Congressional Initiative in Foreign Policy

Abstract

THE ROLE OF Congress in foreign policy is a major public issue today; it is also one of thorniest subjects for political scientist to consider. David Truman has noted importance of question of how Congress does and should fit into political scheme of things in midtwentieth century,' and others have pointed to executive-legislative relation as the Achilles' heel of United States foreign policy.2 The purpose of following discussion is to examine hypothesis that establishment of Development Loan Fund and International Development Association provides us with examples of Congressional initiative in making of foreign policy. The significance of this hypothesis is based on four considerations: (1) The exercise of initiative constitutes nub of controversy concerning executive-legislative relations and public policy.3 (2) The hypothesis directly conflicts with generally accepted descriptions of typical legislative behavior. Most students of foreign policy would agree with Robert Dahl that perhaps single most important fact about Congress and its role in foreign policy, . . . is that it rarely provides initiative.4 A hypothesis purporting to have