US FOREIGN POLICY DURING TRUMAN’S ADMINISTRATION

Nova američka administracija Georga W. Busha II suočava se sa zahtjevom artikuliranja američke vanjske politike te uporabe odgovarajućih sredstava za njezinu realizaciju u uvjetima globalizma i postmilitarizma te jedinstvene vodeće uloge SAD u svjetskim poslovima. Državna se moć transformira u novom, posthladnoratovskom međunarodnom okruženju, bitno obilježenom globalizacijskim procesima. Iako se današnja politika SAD-a razlikuje od politike prethodnih razdoblja teško je ocijeniti pravac i brzinu promjena bez poznavanja američke politike u doba hladnog rata. Stoga je od iznimne važnosti istražiti kako su bili uređeni odnosi između tradicionalnih resora za vođenje američke vanjske politike u povijesnom kontekstu početaka hladnog rata, dakle, za vrijeme administracije Harrya S. Trumana.An analysis of the relations among the government departments traditionally responsible for American foreign policy at the dawn of the cold war during President Harry Truman’s mandate, enables us to draw tentative conclusions regarding the policies and activities of the administration of today’s President George W. Bush II. Bush’s administration is expected to come up with an urgent definition of the new direction of the US foreign policy, and provide the corresponding means and resources required for its implementation in this era of globalization, postmilitarism and the singular role that US plays in world affairs. Using as his starting point the assumption that without an awareness of the significance of a transformation of state power (the transformation carried out by the Truman administration), it is not possible to arrive at a comprehensive understanding of the direction and the speed of the changes the Bush administration is to initiate in the foreign policy arena. The author first reviews the genesis of the goals of the US foreign policy during Truman’s presidency, then looks into the manner and the forms of identification of foreign policy objectives and, finally, deals with the strategies mapped out for the realization of the identified foreign policy goals. By reviewing this important period in the history of US foreign policy, the author outlines all the major issues confronting the designers of today’s American foreign policy and thus provides some cumulative and comparative insights