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Cold War
The second edition of US Foreign Policy after the Cold War provides a comprehensive
introduction to the main actors and machinery of American foreign policy. It also offers
an assessment of the foreign policy records of the Clinton and the two Bush adminis-
trations. It examines how America struggled to find a defining role in the decade after
the Cold War and then assesses the revolution in US foreign and security policy
brought about as a result of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. It charts the unilateralist trends
in the first George W. Bush administration and suggests that there may be some
changes in foreign policy during the second four years as a result of the experience of
going-it-alone on Iraq.
The book provides an inside account of the major actors in US foreign policy – the
White House, the State Department, the Pentagon, intelligence agencies, Congress, media
and public opinion. It then considers the priorities of US foreign policy including:
Terrorism
Rogue states
The promotion of democracy
Trade
The Middle East
Europe
Asia
It also contains an overview of the debate about the direction of US foreign policy
within the US and analyses the implications of American power for the rest of the
world. This book is essential reading for professionals and academics with interests in
the United States, international politics and international relations.
Second edition
Fraser Cameron
First published 2002
Second edition published 2005
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
# 2002 and 2005 Fraser Cameron
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2006.
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Contents
List of figures ix
List of tables x
Preface xi
List of abbreviations xiv
Introduction xvi
Glossary 206
Selected key dates 208
Appendix 1 210
Appendix 2 212
Bibliography 213
Index 223
Figures
At the start of the twenty-first century, the United States (US) is the world’s only
superpower, or ‘‘hyperpower,’’ as former French Foreign Minister, Hubert Vedrine,
famously described it. The use of ‘‘hyper’’ aroused considerable controversy in the US
but if one takes the analogy of a French hypermarché being so much bigger and stocking
far more goods than a supermarché then the comment is justified and is not pejorative.
The US has the largest and most productive economy in the world, a long history of
democracy, political stability, a highly educated and inventive population and a mili-
tary power unequalled and unrivalled in the history of the world. Yet even this
hyperpower could not prevent the horrendous terrorist attacks on New York and
Washington on 11 September 2001.
Following the change in the White House from Bill Clinton to George W. Bush in
January 2001, the new administration seemed to take delight at rejecting many pre-
vious policies and mapped out a unilateralist approach in foreign policy. It sent a clear
message that it preferred to establish its own policies without reference to its interna-
tional partners. America would lead while others should follow. In its first nine months
in office the Bush administration rejected a host of international treaties, much to the
consternation of the rest of the world. The terrorist attacks in September 2001 brought
about a major reassessment of US foreign policy as President Bush recognized the
importance of building a broad-based international coalition to tackle the terrorist
threat. Six months after the attacks, however, there was little evidence that the Pre-
sident’s new-found desire for multilateral cooperation to tackle terrorism was being
reflected in other policy areas. Indeed other policy areas were largely neglected as US
foreign policy was focused completely on the war on terrorism and in particular the
‘‘axis of evil.’’
President Bush made it clear that the US was prepared to act alone if necessary in
tackling threats from states, such as Iraq, suspected of having links to Al Qaeda and
seeking to acquire weapons of mass destruction (WMD). His doctrine of pre-emptive
strikes led him to invade Iraq in March 2003, even though there was no hard evidence
of Iraq having WMD. The swiftness of the US military victory contrasted with the
xii Preface
lengthy period pacifying and reconstructing Iraq. The US invasion led to a major crisis
in transatlantic relations and a dramatic fall in support for the US throughout the
world. The Bush foreign policy, style and substance, was a major theme of the 2004
presidential elections which saw the President re-elected by a substantial margin of the
popular vote.
While America is divided about its international role, many non-Americans view the
US as a hegemonic power, using its military as well as political and economic levers to
increase its global influence. The recurring metaphor of recent US foreign policy con-
jures up a sheriff and a posse. The sheriff rides out of town to round up the bad guys.
Willing deputies such as Britain’s Tony Blair are welcome to ride along. But the sheriff
calls the shots.
The motive for writing this book arose from the fact that US foreign policy after the
end of the Cold War has undergone important changes and that given the over-
whelming power and influence of the world’s only superpower these changes have
important implications for the rest of the world. From my vantage point in Washing-
ton DC at the start of the new millennium, I was able to observe at first hand the
debate among America’s foreign policy elite about the direction that the US should
move in the new century. Following the 11 September 2001 attacks there was a sig-
nificant change in the direction of US foreign policy with the emphasis placed firmly
on a military response to ‘‘the war on terrorism’’ and the promotion of ‘‘God given
values of freedom’’ around the world. These changes, with their implications for the
rest of the world, made a second edition highly desirable.
