H o w U . S .

f o r e i g n p o l i c y i s m a d e

President Barack Obama forcefully told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu it was time to restart the Palestinian peace process,

T
in a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House, May 18, 2009, in Washington, D.C. (Amos Moshe Milner—GPO via Getty Images)

he C onstitution has been described as an “in- • Opposition from some Republican senators threatens
vitation to struggle” between the President and the ratification of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty
Congress over the making of foreign policy. in 2010, a cornerstone of President Barack Obama’s “reset”
Look at the tugging and hauling of the last several de- of U.S.-Russia relations; treaty ratification requires the sup-
cades. The post-World War II bipartisan consensus that pro- port of at least 67 senators.
duced such epic breakthroughs as the creation of the United How can a President provide effective leadership abroad
Nations, the Marshall Plan for European economic recovery if Congress blocks his policy initiatives? How can Congress
and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization foundered in give the President full rein over foreign policy without ab-
the turmoil of the Vietnam War. The collapse of the Soviet dicating powers vested in it by the Constitution? In making
Union and the lack of agreement on the U.S. role in the post- foreign policy, should the President lead or be a coequal
cold-war world generated even more contention. Follow- partner? Which branch of government determines the na-
ing the horrific events of September 11, 2001, the country tion’s foreign policy and which one is responsible for carry-
found itself in a perilous new time, and, ironically, conflict ing it out? And what is the role of the public?
between the branches continued unabated: America’s foreign policy is the expression of its goals
• The Congress creates a new executive Department of in the world and of how it proposes to achieve them. It is a
Homeland Security that the President initially opposed due reflection of the nation’s interests, the most basic of which
to fears of inefficiency and redundancy. are sovereignty and independence. But there are many more:
• The President unilaterally withdraws from the 1972 democracy, economic security, protection of human rights,
Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, even though the Senate had environmental security.
ratified the treaty. The President believes that he has a con- Foreign policy is also an expression of how a nation relates
stitutional right to abandon treaties at his discretion. to other countries. If the nation turns inward and chooses to
• Congress authorizes a special, bipartisan federal commis- have nothing to do with its neighbors, that choice is its foreign
sion on the intelligence failures prior to 9/11. The White House policy. Today such a choice is hardly practical because the
originally opposed the independent panel as unnecessary.
• The President asks for an $87 billion grant to rebuild This article was written by Nancy Hoepli-Phalon,
Iraq; the Senate instead approves a loan that must be paid FPA’s editor in chief from 1981 to 1998. It has been
back relatively quickly. updated by FPA editors.

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world has become too interdependent for any country, least consequence of global interdependence and the breakdown
of all the U.S., to isolate itself. Every facet of life in America of traditional barriers. Among many examples, the near-
is affected by decisions made in other parts of the world. collapse of the global financial system in 2008 only affirmed
And foreign policy is an expression of preferences for the extent of the world’s linkages. In turn, the definition of
particular instruments, such as diplomacy or economic foreign policy expands into issues ranging from financial
power or military force. regulatory reform to climate change.
Compared to every other liberal democracy, the U.S. Economics—and especially trade—is one of the areas in
makes its foreign policy in a cumbersome way. The framers which foreign and domestic concerns invariably intersect. U.S.
of the Constitution, wary of impulsive decisions that could tax policy is domestic, but it affects an American manufac-
embroil the country in war, built into that document a num- turer’s cost of doing business and the competitiveness of his
ber of safeguards that have prevented tyranny, but some- products. American labor laws affect the number of workers
times at the cost of speed and efficiency. These safeguards hired, the number of jobs available in the U.S. and the number
frequently pit Congress against the executive branch, make of Americans who are—or who are not—looking for work. In
it difficult to develop and implement a cohesive foreign fact, almost every law relating to business or labor also has an
policy, create uncertainty as to what that policy is, and give impact, directly or indirectly, on American foreign trade.
foreign governments and special interests an opportunity to Finally, developments that the framers of the Constitu-
apply pressure at many points, not just one. tion could not have foreseen have added to the complexity
The complexity of foreign policymaking has greatly in- of policymaking. These include the growth in the outreach
creased with the blurring of the distinction between foreign and influence of the media (especially the internet), political
and domestic issues. More and more the two overlap as a organizations and special-interest groups. n

