Political science Research Paper #3: FOREIGN POLICY ANALYSIS
1. President Donald J. Trump will address the United Nations General Assembly’s (UNGA) 193 member nations at the official opening on September 25, 2018 and the next day chair a Security Council meeting focusing on Iran, nonproliferation, and chemical weapons attacks in Syria and Britain. You are requiredto watch and/or read the entirety of President’s speech at the UNGA (The speech will also be uploaded in the “Course Handout” folder on Blackboard as soon as it’s released).
2. Review the following notes:
Sticks: Military Tools
• Realist perspective: States must secure their interests by military power
• International anarchy creates need for self-help state actions
• Include threat of force, military aid or assistance, sharing intelligence, alliances, military research and technological innovations
• Weapons systems can deter enemies
• Note: Spending scarce national resources on military equipment does not guarantee safety
• Liberal perspective also recognizes utility of force and threats of force
• Economic sticks include product or economic boycotts, trade embargoes, sanctions, and punitive tariffs
Carrots: Development Assistance
• At least five kinds of economic assistance
• Project aid for a specific item
• Program aid
• Technical assistance
• Humanitarian or disaster assistance
• Military or security aid to allies or partners in programs
• Two main kinds of development assistance
• Bilateral: Directly to another country
• Multilateral: Indirectly to global institutions (World Bank, AIIB)
Sermons: Diplomacy
• Convincing without the use of force
• Often called a lost art
• Plays a critical role in the preservation of peace and world order
• Undermined by effects of globalization
• Advanced communications, summits, demands of modern media
• Increasing importance of international and regional organizations
Public Diplomacy
• An important foreign policy tool
• Once called propaganda
• Educational, cultural, and informational programs are important sources of power
• Countries can provide funds for educational exchanges (e.g., U.S. Fulbright Program)
• Concerts, book tours, movies, and art exhibits
• Efforts to promote their values and the cultural attributes of their society
Public Diplomacy: Using the News Media
Four Important Functions
• Communication between and among actors
• Negotiation
• Participation in regional and international organizations
• Promotion of trade and other economic interests
• New, global challenges require cooperation between states’ diplomats and nonstate actors
• Small and middle powers tend to value diplomacy
What Is Foreign Policy?
▪ Foreign policy: Articulation of national interests and the means chosen to secure those interests
▪ Material interests: Tangible; may be trade agreements, energy resources, control over strategic territory
▪ Ideal interests: Intangible; promotion of values, norms, and policy ideas that enhance the security and prosperity of a nation-state
What Do We Expect From Foreign Policy?
• Protecting citizens
• Projecting an image or identity in the international system
• Maintaining the status quo, creating and maintaining a stable world order
• Advancing prosperity
• Assisting in leadership decisions regarding international actions
• Providing support for international negotiations on stable world order
• Protecting the global commons (e.g., oceans) and providing global public goods (e.g., clean air)
Foreign Policy Strategies and Tools
Foreign Policy Strategies Are…
• Organized statements of goals and beliefs and the methods countries intend to employ to achieve those goals
• Foreign Policy Doctrine: Provides a guide to follow when creating strategies and determining national priorities
• Strategy: Guides decisions on resource allocation to secure both long- and short-term goals
• A clearly articulated doctrine is useful for preparing the public for future encounters and for the potential costs of future activities
Domestic Sources: National Attributes
• History; traditions; and political, economic, cultural, and social structures
• More permanent elements like geographic location and resource base
• Changing elements such as military power, economic wealth, demographics
• Domestic politics or electoral calculations
• Role of bureaucracies in the policy process: Unelected civil servants can influence outcomes
System Factors
• Treaties, alliances, and trade conventions provide order
• Informal constraints
• Traditions, common goals, shared norms
• Respect for the sovereignty of all states
• Rule of international law
• Reciprocity
• Distribution of power in the system, (e.g., bipolar, multipolar)
• The nature of order (e.g., balance of power, collective security)
Global Factors
• Can be the outcome of decisions made by individuals, states, or nonstate actors
• May also be the results of natural conditions
• Factors cannot be traced to the actions of any one state or even a group of states
• Usually challenge the ideas of boundaries and sovereignty
• Technological diffusion
• The movement of capital by multinational banks
• Globalized news media
Natural factors: Pollution, pandemics, weather patterns
Phase One: Articulation Phase
• Information about policy issue disseminated
• Public awareness of an issue increases
• Informed public may pressure elected officials to act on the issue
• Both internal (or formal) and external (or informal) actors may push a particular position and pressure political leaders
• Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)
• Individuals
• Research institutes
• New Technologies: Citizen involvement also now transcends borders
• Global and domestic actors also have an impact on policymakers in authoritarian or nondemocratic states
Phase Two: Policy Formulation
• Parliaments, executive offices, ministries, and bureaucratic agencies develop a policy
• Specialists inside and outside of government
• Original intention often loaded with other priorities
• Reelection
• Bureaucracy to gain more power and more resources
• In non-crisis situations, foreign policy is formulated much like domestic policy
• Legislatures
• Executive agencies, ministries, and departments
• Interest communities
In crisis situations, foreign policy handled by a smaller group
Phase Three: Policy Implementation
• Unilateral: Department or ministry is usually assigned to policy
• Countries often form coalitions with local communities, nongovernmental organizations, and other aid agencies
• Funds are not always spent on intended projects and they are often not spent at all
• Corruption, project delays, new priorities, and leadership changes often get in the way of intended consequences
Phase Four: Policy Evaluation
• Rare step
• Review provision might be built into the program, role of the administrators
• News media may focus on policy outcomes
• All interested parties will have a position and will try to influence future decisions in this policy area
• Public and private actors involved in the previous phases of the policy process will be involved in the evaluation of policy outcomes
Foreign Policy Styles and Traditions
• Factors: Size of country, resource base, population
• Style is often the result of history of interactions
• Tradition includes national beliefs about how the world works and what leaders must do to secure their national interests
Preservative Strategy
States that were once global leaders or hegemonic powers
Seek policies aimed at preserving their power and status in the international system
E.g.,: United Kingdom and France
Policies include:
Taking a leadership role in international and regional organizations
Identifying emerging issues and taking the lead in responding to these challenges
Promotive Foreign Policy
The most powerful states seek to retain (or increase) their power and authority
E.g. USA and USSR:
Promoted their views, values, and interests after the Second World War as they competed around the globe
United States after the Cold War: New World Order
Intransigent (?) Foreign Policy
Believe that the existing international system is unfair, oppressive, violent, and alienating
Seek to transform the international system
Do not accept the “rules of the game”
Examples:
1960s and 1970s: Nonaligned Movement (NAM)
Today: North Korea, Iran
4. Write a “foreign policy analysis” essay of no more than 800 words that clearly addresses the following:
(a) Identify at least TWO policy statements contained in the President’s speech and discuss whether or which one of these statements could be characterized as as “stick”, “carrot”, and/or “sermons” foreign policy strategies.
(b) Speculate on the factor(s) that may have influenced the adoption by the President/United States of the foreign policy items/statements you identified;
(c) Which “level of analysis” best explains ONE of the policies you have identified?
(d) To the best of your knowledge, do the two policies you identified qualify to be characterized as “acquiescent”,”preservative”, or “promotive” foreign policy strategy? Provide justification for your answer.
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