President George Herbert Walker Bush (President from 1989 to 1993 and the father
of George Walker Bush who took office in January 2001) coined the phrase ‘‘new world
order’’ in the aftermath of the collapse of communism and shortly before the successful
Gulf War campaign. President Bill Clinton talked of ‘‘expanding democracy and free
markets’’ as the hallmarks of his foreign policy. President George W. Bush pledged in
his inauguration speech ‘‘to keep America strong and free.’’ But at the start of the
twenty-first century there was no real consensus on what role the US should play in the
face of a new terrorist threat and in a world shrinking continually as a result of globa-
lization. The domestic political splits revealed during and after the 2000 and 2004
presidential elections (the first which George W. Bush won despite gaining fewer
popular votes than Al Gore and the second which saw him defeat Senator John Kerry
with more votes than any previous president) were also reflected in divisions on foreign
policy. These divisions crossed party lines and touched on issues such as unilateralism
versus multilateralism, free trade versus protectionism, how to tackle ‘‘rogue states’’
and terrorists, what importance to attach to human rights and when to intervene for
humanitarian reasons (see Glossary for explanation of these terms). Some of these issues
surfaced in the 2004 presidential election campaign when for the first time for many
years foreign policy was a major theme.
The views expressed here are my own, but in writing this book I was helped by many
individuals in the policy and think tank communities in Washington DC and Brussels.
It would be invidious to single anyone out and many who spoke with me wish to
remain anonymous. I would, however, like to thank Karen Donfried, Jonathan
Preface xiii
Greenwald, Charles Kupchan, Kori Schake, Simon Serfaty, James Steinberg and
John van Oudenaren for their valuable input. I am also grateful for the stimulation
and support of many colleagues in the European Commission, particularly Ambassa-
dor Guenter Burghardt. My wife, Margaret, has been a constant support in this
enterprise.
Fraser Cameron
January 2005
List of abbreviations
The US occupies a unique position in world affairs. Never in history has a country
dominated the international scene to the extent that the US does today. No matter
what the indicator – military power, economic strength, political influence, technological
prowess, cultural model – the US is in a league of its own. It is the only nation on earth
able to project power in every part of the world, and since 1990 it has been involved in
resolving conflicts on every continent. As former Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright,
stated in 1996, ‘‘the US is the indispensable nation whose work never stops.’’ There are,
however, very different images of this ‘‘indispensable nation’’ around the world, ranging
from admiration to envy and hatred. It was clearly hatred of the US that motivated the
terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 or 9/11 in the American vernacular.
Until 9/11 there was little consensus on what the US should do with its power. There
was also remarkably little debate on the priorities of US foreign policy and whether the
US was developing the right instruments to further its external interests. The Repub-
lican chairman of the House International Relations Committee (HIRC), Henry Hyde,
voiced a widespread concern on the occasion of Secretary of State Colin Powell’s first
testimony before the committee on 7 March 2001.
The principal problem [for the US] is that we have no long-term strategy, no
practical plan for shaping the future. The fall of the Soviet empire has removed the
central organizing principle of our foreign policy for the past half-century. For all
our undoubted power, we often seem to be at the mercy of the currents, carried
downstream toward an uncertain destination instead of moving toward one of our
own. We must resist the temptation of believing that we can fix every problem.
Six months after Hyde spoke, the US was faced with a new enemy – Al Qaeda. The
devastating attacks in New York and Washington were to lead to a fundamental change
in American foreign policy. The post-Cold War era ended on 9/11. The Bush adminis-
tration henceforth only had one priority – the war on terrorism. Containment was dis-
missed as a guiding principle. Pre-emptive strikes moved to the top of available policy
Introduction xvii
instruments. The President divided the world into ‘‘those who are with us and those
who are against us.’’ The US was no longer a reluctant hegemon nor a reluctant sheriff.
The US-led victory over communism had helped to create an impression at home
that the stakes involved in foreign and security policy issues were reduced. 9/11 wit-
nessed an upsurge in interest about foreign policy, Islam and the wider Middle East.
Globalization also brought changes to the political forces in favor of free trade and tore
down barriers between ‘‘foreign’’ and ‘‘domestic’’ policy. Meanwhile the shift in popu-
lation to the south and southwest of the US as well as the rapidly expanding access to
information, from CNN to the internet, led to an increase in the number of players
outside the traditional East Coast establishment that had controlled US foreign policy
for decades. In the post-Cold War era, one could speak of a ‘‘democratization’’ of the
foreign policy process in America.
How does one define foreign policy? Stated simply, foreign policy refers to a consistent
course of actions followed by one nation to deal with another nation or region, or inter-
national issue. A country’s foreign policy is usually based on values (such as democracy,
rule of law), interests (such as defense of or expansion of territory) and may reflect broad
national objectives or be a very specific response to a particular situation. A country can
achieve its foreign policy goals by employing a variety of instruments ranging from
political, diplomatic, and military to economic, social, and cultural. Foreign policy is
often influenced by many different variables, including a country’s historical ties to
other nations, its culture, type of government, size, geographic location, economic
strength, and military power. A country’s foreign policy is usually aimed at preserving
or promoting its economic and political interests abroad and its position in the world.
