Foreign policy - Assignment Example

This was a widely successful move in relation to American interests – the United States no longer needed a massive military in the way it had previously, and the free trade initiatives he instigated such as NAFTA spurred the United States to some of the biggest budget surpluses it has known in recent memory. He was moderately successful at achieving his objectives in Geo-Economics – the world became more integrated, but at the cost of some human rights that Clinton advocated for. His Policy on democratic enlargement was based on the fact that new nation-states were emerging out of the wreckage of the Soviet Union, and their long term stability would be best be served by democratic engagement of the population and the formation of democratic governance.

This was a good target for national interests – these new states had many of the resources left over from the Soviet Union, such as stockpiles of nuclear weapons, and if they were thrown into chaos they would have been incredibly dangerous. Democracy has been demonstrated as one of the best long-term stabilizing forces, especially when the population is receptive to it. His focus on Ex-Soviet states, however, proved problematic – the United States has spent the decade since the close of the Clinton presidency fighting issues in the Middle East that arrive, at least in part, from Clinton’s willingness to let autocratic regimes continue brutal oppression there unchecked, for instance Saudi Arabia. (Hook &. Spanier, 2010, p 70). 2. Explain how the processes of integration and fragmentation are occurring simultaneously in world politics since the Cold War.

Give examples of each. In what ways are these processes constructive and/or destructive? In your opinion, how should US foreign policy be crafted to take these trends into account? Integration is the process of bringing of people of different racial or ethnic groups with a similar interest into unrestricted and equal association. Intergration occurs when two or more states, with a common interest sign treaties and agree to form a body characterized by a physical secretariat, personnel, equipments and a budget.

These institutions are normally referred as an Inter-Governmental organization. An example is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) which was formed in 1949 after the end of the World War 2. Fragmentation on the other hand refers to a process where organizations, which were once united, separate or break into different groups or join other groups or none at all. An example is the War Saw Pact that came to being as a response to NATO which fragmented at the end of the Cold War. As a result of the fragmentation of War Saw Pact, trade between countries of Eastern Europe and Western Europe increased and this lead to increased economic growth.

The constructive element of NATO is that it managed to keep USSR from invading Western Europe. The US Foreign Policy should be crafted by first analyzing the past experiences of integrative and fragmentive processes. On successful integrative processes, the US should analyze their reasons for success and failure before crafting any foreign policy. On Fragmentation, they should learn from institutions which fragmented in-order to avoid formulating policies that are doomed