THE POLITICS OF FOREIGN POLICY| 487
North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO) An inter-
national alliance among the United
States, Canada, and several Euro-
pean nations, originally created to
provide security against the Soviet
Union during the Cold War.
tated by America’s agreement to provide substantial military and economic assis-
tance to both countries.^48
Figure 15.2 shows the level of American nonmilitary foreign aid in 2010, mea-
sured as a percentage of gross national income (GNI) compared to that of other
members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. (GNI
includes GDP as well as investment income from other countries.) Considering the
amount of U.S. foreign aid as a percentage of GNI suggests that the United States
gives relatively little to other countries. Part of the reason for this perception 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 the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization (NATO). It was formed by the North Atlantic Treaty after
World War II to provide collective security against the Soviet Union and Warsaw
Pact countries, but after the Cold War the organization’s mission shifted to coor-
dinating military force toward common goa ls. NATO’s operations in Libya in 2011
were the fi rst instance of operations outside Europe.^49
The United States is a party to many treaties: bilateral agreements between
the United States and one other country, and multilateral agreements involv-
ing the United States and several countries.^50 Treaties and alliances enable the
United States to commit itself to a course of action or signal its intentions to other
nations.^51 By joining NATO and stationing troops in Europe, for example, the
United States g ua ra nteed that if Wa rsaw Pact troops invaded the West , U. S. forces
would be part of the resistance. Moreover, if the United States should fail to honor
its treaty obligations, it would be diffi cult for it to convince other nations to enter
into future agreements.
THE POLITICS OF FOREIGN POLICY
The making of foreign policy, like everything else in the federal government, is a
political act—a contest involving elected offi cials, bureaucrats, interest groups,
and other actors, all with their own goals. In this sense there are always confl icts
over what American’s foreign policy should look like, and compromise will always
be fundamental to the making of foreign policy. Moreover, as with domestic issues,
the amount of attention paid to foreign policy matters varies over time.
Confl ict over foreign policy has several sources, including Americans’ diff er-
ent ideas of what such policy should look like. One source of disagreement is the
realist–idealist distinction discussed earlier. Self-interest is another powerful
factor. For example, several studies have found that as National Guard units were
ANALYZE SEVERAL MAJOR
AREAS OF FOREIGN POLICY
AND WHY THEY ARE OFTEN
CONTROVERSIAL