Making Foreign PolicyWilson 20 B

Machinery

• Secretary of State• President• Many agencies• CIA• Defense• FBI• DEA• Embassies• Rivalries

• NSC• POTUS• VP• State• Defense• CIA• Joint Chiefs• Kissinger• Poindexter/North

Public Opinion

• Shift from isolation during WWII• Universally popular• Great success• Defeated evil – Nazis• Avenged homeland – Pearl Harbor

• Became world power

• Polls heavily influenced by questions, phrasing, leaders, and events

• See table 20.1 on page 540

Backing the President

• Tend to rally around the flag• More important than domestic policy• Fallacy about distaste when soldiers die• Change support to desire of victory• Presidents don’t start wars to boost popularity

• General public not informed in foreign affairs• Aught to support troops once they are there

• Elites better informed, more internationalist• Opinion changes more rapidly, more liberal

Cleavages Among Elites

• Greater influence in foreign policy• Deeply divided worldviews• Shaped by the mistakes of previous generations• Isolationism – withdraw from world affairs• Containment – resist expansion of aggressive nations• Disengagement – burned by Vietnam• 3 ways of interpreting on page 544

• Human Rights – improve lives of people elsewhere• Not consistently applied

• New 9/11 reality of terror• Go it alone or build coalition• Pre-emptive action?