Congress, the President

and Foreign Policy
T he U.S. Constitution divides power between the three
branches of government: the legislative, the executive
and the judiciary. It also gives each branch some check on the
Since the Vietnam War, Congress has become more as-
sertive in foreign affairs. This is partly a result of the break-
down of the postwar bipartisan consensus in foreign policy
other. The President can veto legislation; Congress can over- (the principle that politics stops at the water’s edge); partly
ride the President’s veto; the courts can declare a law of Con- in reaction to what Congress saw as the executive’s abuse
gress or an act of the President unconstitutional—although of power; and partly due to the fact that money has become
they have been reluctant to act on the issues of “high policy” more important in carrying out foreign policy—and Con-
that have traditionally been the realm of foreign affairs. gress controls the money.
The Founding Fathers, conditioned by their colonial ex- The Senate used to confirm nominees routinely. That is
perience, were suspicious of executive power, which they no longer the case. Competent ambassadorial designates are
equated with the oppressive British monarchy and colonial sometimes held up or denied, while less-competent ones may
governors. They regarded Congress as the most “demo- sail through. Sometimes a nomination may be delayed by one
cratic” of the three branches. or more members of the committee as a bargaining tactic in
Congress’s power to tax and control government spend- order to gain leverage with the Administration. The U.S. Sen-
ing—the “power of the purse”—is possibly its most impor- ate has so far indefinitely delayed the nomination of Matthew
tant. Although the President usually cannot spend money Byrza to the post of U.S. ambassador to Azerbaijan, a position
not appropriated by Congress, he has always been granted that has been vacant for over a year and a half, in part due to
some latitude in emergencies. President Bill Clinton, during the influence of domestic Armenian and Azeri lobby groups.
the Mexican peso crisis of 1994–95, circumvented Con-
gress, which opposed a bailout for Mexico, by making a The President’s role
loan from funds at his disposal. Under the Constitution, the President serves as head of
The Constitution assigns the Senate a distinctive role in state and head of government. In most other governments
the foreign policy process—to advise the President in nego- (Britain’s and Germany’s, for example), the two func-
tiating agreements, to consent to them once they have been tions are separate. As head of state, the President is, in
signed and to approve presidential appointments, including effect, the personification of the U.S.—its visible image,
the secretary of state, other high officials of the State Depart- its official voice and its primary representative to the out-
ment, ambassadors and career Foreign Service Officers. The side world. As head of government, he formulates for-
Senate does not have to consent to or reject a treaty. The Sen- eign policy, supervises its implementation and attempts
ate can approve a treaty and in the process amend it or attach to obtain the resources to support it. He also organizes
reservations. These must be approved by the other country or and directs the departments and agencies that play a
countries signing the treaty before it enters into force. part in the foreign policy process. Along with the Vice-

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President, he is the only government official elected na- take the form of executive agreements, although these are
tionally. This places him in a unique position to identify, nowhere mentioned in the Constitution. The North Ameri-
express and pursue the “national interests” of the U.S. can Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and U.S. membership
The President’s specific foreign policy powers under in the World Trade Organization (WTO) are considered
the Constitution are few and restricted. He serves as Com- congressional-executive agreements: both were voted on
mander in Chief of the Army and Navy; nominates and ap- and passed by a simple majority vote in the House of Repre-
points ambassadors and other public ministers, subject to sentatives and Senate under the terms of preexisting legisla-
the advice and consent of the Senate; and makes treaties, tion. While the use of this mechanism has been challenged
by and with the advice of the Senate, provided two thirds of in the third realm of U.S. politics—the judicial—so far the
the senators present concur. Supreme Court has refused to rule on the issue.
The President’s specific powers may be few but his role
in foreign policy, many believe, is crucial. “Only the Presi- Power to make war
dent, by defining and articulating our interests,” writes Lee Although the President is the Commander in Chief, the
Hamilton, who served for 34 years as Democratic Repre- power to declare war rests with Congress. Did the Constitu-
sentative from Indiana, “can restrain the experts and bring tion intend that all uses of force be declared by Congress?
along voters and a reluctant Congress in support of Ameri- Scholars disagree. In any event, Congress has only exer-
can leadership.” Attention to domestic issues can often sup- cised the right in response to a presidential request. There
plant foreign policy ones in the context of American politics, have been only five declared wars in the nation’s history
so the President’s ability to communicate the importance (World War II, 1941–45, was the last declared war), a fact
of U.S. engagement with the world to the public will be which illustrates both the changes in the nature of interna-
increasingly significant. tional conflict and the shift to the President of the power
to employ the armed forces without a legal authorization
Treaty-making by Congress. The most recent conflicts in Afghanistan and
The framers deliberately made treaty-making cumber- Iraq were no exception, as the Congress only gave its sup-
some so that the country could not enter into alliances port of the President’s right to use force at his discretion.
lightly. Thomas Jefferson wrote concerning treaties, The President also has the power to receive foreign am-
“...our system is to have none with any nation, as far as bassadors and, in effect, to recognize foreign governments.
can be avoided.” Behind that proscription was a fear The President has two additional informal but influential
of “entangling foreign alliances” that might lead to war. powers in foreign affairs. One of these is the ability to deter-
The difficulty of convincing two thirds of the Senate to mine the national agenda—or bring issues to the forefront
consent to controversial treaties has prompted Presidents of public attention and concern. The other—which ranks
to substitute executive agreements with other countries for among the President’s most potent weapons for control-
treaties. (Executive agreements are either written or oral and ling foreign policy—is the power to commit the nation to a
they usually commit the parties to undertake certain steps or particular course of action diplomatically. Once he does so,
to accept obligations.) Most of the understandings and com- it can be extremely difficult for the President’s opponents
mitments between the U.S. and foreign governments today to alter that course.

