Hello. I’m Craig and this is Crash Course
Government and Politics and congratulations
you have made it to the final Crash Course
Government and Politics video! Whoo!
Today we’re going to look at the mystifying
paradox of both the least and most important
aspect of government: foreign policy.
Foreign policy is the most important because
it has the potential to affect the largest
number of people, especially if you include
environmental policy, which we should. Also,
foreign policy includes a lot of elements
of economic policy, so that’s important.
But it’s also the least important, first
because it tends to have a minimal impact
on how Americans think about their government, unless the U.S. is at war and even then not always so much.
Second, because it is the least democratic
government policy. Which might be a good thing.
[Theme Music]
Foreign policy is the collection of policies that determine America’s relations with other nations & foreign entities.
It includes: - diplomacy
- military and security policy
- international human rights policies
- economic policies such as trade and international energy policy, and
- environmental policy.
My environmental policy is [punches eagle] ...that.
In some ways, foreign policy is the quintessential
public good. Everybody benefits from a policy
that makes citizens, and the world, safer,
and no individual, except for maybe a Bond-style
supervillain could pull it off by themselves.
Like all government policy, foreign policy
has goals. Of course, foreign policy is about
providing security, but American foreign policy
also seeks to create prosperity, and works
toward a somewhat idealistic goal of making
the world a better place.
Security has many facets, and like most things,
it has grown more complex over time. It used
to simply mean being able to repel invaders.
[Mongoltage]
No, not like the Mongols, more like the British.
Now however, in addition to physical security,
foreign policy encompasses transportation,
energy, cyber-security, and food security.
So we can see how foreign policy and
economic policy are closely related.
And of course, we can’t forget terrorism.
I can’t resist a little history here, especially
since this is the last episode of the series.
From the beginning, starting with George Washington,
in terms of physical security, the U.S. has
been pretty isolationist, although Canadians
and Mexicans would probably disagree.
George Washington urged the U.S. to avoid
“foreign entanglements” and we basically
did, right up until World Wars I and II, when
threats to the international order were seen
as detrimental to American security, even though there wasn’t much danger of the Germans invading the U.S.
After World War II, the advent of long range bombers and then ICBMs meant that there was a threat to
Americans in America and security policy developed into one of deterrence, which meant building up
enough military strength to discourage potential enemies, pronounced Soviet Union, from attacking us.
Deterrence was expensive, and required a large
arsenal of dangerous weapons and a willingness
to fight, which the U.S. did in Korea and
Vietnam. We still maintain an enormous nuclear
arsenal, but nowadays, different security
threats mean deterrence is less important.
It’s not clear that a gigantic nuclear threat
has much effect on terrorists, and since 2001,
America has pursued a global war on terror,
that, as we saw in Iraq, includes the doctrine
of preemptive war to forestall potential threats.
Although military force may be the most visible
form of U.S. foreign policy, it might not
be the most useful. For one thing, it’s
generally seen as a last resort, which I’d
say is a good thing. It also has significant downsides, including costs, both in terms of lives and money.
It’s also politically dangerous because,
while Americans are usually on board with
short, decisive and victorious military action, the longer a war drags on, the less support it tends to have.
The main economic goals of foreign policy
are to expand opportunities for the U.S.,
promote foreign investment, maintain access
to foreign energy supplies, and promote trade
policies that will keep prices low at American
big box stores.
What this means in practice is that the U.S.
maintains an active role in international
organizations, like the World Trade Organization,
that make and uphold free trade rules.
We grant “most favorable nation” status
to trading partners that agree to low tariffs,
and most notably we engage in regional trade
agreements like NAFTA.
The third goal of foreign policy is to make
the world a better place. One way that the
U.S. does this is through international human
rights initiatives.
The U.S. is a party to many human rights treaties,
but we have a somewhat complicated relationship
with the UN and international lawmaking bodies,
so we don’t sign on to all of them.
For example, the U.S. hasn’t signed on to
the international criminal court, probably
because we’re afraid that submitting to
its jurisdiction would be a loss of our sovereignty.
But in reality international law isn’t a
huge part of American foreign policy.
The U.S. also engages in international peace-keeping
missions, and international peace certainly
makes the world a better place.
America doesn’t usually commit its soldiers
to UN peacekeeping missions, preferring to
make its own coalitions or work through NATO,
which by the way is an example of an international
security agreement too. See there’s a lot
of overlap here.
Another way the U.S. makes the world a better
place is through international environmental policy.
Again, (punches eagle) that’s my environmental
policy. Keep eagles away from me.
Environmental policy has a domestic component, as when we set fuel standards or rules for power plant
emissions or dumping toxic chemicals. But since we’re all on one planet with one environment, it’s also part of
foreign policy. Talk to me when you live on Mars. Then maybe you don’t have to worry about this stuff.
On the other hand, the U.S. lags behind other
nations in terms of participation in many
global environmental initiatives, which is
a bit of a problem considering we’re one
of the world’s biggest polluters and producers
of greenhouse gasses.
I can’t imagine these statements are going
to lead to any bad comments. At all.
When it comes to the conflict between environmental
protection and economic growth, Americans
tend to choose economic growth.
