American Foreign Policy Research Articles

The Impact of Realism on U.S. Foreign Policy during the Trump Presidency

Purpose: This article explored the impact of realism on American foreign policy during the Trump administration, striving to answer whether Trump adopted a realist stance or employed a unique blend of realism to enhance American interests on the global stage. Methodology: Centering on theoretical analysis and historical context, this study investigated the alignment of Trump's controversial personality and his "America First" slogan with the quest for national interests and power dynamics. This paper spotlighted Trump's unorthodox implementation of realism by exploring specific global issues, such as security strategies, trade policies, and diplomatic methods. Findings: This paper underscored Trump's deviation from traditional realism and adopting an unconventional realist approach. Particular emphasis was placed on this approach's implications for global power dynamics and the ethical dimensions of U.S. foreign policy. This study pinpointed noteworthy results from Trump's unique fusion of realism, providing insights into its effects on international relations. Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: This research contributed to theoretical comprehension and practical implications for future American foreign policy. It illuminated the Trump administration's unorthodox implementation of realism and its ramifications for international cooperation. Moreover, this paper advocated for a balanced approach incorporating strategic pragmatism with ethical leadership to efficiently tackle intricate global challenges and uphold the United States' role in the international arena.

Indonesia, an offshore balancer in Southeast Asia?

AbstractObservers generally characterize Indonesia's foreign policy as non‐aligned, hedging between the great powers. Indeed, Indonesian noncommittal behavior and seeming disinterest in regional power politics appear at odds for a country of that size. To explain that puzzle, I apply the concept of offshore balancer, traditionally used to describe British and US foreign policy. An offshore balancer is a state separated from continental politics by a body of water. Theory predicts that an offshore balancer will generally avoid continental commitments when the balance of power is stable. However, it will join the power competition fray if a threatening potential hegemon arises. Offshore balancers turn aggressive only if continental states are so weak that crossing the sea and expanding onshore becomes easy. First, I present the concept and its importance and justify its generalizability through a short overview of American, British, and Japanese foreign policies. Second, I review Indonesian history to check whether its behavior corresponds to that of an offshore balancer. Finally, I lay out what offshore balancing implies for understanding Indonesian foreign policy and its future.

"It is an experience which never lacks interest": John Paton Davies' Letters from Postwar Moscow

John Paton Davies Jr. was born in China in 1908 into a family of American Baptist missionaries. Throughout his life he had the warmest relationship with his parents. Davies received his education in the United States and China, graduated from Columbia University in 1931 and immediately entered the diplomatic careers. In 1933, after a short-time service as a Vice-Consul in Windsor, Ontario, he was sent to China and remained there until 1940. In August 1942, John Davies married Patricia Louise Grady (1920–2000), daughter of American diplomat Henry F. Grady (1882–1957), for love. Patricia played a significant part in Davies’ work and was known as a well-educated, keenly observant, and broad-minded person.

American Strategic Narrative - A Success Story or an Archetypal Rhetoric

Great powers rationalize their position and actions to their people, allies, and opponents. Empirical observations avow the existence of a grand narrative as a fundamental feature in the struggle for supremacy and justification to seize the top position by a great power. The American case is unique; desirous of holding persistent world leadership, it has to constantly adjust its narrative which resonates with the change in time and age shifts. This paper attempts to assess the role of strategic narrative in shaping the US envisaged world order while critically analyzing whether the American strategic narratives have been a success story or just another archetypal rhetoric. While giving an overview of the American narrative from the Monroe Doctrine to the present time, the paper argues that perhaps the American policymakers sometimes overlooked the policy-narrative linkage. Arguably, the American narrative lacked consistency and coherence as it contradicted with actual American foreign policies and created an observable policy-narrative gap. The US's narrative building was characterized by the 'need of time' and it kept mutating from the Cold War to the global war on terror, sometimes entirely contradictory to previously held stances. This paper further highlights that the narratives that the United States adopted during different timeframes were meant to enable the execution of its policy objectives that were set for its path toward world leadership while ensuring that the narratives can gain acceptability as per normative standards and possess enough attraction to be transmitted through various media without catching agonizing criticism.

