Morality and the Use of Force in a Unipolar World: The “Wilsonian Moment”?

2000 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 11-22
Author(s):  
Tony Smith
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
National Security ◽  
American Foreign Policy ◽  
Use Of Force ◽  
Democratic Government ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
The World

When, where, and how should the promotion of human rights and democracy abroad figure in American foreign policy? A compelling way for liberals to influence this debate is to underscore a Wilsonian agenda's relevance to national security. To the extent that stability in a region is grounded in a commitment to liberal democratic government, American security interests are served directly and powerfully. Nevertheless, liberals must also recognize that in some regions their agenda may be irrelevant, even quixotic. Not every part of the world is ready for the liberal democratic message, and the failure to recognize this fundamental truth has often undercut efforts to advance a Wilsonian agenda.

Human Rights and Carter's Policy

Worldview ◽  
1978 ◽  
Vol 21 (10) ◽  
pp. 12-15
Author(s):  
Leo J. Wollemborg
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
American Foreign Policy ◽  
Carter Administration ◽  
Foreign Affairs ◽  
American People ◽  
Special Regard ◽  
The World ◽  
Active Commitment ◽  
The Way

After almost two years of the Carter administration the commitment to human rights, which represents a key aspect of its policies, has become a topic for much discussion and interest but seems still to be inadequately understood. The main reason for this failure, I feel, is that very few earnest efforts have been made to determine the actual scope and significance of the administration's approach as it emerges from the way it operates and from the way it developed out of the principles of freedom and morality that have inspired the best traditions and beliefs of the American people.Long before Mr. Carter announced his candidacy Richard N. Gardner, our present ambassador to Italy, had become one of his closest advisors on foreign affairs, with special regard to human rights. During recent conversations in Rome, Ambassador Gardner recalled that “an active commitment to the promotion of human rights everywhere in the world is not a novel feature in American foreign policy.

U.S. Foreign Policymaking and National Security

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shoon Murray ◽  
Jordan Tama
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
National Security ◽  
Separation Of Powers ◽  
American Foreign Policy ◽  
Policy Agenda ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Presidential Candidates ◽  
The World ◽  
The Media ◽  
The U.S

This chapter revisits the old paradox that the U.S. president is perhaps the most powerful person in the world and yet is constrained domestically by other political actors and a centuries-old constitutional framework. The chapter discusses key actors that shape American foreign policy, including the president, presidential advisers, the federal bureaucracy, Congress, the courts, interest groups, the media, and public opinion. Presidential candidates often call for major shifts in foreign policy, but once they are in office presidents are constrained by strategic and fiscal realities, the bureaucracy’s preference for continuity, America’s separation of powers system, rising partisanship, the fragmented media, and the openness of U.S. institutions to societal pressures. The result is that modern presidents struggle to build and maintain the domestic backing needed to carry out their foreign policy agenda.

Carter ’s Human Rights Campaign

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tony Smith
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
American Foreign Policy ◽  
Carter Administration ◽  
Clear Cut ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
Cut Set ◽  
Precise Interpretation

This chapter examines Jimmy Carter's promotion of human rights abroad as part of his foreign policy. The Carter administration gave a relatively precise interpretation of the meaning of human rights and connected it to a clear-cut set of political instruments, thus operationalizing traditional Wilsonianism in a novel and sometimes effective fashion. Indeed, Carter established a reputation for his abiding concern for human rights in other parts of the globe. The chapter begins with an analysis of what the Carter administration's commitment to human rights meant exactly, noting that the campaign for human rights did not originally intend to promote democracy in world affairs. It then considers the lessons of the Carter years for our understanding of liberalism's strengths and weaknesses in the conduct of American foreign policy by focusing on the debacle in Nicaragua and Iran. It also assesses Carter's legacy with respect to liberal democratic internationalism.

