AMERİKAN DIŞ POLİTİKASI

Monroe Doctrine of 1823 could be classified as the first official foreign policy doctrine of the United States

In the same speech, President Washington went at length to explain the strength that could come from harmony among the states in this newly-independent nation. He emphasized the complementary nature between the northern states and the southern states and the newly emerging western states. A general glance at the Farewell address would give the reader the impression that President Washington was more concerned about domestic issues, such as the unity and harmony of the Union, than the international matters such as military and strategic alliances. Political texts during the early periods of the Republic carried a modest tone. In fact, as a founding father and the third President, Thomas Jefferson envisioned a democratic nation of small farmers, rather than powerful industrialists, who could serve as the agents of the US power globally. Political atmosphere was more inward looking, isolationist than globalist or interventionist. In 1800, President Jefferson explicitly mentioned the virtues of avoiding “entangling alliances.”

In 1796, President Washington spoke extensively about the importance of unity of the new American nation, during his Farewell address to the American people. He suggested that the Americans should “steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world.” For President Washington, temporary alliances were fine but in the long run, permanent alliances were not in the interests of the new nation.

Fighting among the European powers also offered significant advantage to the newly founded United States. The Spanish had lost the Louisiana to the French, but the Napoleonic Wars were costly adventures. In order to finance his ambitions in Europe, Napoleon Bonaparte decided to sell this far away land to the United States for $15 million cash. This price corresponded to around 3 cents for an acre, which is about 4046 square meters. The map of U.S. expansion illustrates the expansive amount of land gained, through Louisiana purchase from the French. This area consists of nearly onethird of the modern day United States.

President James Polk (1845-49) ran on a platform of territorial expansion and won. Initially, he tried to convince the Mexicans to sell their massive northern territory, but the Mexican leadership did not agree to a sale. The Mexican American War of 1846 to 1848 eventually cost the Mexicans nearly half of their national territory. They even faced the occupation of their capital, Mexico City, by U.S. troops. Eventually, 10 new states emerged from the territory the U.S. took from Mexico: Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Utah, Nevada, Kansas, parts of Colorado, Oklahoma and Wyoming.

The U.S. and the Soviet Union fought together against the fascist regimes of Europe during World War II. However, this collaboration did not last long and the post-WWII international system became polarized between two superpowers. The U.S. foreign policy decision makers increasingly began to consider the Soviet economic and political models as fundamentally adversarial to the American model. The Long Telegram from a U.S. diplomat in Moscow sent on February 22 in 1946 became the symbol of the Cold War grand strategy for the US.

The Reagan Presidency also coincided with massive economic crisis in the developing world. Hyperinflation, foreign currency shortages and capital flight were common across the Global South. The Reagan administration and the international financial institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) pushed the countries struggling with economic crisis to make structural changes. These countries had to abandon their prior economic development models (import substation industrialization -ISI) and switch to the free market model. Also referred as neoliberalism, the new development model required: • Less government involvement in economy and more goods, services, utilities, etc. provided by the private sector • Privatization of previously government owned industries • Deregulations of the markets, banking and finance sectors • Floating exchange rates, convertibility • Elimination of capital controls, welcoming foreign investment

Containment: US foreign policy adopted in late 1940s against the rising powers of the Soviet Union. It tried to curb the expansion of the Soviet influence and socialism at military, political, economic and ideological levels.

Obama’s approach to the Syrian crisis and his efforts to decrease the military footprint of the United States make him more an advocate of offshore balancing than liberal interventionism. In an article published in Foreign Affairs, scholars Mearsheimer and Walt define offshore balancing as the quintessential realist paradigm. They make the case that this strategy best serves the long term U.S. national interests.

Monroe Doctrine of 1823 could be classified as the first official foreign policy doctrine of the United States. It was articulated by President James Monroe during the 7th State of the Union address to the Senate and the House. In his long speech, the president carefully makes the case that the U.S. does pay attention to the conflicts in Europe, because they share the same origins, but does not pick sides

The effects of Manifest Destiny were probably most dramatically observed across Latin America. After its independence from Spain, Mexico was embroiled in civil wars and infighting among numerous generals who wanted to be the President. The weakness of central authority and divisions within the military created a power vacuum in Mexico. Territories in the north, particularly Texas, took advantage of this, and decided to secede and go their own way. In 1836, Texas separated from Mexico and declared itself as an independent Republic. However, the ultimate goal was to join the United States as a new state, which they did in 1845.

