Threads of Continuity and Discontinuity - Case Study Example

Student’s Name: Course: Instructor: Date: Threads of continuity and discontinuity of The United States foreign policy from 1800-2000 Introduction The United States foreign policy has experienced various changes from 1800 to the current period where continuities and discontinuities are highly evident. (Webber, Mark& Smith 45) Posits that the United States foreign policy has become a major topic of debating indicating that The United States behaves in a cunning and imperialist way towards various countries. However, the imperialist approach practiced today is different from previous approaches practiced by The United States. Critics who had described United States as an imperialist nation has seen significant changes that suffice the description. The discontinuity thread Numerous scholars have described the unchanged imperial direction of United States for various past years indicating that she has continued propagating the practice since 1800. On the other hand, some authors want to argue whether it will maintain its superiority, military power and democratic approach to governance among other vital issues. However, all these authors will describe the continuity and discontinuity of the United States foreign policy. (Webber, Mark& Smith 45) Asserts that the end of the cold war prompted the United States to adhere to the well-defined grand strategy that aims to preserve the feasible and conducive interests of the American imperium. The centrality of the strategy is a varied commitment to global openness as well as creating an open and integrated international order that base their issues on the principles of democratic capitalism with United States which is the ultimate guarantor of order as well, as the enforcer of given norms. After Soviet Union disappearance, the United States went ahead to acquire powerful military to pursue the goal. Rosati &Scott (48) Affirms that the United States elites, the openness facilitated the formation of better and advanced security threats creating an opportunity to build advanced military than that made during the cold war. On the other hand, issues that did not seem great to produce great security threat towards the United States citizens, the military would deal with such issues with ease and other relevant means rather than the direct combat through air powers , command proxies among other necessary factors. Consequently, the United States foreign policy has increasingly promoted the formation of close allies with other militaries across the world maintained by the regional commander in chiefs. A ccording to MacDonald (p.99), the various characteristics of U.S foreign policy have accentuation in terms of geographical and budgetary scope especially during the era of Clinton Administration. Clinton and his government were the first pioneers that included a better conglomeration of political, economic and military in pursuit of informed and better policies governing The United States. From that era, there are many initiatives undertaken by the American government to try and come with better foreign n policies that will benefit the United States by the end of the day. MacDonald (p.103) continues to posit that Clinton was the ideal unilateralist and the successors have simply taken the footsteps creating an elite consensus between the United States Military. The end of the cold war is the ultimate and real turning point because it led to the achievement of the messianic global openness goals as well as the formation of the concomitant military, which is among the elite American policies. According to (McElroy 78) the United States has been an imperial power for a long time exercising ultimate dominance over half of the globe and extending its influence and power all over the world. Since 1800, it has significantly increased its influence in the neighboring countries and expanding at most in the areas outside the states. Some global powers including the humanitarian interventions in various regions such as Panama, Persian Gulf, Haiti, Somalia, Bosnia, Serbia and Colombia have significantly increased the United States Foreign policy attention all over the world. Moreover, while helping and intervening in the above-mentioned countries, it went ahead to maintain and to strengthen its deployments in East Asia and the Pacific. However, the heinous attack of September 11 prompted the Americans to produce a dangerous rethinking amongst the leaders and they started viewing The United States as a genuine empire that dominate and exploit weaker nations. Consequently, it developed numerous bases around the world, which are 725 according to Pentagon. The original Special Forces have gone ahead to take militaristic form thus increasing professionalism in the United States military. Professionalism in the military eventually glorifies it creating an opportunity for United States to further and strengthen their imperialism and militarism foreign policies (McElroy 88). Many of the developments in the United States foreign policy have taken years in making dating back from the Spanish-American war and expansive development of military bases took place after the second world war. After the end of cold war, there various qualitative shifts that have taken place and the most important one is the replacement of previous goals that aimed to discover immense power and rationalizing through self-glorifying assertions that they have it because they deserve it. This goal has been an impediment in the development of worthy foreign policies because American foreign policy has greatly dominated the other people because they feel that they have the power and right to dominate other people. Consequently, in an attempt to control the newly acquired regions, they must expand the remaining sections thorough installation of military bases. The principle of circularity is prone to wide consensus among the elites in United States (Hellmann p.180). It is evident in Op-Ed pieces and the congressional votes as well as the occasional security reports produced during meetings. September 2011 is an increasing intrusion into the daily life of various tenets of the given elite con census. Moreover, the acceptance of various frequent wars in the face of United Nations or disapproval