Our Evolving Foreign Policy | Power and Politics in US Government 30 of 30 | Study Hall

to learn more about earning college credits with study hall courses go to gudy hall.com or click the link in the description it all started when us table tennis team member Glenn Cowen got on the bus carrying team China it was the World Table Tennis Championships in ngoya Japan in 1971 and things between the US and China were really not good at the time the Chinese team had been told to keep their distance from the US team they couldn't even shake hands so real awkward when Cowen showed up on th

eir bus after a tense silence Cowen greeted the others through a translator then the top player on the Chinese team Jan Zang walked up from the back of the bus and handed Cowen a silk screen of the Huang Shang mountains and shook his hand photos of them smiling together made newspapers Around the World Behind the Scenes highlevel government officials got to work the US and China had been looking for a reason to reconnect after these Decades of tension but neither wanted to make the first move so

this was the perfect opportunity on April 6th the chairman Mau personally directed the Chinese team to invite the US team to China Just 4 days later the US team were among the first Americans allowed to enter China since 1949 for 6 days the US team and a number of American journalists tour China and played exhibition table tennis matches about a year later a Chinese table tennis team visited nine cities in the US oh and Disneyland of course and that changed everything China was no longer comple

tely closed off from the Western World and formal diplomatic us China relations were restored by President Carter in 1979 all because of a pingpong player if only it were always that that easy to bridge ideological divides hi I'm Dave Jorgenson and this is study hall ping pong in politics and US [Music] Government we've spent a lot of time taking a close look at the US government and the ways that politics and policies affect the United States and the people living in this country but the United

States also has a powerful presence around the world and has throughout its history so just like it's important to understand the inner workings of the US government at home it's important to understand how that in turn has a wider impact on the actions the United States takes throughout the world and how that affects both how we view other countries and how they view us but why does it matter whether the US can play pingpong with other countries well sports are a pretty good diplomatic strateg

y diplomacy is the formal practice of negotiating and maintaining relationships between different countries and it's a big part of the US foreign policy or the overarching way the US chooses to relate to other countries and there are several reasons why the US would want to have a good foreign policy strategy first the US wants to protect itself and its citizens from physical danger and threats of military or economic harm this concern also extends to us allies or the countries that the US has f

riendly relationships with second foreign policy Works to make sure the US has continued access to resources like oil and maintains its ability to buy and sell things on the international market third because the US can't protect itself and maintain international access if the world is in chaos us foreign policy also looks to ensure a balance of power worldwide and fourth the US wants to protect human rights and democracy worldwide the US gives money and works with International organizations li

ke the United Nations to provide Aid to people around the world who need it but none of these goals is more important than the others and different political leaders have had very different views on foreign policy so there's been a lot of back and forth on different approaches to foreign policy throughout US History the traditional view on foreign policy is isolationism or avoiding getting involved politically or economic with other countries North Korea is a classic example of extreme isolation

ism or as Chris would point out wakanda the first Black Panther movie for the most part throughout its history the US has been isolationist to some degree both Thomas Jefferson and George Washington advocated for the us to stay out of international entanglements and keep to itself and in 1823 the US also asked other countries to leave it alone through the Monroe Doctrine put forward by President James Monroe at the time the geopolitical map of the world was changing so the Monroe doct drew a lin

e down the Atlantic and said that everyone should stay on their side of the line any attempt by Europe to further colonize the Americas or interfere with the politics on the other side of the line would be seen as hostile towards the us but minding your own business doesn't mean you aren't aware of other people's drama that's the reason social media was invented right so the US has had a hard time not getting involved in things like how they entered both World Wars the opposite of isolationism i

s liberal internationalism if isolationism is minding your own business liberal internationalism is getting involved in everyone else's business in this view the US should be actively participating in creating systems and institutions that Foster world peace and cooperation the liberal internationalist view gained traction during and after World War I as a way to stop future Global Wars from happening US President woodro Wilson was extremely keen on creating a League of Nations to ensure long-la

sting worldwide peace the idea was to solve international disputes before they erupt into war ironically the US never actually joined the League of Nations because the US voted against it they were still team isolationist but the League of Nations was a precursor to the creation of the United Nations another organization that promotes a liberal internationalist view of foreign policy and the United States is part of the United Nations so throughout history the US has bounce back and forth like a

