By Jennifer Nicoll Victor, Ph.D., George Mason University
As a principal strategic actor on the world stage, the United States needs to successfully navigate relationships with scores of nations. There are many institutions which help create and implement a coherent foreign policy—from multiple branches of government to international organizations—all with an eye to help America reach its national security goals. These goals generally include security, economic prosperity, and sometimes, humanitarian justice.
Foreign policy can refer to any of the programs, policies, or actions taken by representatives of a government as they engage with foreign entities. Often foreign policy and diplomacy go hand in hand. In the United States, the Department of State is the chief agency in charge of America’s diplomatic missions.
Since foreign policy priorities and approaches are often shaped by the policy goals and global perspectives of whomever is currently in power, the principal task of the State Department is to implement this vision.
This is a transcript from the video series Understanding the US Government. Watch it now, on Wondrium.
Non-State Actors
Foreign policy also focuses on and includes economic and trade relationships, military action, security policy, and human rights issues. Therefore, when we talk about agents who engage in foreign policy, we’re not always talking about government actors.
Non-state actors, such as corporations, international organizations, or even terrorist groups, each have their own interests, and often play a role in influencing foreign policy. For the most part, though, America’s official foreign policy actions occur through a sophisticated and organized system made up of domestic government actors.
Learn more about seven types of organized interest groups.
Historical Perspective
If we go down in the annals of history, we can clearly see how the US attitude toward foreign policy has changed since the country’s formation. For most of the history of the United States, America avoided interactions with foreign powers.
During the 18th and 19th century, America’s presidents generally thought that one of the strengths of the new nation was that the Atlantic Ocean provided a geographic barrier from countries in Europe and Africa. During those years, the United States followed a policy known as isolationism.
Isolating the United States
Leaders such as George Washington and James Monroe advocated for isolating the United States from other nations in order to avoid involvement in their conflicts or crises. This sentiment was largely held until World War I, when advances in technology, communication, and transportation made it much more difficult to follow an isolationist strategy, and profoundly changed America’s position in the world.
For instance, as technology began to connect people and economies across borders, it became more difficult for the United States to follow an isolationist strategy.
World War I
During World War I, President Woodrow Wilson argued that if German forces prevailed in Europe, it would adversely affect the economy and security of the United States. Therefore, the United States joined with Great Britain and France to help defeat Germany in World War I.
But even after the First World War—or perhaps because of it—the pull toward isolationism continued. Despite the global economic collapse of the Great Depression beginning in 1929, the US remained largely isolationist until December 7, 1941.
Pearl Harbor
The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor made two things abundantly clear: First, oceans would not necessarily protect the United States from the growing global conflict of World War II. And, second, the steady increase in technologies, communications, and modes of transportation made a policy of isolationism virtually impossible. America was forced onto the world stage, like never before.
The United States and Allied forces were victorious in World War II and the period that followed created a new world order with an entirely different foreign policy position for the United States.
Learn more about economic and social turmoil in the 19th century.
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
The new foreign policy position that came about was strongly influenced by the actions that the US took to end World War II, when the United States dropped two nuclear bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
Over 200,000 people were killed in those attacks, mostly civilians, and to this day these are the only times nuclear weapons have been used in armed conflict.
While using these weapons hastened the end of the war, it also established the United States atop a global military hierarchy. It now not only possessed the most deadly and violent weapons known to humans but also demonstrated a frightening willingness to use them. From a foreign policy of isolationism, the United States now stepped into a more proactive role in the global arena.
Common Questions about America’s Foreign Policy
Foreign policy can refer to any of the programs, policies, or actions taken by representatives of a government as they engage with foreign entities.
Foreign policy focuses on diplomacy and includes economic and trade relationships, military action, security policy, and human rights issues.
Leaders such as George Washington and James Monroe advocated for isolating the United States from other nations in order to avoid involvement in their conflicts or crises.
The new foreign policy position that came about was strongly influenced by the actions that the US took to end World War II, when the United States dropped two nuclear bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