The analysis of foreign policy has traditionally focused on government actions, particu-
larly those related to political and military issues, but in recent decades the focus has
changed. Today, many non-governmental organizations (NGOs) play an important role in
foreign policy. Furthermore, in recent years, there has been a sharpening interest in many
aspects of a country’s domestic policy. For example, the energy policies of the US and
other countries have become the object of international scrutiny as the world attempts
to deal with the problems related to climate change and global warming. The chemicals
and genetically modified organisms (GMOs) used in agriculture have become the sub-
ject of international controversy, as have the levels of aircraft noise, corporate taxation,
and investment regimes, the death penalty and human rights. These developments have
made the definition and practice of foreign policy much more difficult than in the past.
Although there is no significant threat to the US (apart from terrorism) it has had to
confront a number of difficult issues in the post-Cold War world. How is the US to
relate to a world that is no longer bipolar (i.e. dominated by the two superpowers, the
US and the Soviet Union) but increasingly complex? How is the US to meet the new
security threats, including terrorism? How does it deal with failed states? Under what
circumstances should it intervene overseas? When should it act alone, and when with
allies? How does it deal with the rapid pace of globalization? Given the importance of
America in world affairs it is important to understand how the debate on the global
role of the US is evolving, how foreign policy decisions are made, what US priorities
are and how the US exercises its power and influence on the world stage.
xviii Introduction
This textbook seeks to provide the reader with a comprehensive introduction to these
issues and debates as well as a guide through the maze of US foreign policy preparation
and decision-making. The book focuses largely on contemporary events and draws on
the author’s experience of operating in the Washington policy milieu. It is a user-
friendly textbook with the inclusion in each chapter of key facts. There are a number of
case studies, a glossary of terms used in foreign policy, several tables and charts, a
chronology and a comprehensive bibliography including numerous websites for further
reading and research. It deliberately does not discuss international relations theory but
suggestions are given at the end of Chapter 1 for students who wish to explore further
this field.
Chapter 1 charts the slow but steady rise of the US to global power. A brief historical
review highlights some of the issues that have characterized US foreign policy since the
founding of the republic. It then examines the domestic and external pressures that
propelled the US to intervene in two world wars and, after 1945, to establish a
worldwide network of alliances and military bases to fight the Cold War. Chapter 2
examines the record of the three Presidents in office since 1989 and looks at how they
coped in attempting to define a new post-Cold War paradigm for American foreign
policy. President George H. W. Bush was the most experienced of the three in terms of
foreign policy but this experience did not help him chart a new course for US foreign
policy nor help him win re-election in 1992. Both Bill Clinton and George W. Bush
were more interested in domestic affairs but each swiftly found out that the President
of the United States cannot ignore foreign policy. The events of 9/11 led to a major
change in US foreign policy. Chapter 3 looks in some detail at the role of the President
and the executive agencies involved in foreign policy. It examines the rise of the
National Security Council (NSC), both as an agency and in terms of staffing, and con-
siders how its role has evolved in recent years. The State Department has had mixed
fortunes in terms of bureaucratic infighting. It has seen its budget decline during the
1990s and has struggled to assert itself as the natural lead agency to cope with the new
issues that have thrust their way onto the global agenda. The Department of Defense
(Pentagon) and the intelligence community also faced cuts following the end of the
Cold War but there was no fundamental reassessment of their size, structures, or mis-
sion until after 9/11 and the painful experience of the war in Iraq. An acrimonious
debate took place in 2001 on the reform of the military and on the importance and
urgency to attach to national missile defense (NMD). A further such debate took place
in 2004 on how the intelligence agencies should be reformed to deal with terrorism.
President George W. Bush established a large, new Department of Homeland Security
to coordinate domestic policies on terrorism.
Chapter 4 looks at the role of Congress in making foreign policy. It examines the
constitutional checks and balances governing the executive and legislative branches of
government and suggests that while there are many real benefits to this system, the
fatigue, frustration, and mistrust engendered in the process can often have serious
consequences for the formulation and execution of US foreign policy. It is argued that
the increased partisanship on display in Congress during the 1990s has had a negative
impact on US foreign policy. Chapters 5 and 6 consider the changing domestic
Introduction xix
political environment and examine the increased influence of other actors involved in
the foreign policy process including the role of interest groups, the media, and public
opinion. Powerful domestic interests that bring money and votes to both political
parties often drive US foreign policy. In the 1992, 1996 and 2000 presidential elec-
tions, foreign policy played a negligible role, unlike the situation during the Cold War
when several elections had foreign policy issues high on the agenda. This changed in
2004 when foreign and security policy issues, notably the wisdom of the Bush admin-
istration’s policy on Iraq, was a major theme. Chapter 6 examines the role of the media
and provides an analysis of the latest polling data on public opinion. The ‘‘CNN effect’’
and rise of Fox News is considered and the changing public interest in foreign affairs
analyzed.
