The domestic policies developed and enacted into law to govern the social,
economic and political relationships among Americans are often promoted
abroad through America's foreign policy initiatives. This is
clearly seen in President Woodrow Wilson's attempt to export American domestic
relations to the remainder of the world through the establishment of the
League of Nations, as previously discussed under the "Support for
Western Values" principle.
But, this extension of domestic values abroad goes beyond mere exportation
of "the American Creed" abroad; it extends to specific items of public
policy-- to specific laws, rules, and regulations. Once Americans, through the political process, agree on a
just interrelationship among citizens and develop domestic policies and
enact domestic legislation that Americans consider to be good, proper and
morally appropriate, there is an effort to impose that "just" relationship
on all peoples of the world. Once Americans decide on the best public
policy for themselves, they often attempt to bestow the virtues and
benefits of those policies on the rest of the world, even if the rest of
the world does not view those policies as good, proper or morally appropriate,
and even if those policies run counter to the religious beliefs and social
and economic traditions, norms, and values of individual foreign nations.
For example, once Americans agree on just child labor practices, on just
pay practices, and on just factory working conditions, those practices are promoted abroad through foreign policy
initiatives. Foreign acceptance of these practices is often a precondition
for beginning or continuing commercial relations with America. If foreign nation-states want
to continue commercial relations with the United States, they have little
choice than to modify their own conceptions of morality and justice concerning
child labor, appropriate wage rates, and "sweatshops," and to conform to American conceptions
of morality and justice on those issues. Of course, every time a
foreign nation-state makes such an adjustment, the nation must sacrifice some small
portion of their nationhood and their national autonomy, so such adjustments
are likely to come reluctantly and with protest. Those adjustments also often disrupt the existing social and economic relationships within the nation, creating new inequalities of privilege, pay, and life-styles.
Throughout history, the United States promotes its domestic
policies of capitalism and economic exchange, child and labor protection,
right-to-life, Bill of Rights freedoms, racial equity, environmental protection,
humane treatment of animals, copyrights, and a host of other domestic policies.
Adherence to American domestic policies is often a condition for receiving
American foreign aid, most-favored-nation trade status, and cultural and
education exchanges. Nations refusing to adopt American domestic
policies as their own occasionally find themselves cut off from American
support or find themselves the subject of covert and overt American pressures,
including assassination efforts by the Central Intelligence Agency and
American support for rebellious forces within their national boundaries.
As American domestic policies change, so does American support for individual
foreign regimes, international cooperation projects, heads of state,
and rebel forces. For example, when the United States is domestically
concerned with law-and-order and repression of terrorist activities, law-and-order
and anti-terrorist regimes and political leaders throughout the world receive
U. S. support, even authoritarian and totalitarian regimes. When United States domestic policies shift toward
increased civil liberties and rights for the accused, the law-and-order
regimes and political leaders previously supported come under criticism
and replacement regimes and political figures are given American support.
In some cases, even relatively narrow and specific domestic issues
become the subject for promotion through foreign policy. When President Ronald
Reagan's administration takes a domestic stand against artificial birth
control and abortion, foreign assistance project funds for both birth control
and abortion are cut from foreign aid to individual foreign nations, even
nations with domestic policies supporting artificial birth control and
abortion. Nations with domestic birth control policies, including
Mexico, India and China, are criticized for maintaining these policies.
During the 1970s and 1980s, the United States denies some support and trading
privileges to South Africa because of its domestic racial policies; once
those policies change to reflect American domestic racial policies, the
embargoes are lifted and support and trading privileges are restored.
The United States criticizes both Europe and Japan for their domestic policies
of market protection and for their use of government subsidies to insure
the health and survival of essential domestic industries. The United
States government takes foreign policy initiatives to force those nations
to reconsider their domestic economic policies. The Europeans
and the Japanese eventually bring their domestic economic policies
more into line with mixed free-market capitalism, as practiced in the United
States.
