Key Terms
- balance of power
- a situation in which no one nation or region is much more powerful militarily than any other in the world
- balance of trade
- the relationship between a country’s inflow and outflow of goods
- Cold War
- the period from shortly after World War II until approximately 1989–1990 when advanced industrial democracies divided behind the two superpowers (East: Soviet Union, West: United States) and the fear of nuclear war abounded
- congressional executive agreement
- an international agreement that is not a treaty and that is negotiated by the president and approved by a simple majority of the House and Senate
- containment
- the effort by the United States and Western European allies, begun during the Cold War, to prevent the spread of communism
- diplomacy
- the establishment and maintenance of a formal relationship between countries
- economic sanction
- a situation in which a country or multiple countries suspend trade or other financial relationships with another country in order to signal their displeasure with the behavior of the other country
- foreign policy
- a government’s goals in dealing with other countries or regions and the strategy used to achieve them
- free trade
- a policy in which a country allows the unfettered flow of goods and services between itself and other countries
- hard power
- the use or threat of military power to influence the behavior of another country
- isolationism
- a foreign policy approach that advocates a nation’s staying out of foreign entanglements and keeping to itself
- liberal internationalism
- a foreign policy approach of becoming proactively engaged in world affairs by cooperating in a community of nations
- neo-isolationism
- a policy of distancing the United States from the United Nations and other international organizations, while still participating in the world economy
- neoconservatism
- the belief that, rather than exercising restraint, the United States should aggressively use its might to promote its values and ideals around the world
- North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
- a cross-national military organization with bases in Belgium and Germany formed to maintain stability in Europe
- protectionism
- a policy in which a country does not permit other countries to sell goods and services within its borders or charges them very high tariffs (import taxes) to do so
- selective engagement
- a policy of retaining a strong military presence and remaining engaged across the world
- soft power
- nonmilitary tools used to influence another country, such as economic sanctions
- sole executive agreement
- an international agreement that is not a treaty and that is negotiated and approved by the president acting alone
- treaty
- an international agreement entered by the United States that requires presidential negotiation with other nation(s), consent by two-thirds of the Senate, and final ratification by the president
- two presidencies thesis
- the thesis by Wildavsky that there are two distinct presidencies, one for foreign and one for domestic policy, and that presidents are more successful in foreign than domestic policy
- United Nations (UN)
- an international organization of nation-states that seeks to promote peace, international relations, and economic and environmental programs