Are Democrats or Republicans better for the Iraqi Kurds?

AbstractThis piece offers an introduction to US foreign policy toward the Iraqi Kurds since the First World War by dividing that policy into seven discernible stages—from Wilson's Fourteen Points to the actions of the Trump administration. In doing so, I query whether the existence of US foreign policy toward the Kurds has been more active and supportive during Democratic Party administrations or Republican Party administrations. Are there any clear indications as to which party has been better for the Iraqi Kurds? Or is US foreign policy toward the Iraqi Kurds unequivocally dependent on regional dynamics and US interests, not on which political party is governing or the values they espouse? The central argument is that American policy toward the Iraqi Kurds has mostly been dependent on changing regional dynamics, particularly on the changing nature of the United States relationships with Iraq, Turkey, Iran, and Syria, and this does not seem to be affected strongly by which US party holds the presidency. Perhaps counter‐intuitively, there is no evidence to suggest the Democrats have been better for the Iraqi Kurds than the Republicans. While some of the most significant setbacks for the Kurds occurred during Republican administrations, their two most essential political achievements were also during Republican administrations.

Syrian Revolution and Its Impact on US Foreign Policy

Syrian Revolution and Its Impact on US Foreign Policy

War on Terrorism in Pakistan: Security Challenges and Safety Prioritization

This paper highlights the dynamics of war on terror among the Pakistan, Afghanistan and the United States of America. It provides the strategic importance such as political, economic and militarily interests in the region. This study also shows the policies and strategies adopted by the US and Pakistan to save their interests in the American led war on terror. War against terror or war on terror, is an internationally military campaign that was launched by the Bush administration. The fatalistic incident known as 9/11 happened in 2001 in which approximately 2700 people were killed and numberless of injured fettered the wall of international politics. After this incident the government of America and world community were very much aggressive to take revenge from Al-Qaida network based in the Afghanistan.  This research tries to find out the answer of the research questions such as to analyze the Pak US relations since inception. American foreign policies towards Pakistan after 9/11. To analyze the policies made by Pakistan to combat terrorism domestically and strengthen political as well as military institutions.  Furthermore to analyze the policies of neighboring states such as India and Afghanistan towards the Pakistan.  To find out the answers of these research questions research has employed qualitative research methodology with interpretative approach with securitization theory. For data analysis descriptive and exploratory approaches has been used in this research. The core findings of the research that war on terror was combination of Mush and Bush to secure their interests in the region. Bush ruined the Al-Qaida network and Mush got an economic assistance.  US showed the supremacy to the world by led a war on terror. Pak US relations make its flow towards an alliance against terrorist’s network in Afghanistan. War on Terror was a complex war and essence a question of territorial sovereignty. This war on terror put the whole region at risk.

The foreign policy of the United States of America towards Iran in the period from 1953 to 1974.

The article examines the foreign policy of the United States of America in the Greater Middle East region, which acquired strategic importance after the end of World War II and the beginning of the Cold War with the Soviet Union. The subject of the study is the American-Iranian relations of 1953-1974, within the framework of which the Iranian Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi consistently built cooperation with D. Eisenhower, J. Kennedy, L. Johnson and R. Nikson. Despite the fact that their approaches to the implementation of American foreign policy in the Greater Middle East underwent significant changes, the desire to maintain influence in the country, consolidate control over cheap Iranian energy resources and prevent the return of Soviet influence on Iran remained the main directions of American activity. The methodological basis of the research is based on the principles of historicism, objectivity and consistency. The following methods were used in the work: historical-comparative, historical-typological and historical-systemic methods. The reviewed diplomatic documents of the United States of America "Foreign Relations of the United States" allow us to establish that the influence of the oil factor on American-Iranian relations in 1953-1974 remained high, despite changes in the approaches of the presidents to the implementation of foreign policy in the region. The return of Iranian oil to the global market allowed Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi to initiate the start of the "white revolution", supported by the United States, among others. Huge oil revenues allowed Iran in a short time not only to realize its claims in the region, but also to become an important ally of the United States, responsible for regional security during the presidency of R. Nixon. The work illustrates the changing role of the United States of America and Iran in the Greater Middle East, due, among other things, to the influence of the oil factor.