FDR and World Order: Globalizing the Monroe Doctrine

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tony Smith
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
National Security ◽  
American Foreign Policy ◽  
World Order ◽  
The United States ◽  
World War ◽  
Power Politics ◽  
Monroe Doctrine ◽  
Liberal Democratic

This chapter examines Franklin D. Roosevelt's liberal democratic internationalism and his efforts to assure American national security by constructing a stable world order based on the Monroe Doctrine of 1823, which the United States sought to globalize in the aftermath of the Axis defeat in World War II. It first considers how FDR infused American liberalism with a healthy dose of realism about the appropriateness of democracy for other countries in the aftermath of World War II before discussing anti-imperialism as a component of American foreign policy. It also explores the United States's promotion of democracy and pursuit of a liberal world order as a means of countering Soviet imperialism. It argues that liberal democratic internationalism has been the American way of practicing balance-of-power politics in world affairs, and that the dominant logic of American foreign policy was dictated by concerns for national security.

Wilson and a World Safe for Democracy

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tony Smith
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Security Policy ◽  
American Foreign Policy ◽  
World Order ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
World War ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
The World

This chapter examines Woodrow Wilson's comprehensive program for world order that came to constitute the foundation of liberal democratic internationalism, also known as Wilsonianism. Wilson's policy, designed “to make the world safe for democracy,” was not a radical departure from traditional American national security policy. His proposals to restructure world politics on the basis of a liberal world order were consistent with basic propositions of past American foreign policy. The chapter first considers the theory and practice underlying Wilsonianism before discussing the dilemma of Wilson's policy in Europe. It also explores the virtues of Wilsonianism for the postwar world, such as its acknowledgment of the fundamental political importance of nationalism. Finally, it emphasizes the resurgence of Wilsonianism in American foreign policy in the aftermath of World War II.

On American Values, Unalienable Rights, and Human Rights: Some Reflections on the Pompeo Commission

2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mathias Risse
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Natural Law ◽  
American Foreign Policy ◽  
Economic Rights ◽  
Declaration Of Independence ◽  
American Values ◽  
Natural Law Theory ◽  
Per Se ◽  
The U.S

AbstractIn July 2019, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo launched a Commission on Unalienable Rights, charged with a reexamination of the scope and nature of human rights–based claims. From his statements, it seems that Pompeo hopes the commission will substantiate—by appeal to the U.S. Declaration of Independence and to natural law theory—three key conservative ideas: (1) that there is too much human rights proliferation, and once we get things right, social and economic rights as well as gender emancipation and reproductive rights will no longer register as human rights; (2) that religious liberties should be strengthened under the human rights umbrella; and (3) that the unalienable rights that should guide American foreign policy neither need nor benefit from any international oversight. I aim to show that despite Pompeo's framing, the Declaration of Independence, per se, is of no help with any of this, whereas evoking natural law is only helpful in ways that reveal its own limitations as a foundation for both human rights and foreign policy in our interconnected age.

Lyndon Johnson Confronts the World: American Foreign Policy, 1963-1968

1998 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 189
Author(s):  
Jim Meriwether ◽  
Warren I. Cohen ◽  
Nancy Bernkopf Tucker
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
American Foreign Policy ◽  
The World ◽  
Lyndon Johnson

scholarly journals Trump, Russia, and China: The First 100 Days

2017 ◽  
pp. 116-122
Author(s):  
M. Share
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Turning Point ◽  
Transition Period ◽  
American Foreign Policy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Key Indicator ◽  
The World ◽  
The Future

On April 30 the United States and the World marked the 100th day in office of Donald Trump as President of the United States. The first 100 days are considered as a key indicator of the fortunes for a new President’s program. This article briefly reviews the 2016 campaign and election, the 11 week transition period, his first 100 days, a brief examination of both American-Russian relations and Sino-American relations, and lastly, what the future bodes for each under a Trump Presidency. The 100 Day period has been chaotic, shifting, and at times incoherent. He has made 180 degree shifts toward many major issues, including Russia and China, which has only confused numerous world leaders, including Presidents Putin and Xi. There has been a definite disconnection between what Trump says about Russia, and what his advisors and cabinet officials say. So far Trump has conducted a highly personalized and transactional foreign policy. All is up for negotiation at this a huge turning point in American foreign policy, the greatest one since 1945. Given all the world’s instabilities today, a rapprochement between the United States and Russia is a truly worthwhile objective, and should be strongly pursued.

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