Why is domestic policy important

Democratic and Republican administrations in the s and s responded to these pressures by trying to build a foreign policy that would promote economic prosperity. They assumed that the transition to an open, integrated global economy, with the full inclusion of economies around the world, including a rising China, would power global economic growth and create new opportunities for U.

They moved to leverage the advantages of an integrated North American production platform to compete more effectively in the new global economy. And they tried to transition the previous U.

They sought to get Russia and China on board with such an order, rather than exclude them from it—to ultimately create a shared stake in the global order and broaden the international coalition to help counter transnational threats.

As a result, the United States would be able to reduce its spending on defense and great power competition; increase domestic investments in education, infrastructure, other long-term productivity factors, and wage growth; and ultimately balance its budget. However, the U. The pro-growth strategies delivered windfall profits for corporate shareholders and those in the upper-income bracket, while wages for rank-and-file employees stagnated.

The new global market created enormous new opportunities for U. Many communities lost their main sources of economic activity due to outsourcing and offshoring. Furthermore, the United States was eventually forced to increase defense spending—first due to wars in Afghanistan and Iraq following the September 11 terrorist attacks and then due to the resurgence of geopolitical competition with China and Russia.

Today, there is confusion at home and abroad about the trajectory of U. The post—Cold War era appears to have come to an end. Any hopes of revitalizing the more peaceful and prosperous U. Many across the political spectrum are arguing for reinvigorating the Western alliance to contend with resurgent geopolitical competition with China and Russia.

They are also calling for tougher action to combat mercantilist and unfair Chinese trade practices. But they appear ambivalent, conflicted, or divided over the core tenets of previous U. But the core underlying principles, which have guided U. He is not just pushing allies of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization NATO to spend more on their own defense, as previous presidents have done, but is also calling into question the fundamental benefits the United States derives from alliances.

He is pressing China on unfair trading practices—for which there is broad support across the political spectrum for the goal, not necessarily the tactics. But he is also imposing tariffs on imported steel and aluminum from allies and has at various moments threatened tariffs on imported automobiles and auto parts on national security grounds. And he continues to propose massive cuts to U. These are just some of the major changes to U. The relationship between U.

Would a significant change to U. Relative to domestic policies, how much does U. How do the domestic and international agendas fit together? These are some of the big questions explored in this study, as part of a larger effort to identify ways to make U. This report begins to tackle the above questions from the ground up, using Ohio as a compelling first case study.

Some of its cities, such as Cincinnati and Columbus, are prospering as they attract young, educated talent and global investors to a modern, diversified twenty-first-century economy. The state has rural areas thriving with productive farms and agribusiness. Yet Ohio also has inner cities and rural areas under stress.

There are towns struggling to reinvent themselves after the devastation of their twentieth-century manufacturing facilities due to automation and trade. The state confronts resource constraints to upgrade critical infrastructure and upskill its workforce. Since , it has been led by a Republican governor with a national profile whose politics defy neat categorization.

And, as is often said, Ohio remains a bellwether state. Every presidential candidate since who won Ohio captured the White House, including Barack Obama in and and Donald Trump in There is a rich debate taking place within the Washington, DC—based foreign policy establishment about the future direction of the U. Select basic ads. Create a personalised ads profile. Select personalised ads. Apply market research to generate audience insights. Measure content performance. Develop and improve products.

List of Partners vendors. Share Flipboard Email. Robert Longley. History and Government Expert. Robert Longley is a U. Facebook Facebook. Featured Video. Program by program, the federal government has contributed to the costs of medical care for some of the people who have difficulty paying their medical bills or have no health insurance.

The media encouraged the creation of such government policies by consistently reporting about the large number of uninsured Americans who, it was assumed, were without adequate doctor, prescription drug, and hospital care.

In , the most extensive health coverage legislation in American history became law. Medicare helps citizens sixty-five and older meet their primary medical care needs. It covers around forty million people. Medicare has two parts. Part A pays some of the hospital charges for individuals who are eligible for Social Security benefits.

People are responsible for both a deductible charge that must be paid before Medicare payments are authorized and copayments for many hospital-related services. There are no limits on the total costs people can incur.