President Obama meets with his advisers about the situation in Pakistan in the White House Situation Room, October 7, 2009. With him
(left to right) are Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Michael Mullen, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Vice President Joe Biden,
(Obama), National Security Adviser Gen. James Jones, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, then Director of National Intelligence, Adm.
Dennis C. Blair, and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director Leon Panetta. (Pete Souza—The White House/Getty Images)

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The Policymaking machinery

M aking foreign policy requires the participa-
tion of the President, the executive branch, Con-
gress and the public. Conducting foreign policy, on the
depending on the exigencies of the situation. The outbreak
of the cold war with the Soviet Union within months of the
Allied victory in World War II put U.S. security and the con-
other hand, is the exclusive prerogative of the President tainment of communism at the top of the nation’s agenda.
and his subordinates in the executive branch. The dis- This meant that the Defense Department and the Central
tinction is fuzzy but important: you make policy when Intelligence Agency (CIA) frequently shared the foreign
you decide to protect the security of the Persian Gulf; policy limelight with the State Department. A host of new
you conduct policy when you send the Navy to do it. agencies was also created to deal with security issues, from
Until World War II, one agency, the Department of State, the National Security Agency, which collected, evaluated
established in 1789 and the highest-ranking Cabinet depart- and disseminated intelligence gleaned from electronic com-
ment, and one individual, the secretary of state, who is di- munications, to the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency,
rectly responsible to the President, managed foreign affairs. which proposed, implemented and monitored measures to
The traditional functions of the State Department and its limit or reduce weapons of war.
professional diplomatic corps, the Foreign Service, include Cold-war agencies. Other agencies created during the
negotiating on behalf of the U.S. government with foreign cold war to deal with America’s expanded global respon-
governments and in international organizations; defending sibilities were the U.S. Information Agency (USIA) and
the U.S. position in the world; reporting on and analyzing the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
conditions in foreign countries and institutions such as the USIA planned and conducted informational and propaganda
UN; representing the American people and current U.S. programs abroad. Its radio arm, the Voice of America, is
policies to the world; promoting relations with decision- a powerful shortwave radio network capable of beaming
makers abroad; advancing U.S. trade and investment; and programs to most countries.
protecting U.S. nationals overseas from discriminatory and/ USAID administers foreign economic assistance pro-
or inhumane treatment. It currently directly employs nearly grams. In consultation with foreign governments, it formu-
20,000 people worldwide and another 30,000 local employ- lates aid projects, establishes procedures for carrying them
ees to help support department needs abroad in some 250 out, and provides experts and other personnel.
embassies, missions, consulates and branch offices. The Pentagon. Military power serves as an instrument
The U.S. emerged from World War II a nuclear super- of diplomacy—as a means of achieving goals defined by
power with global interests. The National Security Act of civilian officials of the government. The head of the De-
1947, among other things, created a Department of Defense, fense Department is a civilian secretary who serves in the
a permanent intelligence agency and a small Cabinet-level President’s Cabinet. The principal military adviser to the
National Security Council (NSC), which includes the Presi- President is the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a strat-
dent, the Vice-President, the secretaries of State, Defense and egy board consisting of the senior officers of the Army, Air
Treasury, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Di- Force, Navy and Marine Corps. The chairman is designated
rector of National Intelligence, to help the President manage by the President.
and coordinate foreign policy. The NSC staff, headed by the When, where and to what extent the U.S. should use its
President’s national security adviser, consists of specialists in armed forces to achieve its foreign policy objectives is a
geographic areas and functional issues, such as arms control. highly charged issue. Since World War II, U.S. troops have
Policymaking machinery tends to expand or contract, served in Korea, Southeast Asia, the Dominican Repub-
lic, Lebanon, Grenada, Panama, the Persian Gulf, Somalia,
Haiti, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, East Timor, Af-
ghanistan and Iraq.
In the 1990s, the will to send U.S. troops abroad seemed
to dissipate. In the aftermath of 9/11, however, the U.S. has
engaged in two major military actions, in Iraq and Afghani-
stan, involving hundreds of thousands of soldiers. Addition-
ally, the U.S. has taken on the burden of a worldwide war on
terrorism, leading many to wonder whether the U.S. remains
ambivalent about sending troops abroad.
Intelligence. The “intelligence community” is a group
of federal agencies that includes the CIA, the National Se-
curity Agency and the Defense Intelligence Agency. Since
Aerial photograph of the Pentagon, September 26, 2003 (Andy the intelligence reforms in response to 9/11, one could argu-
Dunaway—USAF/Getty Images) ably add the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the

