Top

Published in:

2024 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

The Biden and Trump Foreign Policies: Comparing Differing Approaches to the Use of Force and Diplomacy

Author : Thomas Preston

Published in: Presidential Leadership and Foreign Policy

Publisher: Springer Nature Switzerland

Activate our intelligent search to find suitable subject content or patents.

search-config

AI-assisted search

Off

Abstract

The 2024 presidential elections may potentially offer a rematch between Donald Trump and Joe Biden. It is therefore useful to examine these two leaders’ views about “the use of force” and the implications of their differences for American national security and foreign policy. Utilizing Robert (Art in The use of force: military power and international politics, University Press of America, 1993) conceptualization of the four uses of force (deterrence, compellence, defense, and swaggering), I compare and analyze both the Trump and Biden administrations’ foreign policy approaches regarding Afghanistan, Russia/Ukraine, China, Iran, and North Korea. Does either administration have a coherent “doctrine” regarding the use of force or containment compared with previous U.S. administrations? Or do their policies actually reflect ad hoc approaches, and if so, is that because of the presidents themselves, new features of the international system, or both? Finally, I ask, what are the foreign policy implications of these administrations’ principles concerning the use of force to advance U.S. security and economic interests, their impact upon our allies, and their potential consequences for efforts to deal with adversaries around the world?

Dont have a licence yet? Then find out more about our products and how to get one now:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 102.000 Bücher
über 537 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Automobil + Motoren
Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
Finance + Banking
Management + Führung
Marketing + Vertrieb
Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe
Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 67.000 Bücher
über 340 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Finance + Banking
Management + Führung
Marketing + Vertrieb
Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

previous chapter Beneath the Public Persona: The Real Psychology of the Biden Presidency

next chapter Facing a Dangerous World: A Comparison of the Biden and Trump Doctrines

Ambrose, S. E., & Brinkley, D. G. (2010). The rise to globalism: American foreign policy since 1938 (9th ed.). Penguin Books.

Antonov, A. (2021, December 30). An existential threat to Europe’s security architecture? What happens next in Ukraine depends on the west’s readiness for dialogue, says Russia’s ambassador to the United States. Foreign Policy. http://foreignpolicy.com/2021/12/30/russia-ukraine-nato-threat-security

Art, R. J. (1993). The four functions of force. In R. I. Art & K. Waltz (Eds.), The use of force: Military power and international politics (4th ed., pp. 3–11). University Press of America.

Bailey, H., & Thomas, E. (2009, October 9). An inconvenient truth teller: From health-care reform to Afghanistan, Joe Biden has bucked Obama—As only a good Veep can. Newsweek. http://www.newsweek.com/joe-biden-white-house-truth-teller-81181

Baldor, L. C., & Lucey, C. (2017). Trump military parade plans unravel over costs. 18 August 2017. https://www.foxnews.com/us/trump-military-parade-plans-unravel-over-costs.

Baker, P. (2009). Biden no longer a lone voice on Afghanistan. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/14/world/14biden.html

Baker, P., & Bumiller, E. (2009). Afghanistan troop request splits advisers to Obama. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/27world/asia/27military.html

Barnes, J. E., & Cooper, H. (2019, January 14). Trump discussed pulling U.S. from NATO, aides say amid new concerns over Russia. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/14/us/politics/nato-president-trump.html

Barnes, J. E., & Goldman, A. (2019, April 26). F.B.I. warns of Russian interference in 2020 race and boosts counterintelligence operations. The New York Times.

BBC. (2019). Trump impeachment: White House withheld Ukraine aid just after Zelensky call. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-50886437

Berman, L. (1989). Lyndon Johnson’s War: The road to stalemate in Vietnam. W.W. Norton and Company.

Bolton, J. (2020). The room where it happened: A White House memoir. Simon and Schuster.

Brattberg, E. (2021, May 6). Transatlantic relations after Biden’s first 100 days. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. https://carnegieendowment.org/2021/05/06/transatlantic-relations-after-bidens-s-first-100-days-pub-84472

Chandrasekaran, R. (2009). Civilian, military officials at odds over resources needed for Afghan Mission. The Washington Post. https://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/07/AR2009100704088_pf.html

Curtis, L. (2021). How the Doha Agreement guaranteed US failure in Afghanistan. Hoover Institution.

Dawar, A. (2008). Putin warns NATO over expansion. The Guardian. http://www.guardian.com/world/2008/apr/04/nato.russia

Foer, F. (2019, December 3). The betrayal of Volodymyr Zelensky. The Atlantic.

Freedman, L. (1981). The evolution of nuclear strategy. London: The Macmillan Press, Ltd.

Garamone, J. (2021, June 15). NATO stands together as Biden reaffirms U.S. commitment to alliance. U.S. Defense Department News. https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/265879/nato-stands-together-as-biden-reaffirms-us-commitment-to-alliance/

Gehrke, J. (2021, April 14). US intelligence chiefs: ‘We don’t know’ Putin’s reason for military buildup on Ukrainian border. Washington Examiner. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense-national-security-us-intelligence-chiefs-dont-know-reason-russia-military-buildup-ukraine-border

Gibbons-Neff, T. (2018). Trump Wants a Military Parade. But Not Everyone Is In Step. The New York Times, 7 February 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/07/us/politics/trump-military-parade-america.html.

