Government Chapter 20 Study Guide
 Instruments actors and policy makers
 Three types of tools
 Military – oldest and still used
 Economic – becoming more powerful
 Trade regulations tariffs and monetary policies
 Diplomat – quickest of the tools
 Negotiations and summits
 Actors on the world stage
 International organizations
 United Nations (UN): created in 1945 an organization whose members agree to
renounce war and respect certain human and economic freedoms
 Regional organizations
 NATO: created in 1949 combined military forces of the US Canada and more of
western Europe and Turkey
 EU: transnational government composed of western European countries and
coordinates economic policies
 Multinational corporations
 Nongovernmental organizations such as green peace and amnesty international
 Individuals
 Instruments and policy makers
 Policy makers
 The president – send in troops negotiate with other leaders treaties diplomats
country reconstructed by the US
 The diplomats – voice of the countries
 Secretary of state
 National security establishment
 Secretary of defense: joint chiefs of staff NSC CIA formed after WWII to advise
the president and gather intelligence
 Congress
 American foreign policy: an overview
 Isolationism
 Foreign policy where the US tried to stay out of others nations conflicts particularly
in Europe
 Monroe doctrine
 US official statement of isolationism
 WWII (1914-1918)
 The cold war
 Containment doctrine: foreign policy strategy that called for the US to isolate the
soviet union and contain its advances and resist its encroachments by peace or force
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
McCarthyism: the fear prevalent in the 1950’s that international communism was
conspiratorial insidious bent on world domination and infiltrating American
government and cultural institutions – named after the senator Joseph McCarthy
 Swelling of the pentagon
 Arms race – competition between the US and USSR that lead to increased
procurement of military weapons
 Vietnam war
 John Green video
 American foreign policy overview
 The era of détente: a slow transformation from conflict to cooperation designed to
relaxation between the superpower
 Strategic arms limitation talks: effort to limit the growth of nuclear arms
 Reagan rearmament: some $32 billion to the defense budget in 1st term to oppose the
soviet buildup of weapons
 Strategic defense initiative – using computers and other equipment to defend
against soviet missiles from space – “star wars”
 Final thaw in the cold war
 George H.W. Bush proposed to integrate the soviet union into the community of
nations
 Leadership of the soviet union supported the ending of communism and split into
separate nations
 East and west Germany united
 War on terrorism
 War on terrorism
 High priority after 9/11
 Bush supported preemptive strikes against terrorist and hostile states
 International relations has entered an era of improvisation
 Afghanistan and Iraq
 A state against Afghanistan
 Taliban regime harbored Osama bin laden and al-Qaida network
 War on Iraq
 Postwar planning was poor
 Public support has declined
 Terrorism beyond Afghanistan and Iraq will be difficult to combat
 Politics of Defense policy
 Defense spending
 Currently about 1/5 of the federal budget
 Conservatives argue against budget cuts that would leave the military unprepared
 Liberals argue for budget cuts to provide more money for programs in the US
 Military spending is hard to cut since it means a loss of jobs in congressional districts
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 Trend in reductions reversed after 9/11
 Personnel
 1.4 million active and reserve troops
 More reliance on the national guard and reserve troops due to cuts in defense
spending
 Weapons
 Reliance on nuclear tirade (CBM’s SLMBs and strategic bombers) is expensive - $5.5
trillion
 Treaties (START) signed to reduce nuclear missiles
 High tech non-nuclear weapons becoming more prevalent
 New global agenda
 The changing role of military power
 Military might is no longer the primary instrument in foreign policy
 Economic sanctions
 Non-military penalties imposed on foreign countries as an attempt to modify
their behavior
 Generally a first resort in crisis
 Can be effective but critics it only that it only hurts the US businesses and
provokes a nationalist backlash
 Nuclear proliferation
 Only a few countries have known nuclear weapon capabilities
 Fear that other countries will have nuclear weapon capabilities and use them against
their neighbors or the US
 The US focuses on discouraging the deployment of nuclear weapons
 The international economy
 Foreign aid
 Foreign aid issued to stabilize nation’s friendly to the united states
 A substantial percentage of foreign aid is military
 Foreign aid has never been very popular and is typically the first to be cut by
congress
 National security policy making and democracy
 Americans are more interested in domestic than foreign policy
 Separation of powers are impotent
 Pluralism is persuasive in foreign policy making
Notes