form the allies has escalated the willingness for security that culminates in infringements of civil liberties. The above assertion has basic and fundamental contextualization in history. The political tolerance and ideological fervor are not new phenomena in United States since they date all back from the times of Mitchell Palmer raid during world war one and the notorious McCarthy which hunted during the 1950s(Hellmann p.180). During the forty years of Cold War, the American grand strategy was efficient and elegant. It had only one word, which was containment and the purpose, was to break up or to mellow of the USSR power. Some structural realists such as Waltz emphasized on post world war continuities that are within the international politics and work with the Orthodox interpretation of Cold War foreign policy. For instance, waltz posits that almost a half a century, consistency of the USSR threat produced constancy of American policy as well as the disappearance of the Soviet Union. Under normal circumstances, the history of The United States foreign policy represents an overview of the major trends that regard that particular foreign policy of the United States that emanates from the American Revolution. Some of the major themes become the empire of liberty hence promoting democracy as well as expanding across the continents. In addition, supporting internationalism liberalization as well as contesting world wars have been a key United States foreign policy. The cold war, fighting the international terrorists, cold war, developing third world countries and developing a strong economy has been milestones towards facilitating the discontinuity foreign policy (Hellmann p.180). From early establishment of United States in 1776-1789, after the end of American Revolution, the Empire went to war with Spain in the commonly known Spanish-American War. The war reflects the ideal American foreign policy, which sought to create a long-term empire of liberty. In pursuit of creating an empire of liberty in 1786, United States created a Moroccan-American Friendship Treaty being the first Muslim country that The United States formed ally. In 1778 the United States formed an alliance with France creating assistance in both financial and military alliance and this brought Spain and Netherlands to fight British in what turned out to be American revolutionary war. Consequently, the British Navy lost the prior supremacy paving the way for The United States. The famous diplomats such as Jefferson and Franklin Adams sought great loans for the country hence creating recognition all over the world. Moreover, the Paris treaty in 1783 was considerably favorable to The United States that facilitated the empire to expand towards the Mississippi river. Finally, the creation of the foreign n policy was instrumental in making issues work for the good of the country. The secretary of foreign affairs played a key role in diversifying the United States foreign policy making it the ideal item for diversification (Rosati 67). As posited above, the Congress created the department of foreign affairs in1789 and later named the department of state. The secretary of foreign affairs later turned out to be the secretary of state and Thomas Jefferson came back from France to fill the position. The United States foreign policy was cautious in making decisions and at times, it had to opt for neutrality when making decisions. For instance, during the French re-evolution, France went to war with Britain but United States decided to occupy a neutral position because Britain and France were both good trading partners. Consequently, in1795, the secretary of the Treasury made a treaty with Britain that refrained America entry to war instead it-encouraged trade between the two states (MacDonald 89). The continuity thread According to(Hellmann 207) there are particular goals of United States foreign policy and over the past century, it is clear that the means have evolved to incorporate the acquisition as well as the maintenance of client states. The state whose regimes are not in good terms with United States considers them irresponsible and occasionally the United States will perceive these countries as enemies. On the other hand, once a particular nation assumes the position of United States client, the United States normally assumes the task of maintaining the particular type of regime and power against the potential internal and external threats. Tasks that involve bureaucratic and routine surveillance will make the entire tasks of maintaining relationship crucial to ensure efficiency and effectiveness by the end of the day. Under ordinary circumstances, the United States clients are not in any danger but if any case they are in such danger, the United States will employ all forms of measures to ensure that they alleviate the situation for the good of the country and the United States at large. Since inception , united states normally uses various strategies to ensure that client states are safe even if it means engaging military actions for the purpose of that particular case(Rosati & Scott 89). Dating back from ancient Rome, there are powerful political units that have emerged through various networks. For example, the patrons have advantages of clients rather than the imperial provinces. The political and administrative costs of administration of clients are normally less in comparison to the occasioned by the direct rule of such clients. In pursuit of counterbalancing the benefits, there is an obvious disadvantage because the clients can manipulate the patron for their advantage. When two or more clients tend to enter into a conflict with each other, they end up getting a judgment of utter incompetence, and the patron ends up coming in the system. The system was paramount in the formation of empire networks hence becoming an important approach of the United States foreign policy (Webber & Smith 90). For various decades, the United States had the largest network of client states and they fall into distinctive categories. The first are those countries that U.S has formed the military alliance and they include Latin America and some NATO countries such as New Zealand, Australia, and South Korea among others. The other group comprises of countries that have intimate