So, overall, in terms of foreign policy goals,
security comes first, economics second and
making the world a better place definitely
third, at least in terms of formal foreign policy.
This brings us to the question of how foreign
policy is made, and why foreign policy is
the least democratic type of policy the government
makes.
Let’s go to the final Thought Bubble for
Crash Course Government and Politics. Whoo!
At the top of the foreign policy picture is
the President, who the constitution suggests
is the nation’s chief diplomat, having the
power to receive foreign ambassadors and negotiate
treaties. The president gets all the face
to face meetings with foreign leaders and
has authority to hammer out agreements; remember
that when the Constitution was written most
other countries were still ruled by kings,
emperors, and sultans, so we needed a single
person to do the negotiating. He also has
the advantage of being “the decider” on
crucial issues, which may be good or bad depending
on whether or not you like his decisions.
But the president, like John Green, is only
one man, so most of the day-to-day work of
foreign policy is relegated to bureaucrats.
Like most of the day-to-day work of Crash
Course is relegated to bureaucrats like me,
and Stan, and Zulaiha, and Raoul, and Brandon,
and Thought Cafe, oh this isn’t the credits
let’s move on.
Diplomatic work is handled mainly by the State
Department, but they get a lot of help from
the defense department and the intelligence
gathering agencies like the CIA, NSA, and
DHS. After all, you want to have as much information
as you can before you sit down at the table
to negotiate. Unless you are negotiating the
size and shape of the table. Which has happened.
Congress has a role in foreign policy but it's a
limited one, and that’s probably a good thing.
The Senate has the constitutional power to
ratify treaties, but since a 2/3 vote is required,
the president will often try to create foreign
policy with executive agreements that only
require a majority vote in both houses, which
is usually easier to secure, especially recently.
One way Congress has a big role to play in
foreign policy through its power of the purse.
It takes money to pursue a policy, and it
takes a purse to hold money. And especially
in the area of defense Congress appropriates
a lot of it. Money not purses. Contrary to
popular belief, though, Congress hasn’t
budgeted a lot of money for other types of
foreign policy, especially aid to foreign
nations.
Thanks, Thought Bubble.
[cries] I’m going to miss you.
Congressional committees, like those on foreign
relations can provide some expertise, but
not as much as bureaucracies, because Congressmen
still have to spend a lot of time running
for re-election and usually those elections
don’t hinge on their knowledge of foreign affairs.
They can also try to limit the executive branch’s
authority through hearings like the one that
targeted the State Department’s handling
of the Benghazi incident, but these don’t
usually effect business as usual at the bureaucracy,
although they may force a few resignations.
Congress at times does try to assert a foreign policy power like it recently did with Iran’s nuclear deal.
But it takes a hot-button issue like Iranian
nuclear weapons to garner enough public attention
for Congress to wade into foreign policy like
this, and I think there’s a good argument
that they should stay out and leave it to
experts.
Like me. I’m real good at Iranian nuclear
weapons dealing.
For the state department and the president
to work directly with other countries, those
countries need to be confident that the deals
they hammer out won’t be undercut by congress.
Fewer actors in this arena helps build predictability,
which is something you want, especially when
nuclear weapons are on the table… no matter
the table’s size or shape.
Interest groups can play a role in foreign
policy in terms of shaping the agenda, but
they don’t do much of the work of crafting the
policies themselves. As with domestic policy, interest
groups are most effective when they are focused on a single issue, especially if that issue is narrow.
Industry interests can lobby, sometimes vigorously,
for trade deals, and labor groups often lobby
against them. Since foreign policy often involves
foreign nations, you tend to find ethnically
based interest groups that can often lobby very vocally, as some Irish-Americans did during the 1980s.
Interest groups that coalesce around issues
have been growing in importance, especially
as communication technologies enable them
to get their message to a wider audience and
to organize grassroots lobbying efforts.
In general environmental groups are more effective
at organizing demonstrations and human rights
groups are more effective at lobbying, but
especially in the environmental arena it’s
difficult to see where their efforts have
caused major policy shifts.
Because there aren’t that many foreign policy
bureaucrats it should be easy for lobbyists
to influence them, but the President, who
is often the last word on foreign policy is
kind of difficult to lobby. He’s a busy
guy.
There is a lot more I could say about foreign
policy, but this is a good place to stop,
because I’ve mentioned the structural aspects
of foreign policy – the branches of government
and how they make it – and some of the political
elements that can influence it.
And we’ll talk about more of it in a later
episode.
No we won’t! This is the last episode!
Foreign policy affects all Americans in ways
that other policies don’t. And at least
as far as security policy goes, keeping Americans
safe from external threats is one thing that
almost all Americans, from both ends of the
spectrum, agree on.
I hope this series on American government
and politics provided you with a little bit
of understanding about the way the U.S. works
and that it encourages everyone to participate
in the political process, wherever you live.
Except for you, you stupid eagle!
Crash Course Government and Politics is produced
in association with PBS Digital Studios. Support
for Crash Course: U.S. Government comes from
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Crash Course was made with the help of all
these soaring eagles. Thanks for watching.
