U.S. Foreign Policy Archive

The rise of the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) has further destabilized a region already in upheaval and dominated U.S. security policy in the Middle East. On Tuesday, Turkey and the U.S. came to a landmark agreement to establish an “Islamic State-free zone” on the Turkish-Syrian border, marking a potential turning point in the multinational effort to fight IS. This report covers the group’s ideology and strategy, its impact on and implications for the Middle East, and the U.S. strategy to combat its spread. All of the articles linked below are free for non-subscribers until Aug. 13. The Islamic State’s Ideology […]

On his current visit to Kenya and Ethiopia, U.S. President Barack Obama has been wise to promote stronger business ties between Africa and the United States. The U.S. has lagged behind rivals, notably China, when it comes to commercial engagement with the continent. The Obama administration is well aware of the problem, and the president’s trip is not the first attempt to fix it. But meaningful progress will require Washington to go beyond rhetoric and actively help to enhance governance frameworks that currently prevent U.S. companies from competing effectively in many African countries. For several years now, the Obama administration […]

Last week, officials from the United States and Central America met in El Salvador to discuss energy cooperation, including developing a regional energy market. In an email interview, Alexis Arthur, an energy policy associate at the Institute of the Americas, discussed U.S. energy cooperation with Central America. WPR: What is the current state of Central America’s energy infrastructure, and how extensive is U.S. cooperation with the region on energy issues? Alexis Arthur: Central America has become a model for the Latin American region with the interconnection of power grids across six countries. The Central American Electrical Interconnection System, or SIEPAC, […]

For decades U.S. policy in the Middle East focused on two things: Israel and oil. Helping to keep Israel secure was not hard since the Israelis themselves had it well under control. Making sure that oil flowed was more challenging since most of it was owned by brittle monarchies or dictators, but the United States and its allies found a way. This emphasis on Israel and oil led to an American strategy that was remarkably consistent even when the White House changed hands. Its goal was stability built on partnerships with local states when possible and direct action if necessary. […]

As the debate over the Iran nuclear deal begins in Congress, many of the arguments against the agreement reached by the U.S. and its P5+1 partners—France, the U.K., Russia, China and Germany—and Iran have taken on the appearance of theological opposition, where nothing short of full capitulation by the Iranians would satisfy critics. Other critiques have exaggerated the deal’s likely impact on the region or portrayed it in a distinctly one-sided manner. Furthermore, almost all of the deal’s critics have ignored the geopolitical impact it will have beyond the region, thereby overlooking a key benefit that advances U.S. interests—namely vis-a-vis […]

Nations going to war often believe the fighting will end quickly. A lightning campaign or two, a few battles and the enemy will fold. Few nations plan for a long war. Despite this, long wars do happen, normally when the belligerents overestimate their own prowess and underestimate the determination and capability of their enemies. For most of its history the United States worked on the same assumption, entering wars with the expectation that they would be short. The world wars and the Cold War were exceptions, but after the demise of the Soviet Union, Americans again believed all their wars […]

Cambodia’s July 2013 national elections were a watershed moment in the country’s recent political history. Amid charges of electoral fraud, long-ruling Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) was declared the winner of the polls by the National Election Committee. Despite the irregularities, the opposition Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP) still saw its support surge, winning 55 out of the 123 seats in parliament. The result represented an unprecedented loss of 22 seats for the CPP and prevented it from wielding the two-thirds majority necessary to amend Cambodia’s constitution. Following the announcement of the results, anti-government demonstrations in the […]

Several weeks ago, the U.S. Army quietly killed a program called the Human Terrain System. Created at the height of American counterinsurgency operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the program deployed teams of social scientists to conduct highly focused cultural research and advise U.S. military commanders on how to use this knowledge to work more effectively with local populations. While saddled with many problems, particularly early on, the Human Terrain System ultimately complemented traditional intelligence and helped beleaguered U.S. military forces understand the human environment where they fought and worked. Still, the program’s cancellation created only a brief ripple among Washington […]

Both the Brazilian and U.S. governments billed President Dilma Rousseff’s late June meeting with President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden in Washington as a reset of relations between the Western Hemisphere’s two largest democracies. Revelations in 2013 by NSA contractor Edward Snowden of U.S. eavesdropping on Brazilian officials, including Rousseff herself, caused her to cancel her state visit scheduled for that October, putting bilateral relations on ice for almost two years. Arguably, Brazil and the United States had already been on separate tracks for some time prior to that, given Brasilia’s more assertively independent foreign policy under the […]

George Clemenceau, who as prime minister of France presided over the final year of World War I, once famously said that war was too important to be left to the generals. If the Pentagon’s recently released National Military Strategy (NMS), penned by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is any indication, the generals should be left pretty far away from strategy, too. This year’s NMS, the first since 2011, is a typical farrago of threat-inflation, strategic incoherence and “a glass half-empty” conception of 21st-century international affairs, lubricated by the oft-heard notion from inside the Pentagon that the U.S military “must provide […]