THE AMERICAN ROLE IN IRAQ AFTER THE ADMINISTRATION OF PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP

American roles and policies in Iraq and the Middle East region differed according to historical stages. But the constants remain the same according to American foreign policy strategies in the Middle East region in general and Iraq in particular, as the United States of America looks at the Middle East region according to three main goals: 1- Maintaining the continuity of political systems and moderate and allied governments that preserve American interests in the region. 2- Ensuring the access of oil to it 3- Ensuring the security and survival of Israel. Accordingly, the American president has the right to exercise his role within these frameworks, even if his methods and tools differ from those of other presidents. Since every new American president adapts to the goals he seeks to achieve during his presidency, the American role after the administration of President Trump in Iraq has changed from that role and policy followed by US President Joe Biden after winning the 2020 elections. In order to learn about the most prominent features of the American role in Iraq after the administration of President Donald Trump, the topic of the study was chosen, which dealt

Rise of American Populism and its Role in Reviving the Jacksonian Tradition in Trump’s Foreign Policy

Donald Trump’s victory in the 2016 Presidential Elections firmly established the fact that populism was the new reality of American politics. This research explores the basic factors that drove this populist tide, and which led to the election of Trump as American president. It was not only the increasing economic inequality and lack of employment opportunities which resulted in strengthening the populist tide, but also the perceived lack of status by the American middle class and their fear of becoming a minority in their own country which drove them to Trump’s campaign. Trump also fully exploited the public’s discontent with the elite and promised them that he was their best chance of restoring America’s dignity and breaking it free from the ‘disastrous’ economic deals that his predecessors had signed which were supposedly the primary cause of the country’s economic woes. This research shows that most of Trump’s foreign policy decisions were in line with his populist rhetoric and the Jacksonian tradition of American foreign policy. This research takes a deeper look into some of Trump’s populist foreign policy decisions in the light of Jacksonianism.

Friends, enemies, and emulation: A case study of the Iraqi Air Force and a new approach to military technological diffusion

Military emulation, by which military organizations of one state learn from those of another, is a key process of military-technological diffusion and an important tool of alliance management and American foreign policy. Existing research partially explains this process and its success or failure using two-part models that include the emulating organization and the emulated organization. Using the relationship between the United States Air Force and the Iraqi Air Force between 2004 and 2023 as a case study, this article suggests that a critical third element explaining emulation is how the relevant enemy is perceived within the emulating and emulated organizations.

Idea(s) of Dutch Neutrality in the American Debate on Neutral Rights (1793–1807)

ABSTRACT Since the latter part of the seventeenth century trade and war had become increasingly entangled due to the bellicose commercial rivalry of European colonial powers, who emulated one another in a system dominated by ‘jealousies of trade'. European economic thinkers therefore felt increasingly compelled to search for means to uncouple trade and war. Propositions for potential solutions to cure these commercial conflicts are to be found throughout the eighteenth century. The strengthening of neutral rights, especially, was regarded as offering a possible remedy. Leading up to the War of American Independence, a debate began in the Dutch Republic on how neutrality could be advantageously defined to promote commerce without becoming involved in wars of ‘entangling alliances'. The actors in this debate would produce arguments that were later adopted by members of George Washington’s cabinet. Alexander Hamilton was the advocate of ‘strict' neutrality, while Thomas Jefferson was in favour of ‘active’ neutrality. These two concepts of Dutch foreign policy are examined in this research article with special attention given to their influence on the direction of American foreign policy from 1793 to 1807.

