Logics of American Foreign Policy

Description

Introduction.

1. The Logic of Hegemonism.

2. The Logic of Realism.

3. The Logic of Isolationism.

4. The Logic of Liberalism.

5. The Logic of Liberal Internationalism.

6. The Logic of Radical Anti-Imperialism.

7. Logics and Foreign Policy Discourse: The China and Kosovo Debates.

8. The Impact of September 11: A new foreign policy consensus?

This engaging new book introduces American Foreign Policy through the presentation of the most important logics used in contemporary debates, emphasizes the six most important foreign policy logics competing to define U.S. foreign policy, and identifies the five traditions of American political culture.
Callahan first develops the concept of foreign policy logic, then places foreign policy arguments in a context of broader issues of U.S. purpose and of the historical development of foreign policy thinking. An objective presentation of ideals and theory allows a deeper understanding of debates, permitting the student to form an independent judgment of U.S. foreign policy.

• Three case studies appear at the end of the text—the 1990 debate about trade with China, the debate about intervention in Kosovo, and the debate after September 11, 2001—to help students apply and consider the “logics” in the real world.

• Each “logic” and the foreign policy debates related to it are placed in a wider historical and intellectual context, showing how contemporary debates mirror debates as far back as the 19th Century.

• The logics are used to explain the high level of disagreement about American foreign policy that has obstructed its efficient formulation. The text helps students examine: (1) how the foreign policy consensus of the Cold War facilitated foreign policy-making; (2) how the Cold War consensus reflected the pattern of support for the foreign policy logics; and (3) how foreign policy logics relate to the structure of foreign policy attitudes under the conditions of “dissenses” that reigned after the 1960s and Vietnam War.

This engaging new supplementary book critiques six alternative prescriptions or “logics” of the United States’ role in the world: hegemonism, realism, isolationism, liberalism, liberal internationalism, and radical anti-imperialism.

This new book presents each of six “logics”—sets of beliefs about foreign policy strategy, national interest, power, and ethical obligations—arguing a balanced and compelling case for each one. It then traces the role of each logic in the history of U.S. diplomacy and concludes with a critical evaluation of that logic.