Part B is an optional insurance system covering health-care costs outside of hospital stays for physician services, medical tests, and outpatient visits. Participants pay a monthly fee, deductible charges, and copayments. The government contributes about three-fourths of the overall costs.

Responding to this need, the Medicare Prescription Drug and Modernization Act of contains two types of assistance programs. The first is a prescription drug discount card program saving Social Security recipients roughly 15 percent to 25 percent annually.

Because of exploding health costs and the new prescription drug benefit, Medicare may be in worse financial shape than Social Security. Medicaid was created in It provides health-care coverage for approximately fifty million poor and disabled Americans. More than a third of them are over sixty-five. The federal government pays about half the costs of their medical care, including hospital stays, physician fees, and various diagnostic services.

States pay the remainder of the costs of the coverage. Otherwise, states decide eligibility for inclusion in Medicaid. State standards vary significantly; someone eligible in California might be excluded in Texas.

Nonetheless, Medicaid pays approximately two-thirds of the costs of nursing home care in this country. Because of the high cost of health-care services covered under Medicaid, state governments have become increasingly burdened financially. Other than education, Medicaid takes up the single greatest percentage of state budgets, a cost that is increasing annually. Around fifty-one million Americans lacked health insurance.

Some twenty-eight million people came from households with income above the poverty line but whose employers did not provide them with health insurance. Their work was often temporary or part time and low-paid. About fifteen million of the uninsured had income below the poverty line yet were not receiving Medicaid.

Politicians proposed policies in response to the lack of health care. Most notably, the Clinton administration, led by First Lady Hillary Clinton, proposed health-care coverage for all United States citizens. This initiative died for lack of support in Congress, in part because of its complexity and a negative advertising campaign by interest groups against it.

After he assumed office in , President Obama took up health care as a major policy initiative. His administration negotiated i. Motivating the industry was the drop in the number of employers insuring their employees or providing generous coverage and the number of employees who could afford to pay their share of the cost of insurance. This resulted in fewer Americans with insurance coverage and thus able to pay for hospital care, doctors, and drugs.

The drug industry opposed studying the effectiveness of treatment; the American Medical Association lobbied to kill the proposal for a government-run insurer i. In March , the Democratic majority in Congress passed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act , arguably the most important domestic legislation in decades. It passed without a single Republican vote and despite millions of dollars of advertising aimed at the forty Democrats in the House deemed vulnerable to defeat if they voted for the bill.

The law is complicated; many provisions do not go into effect until or later. States will have to implement many provisions. George C. Marshall recommended that the right military strategy was to focus on Germany first, merely holding the line against Japan until the bigger threat was defeated in Europe and only after Germany was out of the way should the country move forces east and deal with the Japanese. President Franklin D.

Roosevelt opted instead for parallel offensives against both Germany and Japan at the same time. According to his policy the United States actually attacked Japan before it began its first attacks on Germany. A crucial motivating factor behind this decision was that Roosevelt was worried that he would lose domestic political support for the war if he ignored the country that attacked the United States at Pearl Harbour, fighting Germans instead.

Most people today think the U. Under the dual leadership system, each local bureau or office is under the theoretically coequal authority of the local leader and the leader of the corresponding office, bureau or ministry at the next higher level. It meets every two weeks to review domestic and foreign policy matters.

The State Council also has a significant role on policy designs. The post of President alone holds a merely ceremonial position with no real power.

Before the s, presidents did not have any administrative power and the position was that of a powerless figurehead. This not only gives him the position but also power and makes him responsible for establishing policy and direction for the state as well as foreign policy decisions.

Much of Chinese foreign policy is designed in think tanks which are formally outside the government. These think tanks are however sponsored and supervised by the government.

Discussions in the think tanks are unofficial and are generally less restricted. Chinese foreign policy is perceived by the world to be of somewhat realist nature. National interest and agenda is given precedence instead of pursuing optimal solution for benefit of international society.

In such conservative situation domestic politics plays an even greater role than described earlier in the case of United States. Here the head of government is less worried about acceptability and more concentrated on achieving domestic agendas. Liu Xiaobo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in for his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China.