TRANSFORMATION OF AMERICAN-ETHIOPIAN RELATIONS IN 1965-1967

In this article, the author aims to explore the place and role of American-Ethiopian relations in US geopolitical strategies. The scientific novelty lies in a comprehensive analysis of the American-Ethiopian relations on the East African region in the context of US foreign policy. Research methods. Historical-genetic method is used in the article, which gave an opportunity to explore the genesis of East African politics of the USA, to identify the main tendencies of this policy direction at every stage. A systematic approach was used for the comprehensive analysis of the USA East Africa policy in 1965–1967, which gave an opportunity to identify economic and geopolitical interests of the USA in East Africa, goals and objectives of major counties towards Ethiopia, and to trace in this regard the attitude of the USA towards Ethiopia’s confrontation with Somalia and Eritrea. Conclusions. Despite the orientation of the Foreign policy of the emperor of Ethiopia to the USA and his attempts to satisfy the USA interests (including the allocation of a military base in Ethiopia), Haile Selassie I failed to fully attract not only American private fund but also to make Ethiopia one of the Foreign policy priorities of the USA government. Ethiopia was of no interest to the USA not only as a potential economic partner (it remained an agricultural country with obsolete modes of production), but also as a military ally. The USA supported some plans of the emperor of Ethiopia, for example the project of accession of Eritrea to the Ethiopian Empire, for the following reasons only: due to independent Eritrean country’s insolvency due to the necessity to maintain peace and order in the Northeastern Africa, on the west coast of the Red Sea. «Right» was given to the Ethiopian Empire, which needed the access to the sea and which at that time had a relatively strong army capable to battle any inner reaction and to defend the borders of Eritrea, where American military bases were located.

American Foreign and Security Policy on the Political Economy Test Bench

American Foreign and Security Policy on the Political Economy Test Bench

Anti-Asian Racism and the Rise of Hawkish Mass Opinion in China

Abstract The dramatic increase in anti-Asian racial violence in the United States during the pandemic has sparked debates on issues of domestic racial justice and deep-seated racism against Asian Americans. Political scientists, however, have paid relatively little attention to how growing anti-Asian racism might affect contemporary U.S.-China relations, especially by shaping foreign policy discourses and public opinion in China. In this article, I investigate the way the Chinese state media discuss the issue and how such top-down discourses shape mass political attitudes and foreign policy preferences in China. Analyzing the Chinese state media coverage of anti-Asian racial violence, I first find that Chinese official narratives frame the issue as a manifestation of both racially motivated American foreign policy and problems with American democracy. By conducting a nationwide survey experiment in China, I then examine the impact of such top-down political rhetoric on public support for hawkish foreign policies. I find that these political narratives significantly boost racialized and nationalist sentiments among the Chinese masses, which, in turn, garner greater public support for hawkish foreign policy. This article contributes to understanding the foreign policy implications of anti-Asian racism after the global pandemic and the potential racialization of Sino-American great-power competition.

Bipartisanship and US foreign policy: cooperation in a polarized age

Bipartisanship and US foreign policy: cooperation in a polarized age

The importance of immigrants on American intervention in international crises

The importance of immigrants on American intervention in international crises

Yemeni and regional maritime doctrine in light of the decline of the liberal theory of freedom of navigation in EEZ

