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American foreign policy (view source)
Revision as of 01:28, September 14, 2009
, 01:28, September 14, 2009→Ronald Reagan 1981-93
Reagan defeated Carter in 1980 by stressing the failures of both foreign and domestic policy, warning America had become weak at home and abroad. Rejecting detente he called for rollback of the decrepit Soviet Empire, whose only strength was in missile power but which was falling apart in terms of economics, politics and society.
Reagan defeated Carter in 1980 by stressing the failures of both foreign and domestic policy, warning America had become weak at home and abroad. Rejecting detente he called for rollback of the decrepit Soviet Empire, whose only strength was in missile power but which was falling apart in terms of economics, politics and society.
Reagan restructured American politics in a manner reminiscent of Franklin Roosevelt' [[New Deal Coalition]]. Reagan built entirely new electoral coalitions using fresh issues, such as opposition to taxes, opposition to economic regulation, and support for moral issues (like right-to-life) promoted by Catholics and especially evangelical Protestants. In foreign policy the Cold War resumed with renewed intensity. The defeatism of the late 1970s sparked a new determination among the Reaganites. In the 1970s the Soviets had rejected détente, expanded Cold War operations into Africa, Asia and Latin America, enlarged their long-range missile forces, and invaded neutral Afghanistan. Washington had learned a lesson from Vietnam, and succeeded in turning Afghanistan into a quagmire for the Soviets. Reagan’s tax cuts and a national commitment to computers and high tech reenergized the American economy (at the cost of long-term national debt). Although racial and gender inequality diminished, economic inequality grew. The Soviet economy proved utterly incapable of handling the transition from the industrial age of mechanical devices to the new information age. Reagan convinced the nation to fund a vast “Star Wars” missile defense system as part of a gigantic high-tech military buildup that stunned the Soviets. They did not have the money or technology to compete in the renewed Cold War, and they realized defeat was looming. Moscow turned to Mikhail Gorbachev who made desperate attempts to salvage Communism. Reagan cut a deal—give up the Cold War and Gorbachev could have arms deals that would allow him to cut military spending and save his economy. Gorbachev went along, abandoning Afghanistan and other overseas adventures, and finally releasing control over the European satellites. The fall of the Berlin Wall in November, 1989, marked the end of the Cold War with a stunning American victory. Gorbachev’s reforms, meanwhile, made the Soviet economy worse, and he and the entire Communist system was overthrown in late 1991, as Russia started on the difficult transition to democracy and a capitalist economy..
====Ending the Cold War====
====Ending the Cold War====
What scholars label the "orthodox view" of the end of the Cold War is that "the Soviet Union's capitulation and the Cold War victory for the forces of freedom and democracy were ultimately due to the relentless application of the West's military superiority and the dynamism of its ideas and economic system. These factors revealed communism's moral illegitimacy and highlighted its economic stagnation." Salla and Summy, p 3 It is broadly endorsed by both Republicans (who emphasize Reagan's role), and by Democrats (who emphasize the containment policies of [[Harry S. Truman]], [[John F. Kennedy]], and [[Lyndon Johnson]]. European leaders of the 1980s give credit to Reagan for winning the Cold War. [[Lech Wałęsa]], leader of the [[Solidarity]] movement in Poland, said in 2004, "When talking about Ronald Reagan, I have to be personal. We in Poland took him so personally. Why? Because we owe him our liberty. This can't be said often enough by people who lived under oppression for half a century, until communism fell in 1989." Quoted in [http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110005204] Helmut Kohl, chancellor of [[West Germany]], said, "He was a stroke of luck for the world. Two years after Reagan called on [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] to tear down the wall, he noted, it fell and 11 months later Germany was reunified. We Germans have much to thank Ronald Reagan for." Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern said, "President Reagan was a determined opponent of Communism and he played an important role in bringing an end to Communism and to the artificial division of Europe imposed after the Second World War." [[Václav Havel]], who became the Czech president in 1989, said, "He was a man of firm principles who was indisputably instrumental in the fall of Communism." Quotes at [http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,1227784,00.html] Liberals were aghast at Reagan's foreign policy, because it pushed idealism and moralism in dangerous directions. Fearing that rollback would lead to war, one critic ridiculed it as "crackpot moralism." Liberals preferred a foreign policy that pursued the national interest -- by pulling back from a preoccupation with the Soviet threat, reducing military expenditure, relying on increased cooperation with our allies, establishing more constructive links to the Third World, restricting the freedom of multinational capital, deemphasizing nuclear weapons, and deepening detente with the Soviet Union. Alan Wolfe, "Crackpot Moralism, Neo-Realism and U.S. Foreign Policy." ''World Policy Journal.'' 3#2 (1986) pp 252-75 [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=95721797 online edition]
What scholars label the "orthodox view" of the end of the Cold War is that "the Soviet Union's capitulation and the Cold War victory for the forces of freedom and democracy were ultimately due to the relentless application of the West's military superiority and the dynamism of its ideas and economic system. These factors revealed communism's moral illegitimacy and highlighted its economic stagnation." Salla and Summy, p 3 It is broadly endorsed by both Republicans (who emphasize Reagan's role), and by Democrats (who emphasize the containment policies of [[Harry S. Truman]], [[John F. Kennedy]], and [[Lyndon Johnson]]. European leaders of the 1980s give credit to Reagan for winning the Cold War. [[Lech Wałęsa]], leader of the [[Solidarity]] movement in Poland, said in 2004, "When talking about Ronald Reagan, I have to be personal. We in Poland took him so personally. Why? Because we owe him our liberty. This can't be said often enough by people who lived under oppression for half a century, until communism fell in 1989." Quoted in [http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110005204] Helmut Kohl, chancellor of [[West Germany]], said, "He was a stroke of luck for the world. Two years after Reagan called on [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] to tear down the wall, he noted, it fell and 11 months later Germany was reunified. We Germans have much to thank Ronald Reagan for." Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern said, "President Reagan was a determined opponent of Communism and he played an important role in bringing an end to Communism and to the artificial division of Europe imposed after the Second World War." [[Václav Havel]], who became the Czech president in 1989, said, "He was a man of firm principles who was indisputably instrumental in the fall of Communism." Quotes at [http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,1227784,00.html] Liberals were aghast at Reagan's foreign policy, because it pushed idealism and moralism in dangerous directions. Fearing that rollback would lead to war, one critic ridiculed it as "crackpot moralism." Liberals preferred a foreign policy that pursued the national interest -- by pulling back from a preoccupation with the Soviet threat, reducing military expenditure, relying on increased cooperation with our allies, establishing more constructive links to the Third World, restricting the freedom of multinational capital, deemphasizing nuclear weapons, and deepening detente with the Soviet Union. Alan Wolfe, "Crackpot Moralism, Neo-Realism and U.S. Foreign Policy." ''World Policy Journal.'' 3#2 (1986) pp 252-75 [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=95721797 online edition]