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Federal Bureau of Intelligence (FBI) and various other ac-

ronyms to the list (see topic on “American National Security
Since 9/11,” p. 23). They collect information (for example,
how many nuclear weapons China possesses), assess its
accuracy and reliability, and disseminate the information
to decisionmakers. In addition, the intelligence community,
most notably the CIA, undertakes, with the approval of the
President, clandestine operations.
Other executive departments. Since the earliest days
of the Republic, the Treasury Department has played a ma-
jor role in foreign relations. It is concerned today with the
stability of the dollar abroad, foreign-exchange rates, com-
modity prices, debt service on foreign loans and bread-and-
butter issues that affect the well-being and prosperity of
the American people. The Office of Foreign Assets Control
within the Treasury is also responsible for implementing
and enforcing various U.S. economic and trade sanctions.
Other executive departments deeply involved in foreign
policymaking are Commerce (which in 1995 the Republican
majority in Congress hoped to abolish), the Office of the
U.S. Trade Representative and, to a somewhat lesser ex-
tent, Labor, Agriculture and Energy. Following the demise
of the cold war, the priorities on the U.S. global agenda
shifted pronouncedly from national security concerns to
the creation of new opportunities for trade, commerce and
investment. Hence the consolidation of some of the cold-
war agencies. In October 1998, both the Arms Control and
Disarmament Agency and the USIA were abolished and
Newly elected freshmen members of the upcoming 112th Congress
their duties were assigned to the State Department. While pose for a group photo on the steps of the U.S. Capitol on Novem-
USAID still remains in business, its staff now reports to the ber 19, 2010, in Washington, D.C. They are due to take office in
secretary of state instead of directly to the White House. January 2011. (Mark Wilson—Getty Images)
More recently, the creation of the Department of Home-
land Security, which began functioning in early 2003, sub-
stantially altered the role of executive departments in for- The American
eign policy matters. The department, which comprises over
230,000 employees from 22 separate agencies, has become Political
extremely powerful in matters relating to trade, borders,
immigration and security. Process
Formulation
George Washington once remarked that the U.S. ought to
T hroughout most of U.S. history, a very small group of
people conducted foreign affairs. In the minds of this
“elite,” public participation had no place in the management
have the most successful foreign policy of any country in the of foreign relations. It was President Woodrow Wilson, a tire-
world because it had so many self-styled secretaries of state. less champion of democracy, who was determined to “democ-
Since his day, the difficulty of developing a cohesive, rel- ratize” diplomacy—to do away with “secret deals” arrived at
evant and feasible foreign policy has increased enormously. “behind the backs of the people” in favor of “open covenants
Theoretically, the process of formulation should begin openly arrived at.” His ideas had a profound impact on the
with a clear definition of the national interests, followed U.S. conduct of international relations long after his era.
by a delineation of the policies that would promote those Not all members of the public exert the same degree of
interests and the course of action by the various departments influence on policymaking. Social scientists tend to classify
and agencies that would further those policies, as well as the the public into three groups: the public-at-large or mass
allocation of the resources needed to carry them out. opinion, the attentive public and organized interest groups.
In practice, no system is likely to produce a cohesive, The public-at-large tends to have less interest in foreign
viable and supportable foreign policy. The national inter- policy issues than in local and family concerns. It tends to
est is a cluster of particular interests, and the agencies and be poorly informed and sometimes distressingly ignorant.
staffs involved may have very different views as to what In a study conducted a few years ago, most high-school
it should be. n students could not identify the U.S. on an unlabeled map of

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The third category consists of organized interest groups.

