How Do Political Parties Shape American Foreign Policy?

Politics plays a major role in American foreign policy. Political parties and elections specifically can radically shape American foreign policy. Political parties help support candidates of similar views in running for office. These candidates play a major role in both the Executive and Legislative branches that shape American foreign policy. Today, partisanship is very strong and individuals of the same party support each other’s agenda. Further, elections can gauge the public’s opinion on foreign policy. The public’s distaste of George W. Bush’s foreign policy was showcased with Republicans defeats in Congress in 2006. This continued in 2008 with Democrats gaining a supermajority in the Senate and Barack Obama winning the White House. However, this division of the parties was not always the case.
Bipartisanship was very common in the early Cold War years. Typically, the Presidency was held by Republicans and Congress by Democrats. Both parties agreed that national security required both parties to work together to halt the expansion of the Soviet Union. This era of bipartisanship is evident with the relation of Democratic President Harry S. Truman and Senate Foreign Relations Chair and Republican Senator from Michigan, Arthur Vandenberg. Despite being of different parties both men worked to institute the Marshall …show more content…
The media’s role in foreign policy was first realized in Vietnam. Americans saw the carnage of both sides in Vietnam and began to turn against the war. The same is true with the Iran Hostage crisis where Americans saw the hostages and began to despise Carter. As more media spreads through the internet, print, and television more Americans can see images and read stories that may not always be accurate. It is important to analyze a variety of factors to understand the impact of domestic politics in American foreign