Haltiwanger, J. (2022, February 2). Biden played a key role in NATO’s expansion east in the ‘90s, which Putin is now threatening to invade Ukraine over. Business Insider. https://www.businessinsider.com/biden-helped-nato-expand-in-the-90s-which-putin-now-threatening-war-over-2022-2

Harris, S., DeYoung, K., Khurshudyan, I., Parker, A., & Sly, L. (2022, March 1). Road to war: U.S. struggled to convince allies, and Zelensky, of risk of invasion. The Washington Post (pp. A1, A10–A13).

Hoffman, J., & Cole, D. (2021). Trump calls Afghanistan withdrawal ‘a wonderful and positive thing to do’ and criticizes Biden’s timeline. https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/18/politics/trump-afghanistan-troop-withdrawal/index.html

House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. (2019). H. Rept. 116-335—Report of the House Permanent Select Committee on intelligence on the Trump-Ukraine impeachment inquiry report together with minority views. https://www.congress.gov/congressional-report/116th-congress/house-report/335/1

Hunter, S., & Ligon, G. S. (2022). Putin, Zelenskyy and Biden all have unique leadership styles. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/putin-zelenskyy-and-biden-all-have-unique-leadership-styles-178713

Kanno-Youngs, Z., & Baker, P. (2022). Biden pledges to defend Taiwan if it faces a Chinese attack. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/23/world/asia/biden-taiwan-china.html

Kramer, A. E., & Erlanger, S. (2021, December 17). Russia lays out demands for a sweeping new security deal With NATO. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/17/world/europe/russia-nato-security-deal.html

Maizland, L. (2019). U.S. military support for Taiwan: What’s changed under trump? Council on Foreign Relations. https://www.cfr.org/in-brief/us-military-support-taiwan-whats-changed-under-trump

McInnis, K. J., & Feickert, A. (2021). The Afghanistan withdrawal: Military and defense implications. Congressional Research Service, IN11726.

McCaskill, N. D. (2022). Trump signed order for immediate ‘large-scale troop withdrawals’ from Afghanistan after election loss. Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2022-10-13/trump-signed-order-for-immediate-afghanistan-withdrawal-after-election-loss

Mattis, J., & West, B. (2019). Call sign chaos: Learning to lead. Random House.

Office of the Director of National Intelligence. (2017). Assessing Russian activities and intentions in recent US elections. Washington, D.C. https://www.dni.gov/files/documents/ICA_2017_01.pdf

Packer, G. (2022, March). The betrayal. The Atlantic (pp. 56–85).

Preston, T. (2007). From lambs to lions: Future security relationships in a world of biological and nuclear weapons. Rowman and Littlefield.

Preston, T. (2011). Pandora’s trap: Presidential decision making and blame avoidance in Vietnam and Iraq. Rowman & Littlefield.CrossRef

Preston, T. (2013). The Nuclear Standoff Between the United States and Iran: Muscular Diplomacy and the Ticking Clock. In R. G. Carter (ed.), Contemporary Cases in U.S. Foreign Policy: From Terrorism to Trade. Fifth Edition. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press.

Roth, A. (2021, December 21). Putin warns of possible military response over ‘aggressive’ NATO. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/21/putin-warns-of-possible-military-response-to-aggressive-nato-russia

Sanger, D. E. (2021). Biden said the U.S. would protect Taiwan. But it’s not that clear-cut. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/22/us/politics/biden-taiwan-defense-china.html

Sanger, D. E., Shear, M. D., & Troianovski, A. (2021). Biden and Putin express desire for better relations at summit shaped by disputes. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/16/world/europe/biden-putin-geneva-meeting.html

Scheffer, B. (2021, December 6). U.S.-Russia relations: Biden threatens Putin with ‘substantial’ economic sanctions if Ukraine is attacked. International Business Times. https://www.ibtimes.com/us-russia-relations-biden-threatens-putin-substantial-economic-sanctions-if-ukraine-3352336

Schmitt, E., Sanger, D. E., & Haberman, M. (2019, April 24). In push for 2020 election security, top official warned: Don’t tell trump. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/24/us/politics/russia-2020-election-trump.html

Seldin, J. (2021, October 13). Hopes dim for Iran’s return to nuclear deal. Voice of America News. https://www.voanews.com/a/hopes-dim-for-return-to-iran-nuclear-deal/6269469.html

Smith, A. (2019). GOP senator: Trump advisers had to ‘convince’ trump to release Ukraine aid. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-impeachment-inquiry/gop-senator-trump-advisers-had-convince-trump-release-ukraine-aid-n1079416

United States Department of Justice, Special Counsels Office. (2019). The Mueller Report: Report on the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Washington, D.C.

Walt, S. M. (2018). The EU and NATO and Trump—Oh My! Donald Trump’s Trans-Atlantic policy is a contradiction in terms. https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/07/02/the-eu-and-nato-and-trump-oh-my/

Woodward, B. (2018). Fear: Trump in the White House. Simon and Schuster.

Woodward, B., & Costa, R. (2021). Peril. Simon & Schuster.

Zengerle, P. (2019, September 12). Trump administration reinstates military aid for Ukraine. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-ukraine-idUSKCN1VX213

Title: The Biden and Trump Foreign Policies: Comparing Differing Approaches to the Use of Force and Diplomacy
Author: Thomas Preston
Publisher: Springer Nature Switzerland
Book: Presidential Leadership and Foreign Policy
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-52798-2

Electronic ISBN: 978-3-031-52799-9

Copyright Year: 2024
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-52799-9_12