There are literally thousands of these. In addition to the “big
three”—business, labor and agriculture—they represent ev-
ery segment of society imaginable—religious denominations,
war veterans, Foreign Service Officers, ethnic groups, envi-
ronmental groups and human-rights advocacy organizations.
Many individual business corporations with foreign interests
maintain permanent offices in Washington, D.C.
Some of the most intensive and successful lobbying is
conducted by executive agencies and officials of the U.S. gov-
ernment. The President has several White House assistants
whose responsibility is “legislative relations.” Their primary
goal is to gain support for the President’s foreign and domestic
programs on Capitol Hill. The Department of State, along
Voters cast their ballots in Westport, WI, on November 2, 2010, in with nearly all other executive departments, has a Bureau of
elections that recalibrated the balance of power in Washington and
across the nation. (Narayan Maho—The New York Times) Congressional Relations, which monitors Capitol Hill.

the world. The public-at-large is also crisis-oriented. Its in- Democratization of foreign policy
terest is aroused by vivid television coverage—for example, The foreign policy process is continuously evolving and
the events of 9/11—that demand some kind of response. has become more pluralistic, primarily as the result of
Finally, the public’s foreign policy outlook tends to change the growing interdependence of the U.S. with the rest of
with some regularity—from isolationist to interventionist the world and the dramatic expansion of the role of the
and back. media, particularly the internet. Decisions can no longer
The attentive public—or elite opinion on foreign policy— be made by the executive branch alone in consultation
represents perhaps 10%–20% of the American people. It con- with a small group of foreign policy experts on the out-
sists of citizens who are genuinely interested and involved. side. Notes a report by the U.S. Advisory Commission
They tend to be better educated and more informed. Many on Public Diplomacy, a presidential commission created
communicate their views to policymakers in Washington. by Congress to provide bipartisan oversight: “America
They write letters, sign petitions, visit their representatives. still needs diplomacy between governments, but poli-
The attentive public helps focus the attention and arouse the cies and negotiated agreements will succeed only if
interest of the apathetic. They participate in the activities of they have the support of publics at home and abroad.”
organizations like the Foreign Policy Association, World Af- Once engaged, how can citizens make their voices not
fairs Councils, the United Nations Association of the U.S.A., only heard but effective? What they need most of all is an
the American Association of University Women and the understanding of the policymaking process. They can then
League of Women Voters, which have contributed signifi- develop an effective strategy for exerting their influence. This
cantly to raising the level of public interest in and understand- includes expressing their goals in a clear message and dem-
ing of foreign affairs. The public-opinion elite also serves as onstrating that they have a strong political base and speak for
a source of new and creative ideas for policymakers and as key constituencies. The proliferation of sources for news and
informed critics of prevailing policy. opinion, including blogs and online forums, has aided this
trend immensely, with the public able to organize and make
their views known to opinion-makers as never before.
Wider participation or pluralism in the formulation of
policy brings new voices into the process, and as a result
decisions are likely to be based on a broader consideration
of the issues and a fuller assessment of the alternatives. But
greater participation also makes the foreign policy process
more cumbersome. Extensive public discussion does not
necessarily lead to consensus; it can be divisive and incon-
clusive, as evidenced in the debate on the U.S.-led attack on
Saddam Hussein’s Iraq and President George W. Bush’s war
on terrorism. It is especially unsuited to formulating long-
range national strategy or addressing complex issues. But
democracies are often unwieldy and untidy. As the British
Tens of thousands of people streamed onto the National Mall in statesman Sir Winston Churchill once remarked, democracy
Washington, D.C. on October 30, 2010, for a rally hosted by liberal
comics Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. (NICHOLAS KAMM—AFP/ is “the worst form of government except all those other
Getty Images) forms that have been tried from time to time.” n

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