CIAO DATE: 03/02

US Foreign Policy Agenda

Volume 5, Number 2, September 2000

Preface

U.S. political campaigns characteristically produce energetic, sometimes heated exchanges as the candidates attempt to differentiate their positions from those of their opponents on a range of issues, including foreign policy. One such "hot-button" issue between Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Al Gore in the 2000 presidential election is a National Missile Defense program.

The Clinton administration at first denied the need for a national missile defense system. Then it delayed. Now the approach it proposes is flawed — a system initially based on a single site, when experts say that more is needed. A missile defense system should not only defend our country, it should defend our allies, with whom I will consult as we develop our plans. And any change in the ABM Treaty must allow the technologies and experiments required to deploy adequate missile defense.

— Governor George W. Bush
Remarks on "New Leadership on National Security,"
Washington, D.C.
May 23, 2000

Governor Bush used his brief meeting [in April 2000] with Russian Foreign Minister Ivanov to issue a warning that his intention would be to build and deploy a global Star Wars system that he believes could defend the U.S. and all our allies against any missile launch from any source. In the 1990s, most serious analysts took a look at the implausibility of this endeavor, the fantastical price that our taxpayers would be expected to pay, and the dangerously destabilizing consequences of traveling down that path and rejected this notion. . ..Instead I favor, and we are negotiating with the Russians, changes in the ABM Treaty that would lead to a responsible and practical defense against a nuclear attack from a rogue state.

— Vice President Al Gore
Remarks to the International Press Institute
Boston, Massachusetts
April 30, 2000

This journal attempts to put into context the relationship between foreign policy and U.S. presidential campaigns. It offers an historical perspective of the impact of foreign policy in earlier elections as well as assessments of the role it is playing in the current campaign. In the Focus Section, an expert describes the new partisanship that is shaping the politics of U.S. foreign policy. In separate interviews, two foreign policy advisers to presidential candidates Al Gore and George W. Bush discuss key foreign policy concerns of their respective parties. Other articles explain how the media covers foreign policy issues in the campaign, convention platforms as a means to define political parties' positions on foreign policy, and recent public opinion polls and how they reflect voters' concerns. Also included are foreign policy statements by the Democratic, Republican, Reform, and Green Party nominees for President.