For over two decades, Liu Xiaobo has been a strong spokesman for the application of fundamental human rights in China. The Chinese government expressed dismay on the award and called the Norwegian ambassador in Beijing to officially express his disagreement and protest. Following the announcement on October 8 , the Chinese government ordered the deletion of all print and broadcast stories on the topic. China protested to Norway, saying that the relations between the two countries were damaged because of this incident.

However China is still maintaining that Liu Xiaobo has behaved in rebellious manner against the state and it is wrong to award him the Peace Prize for doing so. The Chinese head of government here is not worried about maintaining popularity in the international society.

Neither is he allowing this news to be spread domestically and let Xiaobo gain domestic public sympathy. China is concentrating on national interest and letting domestic politics over rule foreign policy affairs. Jordan is a constitutional monarchy. Politics of Jordan takes place in a framework of a parliamentary monarchy, whereby the Prime Minister of Jordan is head of government, and of a multi-party system.

The king holds the highest power in the government and signs and executes all laws. However his veto power may be overridden by a two-thirds vote of both houses of the National Assembly. He appoints and may dismiss all judges by decree, approves amendments to the constitution, declares war, and commands the armed forces. The Kingdom of Jordan is a small one in the Middle East but holds an important role in the international society.

Although a developing country with limited resources and weak economy it is surrounded by powerful neighbours such as Israel and Saudi Arabia. Due to its strategic position and geopolitical importance to regional and global powers Jordan plays an important role in international politics.

Throughout history Jordan has been subject to international, regional and domestic wars and revolutions and to protect themselves maintained international allies and domestic military prowess. At that time, unlike other Middle Eastern neighbours such as Syria and Egypt, Jordan kept out of the war urging for the improbable peaceful solution. King Hussein, the head of government did not support Iraq either and called for Iraqi withdrawal. Public opinion in Jordan was mixed.

Some wanted to defend Iraq against USA and its allied forces but Jordan armed forces remained neutral. Exports to and from Arab countries declined significantly as well. Many Jordanians working in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait were sent back. Even though Jordan follows a system of Monarchy it is a democratic one, whereby public opinion is important for the King to remain in power. Thus because of the nature of the political system the King in this situation choice to maintain domestic popularity and thus it can be concluded his decision may not have been an optimal foreign policy one, but rather was influenced by domestic political environment.

Moving away from political system as the main focus I will now look at the head of government as a rational actor. This approach draws somewhat from the realist school of thought that believes that In international politics states are only distinguishable by the relative power they hold, and not by their internal characteristics. It is difficult to pinpoint a policy to be completely rational. President Bill Clinton offered the following rationale for U.

In dealing with aggressors, hesitation is a license to kill. But action and resolve can stop armies and save lives. However it is unlikely he was the unitary actor in this foreign policy decision. It is important to bring up political system even here as the rationality of the head of government is subject to influence of political context.

The political environment where the head of government is operating forms the basis of rationality for the leader. It can be said Hitler was being rational because he knew what he wanted and he chose the best alternative to achieve that. Depending on the situation and environment the rationality of decisions can be interpreted. Government systems are complex bureaucracies.

For example, In the United States, the U. However, it is important to mention absolute rationality is hardly achievable even if the political system allows it.

It is highly unlikely to know all information regarding an issue and exhaust all possible solutions to select the one that will surely achieve the desired objective. The biggest drawback to Rational Decision Making is Bounded rationality [18].

Humans are prone to errors and they most certainly do not know everything. The government is usually overloaded with policy agendas. The head of the government has to handle many issues at the same time and cannot spend enough time on any one of these issues. The pressures of circumstance limit the ability to choose. In the end he may have to make satisficing decisions rather than optimizing ones. And as already mentioned domestic politics plays a crucial role in the process.

Sometimes for domestic agendas foreign ones may have to be compromised as we have already seen in the case of India — USA Nuclear Treaty of The head of the government in most cases is not an individual actor. Foreign Policy decisions are collective or influenced by others in the political system.