Chapter 7 reviews the development of and examines the interests driving US trade
policy. It considers the American role in international financial and economic organi-
zations and how the US has been affected by and responded to globalization. Chapter 8
examines the US-led war on Iraq and American response to the terrorist attacks that
dominated political life after the tragic events of 11 September 2001. It discusses the
issue of ‘‘rogue states,’’ three of which (Iraq, Iran and North Korea) were described as
forming an ‘‘axis of evil’’ by President George W. Bush in January 2002, and the
dilemmas America faces in responding to terrorism. It examines the nature and impli-
cations of the US-sponsored international coalition to fight terrorism, the Bush pre-
emptive doctrine and raises the question why so many people hate America. Chapter 9
considers the lack of consensus in setting American foreign policy priorities and asses-
ses how recent administrations have responded to new challenges in Europe, Asia, and
elsewhere. It also looks at missile defense, US relations with the UN and expenditure
on international affairs. Chapter 10 considers the debate on what role the US should
play in the world and examines the question of continuity and change in US foreign
policy. What were the defining features of US foreign policy before, during, and after
the Cold War? What is the legacy of American internationalism? Is isolationism a real
threat? Could the US withdraw in any meaningful way from today’s world? What is
the balance between the unilateralists and the multilateralists – those who favor going
it alone and those who prefer working with others when possible? What is the balance
between the idealists and the realists – those who would like to make the world ‘‘safe
for democracy’’ and those who take a more cautious approach to tackling the outside
world’s problems? Is the US more a global hegemon than a reluctant sheriff? Have the
neo-conservatives passed the zenith of their influence? Is ‘‘new realism’’ a sufficient
doctrine for the challenges ahead? A concluding chapter reviews the making of US
foreign policy and looks at the world in which the US will have to operate in during
the next two decades. It suggests that America might best face the new challenges and
change its image as ‘‘the ugly American’’ by modifying its behavior and spending
priorities. It also asks whether 11 September has meant the end of the post-Cold War
era? While there is unlikely to be an early resolution to the debates on the future
direction of US foreign policy, one thing is clear – the US will remain the most
important global actor for the foreseeable future. But what kind of leadership will it
offer the world?
1
Key facts 2
The American century 2
The reluctant internationalist 3
The two world wars 5
The Cold War 7
Case study: the Vietnam War 9
Conclusion 11
Selected further reading 11
2 From colony to superpower
Key facts
The twentieth century was ‘‘the American century.’’ Since 1945, America has
enjoyed, and continues to enjoy, a unique role in the world as the pre-eminent poli-
tical, military, and economic power. The contemporary debates on what global role
the US should play are rooted in American history.
A large majority of the Founding Fathers did not wish the US to become involved in
global affairs. Blessed by geographical position and abundant natural resources, the
US maintained a low foreign policy profile during its first hundred years. The gradual
expansion of territory during the nineteenth century was followed by an imperial
scramble at the turn of the century. Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow
Wilson represented competing visions of realism and idealism.
The First World War intervention in 1917 was decisive in securing an allied victory
but the US rejected the League of Nations and reverted to isolationism and protec-
tionist economic policies in the inter-war years. The Japanese attack on Pearl Har-
bor in 1941 catapulted the US into the Second World War and again its intervention
was decisive in ensuring allied victory.
After 1945, the US began a massive global engagement and arms build-up to
ensure ‘‘containment’’ of communism. There was broad bipartisan support for US
foreign policy during the Cold War. Superpower rivalry dominated international poli-
tics. The Vietnam War divided America and colored later thinking about military
interventions.
The Cold War era saw massive expansion in national security structures and huge
budgets for military and intelligence communities. The end of the Cold War was due
to freedom and independence movements in Eastern Europe, the internal collapse
of the Soviet Union, and US arms spending during the Reagan presidency.
Russia and China, share, or shared in the past, their own messianic vision. Few have
been in a position to promote their values abroad to the same extent as the US, espe-
cially in the latter half of the twentieth century. The 1990s were the climax of ‘‘the
American century.’’ Not only had the US won the Cold War but its economy raced
ahead of other industrial nations and its culture and technology had spread to every
corner of the globe. Whether studying in China, Russia, Brazil, India or Germany,
students were likely to be using Microsoft, listening to Madonna, watching Tom
Cruise, drinking Coke and eating Big Macs.
At the start of a new millennium, with a new administration taking over in Washington,
there were many debates on the future direction of American foreign policy. A host of
reports poured out of Congress, think tanks, and various national commissions seeking
to define American external interests and priorities. A central theme of this debate was
whether the US should use its extraordinary power only to protect vital American
interests, about which there was no consensus, or whether it should play a wider role in
the world. In general, those on the left argued that values (e.g. promotion of democ-
racy, protection of human rights) were vital to American interests while those on the
right were more skeptical of a values approach to foreign policy. Strangely, at this
unique historical moment, there was very little discussion about the external spending
priorities of the US nor about the most appropriate instruments the US should be using
and developing to maintain its global position. Neither was there any substantive dis-
cussion on the kind of image that the US projected abroad. This changed, however, in the
aftermath of the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.
The divisions between and within political parties on foreign policy reflected a lack
of consensus on what role the US should seek to play in the post-Cold War world.
These differences, however, are not new. To some extent they were masked by the lar-
gely bipartisan foreign policy approach during the Cold War but divisions over foreign
policy have been the norm throughout American history. A brief survey is revealing of
such differences.
