Contemporary US Foreign Policy

There are many important aspects to understanding contemporary U.S. foreign policy. However, there are some ideas that are crucial to the development of U.S. foreign policy. The main points to understand include the schools of thought that influence today’s decision making, the concept of whether democratic means formulate better foreign policy, and whether the U.S. has a moral obligation to be a primary leader in the world. There are two parts to U.S. foreign policy: the process and formulation of policy, and that ideologies that fuel the policies. First, it is important to analyze U.S. foreign policy as a cyclical manner. The process to form U.S. foreign policy starts with a set of inputs that lead to decision making that formulate outputs,

Hamiltonians are primarily concerned with the balance of power and maintaining U.S. national interest. Mead argues that they look at foreign policy as a process that a state would use, meaning that in their opinion, the U.S. “state itself was civilian” (Mead p104). This means that they consider the interests of the U.S., analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the U.S., and develop a policy that safeguards these interests within the limits of resources available. They believe that the only time the U.S. should intervene in the international arena is when there is a direct and immediate threat to our resources, interests, or sovereignty. Hamiltonians will first use diplomacy when posed with an external threat and use military power only as a last

foreign policy, is to understand whether or not democracy is good for foreign policy making. There are pros and cons to both argument. Critiques believe that when in times of crisis, a singular entity making decisions is more effective. They also stipulate that people shouldn’t have much say in the process because as a collective, people are ignorant and uneducated about the U.S. role in the world, contemporary and historic issues, and even the government today. Another argument made against democracy in the foreign policy making process is the concept that democracy creates dissents, which breeds rebellion and a lack of respect for authority and the government, weakening the U.S. in the eyes of other