 Two largest spending categories are mandatory and discretionary
 The national security council helps the president coordinate American foreign policy and
military policies (also the secretary of defense)
 Sanctions need international support to be supported
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 Americas dependence on the middle east is more prevalent because we get 60% of our oil
from them and we are really dependent on oil to run our country making us vulnerable on
an unstable middle east
 We used to use isolationism for our policy on military but now we have expanded to do
more, but most influence has been close to home
 Two largest actors in US government on foreign policy
 International organizations – peacekeeping and controlling weapons of mass
destruction to protecting the environment and maintaining stable trade and stable
financial networks
 Regional organizations – agree to combine military forces and to treat a war against one
as a war against all
 Can be economic and military
 EU: coordinates trade immigration and labor policies so that its members have
become one economic unit
Vocabulary
 Foreign Policy: A policy that involves choice taking, like domestic policy, but additionally
involve choices about relations with the rest of the world. The president i the chief imitator
of foreign policy in the United States.
 United Nations (UN): Created in 1945, an organization whose members agree to renounce
war and to respect certain human and economic freedoms. The seat of real power in the
United Nations is the Security Council.
 North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO): Created in 1949, an organization whose
members include the United States, Canada, most Western European nations, and Turkey,
all of whom agreed to combine military forces and to treat a war against one as a war
against all
 European Union (EU): A transitional government composed of most European nations that
coordinates monetary, trade, immigration and labor policies, making its members one
economic unit. An example of a regional organization.
 Secretary of State: The head of the department of State and traditionally a key adviser to
the president on foreign policy
 Secretary of Defense: The head of the Department of Defense and the president's key
adviser on military policy a key foreign policy actor.
 Joint Chiefs of Staff: The commanding officers of the armed services who advise the
president on military policy.
 Central Intelligence Agency: An agency created after World War II to coordinate American
intelligence activities abroad, It became involved in intrigue, conspiracy, and meddling as
well.
 Isolationism: A foreign policy course followed thought most of our nation's history whereby
the united taxes has tried to stay out of other nations’ conflicts, particularly European wars.
Isolationism was affirmed by the Monroe Doctrine
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 Containment Doctrine: A foreign policy strategy advocated by George Kennan that called for
the United States to isolate the Soviet Union, "contain" its advances, and resist its
encroachments by peaceful means if possible but by force if necessary
 Cold War: War by other than military means usually emphasizing ideological conflict, such
as that between the United States and the Soviet Union from the end of World War II until
the 1900's.
 McCarthyism: The fear, prevalent in the 1950's, that international communism was
conspiratorial, insidious, bent on world domination, and infiltrating American government
and cultural institutions. It was named after Senator Joseph McCarthy and flourished after
the Korean War.
 Arms Race: A tense relationship beginning in the 1950's between the Soviet Union and the
United States whereby one side's weaponry became the other side's goad to procure more
weaponry, and so on.
 Détente: A slow transformation from conflict thinking to cooperative thinking in foreign
policy strategy and policymaking. It sought a relaxation of tensions brew the superpowers
coupled with firm guarantees of mutual security.
 Strategic Defense Initiative: Renamed "Star Wars" by critics, a plan for defense against the
Society Union unveiled by President Reagan in 1983. The Strategic Defense Initiative would
create a global umbrella in space, using computers to scan the skies and high-tech devices
to destroy invading missiles.
 Interdependency: Mutual dependency, in which the actions of nations reverse and affect
one another's economic lifelines.
 Tariff: A special tax added to imported goods to raise the price, thereby protracting
American businesses and workers from foreign competition.
 Balance of Trade: The ratio of what is paid for imports to whites earned from exports. When
more is imported than exported, there is a balance of trade deficit.
 Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC): An economic organization consisting
primarily of Arab nations that controls the price of oil and the amount of oil its members
produce and sell to other nations.
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