POS Ch 15 Final
National Security Council (NSC)
(1947) An entity within the Executive Office of the President (EOP) to - oversee America's foreign policy institutions, - Synthesize information coming from the bureaucracy, and help the president develop foreign policy. - NSC is a "subcabinet" made up of the president, the vice president, and the secretaries of defense, state, and homeland security, plus other presidential appointees, including the director of the CIA and the director of national intelligence.
Dispute arbitration
A foreign policy tool and is the resolution of a disagreement by a neutral third party. • Considered by some analysts to be a form of "soft power" bc it does not rely on military force.
stick
A negative incentive using penalties which is known as a Sanctions • They include trade embargoes, bans on investment, bans on travel, and freezing of assets held in U.S. banks.
Containment
A policy designed to curtail the political and military expansion of a hostile power • After World War II was designed to check the growing power of the Soviet Union. • The United States built a strong military as deterrence for possible Soviet aggression against the nation and its allies.
carrot
A positive incentive that gets countries to take actions that the United States desires • In the form of aid is designed to promote American security interests or economic concerns.
Joint Chiefs
A presidential appointee who serves as the nation's top military commander. The chairman reports directly to the secretary of defense, who, in turn, answers to the president.
United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA)
A trade treaty between the United States, Canada, and Mexico to lower and eliminate tariffs among the three countries
Appeasement
An effort to forestall war by giving in to the demands of a hostile power - The era of U.S. confrontation with the Soviet Union (from the 1940s to 1990) is known as the Cold War.
Deterrence
An effort to prevent hostile action by promising to retaliate forcefully against an attacker
International Court of Justice:
An international body that handles arbitration. • The United States relies heavily on the work of arbitral panels to maintain the flow of international trade.
"politics by other means"
By this he meant that force or the threat of it is a tool nations must sometimes use to achieve their foreign policy goals. Military force may be needed ironically, even to achieve humanitarian goals.
China and Russia Foreign Policy Conflict
China seems determined to expand its military capabilities and replace the United States as the dominant power in Asia. • The United States has no desire to engage in a military conflict with China but does want to blunt Chinese ambitions. Russia was once a superpower and America's chief rival. • Russia remains heavily armed but is economically weak. • Russia has challenged the United States in the Middle East and in Europe, and meddled in the U.S. elections.
president's nominations
Confirmed by the Senate • This includes Cabinet members, ambassadors, the director of the CIA, and other high-ranking officials. Congress regulates commerce with foreign nations. - The Senate reviews and approves treaties. • Treaty approval requires a two-thirds "supermajority" of the Senate.
Nation-states
Countries with governments and fixed borders that are recognized by other nation-states - Dealing with nonstate actors, however, makes deterrence difficult. • Terrorists may believe they can attack and melt away, leaving the United States with no one against whom to retaliate. - Political entities consisting of a people with some common cultural experience (nation) who also share a common political authority (state), recognized by other sovereignties (nation-states)
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA)
Designed to regulate electronic surveillance by government agencies. - In 2019, the FISA Court, the judicial body that must approve surveillance warrants requested by intelligence agencies, charged that the FBI had made a practice of providing false information to the court and demanded immediate changes in FBI procedure
mutually assured destruction
Each country (US & USSR) was capable of destroying the world many times over with their nuclear arsenals • The United States and the Soviet Union nearly went to war during the "Cuban missile crisis" • After the Cuban missile crisis, both sides sought to reduce tensions, leading to a period of detene
U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
Established in 1816 as one of the original 10 standing committees of the Senate, - Oversees the State Department, other foreign policy agencies, and executive branch compliance with several statutes, including the War Powers Resolution
The United Nations (UN)
Founded in 1945, is important because it can be used to shape world opinion. The UN's supreme body is the General Assembly. HQ in New York often underestimated as a tool of U.S. foreign policy. • It comprises one representative of each of the 193 member states. • Each member representative has one vote. • Important issues require a two-thirds majority vote.
Congress
Has the constitutional power to declare war. • It has only done so five times. • War of 1812, Mexican-American War (1846) • Spanish American War (1898) • World War I (1917), and World War II (1941) Congress controls the money. • Financing is necessary for war, defense,
National Security Agency (NSA)
Highly influential, and controversial, intelligence agency. - Housed within DoD NSA effectively reports directly to the president, providing the results of its worldwide electronic surveillance efforts. Covers surveillance of electronic communication has a long history in the United States, going back to a World War I government effort to read suspicious telegrams.
Public opinion
Important in shaping foreign policy and focuses on foreign policy when the nation is at war. • Public support for military action abroad tends to decline when war seems drawn out and casualties are high. • Elected officials, including the president, risk losing re-election if they are on the wrong side of public opinion.
International Monetary Structure
In 1944, the United States brought together its allies in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire. • The purpose of the meeting was to create a new economic structure for the postwar world. • Resulted in two institutions: World Bank & International Monetary Fund
North Atlantic Treaty organization (NATO)
Includes the United States, Canada, and most of Western Europe. Created to counter the perceived threat of the former Soviet Union.
environmental protection efforts (US):
Includes: UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Montreal Protocol.
