Chapter 14 - Foreign Policy

- Foreign policy is what we follow when we deal with other countries

o The techniques and strategies include:
Diplomacy the process by which states carry on political
relations with each other
Economic aid assistance to other nations
Technical assistance the practice of sending experts in such
areas as agriculture, engineering or business
o The foreign policy process usually originates with the president and
those agencies that provide advice on foreign policy matters
- Moral idealism is the philosophy that views nations as normally willing to
cooperate and to agree on moral standards for conduct
o Political realism is a philosophy that views each nation as acting
principally in its own interest
o Both moral idealism and political realism affect foreign policy-making
- Terrorism has become a major challenge facing the United States and other
nations
o Got much more prevalent after 9/11
- The United States sent combat troops to Iraq in 1991 and again in 2003
o President Obama set the deadline as 2011 to withdraw all troops
- Nuclear proliferation continues to be an issue due to the breakup of the
Soviet Union and loss of control over its nuclear arsenal
o Along with the continued efforts of other nations to gain nuclear
warheads
- The formal power of the president to make foreign policy derives from the
US constitution
o The intelligence community consists of government agencies engaged
in activities varying from information gathering to covert operations
- Three major themes have guided US foreign policy
o In the earl years of the nation, isolationism was the primary strategy.