1. Week 2: Major Worldviews January 10, 2007
POLS 425 U.S. Foreign Policy
Week 2: Major Worldviews
January 10, 2007

2. Why We Fight
Why does the United States fight? What the key reasons or motivations for US decisions to engage in violent international conflict?
Are the reasons generally the same, or do they vary from one war to another?
If they vary, why do you think this is the case?
Are most wars necessary?

3. U.S. Foreign Policy Introduction
Key Points
Your answers reflect your personal theory of American foreign policy
Personal theories are appropriate and even necessary, but they are often premised on a very shaky foundation
Personal theories tend to be superficial
Personal theories are often governed as much by emotion as they are by evidence and reason

4. U.S. Foreign Policy Introduction
The First Basic Lesson for Studying U.S. Foreign Policy
Cultivate and maintain an open mind
Recognize that no on is likely to have a monopoly on the truth

5. U.S. Foreign Policy Introduction
American Exceptionalism
A major obstacle to developing an open-mind about U.S. foreign policy comes from the influence of American exceptionalism
What is American exceptionalism?

6. U.S. Foreign Policy Introduction
The Grand Narrative of American Exceptionalism
America as the “Chosen Country”
American power is force of good
America is obligated to create a “better world” for all

7. U.S. Foreign Policy Introduction
Second Basic Lesson for Studying U.S. Foreign Policy
We cannot allow ourselves to buy into the idea of American exceptionalism wholly and uncritically
We need to create some intellectual and analytical and critical distance between ourselves and the grand narrative

8. U.S. Foreign Policy Introduction
Levels of Analysis: Points of Entrance
Individual Level
“State” Level
System Level

9. U.S. Foreign Policy Introduction
Levels of Analysis: Point of Entrance
Individual Level
The individual level of analysis begins at the level of a single individual or group of individuals: typically, presidents, prime ministers, and others directly involved in making policy

10. U.S. Foreign Policy Introduction
Levels of Analysis: Point of Entrance
“State” Level
Focuses more on institutionalized organizations or groups to explain foreign policy; also includes such things as national culture, public opinion, media, bureaucratic politics, and so on

11. U.S. Foreign Policy Introduction
Levels of Analysis: Point of Entrance
“System” Level
Assumes that the ideas, opinions, and actions of individuals is not really all that important, instead looks at the broad structures or overarching systems that shape the behavior and interactions of states

12. U.S. Foreign Policy Introduction
Levels of Analysis: Point of Entrance
Key Point
The levels of analysis are conceptual tools we can use to make our study of foreign policy more manageable and systematic
As with real tools, moreover, we need more than one to “build” an explanation

13. U.S. Foreign Policy Introduction
Worldviews and Theory
Another critical set of conceptual tools are worldviews and theories
These might be considered the “power tools” of explanations about U.S. foreign policy

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Worldviews and Theory
Major worldviews and theories
Realism
Liberalism
Marxism
Constructivism

15. U.S. Foreign Policy Introduction
Worldviews and Theory
General Notes about Theory
The author defines theory in the following manner: An explanation of how something works; theories are also used to help tell the future or to make predictions
Another definition: A theory is a framework of analysis within which facts are not only selected, but also interpreted, organized, and fit together so that they create a coherent whole. A theory helps us explain and/or better understand the world in which we live.

16. U.S. Foreign Policy Introduction
Worldviews and Theory
General Notes about Theory
Key Point: Theories are also necessarily simplifications of a more complex whole; theories are not reality, but they designed to tell us something meaningful about the real world

17. U.S. Foreign Policy Introduction
Worldviews and Theory
Additional Points
First, the various theories on US foreign policy are not dependent on whether they are accepted or even understood by policy-makers themselves
Second, and in a related vein, theories are meant to help us better understand and explain the implications and consequences of different foreign policies
Third, the theories we will study are sometimes compatible, but sometimes contradictory

18. U.S. Foreign Policy Introduction
Worldviews and Theory: Realism
Core Premises
Central questions focus on conditions and causes of war and peace
Regard structure of international system as necessary but not always sufficient for explaining international relations
Primary unit of analysis is the sovereign state
States are first and foremost guided by national interest defined in terms of power
States are rational, unitary actors

19. U.S. Foreign Policy Introduction
Worldviews and Theory: Realism
The key concept in realism is anarchy
To understand this condition, consider what would happen if a group of individuals lived on an isolated island in which there was no society, no rules, no law. And say, on this island, resources were limited and power unevenly distributed. What would happen?

20. U.S. Foreign Policy Introduction
Worldviews and Theory: Liberalism
Four central premises of liberalism
Liberalism tells us that our focus should be on state-level factors
Liberalism tells us that values (including ideas) beyond national survival may matter
Liberals believe decision making is pluralistic
Liberals believe that most foreign policy decisions require “consent” of the governed; policy making is different between democratic and authoritarian regimes

21. U.S. Foreign Policy Introduction
Worldviews and Theory: Liberalism
Implications of Liberal Theory
Rationality of policy-making process is complicated because of competing interests
War and peace are important, but other issues may be equally important to foreign policy process
Cooperation and “end of war” are possible

22. U.S. Foreign Policy Introduction
On Rationality
Realists assume that war is rational for an entire nation
Liberals, instead, ask: Who (specifically) benefits from war? Why do those who “lose” from war willingly participate?

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Worldviews and Theory: Marxism
What is Marxism?

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Worldviews and Theory: Marxism
Key Concept: Historical Materialism
Historical: based on the idea that the specific forces that shape the world are not always the same—e.g., the forces that governed feudal society are not the same forces that govern capitalist societies
Materialism: based on the idea that economic forces shape the world in fundamental ways, or put another way, economic forces are the motor of history

25. U.S. Foreign Policy Introduction
Worldviews and Theory: Marxism
Key Concept: Class
Marxists argue that capitalist society is necessarily divided along class lines
Classes exist because all economic systems produces specific social relationships
These social relationships are organized around a system that privileges ownership and subordinates labor; it also privileges capital and subordinates other human values, such as social justice, equality, and freedom

26. U.S. Foreign Policy Introduction
Worldviews and Theory: Marxism
Key Concept: Implications
Capitalist states exist to protect/promote the capitalist base of society, and not necessarily to protect the interests of all citizens
To understand foreign policy, then, one must understand that it is primarily a reflection of the interests of capitalists