Towards the end of 1800s (in 1890s), the expansionism of the U.S. became even more visible. The new generation of political leaders were more eager to exercise power not just at home, but also abroad. During this period, the U.S. took control of several Spanish colonies: Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines. In the case of Cuba, the U.S. allegedly helped the Cubans to declare their independence from Spain. However, the Americans placed a clause in the constitution of the newly independent island nation that essentially granted guardianship of the US over Cuba. The Platt Amendment had the following provisions: “That the government of Cuba consents that the United States may exercise the right to intervene for the preservation of Cuban independence, the maintenance of a government adequate for the protection of life, property, and individual liberty, and for discharging the obligations with respect to Cuba imposed by the treaty of Paris on the United States, now to be assumed and undertaken by the government of Cuba.”

President Theodore Roosevelt, who served for two terms from 1901 to 1909, was a strong advocate of US expansionism. He was a naval commander before his presidency. When he got elected to the White House, he made sure the U.S. military presence was felt across the world.

While President Theodore Roosevelt (Republican) envisioned a more assertive U.S. role in the world by serving as the global police, President Wilson (Democrat) had expressed U.S. assertiveness with very different methods. Wilson also advocated for greater U.S. engagement in the world. However, his preferred foreign policy tool was diplomacy. Many presidential historians refer to his childhood as the son of a Presbyterian minister. His upbringing could have played some role on how morality became a driving force for President Wilson’s foreign policy agenda.

Summary of Wilson’s Fourteen Points 1. Open diplomacy among nations, no secret treaties. 2. Freedom of the seas, except territorial waters 3. Free trade; removal of all trade barriers 4. Disarmament: reducing military build up 5. Anti-colonialism 6. End the invasion of Russia. 7. End the invasion of Belgium. 8. End the Prussian invasion of France. 9. Italy’s national borders must be respected. 10. People of Austria-Hungarian Empire should have “the freest opportunity of autonomous development.” 11. End the invasion of Balkans, respect territorial integrity of Balkan nations. 12. Restore the sovereignty of Turkish portions of the Ottoman Empire, autonomy to others, free passage from Dardanelles. 13. A free and independent Poland with access to the sea. 14. Establish an association of all nations, big and small, respecting the sovereignty of each.

In his Long Telegram, Kennan made a disease analogy. He argued that “world communism is like a malignant parasite which feeds only on diseased tissue.” He was making the case that it was not sufficient for the U.S. to have a strong capitalist regime at home. Other nations that do not have similarly strong processes could easily be influenced by the Soviet model. Soon after the Long Telegram came the historic speech of President Truman at the Congress on March 12, 1947. In this speech, the U.S. President made the case that the British influence was weakening in the Eastern Mediterranean, and the U.S. foreign policy should be reoriented to fill that vacuum. He requested funds from the Congress to provide military aid to Greece and Turkey and send U.S. military staff and equipment to the region. In his speech, he insisted on supporting “free peoples” against the pressures of the “totalitarian regimes.”

Containment doctrine also fueled decisions to go to war in Korea and Vietnam. As seen in the chart above, the bi-polar distribution of power made every nation, big or small, critical to maintain the systemic equilibrium. Consequently, anytime countries in the U.S. alliance camp, such as Turkey or Chile, elected left leaning governments, it was perceived as an existential threat for the U.S. that could potentially tilt the balance in favor of the Soviets.

Compared to the previous presidents of the Containment era, President Reagan expressed a more vocal anti-Soviet, and anti-communist stance. As a successful public speaker, he frequently expressed harsher criticisms of the Soviet model. The 1980s was also the decade of Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The Reagan Doctrine allowed the U.S. to provide military assistance to irregular armed forces that were allegedly combating communism

President Clinton and his national security advisor Anthony Lake were the architects of the foreign policy doctrine that came to be known as “democratic enlargement.” Antony Lake had a long and accomplished career, by the time he became the right hand of President Clinton in foreign policy matters