The Role Of Public Opinion On U.S. Foreign Policy

As one the most highly noted democratic countries in the world, The UnitedStates has been known for, a government that can take either a multilateral or aunilateral strategy on foreign policy dependent on the situation and a very boisterouspublic that expresses an opinion on almost any issue that arise large or menial. Thisright for the American public to have an opinion on matters governing the country isprovided to them under a written constitution. No other public document gives moreimportance to the idea of natural law, nor relies on natural law as the foundation thanthe Declaration of Independence.This thesis explores the motivation behind the implementation of laws gearedtowards the foreign policy strategy against Cuba and the level of influence publicopinion has on foreign policy. Liberalism is a symbol under democracy. Liberalismallows a government to be influenced by the public on matters that are capable ofdirectly affecting the people. Although realism is preferred when critical matters arisesuch as national security, the public seemingly believes that the government shouldtake a liberal approach and make a decision based on the general consensus of thepopulation. Many realists believe that it is wise to exclude the public on foreignpolicy matters because they are said to be uninformed and lacking expertise. It ishowever difficult at times to determine whether these decisions made without theconsultation of the public were in the best interest of the public or motivated byspecial interests of Congress.The thesis will be argued through legal channels, that when deciding foreignpolicy and the laws that carry out these policies, U.S. Congress uses an ideal realismapproach when implementing these laws and policies in contrary to the liberalelement of a democratic system of government which at time includes the public’sopinion. This approach that Congress takes can be attributed to numerous factorssuch as the lack of expertise by the public on international matters, the volatility ofpublic’s emotions to different issues, and special interests of Congress just to name afew. This implementation of laws and policies can have a positive or negative effecton the diplomatic ties between countries. In particular, laws that have beenimplemented since the early1960’s in the United States towards Cuba havenegatively affected the diplomatic connection between the two countries. Although itis difficult to determine Congress’s current intentions of maintaining the economic embargo against Cuba, what is clear is that since the inception of the embargo in1961some laws implemented towards Cuba was necessary and some may have been tooextreme.According to Joseph Nye’s soft power strategy, the strategy that the UnitedStates used towards Cuba by way of economic hardship would not classify as softpower. Nonetheless it presented no influence on Cuba nor did it force Cuba to adoptthe United States position on human rights and transition into a democratic form ofgovernment. The Cuban government under Fidel Castro’s rule maintained its positionof governmental independence despite the hardship the country endured promotingthe desires of a communist rule Cuba.Major events such as the Cold War and the Cuban Missile Crisis gave the UnitedStates full justification on using the idealistic approach of realism as a matter ofnecessity for the proper governance of the country. For those events the strategy usedin achieving their goals of control, safety and dominance are non-debatable. Thelengthy delay in reestablishing diplomatic ties is up for debate. The obvious approachof unilateralism by the United States is evidenced by the countries firm stance inmaintaining the embargo and ignoring multilateralism shown by numerous majorityvotes compiled by the United Nations, showing that a large number of countriesfavoring ending the economic ban against Cuba and reestablishing diplomatic tieswith the United States. Many surveys and polls have been taken on the public’sopinion and whether the United States should reestablish diplomatic ties with Cuba.These surveys and polls show an inconsistency between satisfaction of the jobdone by Congress towards Cuba and the public’s opinion on Cuba. The public bymajority favors reestablishing diplomatic ties with Cuba while Congress hasmaintained their position on policy implementation for over50years and appearinganti-diplomatic with Cuba leaving the American public dissatisfied with the job ofCongress. In a country such as the United States, democracy thrives off of liberalismand liberalism inspires the people to become more active in forming an opinion ondiplomatic affairs. Since December of2014into early2015, it has been publicizedand promoted that the Obama administration after50plus years of disconnect withCuba, will seek to restore ties between the two countries.