American foreign policy

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American foreign policy is a highly complicated, ongoing project of protecting and advancing American interests to abroad, primarily to other nation states, but to non-state actors and supranational bodies as well. It is primarily led by the State Department within the Executive branch of the US Federal government, but is highly influenced by historical norms, as well as international conditions and de-facto legal components that profoundly shape the resulting policy. In democratic societies, it is essential that informed citizens are armed with their voice and vote to shape the correct policy, and becoming aware of the history and issues at the present, with a positive outlook toward the future are essential to maximizing gains over time.

A great roundup of regional foreign policy concerns and forward-looking assessments can be found in a number of sources, and I've found this course to be particularly useful and well referenced. There, a primary tool used was the "4 Ps Framework", discussed in this text, as well as by other scholars in the field. The 4 Ps represent a means to facilitate discussion of the conditions, outcomes, and trade-offs resulting from possible foreign policy action or inaction and provide a means to break down the motivations of other actors in the international body to facilitate.

The 4 Ps are:

  • Power
  • Peace
  • Prosperity
  • Principles

I found this a highly useful way to interpret and evaluate actions past, present, and future.