American Government and Politics Today, Brief Edition, 2014-2015

CHAPTER FOuRTEEn • FOREign POliCy 343

Cold War 327

containment 339

defense policy 321

détente 340

diplomacy 321

economic aid 321

foreign policy 321

foreign policy

process 321

intelligence

community 335

isolationist foreign

policy 338

Monroe Doctrine 338

moral idealism 322

national security

policy 321

normal trade relations

(NTR) status 328

political realism 322

Soviet bloc 338

Strategic Arms

Limitation Treaty

(SALT I) 340

technical assistance 321

terrorism 323

Truman Doctrine 339

keyterms

chaptersummary

1 Foreign policy includes the nation’s external

goals and the techniques and strategies used to

achieve them. National security policy, which is one

aspect of foreign policy, is designed to protect the

independence and the political and economic integrity

of the United States. Diplomacy involves the nation’s

external relationships and is an attempt to resolve

conflict without resort to arms. U.S. foreign policy is

based both on moral idealism and on political realism.

2 Terrorism is the attempt to create fear to

gain political ends, usually by violence against

noncombatants. It has become a major challenge

facing the United States and other nations. The

United States waged war on terrorism after the

attacks of September 11, 2001.

3 In 1991 and again in 2003, the United States

sent combat troops to Iraq. The second war in Iraq,

begun in 2003, succeeded in toppling the decades-

long dictatorship of Saddam Hussein, but led to a

long, grinding conflict with insurgent forces. The

United States also went to war in Afghanistan to

track down al Qaeda, which was responsible for the

9/11 attacks, and to expel the Taliban government

that had supported the terrorists.

4 Recent diplomatic efforts by the United States

include containing the nuclear ambitions of Iran

and North Korea. The rise of China as a superpower

introduces a series of issues the United States must

address. American efforts to promote the peace

process between Israel and the Palestinians have

had limited success. World economic issues, such

as trade with China and the European debt crisis,

demand U.S. attention.

5 The formal power of the president to make

foreign policy derives from the U.S. Constitution,

which designates the president as commander

in chief of the army and navy. Presidents have

interpreted this authority broadly. They also

have the power to make treaties and executive

agreements. In principle, the State Department is

the executive agency with primary authority over

foreign affairs. The National Security Council also

plays a major role. The intelligence community

consists of government agencies engaged in

information gathering and covert operations. To

establish some limits on the power of the president

to intervene abroad, Congress passed the War

Powers Resolution in 1973.

6 During the 1800s, the United States stayed out of

European conflicts and politics, so these years have

been called the period of isolationism. The end of the

policy of isolationism toward Europe started with

the Spanish-American War of 1898. U.S. involvement

in European politics became more extensive when

the United States entered World War I in 1917. World

War II marked a lasting change in American foreign

policy. The United States was the only major country

to emerge from the war with its economy intact and

the only country with operating nuclear weapons.

7 Soon after World War II, the Cold War began.

A policy of containment, which assumed an

expansionist Soviet Union, was enunciated in the

Truman Doctrine. Following the apparent arms

equality of the United States and the Soviet Union,

both states adopted a policy of détente.

8 The United States signed arms control

agreements with the Soviet Union under Presidents

Nixon, Reagan, and George H. W. Bush. After the

fall of the Soviet Union, Russia emerged as a less

threatening state. Under President Vladimir Putin,

however, Russia has moved away from democracy

and in part returned to its old autocratic traditions.

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