Foreign Policy Flashcards
U.S. foreign policy first issued by President James Monroe in 1823; the policy warned European powers that the United States would not tolerate further colonialism and intervention in the Americas
Monroe Doctrine
the post-WWI international organization established in 1920 to maintain global peace; it promoted collective security, disarmament, and peaceful settlements of disputes; President Woodrow Wilson supported the creation of this in his 1918 “Fourteen Points” speech, but he failed to persuade the U.S. to join the organization; the League suffered from critical structural weaknesses and consequently failed to prevent renewed militarization, aggression, and the Second World War
League of Nations
the ostensible rules-based global system established by the U.S. and its allies at the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference during the Second World War; the system promotes principles such as multilateralism through global institutions, free trade, security cooperation, monetary cooperation, and liberal democracy
liberal international order
foreign policies involving cooperation with multiple countries and/or allies and participation in international organizations (ex: United Nations, World Trade Organization, NATO)
multilateralism
decorated U.S. Army General and Secretary of State (1947-1949); Marshall gave a speech at Harvard University in 1947 and highlighted the dire economic situation in post-war Europe; his proposal for massive U.S. aid to help rebuild Europe was implemented as the Marshall Plan
George C. Marshall
ideological and political conflict between two global superpowers, the United States and Soviet Union, from around the late 1940s to 1991; although no large-scale war occurred between the two superpowers, both were involved in indirect (proxy) wars in a struggle for global influence
Cold War
U.S. foreign policy first issued by President Harry Truman in 1947; the policy entailed direct and constant U.S. involvement in global affairs to counter the influence and spread of communism
Truman Doctrine
Cold War doctrine asserting that if one country should fall to communism, then the neighboring countries would subsequently do the same
falling domino theory
cold war policy seeking to limit Soviet expansion and influence by utilizing, for example, the threat of nuclear weapons as a deterrent; U.S. diplomat George Kennan was an early advocate for this strategy
containment
Cold War policy that meant a relaxation and reduction in tensions between the U.S. and its communist adversaries (Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China)
detente
more aggressive Cold War policies, including those seeking regime change
rollback
the period of the 1940s-1950s marked by widespread notions of communist subversion within the U.S. in both private and public institutions
red scare
senator who claimed in a 1950 speech (Wheeling, WV) that there were communist subversives working within the U.S. State Department; the period known as “McCarthyism” (1950-1954) highlighted a domestic campaign to purge suspected communists in public and private institutions
Joseph McCarthy (R-WI)
an international organization and defense alliance comprising 32 countries (30 European + U.S. and Canada); it was established in 1949 during the Cold War to promote collective security and defend against Soviet aggression in Europ; Article 5 of the NATO treaty dictates that an armed attack against one member is considered an attack against all, which prompts a collective-defense response
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
he was a neoconservative political commentator who wrote a noteworthy 1990-91 Foreign Affairs article titled “The Unipolar Moment”; Krauthammer argued that the U.S. should take aggressive actions (using unilateralism and preemptive military action, if necessary) as the sole global superpower to guarantee global security after the collapse of the Soviet Union
Charles Krauthammer
