Liberalism is the buzzword for foreign policy practitioners in the US. Patrick Kallahan, in his book, "Logics of American Foreign Policy, Theories of America’s World Role", explains why.

1. The logic of Liberalism
Presented by: Issa Adeli

2. Basic Points of the Logic of Liberalism
• The US should seek the expansion of Liberty
• No specific assumption about the US power, but it has capability to
increase liberty to some extent.
• Promoting liberty is a moral obligation
• It was a salient theme in US foreign policy since independence,
since 1850, and during the Bush administration
• The term has been muddies by the countries political history.

3. Means
• Verbal advocacy = praising or condemning
• Diplomatic initiative to incorporate liberal norms
• Covert provision of financial support for prodemocratic entities
• Constructive engagement
• Economic sanctions
• Covert operation to destabilize non-liberal regimes
• Military intervention

4. The US interests = Free Trade
• Free trade is beneficial because it facilitates development.
• Economic growth is natural because free trade steer the economy toward
maximum production.
• Free trade promotes peace:
• Under free trade, political control is economically irrelevant.
• Free trade creates a vested interest in peace.
• Free trade fosters democracy:
• Prosperity strengthens the middle class.
• Market economies require independent judgement which is inconsistent with authoritarian rule
• Free trade requires interaction with modern democracies and that teach democratic values.

5. The US interests = Democratization
• Democracy supports economic development:
• Democracy adjust modes of thinking in ways appropriate for economic
growth.
• Democracy reduces corruption because of its inherent political competition
and individual freedom.
• Democracy increases stability which is prerequisite to growth.
• Democracy fosters peace:
• Ordinary people will apply the brake on the engines of war.
• Democracies are relatively likely to use cooperative ways of solving their
conflicts (= mutual liberal democractic respect).

6. The US interests = Human Rights
• The importance of human rights:
• Human rights exist, they are not a form of Western imperialism.
• The individual exists prior to the state.
• Civil and political rights have priority over economic and social rights because:
• They are inherently more important.
• Civil and political rights are prerequisite to the fulfillment of social and economic rights and inhibit the state from trampling those
rights
• Civil and political rights are more attainable. Social and economic rights require far exceeding the resources of all but a few of the
world’s nations.
• Violations of human rights abroad harm the US. They create or intensify problems.
• Repression of activists prevents reporting of environmental problem or epidemics
• Repression leads to increasing immigration
• US support for governments that violate human rights increases the likelihood of terrorism.
• Human rights are universal:
• Cultures are adaptable, not rigid
• The state itself is an import from the West.
• Promoting human rights is one of the commonalities that link the logic of liberalism with the logic of
liberal internationalism.

7. Self-Determination
• Foreign domination contradicts the most powerful social force in
modern world: modern nationalism.
• Foreign domination is harmful to the US interest:
• It leads to wars of national liberation. This social unrest harms US interests.
• Internal strife is liable to be internationalized and increases the risk of
international war.
• The force of nationalism is stronger and when they gain power, they see the
US as their enemy if the US fails to support them or supports the imperial
power.

8. Congenial international environment
• Liberal institutions require a supportive international environment.
• Freedom at home requires freedom abroad because private US
businesses could not compete against foreign businesses that were
backed by a national government.
• In a world devoid of other liberal states, American society, to protect
itself, would have to become like a garrison state. That would seriously
erode the quality of American democracy.
• The existence of other democratic capitalist nations reinforces the
American system’s legitimacy. Other forms of social organizations
ecourage doubts

9. US power
• The power to promote liberalism rests on more than US resources.
It is enhanced by the intrinsic attractiveness of democratic
capitalism.
• Beginning in the 1970s, dictatorships began converting to
democracies. Liberalism became international orthodoxy.

10. Morality
• The logic of liberalism represents a serendipitous convergence of moral
considerations and practicality.
• Protecting human rights must be a fundamental requirement of
conscience.
• It is everybody’s business at least to speak out and possibly to refuse to
do business as usual with the crusher of people’s spirit.
• Containment is negative, futile, immoral.
• Expansion of free market is a moral obligation. Free trade is a moral
imperative for fighting poverty.
• Trade means growth; growth means improved working conditions.

11. Liberalism and the US history
• As a people whose revolution had freed them from monarchial rule and colonial domination, most
Americans sympathized with republican and anticolonial revolutions. Americans had maintained that wars
were caused only by the functioning of monarchies.
• The Monroe Doctrine also reflected a sense of support for self-determination in the Americas, while
motivated primarily by a realist concern to keep European powers out of the Western Hemishpere.
• The 1st initiative was the Open Door Policy, which advocated free trade in China as an alternative to
China’s being carved into sphere of influence by Japan and European powers.
• Liberal considerations played a role in the US acquiring an empire during and after the Spanish-American
War.
• Entering WWI because only after the Russian Revolution
• Wilson (1913-1921): Right is more precious than peace – The war would make the world safe for
democracy.
• 14 Points: Free trade – Dissolving emperors – national self determination
• Wilson before 1917 sent US forces into Mexico, Haiti, Santo Domingo to teach them to elect good men.
• The US opposed the USSR immediately after the communists took power because of its denial of basic
human freedoms, long before it posed any real danger to US security.