Fathers of the new republic insisted that America should avoid involvement in the
political intrigues and power rivalries of Europe. (One can imagine how shocked they
would be today to learn of the global involvement of the US from Afghanistan to
Argentina, from Kosovo to Korea.) In his farewell address in 1796, President George
Washington set out guidelines for American foreign policy that found widespread
approval. ‘‘The great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is in extending
our commercial relations but to have with them as little political connections as pos-
sible. It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the
foreign world.’’
This policy of non-entanglement or isolationism from other countries thus has a long
historical tradition. Apart from broad agreement on isolationism, there was no con-
sensus among the Founding Fathers as to what principles should guide US foreign
policy. Indeed the differences between the idealists and realists led to rival ideological
camps that persist to this day. In the idealist camp were the likes of Thomas Paine and
Thomas Jefferson, who believed that the new nation could and should make a sharp
break with the past and conduct a foreign policy guided by law and reason, not power
politics. Jefferson claimed that power and force had been legitimate principles in the
past, but that in the new era of democracy and law, relations between nations should be
guided by a code of morality.
Representing the realist camp, Alexander Hamilton and John Jay took a quite dif-
ferent perspective. Hamilton attacked the notion that increased trade would lead to
perpetual peace. Jay went further in arguing that nations in general would make war
whenever they had a prospect of gaining an advantage. As far as Hamilton and Jay were
concerned, America would have to be guided by sober national interest just like any
other country. Although the US would be sympathetic to other countries seeking
freedom, democracy, and independence, its early leaders agreed that it should not
become involved directly in such struggles (Kramnick 1987). In the words of Secretary
of State, John Quincy Adams, America does not go abroad ‘‘in search of monsters to
destroy. She will recommend the general cause (of freedom and independence) by the
countenance of her voice, and by the benign sympathy of her example’’ (LaFeber 1965).
Adams’s words were interpreted as applying to territory outside North America
because, in the first half of the nineteenth century, the US was engaged in a military
campaign to conquer the western territories from native Americans and Mexico. In
another pronouncement that was a mixture of idealism and realism, the US let it be
known that it would not welcome any outside interference in the western hemisphere, a
policy statement made by President Monroe in 1823 that later became known as the
‘‘Monroe Doctrine.’’
Developing a foreign policy for the new republic entailed reconciling not just the
divide between idealists and realists, but also the competing interests of the country’s
different regions. Northerners were interested in developing an industrial base and
therefore sought tariffs (taxes on imports) to protect their manufactured goods. South-
erners depended heavily upon the export of cotton and other crops and thus opposed
the protective tariffs sought by the north. In addition to divergent foreign trade policy
priorities of the north and south, there were also fundamental social and cultural
From colony to superpower 5
differences (e.g. over the issue of slavery) that culminated in the Civil War of 1861–5.
In the aftermath of the Civil War, in which over half a million Americans lost their
lives, the US concentrated on re-building the devastated south, expanding its economy,
and healing social divisions. But as the turn of the century approached, the US began to
flex its muscles. It started to construct a formidable navy and simultaneously began to
push its weight around in the Caribbean and Pacific. In 1898 it provoked a conflict
with Spain over Cuba and then in the same year proceeded to establish colonial rule in
Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Guam, and the Philippines.
The reasons for this change in policy were complex. For some Americans, it was
simply time for their country to enjoy the fruits of being a great power. The US had
developed a strong economy; it should therefore have an international voice commen-
surate with its new status. Others argued that the US was ‘‘a nation apart’’ and had a
‘‘manifest destiny,’’ which involved a moral mission to promote liberty and democracy
around the world, and to protect Latin America from European imperialism. According
to one historian, many influential Americans of the time simply liked
the smell of empire and felt an urge to range themselves among the colonial powers
of the time, to see our flag flying on distant tropical isles, to feel the thrill of for-
eign adventure and authority, to bask in the sunshine of recognition as one of the
great imperial powers of the world.
(Kennan 1984: 17)
The increased power of the federal government after the upheaval of the Civil War also
played a role. National leaders were able to allocate more resources to support the
military, a necessary buttress to a more assertive foreign policy (Zakaria 1998).
Throughout the nineteenth century the US continued to proclaim that its ideas were
universal but did little to export them to other countries. This would change in the
twentieth century. President Theodore Roosevelt was the first occupant of the White
House to acknowledge the importance of the balance of power and a keen proponent of
a more robust American approach to world affairs. During his presidency (1905–09),
the US intervened in Haiti (as it would do at the end of the twentieth century) and
helped Panama secede from Colombia, thus paving the way for the Panama Canal to be
completed. In a first effort at global mediation, in 1905, Roosevelt invited representa-
tives from Japan and Russia to sign a peace treaty, the Treaty of Portsmouth, in the US.
least because the war threatened to do serious harm to the US economy by shutting
down transatlantic trade. The President did not, however, seek to win support for the
war by appealing to American national interests. Rather he sold the war to the Amer-
ican public in idealist terms, speaking of the US ‘‘making the world safe for democ-
racy.’’ America was unlike other powers pursuing narrow national interests. Wilson saw
the war as an opportunity ‘‘to end the failed balance of power system and replace it
with a community of power and an organized peace.’’
