Do Now One day at school you notice a huge ring of students jostling and pushing. As you get closer, you hear some of the students yelling, “Fight!” Like the rest, you want to see what is happening. Finally finding a vantage point, you see two students threatening one another. One is a good friend; the other is a former friend and current enemy who owes you money. What will you do? 1. Turn away and leave because the fight does not concern you and getting involved will only mean trouble. 2. Convince a couple of friends to help you separate the two students before they hurt each other. 3. Get into the fight on your friend’s side and punch out the former friend who owes you money since he deserves it. 4. Punch out both students to show the rest of the school who is the toughest kid at Unami.

Today, you will be examining the choices the United States has made in its foreign policy relations with other countries. What is foreign policy? The diplomatic policy of a nation in its interactions with other nations.

The Foreign Policy Spectrum Isolationism Collective Security Internationalism Imperialism “World Policeman” “Loner” “Team Player” “World Bully” Strict non-involvement in the affairs of other nations Working with other countries to influence world affairs Intervening in other countries’ affairs to promote important national interests and/or to safeguard national security Extending power by acquiring territory around the globe or exploiting weaker nations to serve national interests.

The Foreign Policy Spectrum Isolationism Collective Security Internationalism Imperialism “World Policeman” “Loner” “Team Player” “World Bully” Where do the “fight” scenarios fit on the spectrum? Turn away and leave because the fight does not concern you and getting involved will only mean trouble. Convince a couple of friends to help you separate the two students before they hurt each other. Get into the fight on your friend’s side and punch out the former friend who owes you money since he deserves it. Punch out both students to show the rest of the school who is the toughest kid at Unami.

With a partner, you will read the foreign policy action cards. Activity Write a short justification of your placement then continue the process until all of the events are completed. After reading the description carefully decide where it should be placed on the foreign policy spectrum. Then shade in the spaces (in PENCIL) that correspond to the foreign policy stance you think the action represents. Hint: They can overlap and you can have more than 1 shaded. With a partner, you will read the foreign policy action cards.

Isolationism Reason: Washington rejected the alliance system because he did not think we should be involved in other nations affairs. He argued that trade with other nations would bring the U.S. into conflict. He wanted us to remain politically independent because he argued that we should have little connections to other countries.

Internationalism & Imperialism Reason: Monroe believed that we had the right to get involved in Latin America to make sure Europe didn’t take it over. This would be promoting our interests because we wanted to keep democracy there and make sure there weren’t any foreign countries in our “backyard.” We also sent troops there to influence Latin America affairs and acquire territory. Latin America is weaker than the U.S. and we could easily take advantage of them (exploitation).

Imperialism Reason: We declared war with Mexico to gain more power by forcing Mexico to give us more territories. We did this because we wanted to spread the idea of “manifest destiny” (the idea that we were supposed to control more land) from the East to West Coasts. We were acting on the idea that we could exploit weaker nations to gain land and we were serving our own interests of Manifest Destiny.

Isolationism & Internationalism Reason: In the early 1900’s, the U.S. wanted to remain neutral, thus declaring themselves isolationist. As the war became more deadly for our allies and our national security was threatened through the sinking of the Lusitania, we joined the war to try and make the world safe for democracy.

Isolationism & Internationalism Reason: In the 1920’s, the U.S. wanted to promote the idea of a peacekeeping body through the creation of the League of Nations. However, the American people felt very strongly that the U.S. should stay out of any foreign issues because it could lead to conflict and we should remain self – sufficient. As the war waged on it became clear that we had not maintained democracy in Europe because stronger fascist/militarist governments were exploiting weaker nations, so we felt we needed to act as the world’s policeman by providing monetary and governmental support for the weaker nations.

Internationalism Reason: The Truman Doctrine promoted our national interests by protecting free nations from being subjugated ( taken over by a stronger nation). The Soviet Union was attempting to establish communism in as many nations as possible so we countered by supporting those countries economically and militarily.

Internationalism & Imperialism Reason: The U.S. believed that we were stopping the spread of communism by protecting South Vietnam from North Vietnam’s invasion. N. Vietnam wanted to make S. Vietnam communist. To safeguard our national interests of maintaining democracy in South Vietnam we entered the war on the side of the S. Vietnamese. However, many Americans felt we were promoting the exploitation of the S. Vietnamese people to serve our own interests of maintaining the balance of power.

Collective Security and Internationalism Reason: The U.S. worked with 28 other nations to influence world affairs to stop Saddam Hussein’s aggressive takeover of Kuwait. We sent American troops to safeguard our interest of economic equality through OPEC and to safeguard our national security from the use of WMD from Iraq.

Collective Security Reason: The U.S. worked with the United Nations (peacekeeping body of over 60 world countries) to stop the bloodshed in Bosnia. We wanted to work with other countries to influence the killing in Bosnia.

Closure 1. Which foreign policy stance has the United States appeared to favor the most? The least? Why? 2. Do you notice any patterns in U.S. foreign policy over the course of U.S. history? 3. What do you think might explain the constant shifting of U.S. foreign policy from one stance to another? 4. Why do you think the United States began taking a more active role in world affairs in the twentieth century? 5. Where on the foreign policy spectrum should the United States position itself today? Explain.