Trends in just war thinking during the US presidential debates 2000–12: genocide prevention and the renewed salience of last resort

2013 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
DANIEL R. BRUNSTETTER
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Just War ◽  
Us Foreign Policy ◽  
Presidential Debates ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Past ◽  
Critical Engagement ◽  
Time Period ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Way

AbstractIn this article, I explore the place of the just war tradition in US foreign policy by examining the use of just war language in the presidential debates in 2000 (Bush-Gore), 2004 (Bush-Kerry), 2008 (McCain-Obama), and 2012 (Obama-Romney). While critics focus on the use and abuse of just war language as rhetorical gloss to persuade the public an upcoming conflict is morally legitimate while serving the national interest, the debates showcase just war principles as part of a language of critical engagement. Each debate cycle allowed for critical reflection on the foreign policy decisions and just war philosophy of the incumbent president. During the time period I examine, the process of critical engagement identified two moral shortcomings of the past – the failure to act to stop the genocide in Rwanda and the premature use of force in Iraq. These perceived failures catalysed convergence, across party lines, on the way some jus ad bellum principles were understood: Just cause as including the moral obligation to intervene in some way to stop genocide and the renewed salience of the principle of last resort. There remained, however, stark differences in the way legitimate authority was understood.

A Structural Explanation for Sino-US-Venezuelan Relations

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony Petros Spanakos
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
South America ◽  
Global Governance ◽  
Regional Governance ◽  
Chinese Foreign Policy ◽  
Us Foreign Policy ◽  
Governance System ◽  
Structural Explanation ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Way

US-Venezuelan relations display both confrontation and cooperation. Chinese relations with Venezuela are a most likely case for rebellion against the global governance system over which the US presides. This chapter makes a structuralist argument, arguing that the way that the three countries are positioned within global and regional governance structures conditions the underlying character of their relations with each other. Simply put, the US, China, and Venezuela have very different interests and capabilities and their structural positions in South America explain why the increased Chinese presence in Venezuela is neither a threat to the US nor does it substantially aid Venezuelan intentions toward multi-polarizing the region or world. To make this argument, the chapter assumes that US foreign policy toward Venezuela is informed by its position as regional hegemon, Chinese foreign policy toward Venezuela is informed by its position as an extra-regional commercial state, and Venezuelan foreign policy toward both is informed by its position as a petrostate.

scholarly journals Europe and America, partners in prosperity

European View ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-57
Author(s):  
José María Aznar López
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Us Foreign Policy ◽  
Free Movement ◽  
Trade Barriers ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Us ◽  
The World ◽  
Transatlantic Relationship ◽  
Free Movement Of Goods ◽  
The Eu

Despite the ascendance of other regions in the world, the transatlantic relationship remains paramount. The cultural, historic and economic links between the US and Europe are strong and important. Notwithstanding the strength of these bonds, Europe has lost currency for US foreign policy as it has moved its focus to Asia. This can be attributed to the lack of coordination on the part of the Europeans and preoccupation with the EU's institutional debate. Now that the Lisbon Treaty has been ratified, the institutional debate is in the past and the EU must redouble its efforts to strengthen the transatlantic partnership. Going forward, the only way that the transatlantic partnership can be strengthened and for prosperity on both sides of the Atlantic to be assured is the removal of all trade barriers and the introduction of the free movement of goods, services, capital and labour across the Atlantic.

scholarly journals J. William Fulbright on the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee

2019 ◽  
pp. 46-70
Author(s):  
Frédérick Gagnon
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Foreign Relations ◽  
Us Foreign Policy ◽  
The Public ◽  
Agenda Setter ◽  
The Us ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Us Senate ◽  
And Behavior

Various chairs of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC) have played a significant role in shaping US foreign policy since 1945. However, when one considers that J. William Fulbright was a member of the SFRC from 1949 to 1975 and its longest-serving chair (from 1959 to 1975), one can argue that the senator shaped the history of the SFRC like no other. Examining the role and legacy of Fulbright as a member and chair of the SFRC, this chapter argues that three pillars guided his attitude and behavior on the committee: Fulbright saw himself as a foreign policy intellectual and agenda setter, a public educator, and a restrainer of presidential power. This chapter not only describes how Fulbright played these three roles. It also shows that one key aspect of Fulbright’s legacy as chair of the SFRC is that he used the public sphere more than any of his predecessors and immediate successors to try to influence US foreign policy.

US Foreign Policy towards Ghana and Tanzania: An Afrocentric Review

2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kgothatso Shai
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Us Foreign Policy ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Us ◽  
Strategic Studies

In this article, the author uses Afrocentricity in order to provide an African point of view in respect of the analysis of the United States (US) foreign policy towards Africa. Given the dominance of mainstream thinking about the US foreign policy that takes for granted US as a prominent and primary in defining the relations, this article employs historical sensibility in order to trace the US relationship with Ghana and Tanzania using Afrocentric lens. This discourse is often partially understood due to the lack of an Afrocentric perspective on the existing literature in this aspect of Strategic Studies. History is crucial in this regard because the past provides a sound basis for understanding the present and future. This helps challenge the thinking overly informed by mainstream theories in Strategic Studies. As it shall be seen below, such a paradigm remains critical in highlighting the peculiarity of the US relationship with Ghana and Tanzania and in providing a deeper understanding of underlying dynamics in US foreign policy towards Africa. To realise the purpose of this article, the author relies methodologically on interdisciplinary critical discourse and conversations in their widest forms.

