Influence of Ethnic Lobbies - Essay Example

Influence of Ethnic Lobbies Introduction A democratic polity brings with it certain challenges or risks that may seem unavoidable; particularly in an ethnically diverse society that advocates multiculturalism. One of these is attempting to incorporate diverse and disparate agenda’s and perspectives, in an attempt to maintain national cohesion. Smith argues that this creates a problem of balancing “the rights and interests of the organized few against the rights and interests of the often inattentive many.” American foreign policy, has certainly been a sphere of governance that has been heavily influenced by vocal minority groups, usually, in the form of ethnic lobbies. This influence and the potential imbalance of “rights and interests” in extreme cases may lead to conflict that may tear apart the delicate mechanism of democracy. This will be explored further. American Foreign Affairs and Ethnic Lobbies The issue of the inequity of power distribution and influence amongst various groups has been rigorously debated in the United States since the inception of the pluralist democracy, according to Smith (5) and recognizes that polarizing influences will always exist within the structure of a pluralistic democracy (6). When looked at in the context of American foreign policy Smith argues that at different occasions different ethnic lobby groups with different agenda’s have had an undue influence on American foreign policy decisions, which may not necessarily have been in the interest of the nation as a whole. Smith identifies three ways through which ethnic lobbies gain influence in American foreign policy: by acquiring votes, financing campaigns of politicians and by organizing and mobilizing the ethnic community to which it belongs. History of Ethnic Lobbies & Measuring The Effect A country with as ethnically diverse a population as the United States of America has encountered various forms of ethnic activism and foreign policy lobbying for various at ends throughout its history. The period of World War 1 in particular was a deeply polarizing era, during which many different ethnicities in America had differing allegiances in the conflict. Jewish Americans had begun to develop a strong lobby by acquiring control over financial resources and media in the form of newspapers. Having initially supported Germany, they began to support Britain after the Balfour Declaration. During the period after the war, ethnic lobbies began to exert increasing amounts of influence. Examples included America’s reluctance to actively participate in the League of Nations through Irish American lobbying, the ascendancy of the Republican party due to German American support and America’s “isolationism” of the 1930’s influenced by Mussolini supporting Italian Americans (Smith, 53). It must be clarified however, that even though lobbying has a great deal of influence on many American foreign policy decisions, it is not the sole determinant. In fact, Smith states that the problem is one of “measurement”, and that in order, to measure the effect of lobbying, the activities of the lobbies must be inspected in isolation and in competition with contradictory forces (124). Jewish American Lobby The Jewish American lobby has managed to maintain a strong presence in American polity since the beginning of the 20th century, its influence has grown gradually and it can now boast of almost unrelenting American support in almost all matters, that it concerns itself with. The ultimate goal of the Jewish American lobby in the modern day scenario is the unconditional support of Israel. In the early 1980’s President Ronald Reagan managed to garner just enough support in Congress to allow an arms deal with Saudi Arabia. This was strongly opposed by the Pro-Israel lobby known as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (or AIPAC). Since that moment, AIPAC grew exponentially, simultaneously increasing its financial clout, size and membership. The result was extremely beneficial for Israel. Not only did Israel become the highest recipient of American aid (military and financial) in the world it also managed to obtain almost absolute control over America’s Middle East policy. AIPAC’s consent in arms deals with Arab countries became a critical factor and even Arab countries had to pander to AIPAC to have their voices heard in the American Congress (Smith, 126). The unwavering commitment to Israel’s cause sought by AIPAC, caused Smith to remark “But to AIPAC, to be a 'friend of Israel' or 'pro-Israel' apparently means something quite simple: that Israel alone should decide the terms of its relations with its Arab neighbors’ and that the US should endorse these terms, whatever they may be (160)." Cuban-American Lobby Another, prominent and highly active lobby has been that of Cuban-Americans. Since the arrival of the Communist authoritarian regime of Fidel Castro in Cuba, Cubans have congregated to the city of Miami, and have formed bodies with the aim of sanctioning and eventually removing the Castro regime. The initial outcome of this was the Bay of Pigs Crisis in 1961. A more recent example includes the successful lobbying by the Cuban American National Foundation (CANF) of Congress to pass the controversial Helms-Burton Bill, which effectively allowed American courts the jurisdiction to enforce property rights that had been nullified by the Cuban Government. This caused a sizeable trade row between the US and several allied countries such as Mexico and Canada (Smith, 69). Armenian-American Lobby The formation