military ties that facilitate furnishing of extensive military aid as well as maintaining close military ties with the indigenous military forces. Some of these states include Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Philippines, Pakistan and Thailand. Most of these countries normally receive huge economic aids from the US to facilitate various economic exercises as well as military remuneration. Moreover, some Caribbean and African countries have close military links and they include Liberia and Uganda (Webber & Smith 90).). In the same breath, the inception of first Iraq war prompted entry of countries around the red sea and the Gulf area. In addition, some European countries such as Sweden that have close economic ties with the country ended up forming the alliance. The above-mentioned countries are vital in the eyes of United States for they facilitate the formation of better alliances among client states that facilitates better economic and social expeditions of United States. There are conditions that these countries must fulfill to ensure that United States sets them as a goal and among them involves the creation of subtle surveillance. Surveillance is a core principle of the client and it serves as criteria for categorization of states and measurement. More also, it is a distinctive measure for separating the patron-client relationships from the related alliances and such phenomena (McElroy 107).Authorized surveillance leads the top formation of treaties and executive agreements that permit The United States to have the military attachments and other overseers that report to the United States embassy and later to Washington. These relationships help in the creation of royalty that facilitates diversification of United States policies for the growth of the empire. Under normal circum stances, the client states will tend to show allegiance to the U.S to enjoy the benefits the foreign policy (McElroy 98). Recommendation policy paper on Africa (a) Formulation of foreign policy that would facilitate emancipation of Africa as a continent The nationalist movement swept across Africa in 1950s and the commonly known wind for change. The winds for change for marked the end of European colonialism in Africa and the Americans politicians started formulating the American foreign policy that would meet the needs of Africa as a continent. The expedition of Vice-president Nixon in Africa for twenty-two days prompted him to state that it was paramount for United States to formulate a good bureau of African affairs within the state affairs that would help in reaching Africa and making it a better place and the ordeal took place in 1958 (McElroy 108). In addition, in1958, J.F Kennedy expressed his inability of Washington to come to grips with growing forces of colonialism in Africa as well as increasing cases of nationalism in Africa. Kennedy arguments sought to find whether these countries would switch to the west or east (Moscow or Washington) to seek sympathy and guidance in pursuit of recapitulating the few decades of the extensive history of America and the modern Europe. Kennedy concluded that it is paramount for him and the group to come up with imaginative and bold strategies that would facilitate emancipation of Africa. The above prescription offered by Kennedy and Nixon are crucial in policymaking and establishment of such countries by international standards. Such initiatives are paramount in facilitating development in imaginative and bold manner. Therefore, adopting such policies make it possible for Africa as a continent to embrace development and overcome poverty (p.110). (b)Formation of a United States foreign policy that would facilitate fight against terrorism The twenty first century comes with the birth of terroristic activities that affected heavily on United States during the September 11. Consequently, United States formulated keen control measures such as the establishment of Guantanamo Bay, a detaining prison for terroristic criminals. Consequently, United States formed close links with royal states where FBI and CIA would actively participate to counter and deter any activities related to al-Qaida, Taliban, and the recently formed ISIS. Similarly, United States foreign n policy should adopt that policy in partisan African states and help in conquering of the mysterious terroristic activities that chip in the continent day in day out. Some of the common strategies that that foreign policy should involve is the inclusion of FBI and CIA in the fight against terrorism and eventually conquering the menace entirely in Africa. The measure will not only help in the creation of peace and stability, it will also facilitate development through the creation of economically viable projects as well as investments (McElroy 106). Conclusion Formation of foreign policy allowing democracy and accountability in the process of governance. Many African countries gained their independence from 1950s- late 1860s and most of the leaders have not embraced the concept of democracy. Consequently, there have been massive misuses of power and resources claiming lives of people who make steps of emancipation. Therefore, it is important for United States to come up with foreign policy that will help its client states to uphold democracy and good governance .The aspects will steer development and at the same time ensure that there is subtle credibility in the provision of services in such states. The approach will eventually contribute to the greater good of the continent hence making it essential as an item in foreign policy. Works Cited Hellmann, Gunther. "A Brief Look at the Recent History of NATO’s Future."Transatlantic Tug- of-War: Prospects for US-European Coooperation (Festschrift in Honour of Helga Haftendorn), Münster (2006): 181-215.. MacDonald, Paul K. "Is Imperial Rule Obsolete?: Assessing the Barriers to Overseas Adventurism." Security Studies 18.1 (2009): 79-114. McElroy, Robert W. Morality and American foreign policy: the role of ethics in international affairs. Princeton University Press, 2014. Rosati, Jerel, and James Scott. Cengage Advantage Books: The Politics of United States Foreign Policy. Cengage Learning, 2013 Webber, Mark, and Michael Smith. Foreign policy in a transformed world. Routledge, 2014. Read More

