Foreign policy is the broad framework that governs America’s relationships with the world. It includes all official activities outside the military arena, from promoting American values to negotiating trade agreements. Foreign policy also encompasses the many ways in which the United States and its people connect to the rest of the globe, including providing humanitarian assistance, addressing HIV/AIDS in developing countries and assisting with post-natural disaster recovery.
In short, the purpose of foreign policy is to create and sustain an international environment that enables U.S. interests and values to prosper. That’s why America must pursue four broad strategies:
Ensure a secure and prosperous future for Americans by advancing an international order in which democracy, human rights and free enterprise triumph. This effort involves ensuring that our country is a leader in the world of diplomacy and that we take full advantage of the opportunities provided by the global economy. It also means sustaining and strengthening the bases of our power by ensuring the strength and flexibility of our military, as well as continuing to support the international institutions that help us deal with the challenges we face in the world, such as the United Nations, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
In a world of increasingly dangerous and unpredictable threats, the wise use of American primacy advances U.S. values and interests. It has done so in the past, by breaking deadlocks and stalemates like evicting Iraqi forces from Kuwait, persuading Haiti’s military junta to relinquish power and ending the slaughter of civilians in Serbia and Afghanistan. But it cannot continue to do so unless others believe that Washington’s use of its unrivaled power advances their interests as much as our own.