At the President’s urging, Congress declared war on Germany in April 1917, and the
US was thereafter directly involved in just the type of conflict it had avoided success-
fully since the founding of the republic. Given American military and economic
resources, the US intervention in the war was to prove decisive. Once an allied victory
appeared inevitable, Wilson devoted his presidency to negotiating the Versailles peace
treaty and designing the League of Nations, the organization that he hoped would
ensure America’s permanent involvement in safeguarding global stability. The debate
on America’s participation in the League was revealing of attitudes toward a wider US
international engagement.
Wilson made much of America’s idealist traditions setting out in 1918 ‘‘fourteen
points’’ or principles that should guide US policy. These included a call for open
diplomacy, self-determination, general disarmament, and the abandonment of the bal-
ance of power principle in favor of a system of collective security. His opponents argued
that the US should look after its own interests and not become involved in settling
disputes around the world. Despite his huge personal efforts Wilson was unable to
convince the Senate, or a majority of Americans, that they should become permanently
involved in world affairs through the League of Nations. His unwillingness to com-
promise on the treaty’s provisions, as some senators demanded, was also a serious error.
Many senators were opposed to the automatic and binding provisions of the treaty. The
Senate’s rejection of the treaty in 1919 by fifty-five votes to thirty-five not only dealt a
fatal blow to Wilson’s hopes but also revealed the country’s doubts about becoming a
global power (Cooper 2001). Warren Harding, who won the 1920 presidential elec-
tion, campaigned on an ‘‘America First’’ slogan and rejected Wilson’s view that the US
should play a prominent internationalist role in foreign and security policy. The inter-
war years saw the US retreat into an isolationist and protectionist stance. America lar-
gely turned its back on the world and raised tariffs to protect its own industries from
foreign competition.
Twenty-five years after rejecting the League of Nations, the US Senate ratified almost
without objection (89–2 votes) America’s entry into another global collective security
organization, the United Nations (UN). This striking turnaround in American policy
was the product of years of careful planning and shrewd political maneuvering by
President Franklin Roosevelt to build domestic support for America’s participation in a
postwar security system. The US had again remained neutral at the onset of the Second
World War but Roosevelt made clear his sympathy for Britain and its allies fighting
against Nazi Germany. It was not until the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor in
December 1941, however, that the US was able to join the hostilities. Surprisingly it
was Hitler that declared war on the US and thus made his own defeat inevitable. As in
From colony to superpower 7
the First World War, American intervention was to prove the decisive factor in secur-
ing an allied victory with American forces fighting in Europe, North Africa, and the
Far East. In the latter war theater, the US dropped two atomic bombs on the cities
of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, thus ensuring Japan’s defeat. For some, the use of
nuclear weapons was more designed to demonstrate American power to Joseph Stalin,
the Soviet leader, rather than a device to end the war with Japan (Alperovitz 1994).
President Franklin Roosevelt was determined not to make the same mistake as Wil-
son in 1919. From late 1943 until the end of the war, the administration carefully
mapped out detailed plans for the UN, involving a restricted Security Council of the
major powers and an American veto, while working to strengthen the bipartisan con-
sensus supporting US participation. The President’s clever political and public relations
campaign resulted in overwhelming public and congressional support for American
participation in the UN. Support for US engagement was helped by the fact that
America had become such a dominant political, military, and economic force in the
world. By the end of 1945, and largely as a result of the economic stimulus provided by
the war, the US was by far the wealthiest nation in the world with more than half the
world’s productive capacity. In global affairs, most nations now looked to Washington
first, with other capitals such as London and Paris a distant second.
President Harry Truman, who recognized the need to build on the new consensus that
Roosevelt had created in order to secure domestic support to oppose communism, took
up the containment idea. In a speech to a joint session of Congress on 12 March 1947,
the President laid down the policy that became known as the ‘‘Truman Doctrine.’’
It must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting
attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures. The free peo-
ples of the world look to us for support in maintaining their freedoms . . . if we
falter in our leadership, we may endanger the peace of the world – and we shall
surely endanger the welfare of our nation.
This was a blanket commitment by the American President that would define US for-
eign policy for the next forty-five years. For the first time in its history, the US had
chosen to intervene in peacetime outside the Americas. In May 1947, Congress
approved $400 million in assistance for Greece and Turkey, the two countries perceived
as most threatened by communism. The following month, Secretary of State, George
Marshall, announced that the US was also ready to supply Western Europe with eco-
nomic and financial assistance (the Marshall Plan) in order to help economic recovery
and thus stave off the communist threat. American aid had also been offered to the
Soviet Union and Eastern Europe but Stalin had rejected the offer. The US also moved
decisively away from its protectionist trade policies of the inter-war years and helped to
establish international organizations aimed at promoting free trade.
