From consensus to conflict: the domestic political economy of East-West energy trade policy

Changes in the domestic politics of East-West energy trade policy indicate a more general transformation of the domestic politics of American foreign policy. In the postwar period the basic, consensual pattern of congressional bipartisanship, executivebranch unity, interest-group collaboration, and a supportive public has been replaced by the conflictual pattern of an assertive Congress, a fragmented executive branch, antagonistic interest groups, and a divided public. These contrasting patterns are manifestations of structural changes in the domestic political economy. Along both political and economic dimensions, and differentiated according to whether the locus of pressure was group-specific or more general, what had been basic foundations of consensus became by the early 1970s fissures of conflict. Of particular significance were the weakening of the macropolitical foundations (the basic accord on foreignpolicy objectives and strategies) in the wake of both Vietnam and detente and the increased marginal value of the economic costs, both diffuse (macroeconomic) and particularistic (microeconomic), to be paid for economic coercion. In this transformed context, the state's support-building instruments of ideology and economic compensation were insufficient to build consensus. As a result, in this issue area and perhaps more generally, high levels of domestic constraints on the conduct of American foreign policy have become the rule rather than the exception.

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The “Israel Lobby” and American Politics

Perspectives on Politics ◽

10.1017/s153759270909077x ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 7 (2) ◽

pp. 235-257 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Robert C. Lieberman

Keyword(s):

Foreign Policy ◽

Middle East ◽

American Politics ◽

Domestic Politics ◽

American Foreign Policy ◽

Executive Branch ◽

Recent Book ◽

Policy Outcomes ◽

Policy Agendas ◽

Apparent Influence

In their recent book,The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy,John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt argue that American support for Israel does not serve American interests. Nevertheless, they observe that American foreign policy regarding the Middle East, especially in recent years, has tilted strongly toward support for Israel, and they attribute this support to the influence of the “Israel lobby” in American domestic politics. Their book is principally an attempt to make a causal argument about American politics and policymaking. I examine three aspects of this argument—its causal logic, the use of evidence to support hypotheses, and the argument's connection with the state of knowledge about American politics—and conclude that the case for the Israel lobby as the primary cause of American support for Israel is at best a weak one, although it points to a number of interesting questions about the mechanisms of power in American politics. Mearsheimer and Walt's propositions about the direct influence of the Israel lobby on Congress and the executive branch are generally not supported by theory or evidence. Less conclusive and more suggestive, however, are their arguments about the lobby's apparent influence on the terms and boundaries of legitimate debate and discussion of Israel and the Middle East in American policymaking. These directions point to an alternative approach to investigating the apparent influence of the Israel lobby in American politics, focusing less on direct, overt power over policy outcomes and more on more subtle pathways of influence over policy agendas and the terms of policy discourse.

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1. Introduction: US foreign policy—past, present, and future

US Foreign Policy ◽

10.1093/hepl/9780198707578.003.0001 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Michael Cox ◽

Doug Stokes

Keyword(s):

Foreign Policy ◽

Domestic Politics ◽

American Foreign Policy ◽

The United States ◽

Us Foreign Policy ◽

Asia Pacific ◽

White House ◽

Pressure Groups ◽

East Russia ◽

Key Issues

This work examines how domestic politics and culture shape US foreign policy, with particular emphasis on the role of institutions and processes. It considers the ways in which pressure groups and elites determine influence what the United States does abroad, the importance of regional shifts and media and their impact on the making of US foreign policy, and US relations with Europe, the Middle East, Russia, the Asia-Pacific region, Latin America, and Africa. The text also discusses key issues relevant to American foreign policy, such as global terrorism, the global environment, gender, and religion. It argues that whoever resides in the White House will continue to give the military a central role in the conduct of US foreign policy, and that whoever ‘runs’ American foreign policy will still have to deal with the same challenges both at home and abroad.

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American Grand Strategy and Political Economy Theory

10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.013.316 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Kevin Narizny

Keyword(s):

Political Economy ◽

Foreign Policy ◽

American Foreign Policy ◽

Defense Spending ◽

Grand Strategy ◽

International Economy ◽

Rust Belt ◽

Middle Ground ◽

Donald Trump ◽

American Grand Strategy

Nearly everything a state does has distributional consequences, including grand strategy. Societal groups with different stakes in the international economy and defense spending often have conflicting strategic priorities, and these groups pursue their parochial interests by supporting the nomination and election of like-minded politicians. Thus, grand strategy is a product of political economy. An overview of American foreign policy over the last several decades illustrates this logic. In the 1980s, the Democratic and Republican coalitions had conflicting interests over the international economy, so the two parties diverged on grand strategy. The recovery of the Rust Belt in the 1990s and 2000s, however, brought increasing convergence. Political discourse over foreign policy was fiercely partisan, but, with the notable exception of George W. Bush’s decision to go to war in Iraq in 2003, the two parties shared essentially the same view of America’s role in the world. The disastrous outcome in Iraq led the Bush administration back to the middle ground in its second term, and Obama followed the same course. In contrast, the election of Donald Trump augurs change. Trump’s electoral coalition consists of a different balance of interests in the international economy than that of past Republican presidents, so he is likely to pursue different strategic priorities.

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Water's Edge: Domestic Politics and the Making of American Foreign Policy

Foreign Affairs ◽

10.2307/20040373 ◽

1979 ◽

Vol 58 (1) ◽

pp. 194

Author(s):

W. D. ◽

Paula Stern

Keyword(s):

Foreign Policy ◽

Domestic Politics ◽

American Foreign Policy

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U.S. Domestic Politics and International Political Economy: An Introduction to the Special Issue

Business and Politics ◽

10.2202/1469-3569.1413 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 13 (3) ◽

pp. 1-4 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Chloe Thurston ◽

Kathryn Bowen

Keyword(s):

Political Economy ◽

Domestic Politics ◽

International Political Economy ◽

The United States ◽

Executive Branch ◽

Business Strategies ◽

Special Issue ◽

Policy Debates ◽

Critical Issues

The articles in this special issue of Business and Politics weigh in on the domestic political dynamics that continue to shape the international political economy, with a focus on the United States case. In this issue, Richard Carney discusses the role of New Deal–era farmers in shaping modern global financial standards, Daniel Kono analyzes the relationship between social policy and support for freer trade, and Kathleen Rehbein and Douglas Schuler examine the characteristics of business firms that are most likely to gain legislative and executive branch access in the area of trade policy. The two final articles provide insights into critical issues in ongoing policy debates. Irja Vormedal discusses the role of business strategies and “tipping points” in determining the support and failure of federal environmental regulation from 1990 through 2010, while Emily Yixuan Cao, Yong Cao, Rashmi Prasad, and Zhengping Shen argue that domestic politics continues (and will continue) to influence the character of U.S.-China exchange rate negotiations. This introduction to the special issue summarizes the contributions of these five articles and also situates them in relation to other contemporary political science debates.

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