Foreign Relations Of The United States Brief History

The United States of America has vast economical, political and military influence on a global scale, which makes the concepts and details of its foreign policy a subject of great interest and discussion around the world.

Goals of US foreign policy recurringly mentioned and emphasized by U.S. officials are:

1 Brief History

During the American RevolutionThe American Revolution refers to the series of events, ideas, and changes that resulted in the political separation of thirteen colonies in North America from the British Empire and the creation of the United States of America. The American Revolutionary, the United States established relations with several European powers, convincing FranceThe French Republic or France ( French: Republique francaise or France is a country whose metropolitan territory is located in western Europe, and which is further made up of a collection of overseas islands and territories located in other continents., Spain, and the Netherlands to intervene in the war against Britain, a mutual enemy. In the period following, the US oscillated between pro-French and pro-British policies. In general, the US remained aloof from European disputes, focusing on territorial expansion in North America.

After the Spanish colonies in Latin America declared independence, the US established the Monroe Doctrine, a policy of keeping European powers out of the Americas. US expansionism led to war with Mexico and to diplomatic conflict with Britain over the Oregon Territory and with Spain over Florida and later Cuba. During the American Civil War, the US accused Britain and France of supporting the Confederate States and trying to control Mexico, but after that, the US was unchallenged in its home territory. It strove to be the dominant influence in the Americas, trying to weaken European influence in Latin America and occasionally intervening to establish puppet governments in weak states.

As US power grew, it began to look at interests farther abroad, particularly in the pursuit of trade. It occupied territories in the Pacific, such as Hawaii and the Philippines, demanded the opening of Japan to trade, and competed with other powers for influence in China. Eventually it became involved in World War I and World War II, after which it abandoned its traditionally isolationist policies in order to counter the influence of the Soviet Union, and to fill the vacuum left by the decline of Britain as a global power. By the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union, the US had military and economic interests in every region of the globe.

2 Diplomatic Relations

The United States has one of the largest diplomatic presences of any nation on earth. Almost every country in the world has both a U.S. embassy and an embassy of their own in Washington, DC. Only a few nations do not have formal diplomatic relations with the United States. They are:

In pratical terms however, these lack of formal relations do not impede the US' communication with these nations. In the cases where no US diplomatic post exists, American relations are usually conducted via Canada, the United Kingdom, or another friendly third-party. In the case of the Republic of China, de facto relations are conducted through the American Institute in Taiwan.

The U.S. maintains a Normal Trade Relations list and several countries are excluded from it, which means that their exports to the States are significantly more taxed.

3 Allies

The United States is the founder of NATO, the world's largest military alliance. The 26-nation alliance consists of Canada and much of Europe. Under the NATO charter, the United States is compelled to defend any NATO state that is attacked by a foreign power.

The United States also has several "Major Non-NATO allies" which is a distinction given to certain states which are unable to join NATO for geographic reasons. Each non-NATO allied state has a unique relationship with the United States, involving various military and economic partnerships and alliances. The designated Major Non-NATO allies are:

4 Criticism and responses

Critics of U.S. foreign policy tend to respond that these goals commonly regarded as noble were often overstated and point out contradictions between foreign policy rhetoric and actions:

The mention of peace as opposed to the long list of U.S. military involvements
The mention of freedom and democracy as opposed to the many former and current dictatorships that receive(d) U.S. financial or military support.
The mention of free trade as opposed to U.S. import tariffs (to protect local industries from global competition) on foreign goods like wood and steel.
The mention of U.S. generosity as opposed to the low spendings on foreign developmental aid (measured as percentage of GDP)

4.1 Cold War policies

Today, both much of the criticism and justification for many actions of U.S. foreign policy was formulated during the Cold War. Following World War II the government of the United States grew increasingly worried - some say paranoid - of the expansionist actions of the Soviet Union, and its support for Communist revolutions in the third world and beyond. Foreign policy makers of that time are usually quick to point out that this atmosphere of conflict with the Soviets created many situations in which the United States was apparently forced to compromise on some of the ideological policy objectives stated above. For example, American support for certain dictatorships was frequently condemned by critics as an apparent violation of the U.S.'s Wilsonian principles. However, policy makers would justify such support by stating that supporting a certain dictator was often necessary when he was the only stable ruler of a unstable country, or when the alternative to his rule would be a Soviet-sponsored Communist dictatorship. This was often dubbed the lesser of two evils principle. The country also continues the U.S. embargo against Cuba which has been in place since 1962 despite almost unanimous international criticism.

5 Economic critics

So-called globalization critics, like the Attac movement, also oppose the notion, most notably spread by US politicians, and international economic organizations closely related to the USA, such as the World Trade Organization (WTO), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, that selling state industries to private investors ( privatization) would necessarily improve quality and lower prices of the goods produced by these industries, arguing that certain industries must remain publicly-owned to avoid abuse of private monopolies, and that certain countries had already seen an erosion in price-to-value ratio as the result of privatizations. It is also argued that the sale of public property often includes potentially massive corruption, e.g. underpriced "sell-out" of public assets in return of personal or political favors.

6 International disputes

Maritime boundary disputes with Canada ( Dixon Entrance, Beaufort Sea, Strait of Juan de Fuca, Machias Seal Island)
US Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay is leased from Cuba and only mutual agreement or US abandonment of the area can terminate the lease
Haiti claims Navassa Island
US has made no territorial claim in Antarctica (but has reserved the right to do so) and does not recognize the claims of any other nation
Marshall Islands claims Wake Island.

7 Illicit drugs

consumer of cocaine shipped from Colombia through Mexico and the Caribbean
consumer of heroin, marijuana, and increasingly methamphetamines from Mexico
consumer of high-quality Southeast Asian heroin
illicit producer of cannabis, marijuana, depressants, stimulants, hallucinogens, and methamphetamines
drug-money-laundering center

8 Military aid

The United States provides military aid through many different channels. Counting the items that appear in the budget as 'Foreign Military Financing' and ' Plan Colombia', the U.S. spent approximately $4.5 billion in military aid in 2001, of which $2 billion went to Israel, $1.3 billion went to Egypt, and $1 billion went to Colombia.

9 Related topics

10 External links

Foreign relations of the U.S.

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