DB542E

POLICY MAKING IN AMERICA

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Abdirahim M Muhumed

Policy-Making in America

Prof: Dean Curry

Course: PPOG540

Date:11/07/2021

POLICY MAKING IN AMERICA

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Impact of Faith in Founding America

During the founding of America, faith played a very significant role for the founding

fathers. Take, for instance, Jefferson, who was a Christian and desired to follow Christianity to

the core. As a Christian, he believed in doing what was right for humankind. He believed that

everyone is obliged to do what is right to other human beings.1 However, like Jefferson, he never

thought black Americans could have equal rights to Native Americans.

However, because he was a black man, he was able to overcome this perception. He

advocated for others who had ideas like his to disregard them. He advocated for the respect of all

humanity irrespective of their religion and ethnicity. This means that Native Americans had to

treat even the black people with equality as native America. This was the impact of faith in the

founding of America. Jefferson believed that if everyone took at as their initiative to do well to

others and do only what is right would have been a good beginning for America as a nation.

Jefferson also owned a copy of the Quran when America was being founded. He said that

Muslims had equal rights to run for public office just like Christians.2 Even though he said that

he could not advocate America to be left under the control of a Muslim president, they had equal

rights just like a person of any religion. This move by Jefferson impacted the founding of

America and leadership. For instance, there is a religious qualification used in America today for

someone to run for the presidency. This shows that everyone and anyone can run for the

presidency. Their religion will not limit them because all of them are treated with the same

1 Hall, Mark David. "America's Founders, Religious Liberty, and the Common Good." U. St. Thomas LJ 15 (2018): 642.

2 Dana, Karam, Bryan Wilcox-Archuleta, and Matt Barreto. "The political incorporation of Muslims in the United States: The mobilizing role of religiosity in Islam." Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Politics 2, no. 2 (2017): 170-200.

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regard. This is America of choice for anyone and everyone that does not discriminate aspirants of

political positions based on their religions.

Features of America’s Foreign Policies

Over time, America has evolved along with different foreign policies. The way America

practices foreign policies shows that the country is civilized enough even in its exercise of

foreign policies. Different features can be identified from how America practices its foreign

policies as follows:

Diplomacy is one of these features of American foreign policies.3 America advocates its

government as a peaceful government with other jurisdictions. To ensure that this is achieved,

America used State Department to oversee all the relationships between America and other

jurisdictions. This is necessary because it promotes America's image as a peaceful nation that

advocates for the peaceful coexist of human beings across the globe.

The second feature of US foreign policies is agreements on regional security.4 This is a

feature used to represent America as a nation determined to see United Nations coexist with each

other without any crisis. This feature implies that America collaborates with necessary

institutions to make life and livelihood safe in United Nations that cannot settle differences

among themselves. It is a feature that shows the readiness of America to collaborate with a

peace-making institution in its exercise of foreign policies.

3 Adesina, Olubukola S. "Foreign policy in an era of digital diplomacy." African Journal for the Psychological Studies of Social Issues 19, no. 3 (2016): 169-189.

4 Rifawan, Affabile, and Novi Amelia. "Two major powers in captivating regional influence and dynamics: Comparing foreign policies of China and United States in Southeast Asia." Contemporary Chinese Political Economy and Strategic Relations: An International Journal 4, no. 1 (2018): 247-272.

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The third feature of America's foreign policies is the international monetary structure.

America promotes the development of economic institutions that bring on bond every economy

from the world. It advocates for the use of IMF as an infrastructure to realize this policy. Here,

America argues that policies of other nations should be designed in a way that allows for

international trade between local jurisdictions and foreign markets.

America observed this feature in several ways, one by accepting exports from different

jurisdictions. On the other hand, American multinational corporations also import in other parts

of the world, thus enhancing an environment to promote international monetary structure.5

Economic aid is another popular feature of America's foreign policies.6 Since World War

II, America has been on the lead to aid different jurisdictions and economies. This has been

meant to help those who were adversely affected by World War II recover. This feature has been

seen, for instance, during this time of the Covid-19 pandemic. America has been at the forefront

to donate vaccines to developing nations. This has been to attain a global vaccination level to the

extent of defeating the virus. America also issues other aids, such as education, food, nutrition,

sports, pharmaceutical aids, and other forms of aids to developing nations.

America’s Policy Makers Learning from America’s Founding Fathers

In my opinion, American foreign policies have largely helped policymakers learn from

the past. There is a lot to illustrate from modern policies that were ideally lifted, and these are

lessons from the founding fathers of America. One reason America has been able to learn from

the past policies is its internal protection. America has been able to rise to a level where it has

5 Gourinchas, Pierre-Olivier, Hélène Rey, and Maxime Sauzet. "The international monetary and financial system." Annual Review of Economics 11 (2019): 859-893.

6 O'Leary, Michael Kent. The politics of American foreign aid. Routledge, 2017.

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protected itself significantly as a country. Even though there are internal security issues reported,

America has guarded itself against terror attacks.

America has also been able to protect its people from HIV/Aids. Even though there are

some cases of HIV, the number of those who are infected has gone down. America has been

educating its people expansively on protecting themselves from contracting HIV, among other

deadly viruses. America has also been able to protect its population against mass destruction.

There has been no mass destruction by security threats or even pandemics. As a country,

America has protected its territory sufficiently.

