Congress and U.S. Foreign Policy

Activism, Assertiveness, and Acquiescence in a Polarized Era

Ralph G. Carter, James M. Scott

• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
• Year: 2021
• eBook ISBN: 9781538151242
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: American Government
• Index: Politics & International Relations

In Congress and U.S. Foreign Policy, leading scholars examine the foreign policy activity, role and influence of the U.S. Congress in the current polarized and partisan political context. Challenging conventional views, the contributors reveal how members of Congress have been active and assertive, utilizing numerous different means to influence US foreign policy, sometimes supporting and sometimes opposing the President.

The contributors provide in-depth analysis and expert perspectives on the issues, decisions, and debates that have arisen across multiple presidential administrations in the polarized political context since the end of the Cold War. This polarized environment greatly increases the conflict among, and complicates the ability of, policymakers to reach compromises, much less consensus, on the appropriate ends and means of US foreign policy.

This timely and cohesive reassessment of the tumultuous years of the most recent presidential administrations focuses analytical attention on the patterns of engagement between Congress and the President and the range of avenues and influence by the collective institution and its individual members. It thus sheds light on the role and behavior of Congress and its members in US foreign policy as a vital aspect of understanding how and why the US chooses its policy courses toward the world.

Table of contents

• Introduction: Understanding Congress and Foreign Policy
• 1 Shifting Constellations of Congressional Foreign Policy during the Trump Era
• 2 Anti-Presidential Bipartisanship in Foreign Policy in the Trump Era
• 3 The Polarization of the Defense and Foreign Policy Committees
• 4 The Continued Decline of Congressional Oversight of U.S. Foreign Policy
• 5 The Conditional Nature of Congressional Support for the President during Wartime
• 6 The Congressional Role in U.S. Diplomacy in an Era of Presidential Unilateralism: The End of the Treaty Power
• 7 Opening Windows in Shrinking Spaces: Polarization and Congressional Foreign Policy Entrepreneurship
• 8 Balancing Party: The Unusual Success of Women’s Foreign Policy in the 115th Congress
• 9 Veterans in the Post-2001 House: The Impact of Military Service on War Oversight
• 10 The “Mischiefs of Faction?”: The Freedom Caucus, Progressives, and U.S. Foreign Policy
• Conclusion: Patterns and Prospects
• Bibliography
• List of contributors
• Index