In July 1947, Congress passed the National Security Act, which provided for a single
Department of Defense to replace the three independent services and established the
Joint Chiefs of Staff. The act also created the National Security Council (NSC) to advise
the President, and set up the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to gather information
and to collate and evaluate intelligence activities around the world. Truman further
extended US commitments with the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organiza-
tion (NATO) in 1949, and sent troops to fight in the Korean War in 1950. The US
was able to gain UNSC approval to repel the communist, North Korean invasion of
South Korea as the Soviet Union was then boycotting UN meetings. Truman worked
closely with the Republican chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC),
Arthur Vandenberg, to secure bipartisan support for his radical new departure in for-
eign policy (Acheson 1969). The President’s achievements were quite remarkable.
When Truman became President in 1945 he led a nation anxious to return to peace-
time pursuits and non-involvement in global affairs. When he left office eight years
later, his legacy was an American presence on every continent, an unprecedented
number of alliance commitments, and an enormously expanded armaments industry.
(The basis for the militarization of US external policy can be found in NSC 68, a
famous memorandum of April 1950, stressing the importance of a strong global mili-
tary posture.)
The Cold War dominated American foreign policy for the next four decades. Leaders
of both parties supported the containment strategy and a special American leadership
role in world affairs. Speaking at his inauguration in January 1961, President John F.
From colony to superpower 9
Kennedy stated that the US ‘‘would pay any price and bear any burden, meet any
hardship, support any friend, oppose any foes’’ to keep the world free from commun-
ism. President Jimmy Carter reiterated Wilsonian idealism in proclaiming that the US
‘‘ought to be a beacon for nations who search for peace, freedom, individual liberty and
basic human rights.’’ His successor, Ronald Reagan, was equally eloquent, asserting
that ‘‘the US was by destiny rather than choice the watchman on the walls of world
freedom.’’
After 1947, opposition to communism thus became the guiding principle of Amer-
ican foreign policy and although there were substantial differences over the conduct of
the Vietnam War, there was no serious opposition to the containment strategy that the
US followed from the late 1940s until the end of the 1980s. During this period, the US
developed into a global superpower, unlike any other in history. It established over 200
military bases around the world and committed several hundred thousand troops
overseas to defend both Europe and Asia. It also engaged in a public relations and
clandestine battle with the Soviet Union for the hearts and minds of the Third World,
spending huge sums in the process. The defense and intelligence agencies expanded
enormously and became important players in the formulation as well as the execution
of US foreign policy (Ambrose and Brinkley 1997; Andrew 1995). They also had a
major impact on domestic policy, not least because of the numbers they employed.
in the US. Eventually a ceasefire agreement was signed that permitted all American
forces to leave Vietnam in January 1973. Two years later, with President Nixon having in
the meantime resigned in disgrace over a domestic political scandal (the Watergate affair
that involved concealing a break-in at Democratic party offices), the war finally ended
with the fall of Saigon resulting in victory for the North.
The fall of Saigon signified an ignominious American defeat that left scars for more
than a generation. It showed that massive protests could bring about a change of policy
although some argue that the protests actually lengthened the war as they inhibited
American leaders from using all means (nuclear weapons, invading North Vietnam) that
might have won the war (Garfinkle 1995). It also showed the influence of the media as
Vietnam was the first television war. Democrats and Republicans alike bore responsi-
bility for the failure to understand that the National Liberation Front had wide appeal in
the south and that military force alone could neither subdue nor win the minds and hearts
of the population. The US bombing of Vietnam and associated atrocities brought wide-
spread condemnation around the world and caused considerable, lasting harm to
America’s image abroad. At home, the term ‘‘Vietnam syndrome’’ entered the vocabu-
lary, meaning that the US should never again engage in military conflict far from home
without clear, viable, political objectives, public support and an exit strategy for the
military.
There were various stages of the Cold War that resulted in periods of high tension and
periods of détente between the US and the Soviet Union. One of the most dangerous
periods was the ‘‘thirteen days’’ of the Cuban missile crisis in 1962 when President
Kennedy faced down the Soviet leader, Nikita Khrushchev, over the issue of Soviet
missiles being installed in communist Cuba (R. Kennedy 1966; Allison and Zelikow
1999). One of the most significant periods of détente was during Richard Nixon’s
presidency when the US engaged in several rounds of arms control negotiations with
the Soviet Union (Kissinger 1979). The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 gave
rise to a further period of confrontation with the US supporting groups in Afghanistan
fighting to restore the country’s independence. (This policy would later come back to
haunt the US as it armed the Mujaheddin resistance whose numbers included Osama
bin Laden. When the Soviet Union pulled out in 1989, the US did not provide any
significant economic assistance to Afghanistan and it dissolved into semi-anarchy
allowing the Taliban to take control.) There was also renewed tension in Europe lead-
ing to the installation of short- and intermediate-range nuclear weapons on both sides
of the Iron Curtain and the US and the Soviet Union boycotting the respective Olym-
pic Games in Moscow in 1980 and Los Angeles in 1984.