Collective security
Involves the development of alliances to fend off security threats. - Development of alliances and agreements among a group of nations that pledge to aid one another in fending off or confronting security threats.
Nuclear proliferation in Iran
Iran and the United States have been adversaries since 1979. • The United States has worried that Iran is working toward obtaining nuclear weapons.
Agreement with Iran in 2015:
Iranians would not build nuclear weapons in exchange for lifting sanctions • Critics of the agreement expressed fears that it would not deter the Iranians. • President Trump campaigned for president against the agreement.
"soft power"
Nation to influence the people and governments of other nations by persuasion rather than coercion. - How the third group others view humanitarian policies by demonstrating our concern for the oppressed and less fortunate throughout the world - Some Americans believe the United States has an obligation to protect human rights and help the world's poor • The United States wins friends by demonstrating concern for the less fortunate throughout the world.
Rogue states
Nations with often unstable and erratic leaders who seem to pursue policies driven by ideological or religious fervor rather than careful consideration of economic or human costs. EX: The United States considers North Korea and Iran to be rogue state
Nuclear proliferation in North Korea
North Korea has a major backer in China. • China regards North Korea as useful in preventing the United States, South Korea, and Japan from dominating the Sea of Japan. North Korea has continued to build nuclear warheads and test missiles, despite U.S. opposition. President Trump met with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in June 2018 to improve the nations' relations.
Non-state actors
Organized groups that are not nation-states and that attempt to play a role in the international system. - terrorist groups are one type of non-state actor like NAZI's from Germ - Dealing with nonstate actors, however, makes deterrence difficult.
détente
Period in which a number of arms control agreements were signed and the threat of war was reduced. - The Soviet Union (USSR) collapsed in 1991, and the new Russia, though still a formidable power, at the time seemed to pose less of a threat to the United States.
Foreign policy
Programs and policies that determine America's relations with other nations and foreign entities Includes: • Diplomacy • military • security policy, international human rights policies, • trade policy, and international energy policy.
World Bank
Set up to finance long-term capital Chief mission: providing development aid to capital-hungry countries
International Monetary Fund
Set up to provide a short-term flow of money • provides loans and facilitates international monetary exchange • It replaced gold with the U.S. dollar as the world's currency
military force:
The United States is responsible for one-third of the world's total military expenditures. Military force is generally considered a last resort. • Extremely costly in both human and financial terms • Inherently fraught with risk • Public support is high for short and decisive military engagements; support drops when conflicts drags on It is the most visible instrument of foreign policy
Isolationism
The avoidance of involvement in the affairs of other nations • From the nation's early history, Presidents George Washington and James Monroe advocated this policy. - The Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor and World War II called into question whether isolationism best served security.
Rio Treaty
The first collective security agreement • It created the Organization of American States (OAS).
World Trade Organization (WTO)
The most important international organization for free trade -Grew out of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) • GATT was established in 1947; it set many of the rules governing international trade • encouraged reductions in barriers to international trade WTO was established in 1995; it has 164 members worldwide.
Cold War
The period of struggle between the United States and the former Soviet Union (USSR) lasting from the late 1940s to about 1990 - The United States and the USSR were the two global superpowers after World War II
Preventive war
The willingness to strike first in order to prevent an enemy attack - Under the policy, the United States declared it would strike first against terrorist groups and rogue states. - President George W. Bush adopted a preventive war policy. • The purpose is to disable threats before they can harm the United States.
Amnesty International
Their exposés of human rights abuses have led to reforms in some countries
"manifest destiny"
Theory that United States saw itself as the dominant power in the Western Hemisphere and believed that its was to expand from sea to sea. The rest of the world, however, should remain at arm's length.
Bush Doctrine
Under George W. Bush, the response to the September 11, 2001, terror attack. - The speech at West Point, the president announced a policy of unilateral action and preemptive war "Our security will require all Americans . . . to be ready for preemptive action when necessary to defend our liberty and to defend our lives." • foreign policy based on the idea that the U.S. should take preemptive action against threats to its security
1997 Kyoto Protocol
United States was criticized for withdrawing • It set limits on nations' emissions of greenhouse gases. The United States signed the Paris Agreement in 2015 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. • U.S. participation ended later, under President Trump.
Economic Prosperity
done by: • Expanding domestic employment • Maintaining access to foreign natural resources at favorable costs • Promoting foreign investment in the United States • Lowering prices that citizens pay for goods and services
UN Security Council (UNSC)
has considerable power and may be called into session at any time. • Each member must be present at UN headquarters. • The council is composed of 15 members.
national security adviser (NSA)
head of the National Security Council (NSC) staff
American foreign policy goals
security, prosperity, and creation of a better world
The North Atlantic Treaty
signed in 1949 and it created the North Atlantic Treaty organization (NATO)
Organization of American States (OAS)
treaty stated that armed attack against any of its members "shall be considered an attack against all the American States."
International Peacekeeping efforts
• In 2015, the United States provided nearly $2 billion in humanitarian aid to help Syrian refugees. • By 2016, the United States had donated $5 billion to the cause. • In 2014, The United States sent $300 million in humanitarian aid to the people of South Sudan. • They were facing a serious risk of famine.