The presence of the USCENTCOM , AFRICOM  and 34 foreign countries in the vital Yemeni, Arab, and national maritime spheres contributed to a flagrant violation of maritime laws and international political relations. Likewise, the presence and activities of the strategic and tactical military naval units of the aircraft carrier, submarines, and American and British nuclear naval destroyers in the Red Sea. The Gulf of Aden is a breach and violation of international law and agreements regulating freedom of navigation and a blatant assault on Yemeni sovereignty in its vital maritime sphere, as it is located in exclusive Yemeni economic waters, in addition to its nuclear effects in destroying the marine environment and human security. It constitutes a source of danger to food and maritime security, stability, and international peace. The study aims to clarify the influence of Western geopolitical thought and the behavior of American foreign policy in international relations and maritime laws, which is witnessing a major decline and failure in its global policy because it used the policy of American military force to achieve its own political goals and imposed the methodology of Western liberal maritime thought to control and limit the rights of the Yemeni, Arab, and Islamic coastal states. Which contradicts customs, laws, and agreements and affects historical rights and the Yemeni, Arab, and regional maritime domain. The study is expected to confirm the modern Yemeni, Arab, and Islamic hypothesis that the high seas and international maritime waters are within a distance of 200 nautical miles from the baseline and to affirm the right of Yemen and the Arab nation to be protected. The vital area of the United Arab Emirates and the Islamic and regional countries extends from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean, the Arabian Gulf, the eastern and western Indian Ocean to the Antarctic Ocean, and there is a call for holding maritime conferences in order to develop traditional Western maritime legal theories and concepts that seek to limit the rights of coastal states, establish perceptions, and reach an update to the laws regulating freedom of maritime navigation in accordance with the views of the peoples of the world and in response to global changes in multipolarity.

Тенденции развития внешней политики США конца XX − первой четверти XXI века. Концептуальный аспект

This article analyses trends in US foreign policy of the late 20th and first decades of the 21st centuries as a major factor influencing modern geopolitics. The problem is considered in the theoretical aspect and in the historical-political retrospect, from the 1990s to the present day. The subject of the analysis is the stages of the formation of the foreign policy doctrine upheld by the USA in international relations. For the 1990s, the paper studies the doctrines asserting hegemony and unipolarity as the goals of US foreign policy in the geopolitical realities that took shape after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The period of 2000s – 2010s was, according to the author, a time of transformation in US foreign policy: from the adoption after September 11, 2001 of the so-called Bush Doctrine, giving the USA rights to launch preventive strikes and make interventions against states suspected of cooperation with international terrorist organizations, to the idea of abandoning claims to global hegemony and attempts to normalize relations with Russia (“reset” policy) and China (the Group of Two) during Barack Obama’s presidency. The final part of the article examines the period of Donald Trump’s and Joe Biden’s presidencies, when the USA returned to the idea of global hegemony, based on the ideological thesis that the USA is the leader of the free world opposing the world of autocracies, whose leaders are Russia and China. According to the author, the current situation reproduces the realities of the Cold War, with the confrontation between the USA as the “defender of the free world” and the USSR as the founder of the world communism movement. The author concludes by attempting to determine the reasons for the transformations in US foreign policy of the late 20th and early 21st centuries as well as to give a forecast of its development trends.

US Sanctions Policy Towards Latin America: Cases of Official Narratives on Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua

Introduction. The following article examines the effectiveness of US sanctions on Latin America by analyzing three cases of restrictive measures against Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua. The correlation between US foreign policy goals and the interpretation of the existing sanctions results containing the official narrative is analyzed. This study shows that, from the point of view of promoting democratization and protecting human rights, US sanctions are ineffective. Methods and materials. The following research utilizes a constructivist approach when analyzing international relations. To a greater extent, this work is based on the theoretical approaches of Professor G. Hufbauer. Analysis and results. The following study additionally reveals that the US foreign policy narrative covers the erosion of US hegemony in Latin America. Within this narrative, international relations are described as a global rivalry between “democracy” and “autocracy.” The United States uses motives for protecting human rights and democracy to justify sanctions against several Latin American countries and also weaken ties with Russia and China. Author’s contributions. L. Sokolshchik and Yu. Sokolshchik developed the research design in addition to writing its content and general scientific editing. K. Teremetskiy made a contribution to the search for official sources and their analysis. The authors jointly analyzed all the content and results of the research.