America has also learned how to promote mutual understanding. America has earned

how to advocate for common interests among its people. These common interests enable people

to assume their religious differences, ethnic differences and coexist as one. Thus, these common

interest advocated by the American government brings cohesion and solidarity among

Americans.7 The US also uses its governmental institution to travel abroad and engage with a

foreign audience. This brings understanding between the United States and foreign nations. The

overall result for this is running for one dream of togetherness and cohesion between America

and its foreign jurisdictions.

America has also learned from its founding policies to advance global interests. There are

many ways that American policies advanced global interests and human rights are one of them.

America has been advocating for a democracy that respects and gives necessary regard to human

rights. For instance, there are many contexts of democracy that America advances. This includes

7 Todd, Molly. "The Paradox of Trans-American Solidarity: Gender, Race, and Representation in the Guatemalan Refugee Camps of Mexico, 1980–1990." Journal of Cold War Studies 19, no. 4 (2017): 74-112.

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but is not limited to multilateral and bilateral diplomacy, foreign assistance, economic sanctions,

public outreaches, among others.

Since America was founded, policymakers have learned how to use democracy to

achieve security and prosperity, and stability of the entire world.8 America's policymakers have

also learned how to advocate against regimes that deny their citizens from electing leaders that

they wish to hold offices. Policymakers in America have also learned how to lend a helping hand

to new jurisdictions on how to achieve democracy in their own countries. Policymakers in

America have also learned how to take government in foreign jurisdictions responsible for

human rights.9 This is a way of ensuring that each government takes it as its initiative to protect

its people. Policymakers in America have been at the forefront to protect observance of the rule

of law. This is also something that was learned from the founding father and ancient

policymakers.

America's policies makers have also learned how to advocate for other jurisdictions to

understand America's policies. This is manifested in many ways example, by welcoming foreign

citizens. America uses the Visa program to welcome home people from other nations. America

partners with health ministries in other jurisdictions to eradicate severe death suffered by people

with chronic diseases and infections. America is also at the forefront to advocate for green

energy and the protection of the environment.

Compatibility of America’s Approach to Foreign Policies to Christin World Views

8 Dunlop, Claire A., Claudio M. Radaelli, and Philipp Trein. "Introduction: The family tree of policy learning." In Learning in public policy, pp. 1-25. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, 2018.

9 Sikkink, Kathryn. "6. The Power of Principled Ideas: Human Rights Policies in the United States and Western Europe." In Ideas and foreign policy, pp. 139-170. Cornell University Press, 2019.

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In my opinion, the way America approaches foreign policies is not compatible with the

Christian worldview for several reasons. One, it is not compatible from a world order point of

view.

According to ‘a Christians declaration’ released in 2016, America has tried its best to

advocate for morality (Providence, 2016). A Christian Declaration on American Foreign Policy,

retrieved from https://providencemag.com/2016/09/christian-declaration-american-foreign-

policy/. However, the CVW feels that America has been focusing on single issues, the morality

of human rights has been upheld in America as per the Christian world views. America has not

protected different cultural institutions sufficiently as per the CWV. Take, for instance, liberal

politics in America. Politics are manifested by greed and corruption and the promotion of

unacceptable moral degradation concepts, for instance, LGBTQ.

Policies in America are also not compatible with CVW in terms of respect for human

rights. There are many instances where racial minority groups have suffered, yet policymakers

have never addressed this sufficiently. The law is eve applied ore ruthlessly to these racial

minorities. Therefore, policymakers in America have much remaining for them to address. The

government has also not lived to the reputation of the concept of government as viewed by the

church. Since government and policymakers are ordained from God, they should not promote

any sin. However, policymakers have approved policies that support sins.

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Bibliography:

Hall, Mark David. "America's Founders, Religious Liberty, and the Common Good." U. St.

Thomas LJ 15 (2018): 642.

Dana, Karam, Bryan Wilcox-Archuleta, and Matt Barreto. "The political incorporation of

Muslims in the United States: The mobilizing role of religiosity in Islam." Journal of

Race, Ethnicity, and Politics 2, no. 2 (2017): 170-200.

Adesina, Olubukola S. "Foreign policy in an era of digital diplomacy." African Journal for the

Psychological Studies of Social Issues 19, no. 3 (2016): 169-189.

Rifawan, Affabile, and Novi Amelia. "Two major powers in captivating regional influence and

dynamics: Comparing foreign policies of China and United States in Southeast

Asia." Contemporary Chinese Political Economy and Strategic Relations: An

International Journal 4, no. 1 (2018): 247-272.

Gourinchas, Pierre-Olivier, Hélène Rey, and Maxime Sauzet. "The international monetary and

financial system." Annual Review of Economics 11 (2019): 859-893.

O'Leary, Michael Kent. The politics of American foreign aid. Routledge, 2017.

Dunlop, Claire A., Claudio M. Radaelli, and Philipp Trein. "Introduction: The family tree of

policy learning." In Learning in public policy, pp. 1-25. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham,

2018.

Todd, Molly. "The Paradox of Trans-American Solidarity: Gender, Race, and Representation in

the Guatemalan Refugee Camps of Mexico, 1980–1990." Journal of Cold War

Studies 19, no. 4 (2017): 74-112.

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Sikkink, Kathryn. "6. The Power of Principled Ideas: Human Rights Policies in the United States

and Western Europe." In Ideas and foreign policy, pp. 139-170. Cornell University Press,

2019.