Isolationism revisited: seven persistent myths in the contemporary American foreign policy debate

2005 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 237-261 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Dunn
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Political Discourse ◽  
American Foreign Policy ◽  
Us Foreign Policy ◽  
The Political ◽  
Policy Debate ◽  
The Us ◽  
Changes Over Time ◽  
Over Time ◽  
The Way

‘Isolationism’ is a much used and abused term in the contemporary American foreign policy debate. This article seeks to illuminate some of the misunderstandings that surround the use of this term by challenging seven persistent myths about isolationism. In so doing it sheds light on the often unarticulated role that this and other ideas play in the US foreign policy debate. It also seeks to demonstrate the nature of the main ideational cleavages within this debate which the isolationist name-calling obscures, and to show the way in which language is used in the political discourse and how its meaning in this debate changes over time.

US Presidential Elections and Foreign Policy

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Presidential Elections ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
Us Foreign Policy ◽  
Policy Issues ◽  
Presidential Candidates ◽  
The Public ◽  
Foreign Policies ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Way

This book explores the relationship between American presidential elections and US foreign policy. It argues that analysis of this relationship is currently underdeveloped (indeed, largely ignored) in the academic literature and among historians in particular and is part of a broader negligence of the influence of US politics and the public on foreign policy. It is usually taken as being axiomatic that domestic factors, especially the economy, are the most influential when people enter the voting booth. This may often be the case, but foreign policy undoubtedly also plays an important part for some people, and, crucially, it is seen to do so by presidential candidates and their advisers. Therefore, while foreign policy issues influence some voters in the way they choose to vote, the perception that voters care about certain foreign policy issues can also have a profound effect on the way in which presidents craft their foreign policies. Although we agree with those scholars who argue that it is difficult to discern the impact of domestic politics on foreign policy making, this complex relationship is one that, we feel, requires further exploration. This collection therefore seeks to understand the relative importance of US foreign policy on domestic elections and electoral positions and the impact of electoral issues on the formation of foreign policy.

World Economy: Prospects and Barriers for Recovery

2012 ◽  
pp. 61-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Ershov
Keyword(s):  
World Economy ◽  
Western World ◽  
Short Time Period ◽  
Market Segments ◽  
Junk Bonds ◽  
The Past ◽  
Time Period ◽  
The Us ◽  
Global Liquidity ◽  
Short Time

According to the latest forecasts, it will take 10 years for the world economy to get back to “decent shape”. Some more critical estimates suggest that the whole western world will have a “colossal mess” within the next 5–10 years. Regulators of some major countries significantly and over a short time‑period changed their forecasts for the worse which means that uncertainty in the outlook for the future persists. Indeed, the intensive anti‑crisis measures have reduced the severity of the past problems, however the problems themselves have not disappeared. Moreover, some of them have become more intense — the eurocrisis, excessive debts, global liquidity glut against the backdrop of its deficit in some of market segments. As was the case prior to the crisis, derivatives and high‑risk operations with “junk” bonds grow; budget problems — “fiscal cliff” in the US — and other problems worsen. All of the above forces the regulators to take unprecedented (in their scope and nature) steps. Will they be able to tackle the problems which emerge?

The End of History Museums: What's Plan B??

2008 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 9-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cary Carson
Keyword(s):  
Historic Sites ◽  
The Public ◽  
End Of History ◽  
House Museums ◽  
The Past ◽  
History Museums ◽  
Plan B ◽  
The End Of History ◽  
The Way

Abstract Are historic sites and house museums destined to go the way of Oldsmobiles and floppy disks?? Visitation has trended downwards for thirty years. Theories abound, but no one really knows why. To launch a discussion of the problem in the pages of The Public Historian, Cary Carson cautions against the pessimistic view that the past is simply passéé. Instead he offers a ““Plan B”” that takes account of the new way that learners today organize information to make history meaningful.

Regime Type, Post-Materialism, and International Public Opinion about US Foreign Policy: The Afghan and Iraqi Wars

2006 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-39
Author(s):  
BENJAMIN E. GOLDSMITH
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Us Foreign Policy ◽  
Regime Type ◽  
Security Cooperation ◽  
Muslim Population ◽  
Preliminary Results ◽  
Several Variables ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Relationship

Previous research (e.g., Horiuchi, Goldsmith, and Inoguchi, 2005) has shown some intriguing patterns of effects of several variables on international public opinion about US foreign policy. But results for the theoretically appealing effects of regime type and post-materialist values have been weak or inconsistent. This paper takes a closer look at the relationship between these two variables and international public opinion about US foreign policy. In particular, international reaction to the wars in Afghanistan (2001) and Iraq (2003) are examined using two major multinational surveys. The conclusions of previous research are largely reinforced: neither regime type nor post-materialist values appears to robustly influence global opinion on these events. Rather, some central interests, including levels of trade with the US and NATO membership, and key socialized factors, including a Muslim population, experience with terrorism, and the exceptional experiences of two states (Israel, Albania) emerge as the most important factors in the models. There is also a consistent backlash effect of security cooperation with the US outside of NATO. A discussion of these preliminary results points to their theoretical implications and their significance for further investigation into the transnational dynamics of public opinion and foreign policy.

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