The US foreign policy after the Cold War

Studienarbeit aus dem Jahr 2011 im Fachbereich Politik - Region: USA, Note: 2,3, Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg (Institut für Politikwissenschaft und Japanologie), Veranstaltung: American Government and Politics, Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: After the end of the Soviet Union were only the USA left as an international superpower - a big player. But even with such a massive amount of power it is not possible for the USA to address all challenges at the international area alone at an unilateralism way. It needs multilateralistic structures. But in the past 20 years was the last remaining superpower in a struggle between unilateralism and multilateralism.

The main goal of the US foreign policy is the defence of the US sovereignty. US norms, standards and laws should take precedence over foreign or internationally promoted ones. It is part of the unilateralism, which is shown by the USA. The changing foreign policy between the democratic and republican presidents, like Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, and the majority in congress is part of certain traditions within US foreign policy.

But Clinton and Bush, a democratic and a republican president, used military forces to reach their goals in their foreign policies. The following semester paper will state the Doctrines of the last three US-Presidents, the changes between unilateralism and multilateralism and how the presidents used the military power of the USA. The main question is, if the unilateralism of the Bush Doctrine is typically for the foreign policy in the 21st century or if it is getting closer to multilateralism nowadays.