pingpong ball between isolationist and liberal internationalist policies are sometimes a bit of both and after World War II even more different approaches to foreign policy developed giving the United States a few more options for how to interact with the rest of the world one of the main goals of the United States after World War II was Containment to stop communism from spreading around the world so the US was directly at odds with the Soviet Union and that led to the 45-year period called th

e Cold War fun fact until I was 17 I thought it was named the Cold War because it's cold in Russia I don't think that anymore anyway a hot war is an open military conflict between two countries but that didn't happen between the US and the Soviet Union so we call it the Cold War because instead of directly fighting each other both countries had allies they l support to in proxy wars proxy wars are armed conflicts like the Vietnam War fought on behalf of or started by larger Powers technically th

e Vietnam War was between North Vietnam and South Vietnam but North Vietnam was backed by the Soviet Union and South Vietnam was backed by the US so really from the US perspective it was an attempt to keep communism from spreading from the north to the South it didn't end well for the US and many saw it as a failure this led some critics to develop neoconservatism as a school of thought for foreign policy neoconservatives think the US should be aggressive in promoting the US system of democracy

internationally rather than responding in retaliation like when the US joined World War II after Pearl Harbor was attacked neoconservatives pushed for preemptive action action ahead of time even if the US was acting alone and even if that action led to mass casualties or supporting non-democratic regimes for example in the 1980s the US gave military and financial aid to groups fighting socialist Le groups in Central America and the 2003 invasion of Iraq was influenced by the neoconservative goal

of asking Saddam Hussein and bringing democracy to the region in contrast to neoconservatism is Neo isolationism which acknowledges that no Advanced industrial democracy can be completely separated from the rest of the world but still tries to keep free of being involved in foreign entanglements staying involved with the world has benefits Industries like tourism and being able to buy and sell things to other countries helps the economy and some issues like climate change require International

cooperation this can also be called select Ive engagement the idea is that the US can remain engaged in the world with its alliances and membership in international institutions at the same time as maintaining a strong military presence abroad the US can be involved but not overly involved like the ideal grandparents this strategy also utilizes both hard power and soft power hard power is the ability to use the suggestion of military force or penalties that affect the trade and economy of a coun

try to influence their choices but soft power is using other resources like culture and ideology to persuade other countries like diplomacy and pingpong but even though pingpong fixed a lot between the US and China in the 70s it was a temporary fix new challenges have sprung up and several decades later things are once again tense between the two countries and this time ping pong might not be the answer times have changed but it's not just the United States view on what foreign policy should loo

k like that's changed how other countries view the US has changed too during the Trump Administration the US returned to very isolationist rhetoric America First was Trump's motto when it came to US foreign policy under Trump the US left International alliances like the transpacific partnership and the Paris climate Accords these were big steps away from the network of allies that had been carefully built over the decades as part of US foreign policy under Biden the US has tried to reestablish r

elationships with those allies but another Factor influencing foreign policy today is that it's not as simple as dealing with a specific country or Alliance of countries anymore instead groups like terrorist organizations that that don't necessarily belong to any government cross National borders as of July 2023 the US has designated over 65 groups as foreign terrorist organizations on top of that Russia and China are both trying to gain power and influence in competition with the US military sp

ending is about Defending Your Country but also showing that you're a threat to others the US has military bases all over the world and spends more in the military than the next nine countries combined however Russia and China have also increased their military spending but unlike the 1970s none of these countries have increased their ping pong spending with new threats and new enemies popping up all over the globe the balance of power is Shifting the question is how the US wants to respond over

the years different theories have been used to describe how the US interacts with other countries but what's consistent is that people in the US have always had different views on how the nation should face and interact with the world and different thoughts on what our actions say about the us and this isn't going away the world continues to face major challenges that require countries to work together to solve and maybe pingpong isn't the answer which is sad because we blew the whole prop Budg

et on pingpong balls but maybe some of the other theories of foreign policy aren't quite right either so when it comes to the United States and the way our government and Country works there continues to be opportunities for awareness engagement and innovative solutions it will always be important to pay attention to what's happening at home and abroad and to speak up and ask questions about what we're seeing because as people in the US we have a say in the actions our country takes and we have

a responsibility to to ensure our leaders are working for us if you're enjoying study hall power and politics in US government and are interested in taking an online course and earning college credit go to gudy hall.com or click on the button to learn more thanks for watching