of the Armenian Republic in 1991 allowed the Armenian American lobby to emerge as a a powerful force in lobbying circles in the era proceeding the end of the Cold War. The lobby was able to achieve several important victories over a short period. The most impressive of which was the embargo on assistance to the oil rich former Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan, due to a dispute over the Armenian populated Azerbaijani province of Nagorno Karabakh, which the Armenians felt should be allowed self-determination. Furthermore, the Armenian lobby succeeded in deflecting attention away from the authoritarian regime of Armenia, which had close ties with Iran and Russia, while simultaneously managing to force the passage of the Porter Amendments that sanctioned Turkey for the denial of the Armenian genocide (Smith, 71). African-American Lobby In the post- Cold War scenario African Americans have gained greater prominence in effecting American foreign policy decisions, particularly in relation to American policy in Africa and the Caribbean. It was largely African American support that lead to the invasion of Haiti in 1994 and the subsequent restoration of democratically elected President Jean Baptiste Aristide, despite the opposition of 80% of Americans according to polls. It was also through the efforts of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) that the US began to engage Africa further, particularly Sub-Saharan Africa and paved the way for “Trade and Investment initiatives (Smith, 71). The Erosion of State Authority From the Civil War until the 1960’s the power of the state relative to individuals and groups had grown exponentially and managed to reach its pinnacle, however, certain events took place after the 1960’s that began to reverse this trend. The Civil Rights movement of the 1960’s exacerbated the rise of activism among ethnic and other groups. The African American demand for equality empowered other groups to make their own demands. These groups included: women, Hispanics and homosexuals (Smith, 91). In turn conservative and rightist element formed their own special interest groups, in order, to counteract the rise of left leaning associations. There was also a correlating rise in lobbyists in Washington, with the total number of lobbyists in the city crossing the 20,000 mark by the year 1999 (Smith, 91). The power of the state continued to decrease throughout the 70’s influenced by a number of events such as the forced resignation of President Nixon and the defeat in the Vietnam War, as well as several pieces of legislation that reduced state power. Successive governments including the Reagan administration began to take a laissez faire view of government influence in the public sphere (Smith, 91). The end of the Cold War eroded state power even further, with individuals and groups exerting increasing amounts of pressure on the executive organs of state. By 1996 Bill Clinton proclaimed that “the era of big government is over (Smith, 92).” The age of globalization has also made it far more difficult for governments to assert control over “economic forces.” Furthermore the proliferation of various professional, student and interest based groups has made it difficult for government power to return to its heyday. Diffusion of Power In his book The Future of Power Nye argues that the diffusion of power is what is causing the decrease in state power. The fact that states are now finding it far more difficult to control their populations is a result of the Information Revolution (Nye, 158). The Information Revolution refers to the dramatic and drastic developments in technology that have resulted in improved trans-national communication and have made it far easier for individuals to accquie information. The improvement in technology relates primarily to telecommunications and computer technology that have made the modern day phenomena of the World Wide Web possible. Not only has the power and efficiency of these technologies improved exponentially but the cost at which these technologies are available has also seen a massive decease, making the costs of acquisition of information and international communication negligible (Nye, 159). This has allowed the average global citizen access to unprecedented amounts of information and as a result unprecedented amounts of power. This access to information and the facilitation of easy and cost effective transnational communication has allowed groups and associations to form outside of the realm of the nation state. These groups in turn have the power of influencing Nation states. In the decade that has just passed we have witnessed the rise of several transnational actors including peaceful advocacy groups such as NGO’s as well as Transnational terrorist organizations such as Al-Qaeda (Nye, 170). Conclusion The balancing of the rights and interests of different segments in a population is a problem that is inherent to democracy. Vocal, well organized and well financed minorities have always had undue influence over a state. Since Tony Smith’s text on the subject was written in 2000 several new complications have arisen, such as the rise of China, globalization, The Information Age and the War On Terror. As a result of these events, pressure groups and organized minorities are expected to increase and not decrease. Works Cited Nye, Joseph S. The Future of Power. New York: Public Affairs, 2011. Print. Smith, Tony. Foreign Attachments: The Power of Ethnic Groups in the Making of American Foreign Policy. Harvard University Press, 2011. Print. Read More