The Politics of U.S. Foreign Policy and NATO : Continuity and Change From The Cold War to the Rise of China

This book argues that domestic politics and political pressures determine the extent of the U.S. role in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) from the emergence of containment strategy against the Soviet Union to the Russian war in Ukraine. NATO has evolved in the domestic politics of U.S. foreign policy from a conventional military alliance to contain the Soviet Union during the Cold War to an important instrument in the competition against China and Russia. This book examines American domestic political implications of U.S. security commitments to NATO. It adopts a historical approach and places the U.S. foreign policy toward NATO on the domestic level of analysis by highlighting domestic political determinants in the foreign policymaking process. It also highlights the connections between the Biden Administration’s definition of a struggle between democracy and autocracy and the state of American democracy following the January 6 th insurrection by far-right Trump extremists. U.S. These include the evolution of American attitudes towards NATO, societal and economic factors, and entrenched bureaucratic interests shaping U.S. foreign policy. The book incorporates the contributions of major theoretical works on the domestic political factors that shape foreign policy preferences and behavior to understand the extent to which domestic politics influences the historical evolution of the U.S. role in NATO and American foreign policy toward Europe. Contents 1 Continuity and Change in U.S. Foreign Policy Toward NATO America’s Domestic Political Headwinds Organization of the Book References 2 Public Perceptions and U.S. Foreign Policy Toward Europe Foreign Policy Preferences and Behavior Economic Inequality and the Decline of the American Middle Class How Americans View the World American Public Support for NATO and Ukraine References 3 Foreign Policy Elites and the National Security State The Political Emergence of Containment NSC 68 and Militarization of Containment Pushback, Ruptures, and Divisions in the U.S. and NATO From the Beginning of the End to the End of the Cold War References 4 Democracy Promotion and Euro-Atlantic Integration Clinton and Integrating Post-communist Governments The Clinton Administration’s Fight to Maintain Alliance Credibility: NATO Intervention in Bosnia and Kosovo The Freedom Agenda, 9/11, and Iraq References 5 Nation-Building at Home and America First Europe, NATO, and the Rebalance to Asia Trump and America First References 6 A Foreign Policy for the Middle Class? The January 6th Insurrection and American Credibility In the Shadow of Afghanistan A New Atlantic Charter, the 2022 Strategic Concept, and Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine The China Challenge The Protect Agenda: U.S. Industrial Policy and Technological Competition with China U.S. Military Spending and the Defense Industrial Base Domestic Consequences and Transatlantic Credibility References 7 Conclusions Foreign Policy Is Domestic Politics Domestic Implications of Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine American Politics and NATO References Index