctions. This outcome also explains why President

Trump’s decision to withdraw from the deal is unlikely to change Iranian behavior:

none of the sanctions formerly imposed by EU nations have been reinstated.

Foreign aid

Foreign aid is money, products, or services given to other countries or the citizens of

these countries. Sometimes aid reflects the desire to provide basic assistance to satisfy

fundamental human needs. For example, American military ships and aircraft are often

used to deliver food and medical supplies to the victims of earthquakes and other natural

disasters. Foreign aid also serves to stimulate economic growth in other nations. For

instance, funding from the United States helps build factories; pays for technical advisers

who provide locals training on the construction and operation of water, power, or

sewage treatment plants; and buys hardware to support infrastructure such as Internet

access or telephone networks. Foreign aid also facilitates international agreements. For

example, the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel in 1979 was facilitated by America’s

agreement to provide substantial military and economic assistance to both countries.^50

Promises of continued American aid to Israel have also been one factor in discouraging

Israel from attacking Iranian nuclear facilities in the last several years.

Figure 17.3 shows the level of American nonmilitary foreign aid in 2017 measured as

a percentage of gross national income (GNI, which includes GDP as well as accounting

economic sanctions
Penalties applied by one country or
group of countries on another, usually
in the form of tariffs or other trade
barriers.

The United States spends

<1%

of its annual budget on foreign aid.

According to one poll, Americans on

average think the country spends

28 percent.

Source: Kaiser Family Foundation Poll

DID YOU KNOW?

for investment income from other countries) and total volume in U.S. dollars,

compared with that of the six other countries that are members of the G7 group of major

industrialized nations. Compared to these countries, America gives a relatively low

percentage of GNI in foreign aid, although part of the explanation lies in the size of the

U.S. economy: America’s foreign aid contributions are the largest of any country when

measured in total dollars, but it also has the largest GNI of any country.

Alliances and treaties

A treaty is an agreement between nations to work together on economic or security

issues. An alliance is an agreement that commits nations to security guarantees, which

are assurances that one country will help another if it is attacked. America is a member

of many international alliances, most notably NATO. This alliance was formed by

the North Atlantic Treaty after World War II to provide collective security against the

Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact countries. The organization’s mission shifted after

the Cold War to focus on coordinating military force toward common goals, with the

organization’s 2011 intervention in the Libyan civil war the first instance of operations

outside Europe. Historically, the United States has paid a disproportionate share of

the cost of NATO operations and devoted a larger share of GNI to defense spending. In

recent years, the United States has successfully pressured its NATO allies to increase

their spending on defense. Such demands have continued under President Trump, who

made doing so one of the central themes of his presidential campaign.

The United States is a party to treaties with many countries.^51 Several of these treaties

implemented significant changes in both U.S. and other military forces, from capping

the size of nuclear forces, to restricting the numbers of these forces, to banning some

kinds of weapons. These agreements enable the United States to commit itself to a course

FIGURE

1 7. 3

5

United

States

United

Kingdom

Japan France Italy Canada

10

15

20

25

40

30

35

Germany

Volume in billions of U.S. dollars

% of gross national income

0.20

0.40

0.60

0.80

1.00

1.20

1.40

Total volume (left axis) % of GNI (right axis)

U.S. Foreign Aid

in Comparative

Perspective

This figure shows foreign aid

contributions expressed both in total

volume and as a percentage of gross

national income (GNI). Do these data

imply that America is less generous

with aid than other nations are? What

other explanations are there for the

differences across countries?

Note: Bars represent aid in volume and

dots represent aid as percent GNI. Data

from 2017.

Source: Organization for Economic

Cooperation and Development,

“Development Cooperation Report 2018,”

http://www.oecd.org (accessed 6/16/18).

Full_18_APT_64431_ch17_614-654.indd 641 16/11/18 11:22 AM