In 1985, however, the accession to power in Moscow of Mikhail Gorbachev opened
the prospect for an end to the Cold War. He withdrew Soviet forces from Afghanistan;
stated that Moscow would not use the Red Army to support communist governments
in Eastern Europe; and his policies of glasnost (openness) and perestroika (economic
reform) led to fundamental changes in the Soviet Union. President Reagan, who bran-
ded the Soviet Union ‘‘the evil empire,’’ also contributed to the collapse of the Soviet
system by being ready to launch a new space arms race (star wars), something he knew
From colony to superpower 11
that the bankrupt Soviet economy could not afford (LaFeber 2002). Strangely, the US
was not directly involved in any of the seminal events that led to the end of the Cold
War, the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989, the ‘‘velvet revolutions’’ in Eastern
Europe, and the collapse of the Soviet system in 1990–1. The end of the Cold War was
a demonstration of the new-found importance of ‘‘people power.’’ Indeed the US, and
its huge, expensive intelligence agencies, had failed to predict the sudden collapse of
communism. It was rather a stunned Washington that surveyed the new post-Cold
War world, free from the Soviet threat (Beschloss and Talbott 1993).
Many wondered how the US would react after it was suddenly deprived of the enemy
that had dominated US foreign policy thinking and structures for over forty years. Perhaps
because the collapse of communism came so quickly, and perhaps because President
George H. W. Bush was such an establishment figure, there was no questioning of the
continuing rationale for the Cold War national security structures that had been
established back in 1947. There were no substantial changes either to the military or to
the intelligence services. There was no re-organization of the NSC, the State Department,
and other executive branch agencies. Nor was there any real pressure from Congress or the
public to do so. According to one member of the Bush administration, ‘‘there were too
many vested interests in maintaining the status quo.’’ Even the think tanks found it
difficult to adjust to the new world that was no longer black and white but different shades
of gray. The US had established a small army of Cold War specialists, Russian linguists,
Red Army analysts, nuclear deterrence theorists, professors of communism, agents and
double-agents. They had devoted their life to the Cold War. What would they do now?
Conclusion
The US moved from being a British colony to being a major international actor in less
than a century. After a further fifty years in which the US played a decisive role in securing
allied victories in two world wars, the new republic was the number one power in the
world. Unlike post-1918, when it turned its back on the world, the US became actively
engaged in world politics after 1945. It became the principal opponent of communism,
engaged in a continuing ideological battle with the Soviet Union (and communist
China), and built up a massive national security apparatus to deal with the threat.
With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the US had clearly won the Cold War.
But could it change the mindset developed during these four decades? What kind of
world would await the sole remaining superpower? Would the end of the Soviet threat
usher in a ‘‘new world order’’ or would the end of bipolarity lead to more conflict in the
world? Throughout its history, the US had veered between isolationism and inter-
nationalism, between idealism and realism, between protectionism and free trade. How
would it respond to the challenges of the post-Cold War world, especially terrorism?
examines Woodrow Wilson’s fight for the League of Nations treaty. LaFeber (2002)
America, Russia and the Cold War offers a detailed account of superpower rivalry. Hal-
berstam (1983) The Best and the Brightest provides an excellent analysis of the motives
behind US involvement in Vietnam. The inside story of the end of the Cold War is
recounted in Beschloss and Talbott (1993) At the Highest Level and Bush and Scowcroft
(1998) A World Transformed. Ambrose and Brinkley (1997) sketch out America’s
growing power in Rise to Globalism as does Brown (1994) in The Faces of Power. The
uncertainties surrounding US foreign policy at the end of the Cold War are considered
in Scott (1998) After the End and in Oye, Lieber, and Rothchild (1992) Eagle in a New
World. The various works of Henry Kissinger offer a detailed, if partial, view of US
foreign policy in the 1970s and 1980s.
For an introduction to the basic concepts of international relations theory see the
texts by Art, Booth, Doyle, Nye, Viotti and Kauppi, Weber, and Waltz, listed in the
bibliography.
From colony to superpower
Kramnick (1987) The Federalist Papers provides a good overview of the debates between
the Founding Fathers of the republic. Cooper (2001) Breaking the Heart of the World
examines Woodrow Wilson’s fight for the League of Nations treaty. LaFeber (2002) America,
Russia and the Cold War offers a detailed account of superpower rivalry. Halberstam (1983)
The Best and the Brightest provides an excellent analysis of the motives behind US
involvement in Vietnam. The inside story of the end of the Cold War is recounted in
Beschloss and Talbott (1993) At the Highest Level and Bush and Scowcroft (1998) A World
Transformed. Ambrose and Brinkley (1997) sketch out America’s growing power in Rise to
Globalism as does Brown (1994) in The Faces of ower. The uncertainties surrounding US
foreign policy at the end of the Cold War are considered in Scott (1998) After the End and in
Oye, Lieber, and Rothchild (1992) Eagle in a New World. The various works of Henry
Kissinger offer a detailed, if partial, view of US foreign policy in the 1970s and 1980s.
For an introduction to the basic concepts of international relations theory see the texts by Art,
Booth, Doyle, Nye, Viotti and Kauppi, Weber, and Waltz, listed in the bibliography.