The role and power of the president in foreign policy

Question 1

How many enumerated foreign policy powers did the constitution give to the president

Answer 1

2

Question 2

What two enumerated foreign policy powers does the constitution grant to the president

Answer 2

• To act as commander in chief of the military
• To negotiate treaties

Question 3

What are the two enumerated foreign policy powers invested in the president limited by?

Answer 3

The significant controls vested in congress

Question 4

What is the president’s commander in chief power checked by?

Answer 4

Congress’ power to declare war and control the purse strings

Question 5

Why are the checks congress has on the president’s commander in chief role limited?

Answer 5

• Congress has not declared war since 1941
• The power of purse is limited once troops have been deployed, as was the case when Bush deployed troops in Iraq

Question 6

How is the presidents enumerated power of making appointments to the executive branch important in terms of foreign policy?

Answer 6

Many of these appointments will have foreign policy implications

Question 7

List some examples of appointments that have foreign policy implications

Answer 7

Secretaries of state, defence and homeland security, director of the CIA and the national security advisor

Question 8

Why is the fact that the president appoints ambassadors important in terms of foreign policy?

Answer 8

Because if the president appoints an ambassador to a country then he is formally recognising that government as legitimate

Question 9

Why are all of these appointments, barring national security advisors, limited as a presidential power over foreign policy?

Answer 9

Because they have to be approved by the senate

Question 10

How does the president set the tone of foreign policy?

Answer 10

Through set piece speeches, primarily their inaugural state of the union address

Question 11

How did Bush set the tone of foreign policy after 9/11?

Answer 11

By talking about an ‘axis of evil’ in his 2002 state of the union address

Question 12

Explain the idea of the Bush Doctrine

Answer 12

The events that the US had just lived through and the perceived threats it faced allowed Bush to create a new foreign policy - and this is referred to as the Bush Doctrine

Question 13

What two fundamental claims was the Bush Doctrine based on?

Answer 13

• The virtue of American primacy
• The right of the US to wage pre-emptive wars with perceived threats

Question 14

Explain the idea of American primacy

Answer 14

This was the idea that after defeating communism and fascism, the US had left the world with a single sustainable model for national success - freedom, democracy and free enterprise. The US would therefore seek to shape a balance of power that emphasises these qualities

Question 15

Explain the idea that the US had the right to wage pre-emptive war

Answer 15

This would give the US the right to strike first upon those countries who wished to inflict immanent harm upon the US

Question 16

What false premise was the Iraq War based upon?

Answer 16

That Iraq had WMDs, as it transpired they did not

Question 17

What did Obama say that the US would return to after becoming president?

Answer 17

Soft power

Question 18

How did Obama describe soft power?

Answer 18

‘The ability to get what you want by attraction not coercion’

Question 19

What did Obama say his administration would revive?

Answer 19

Using diplomacy as the core element of foreign policy

Question 20

Make the case that Obama failed to implement his soft power approach

Answer 20

• The promised closure of GB never happened
• The largest offensive of the coalition forces in Afghanistan occured in 2010, while Obama was president
• Obama signed a 4 year extension of the patriot act in 2011, which significantly increased the number of drone strikes
• 300 drone attacks happened in Obama’s first term compared to 50 in Bush’s second term

Question 21

Make the case that Obama was successful in implementing his soft power approach

Answer 21

• Troops were withdrawn from Iraq in 2011
• A date was set of 2016 for troops to be removed from Afghanistan
• He was far more measured in his foreign policy than the reckless Bush administration
• The failure to close GB was based on the separation of the branches and divided government, rather than Obama’s weakness as a president

Question 22

What was Trump’s foreign policy a combination of?

Answer 22

Hawkish aggression and erratic and unorthodox pragmatism

Question 23

Give some examples of Trump displaying his hawkishness

Answer 23

• He bombed ISIS in Afghanistan
• He launched a missile attack against a Syrian government air base in 2017
• He cancelled Obama’s joint comprehensive plan of action with Iran
• He eliminated a top Iranian general in a 2020 airstrike

Question 24

Give two examples of Trump being successful in his pragmatism

Answer 24

• He underwent diplomatic exchanges with NK that reduced tensions between the two countries
• He helped broker a deal with the UAE and Bahrain which caused them to recognise Israel, Trump hoped this would encourage other arab countries to do the same

Question 25

Why was Trump excessive in calling the deal he brokered with the UAE and Bahrain, ‘the dawn of a new middle east’?

Answer 25

Because other arab countries did not follow suit in the way that Trump expected and will continue to boycott Israel until the conflict with Palestine is resolved

Question 26

What do critics of Trump say about his approach to foreign policy?

Answer 26

That it was inconsistent and ill informed

Question 27

Give an example of Trump being erratic in foreign policy decisions?

Answer 27

When he planned to pull the US out of the longstanding NATO alliance, which would have shocked many of the USA’s key allies

Question 28

What also has foreign policy powers aside from the president?

Answer 28

Congress

Question 29

List the foreign policy powers enjoyed by congress

Answer 29

• Declaring war
• Agreeing budgets
• Investigating
• Confirming appointments
• Ratifying treaties

Question 30

What did congress do in the 1970s?

Answer 30

Fearing that they had been usurped by an increasingly imperial presidency, they passed a series of laws to reassert its foreign policy authority

Question 31

What was the most significant foreign policy law passed by congress in the 1970s?

Answer 31

The 1973 war powers act

Question 32

Why has the war powers act proven ineffective?

Answer 32

Because it seems that congress is merely there to authorise the president’s use of troops abroad, as can be seen with Bush and Iraq

Question 33

How did the united democratic government of 2007 fail to act as a check on the Bush administration?

Answer 33

They tried to use the power of purse to stop US involvement in Iraq. However, Bush simply vetoed this, knowing that the Ds did not have enough votes to override the veto

Question 34

Give some examples of foreign policy committees that show that congress has great foreign policy expertise

Answer 34

Armed forces committee, foreign relations committee, the house of representatives armed services committee and the foreign affairs committee

Question 35

What does Gerald Ford say about why the president must dominate foreign policy?

Answer 35

‘Our forefathers knew you could not have 535 commanders in chief and secretaries of state’