A ccording to MacDonald (p.99), the various characteristics of U.S foreign policy have accentuation in terms of geographical and budgetary scope especially during the era of Clinton Administration. Clinton and his government were the first pioneers that included a better conglomeration of political, economic and military in pursuit of informed and better policies governing The United States. From that era, there are many initiatives undertaken by the American government to try and come with better foreign n policies that will benefit the United States by the end of the day.

MacDonald (p.103) continues to posit that Clinton was the ideal unilateralist and the successors have simply taken the footsteps creating an elite consensus between the United States Military. The end of the cold war is the ultimate and real turning point because it led to the achievement of the messianic global openness goals as well as the formation of the concomitant military, which is among the elite American policies. According to (McElroy 78) the United States has been an imperial power for a long time exercising ultimate dominance over half of the globe and extending its influence and power all over the world.

Since 1800, it has significantly increased its influence in the neighboring countries and expanding at most in the areas outside the states. Some global powers including the humanitarian interventions in various regions such as Panama, Persian Gulf, Haiti, Somalia, Bosnia, Serbia and Colombia have significantly increased the United States Foreign policy attention all over the world. Moreover, while helping and intervening in the above-mentioned countries, it went ahead to maintain and to strengthen its deployments in East Asia and the Pacific.

However, the heinous attack of September 11 prompted the Americans to produce a dangerous rethinking amongst the leaders and they started viewing The United States as a genuine empire that dominate and exploit weaker nations. Consequently, it developed numerous bases around the world, which are 725 according to Pentagon. The original Special Forces have gone ahead to take militaristic form thus increasing professionalism in the United States military. Professionalism in the military eventually glorifies it creating an opportunity for United States to further and strengthen their imperialism and militarism foreign policies (McElroy 88).

Many of the developments in the United States foreign policy have taken years in making dating back from the Spanish-American war and expansive development of military bases took place after the second world war. After the end of cold war, there various qualitative shifts that have taken place and the most important one is the replacement of previous goals that aimed to discover immense power and rationalizing through self-glorifying assertions that they have it because they deserve it. This goal has been an impediment in the development of worthy foreign policies because American foreign policy has greatly dominated the other people because they feel that they have the power and right to dominate other people.

Consequently, in an attempt to control the newly acquired regions, they must expand the remaining sections thorough installation of military bases. The principle of circularity is prone to wide consensus among the elites in United States (Hellmann p.180). It is evident in Op-Ed pieces and the congressional votes as well as the occasional security reports produced during meetings. September 2011 is an increasing intrusion into the daily life of various tenets of the given elite con census. Moreover, the acceptance of various frequent wars in the face of United Nations or disapproval form the allies has escalated the willingness for security that culminates in infringements of civil liberties.

The above assertion has basic and fundamental contextualization in history. The political tolerance and ideological fervor are not new phenomena in United States since they date all back from the times of Mitchell Palmer raid during world war one and the notorious McCarthy which hunted during the 1950s(Hellmann p.180).

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