Peter Bechtold, the Chairman Emeritus of Near East & North Africa Area Studies at State’s Foreign Service Institute, wrote a fascinating editorial over the weekend. He asserts that,
“If the White House and its foreign policy apparatus made Middle Eastern policy [he includes the entire executive branch here] we would be much better off…Unfortunately, it is often Congress that interjects itself into the foreign policy process — mandating aid to favored nations, imposing domestic priorities such as abortion and gender politics on countries with vastly different circumstances and traditions, and taking sides in ancient conflicts with prodding by vocal and powerful domestic interest groups.
We had an interesting discussion here previously on participatory foreign policy. I didn’t take sides in that debate as I’m not sure exactly how much sway democracy and politics should have in foreign policy. Bechtold, on the other hand, clearly feels that the experts should decide this. He goes on to say,
The chief problem is that our domestic political process has often prevented these superbly qualified professionals from contributing to our national security in this region.
Our Congress might be representative of the American people, including their general disinterest in most things foreign, especially places and peoples with strange sounding names, odd customs and unfamiliar garb.
And yet it is Congress that has played a leading role in U.S. policy toward the Middle East.
As long as 535 members of Congress believe, as often asserted, that they are better judges of U.S. foreign policy interests than the State Department and the White House, then we need to elect members with adequate knowledge of world affairs.
This requires, in turn, a sophisticated and motivated citizenry that will demand such representatives.
I’m not an expert in the Middle East, but it seems to me that his reasoning holds up in many regions of the world. Off the top of my head, I can think of examples in Europe, Asia, and Latin America. I still have a great and abiding faith in the American people and love the concept of congress, though. Read Bechtold’s opinion; I’d love to hear your thoughts while I continue to refine my own on this subject.
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Not to mention when some member of congress heads off on a trip acting as a self-appointed adjunct secretary of state, making statements which sound like commitments to the host nation.
and you think the w.h. doesn’t have its own favored nations?