12. Liberalism and the US history
• Franklin Roosevelt (1933-1945):
• Realism = Liberalism = Self-determination
• Good neighbor policy – diplomatic relation with Soviet Union
• Four freedom (after WWII): Freedom of speech - Freedom of worship - Freedom from want -
Freedom from fear
• Liberalism inspired creation of international institutions (UN, IMF, OAS)
• Clashes with Britain and France
• Self-determination was dominant during 1940s
• Roosevelt and Truman pressed the USSR not to establish puppet states in eastern
and central Europe. US insistence that Poland’s government be democratically
chosen and the Soviet’s refusal was a major source of the Cold War.
• The dominant justification for the containment policy were liberal. Even
professionals who though in geopolitical terms found that they had to use th
rhetoric of liberalism to persuade the US population to suppoer Cold War policies.

13. Liberalism and the US history
• Restructure Germany and Japan to make them peaceful democracies
• Poland case was a major source of Cold War
• Liberalism was the dominant justification for the containment
• Third world policies in 1950s and 1960s reflected liberal thinking (Illiberal
regimes provided the perfect breeding ground for communist revolutions):
Marshal Plan, Alliance for Progress
• Liberal Justification for toppling down democracies:
• They were likely to cease being democracies, seized by communists.
• Communism is more harmful than a traditional dictatorship
• US-installed dictatorship could be reformed and might even revert to democracies while
communist dictatorships would be long-lasting and resistant to reforms.
• Winning Cold War is required by Liberalism, there, sacrifice democracy in one country to
save the cause of democracy worldwide

14. Liberalism and the US history
• Supporting dictatorship ceased to be acceptable to the American public by the late 1960s. The left wing rejected it.
• 1970s: the right wing rejected Nixon and Ford’s policy for détente
• A movement made human rights a central criterion in US diplomacy. It took hold in Congress and then the election of
Jimmy Carter (1977-1981)
• He created a bureau of human rights in the State department
• He jeopardized détente by inviting prominent Soviet dissidents to the White House.
• He disavowed supporting dictatorships as a way to contain communism. He rejected US intervention into Latin America.
• His human rights policy seemed to be ineffective, internally contradictory, and harmful to the US interests.
• Ronald Reagan (1981-1989): promoting free trade and democracy
• The most vigorous proponent of democracy since Wilson
• He sought to win the Cold War by winning the ideological battle.
• He induced Saudi Arabia to raise its petroleum production to drive down oil prices. It created cash crisis for the USSR
• Funneling financial support through Catholic Church to Solidarity union in Poland.
• War against communist governments: Nicaragua, Afghanistan, Grenada
• Promote democracy in non-communist countries: South Korea, Philippines
• It created the National Endowment for Democracy to foster populism and civil society.
• Constructive engagement with white minority in South Africa for incremental reforms.

15. Liberalism and the US history
• George Bush (1989-1993): more Hegemonism and Realism
• Cautious stance towards Soviet sphere: stability rather than liberty
• Hands off reaction to Tienanmen
• Bolster new democratic governments in Philippines and South Korea
• He joined OAS and US to impose sanctions on Haiti after a military coup removed its
elected president.
• He sent US forces to Panama (1989) and Persian Gulf (1991) against dictators
• Bill Clinton (1993-2001):
• In his campaign for presidency, Bill Clinton savaged the Bush administration for failing to
promote democracy and human rights abroad. He made the promotion of the liberal
agenda the central theme of his foreign policy.
• Democratization is more than a key part of a larger strategy; it is the countries overriding
purpose.
• Complete negotiation of NAFTA and WTO
• Sending 20,000 troops to Haiti

16. Liberalism and the US history
• George W. Bush, like his father, placed greater emphasis on
American military power and international stability than did bill
Clinton.
• 3 out of 8 elements of national security:
• Champion aspirations of human dignity
• Ignite a new era of economic growth through free market and free trade.
• Expand the circle of developing by opening societies and building the
infrastructure of democracy

17. Conclusion
• Since 1900, Liberalism was the greatest ambition of United States
foreign policy
• Since 1976, every administration has subscribed to the logic of
Liberalism. Different administrations have emphasized different
aspects of the logic and have used different strategies and tactics
fro promoting freedom abroad.

18. Discussion Questions
• Promoting freedom may alienate other actors whose cooperation is
necessary. How can it be avoided?
• Under what circumstances does the US have sufficient influence to
induce domestic reform abroad?
• Would not basing policy on principles create a strong pressure toward
consistency and thus a loss of limits? Will it be possible to keep liberal
agenda limited, such as reserving intervention for only the most severe
of human rights violations or for when the US has overwhelming power?
• Would the appearance of double standards be fatal for the policy?
• How willing is the public to support a liberal agenda? Why is it attractive
to Americans?

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