Democratic liberalism and United States foreign policy

The aim of the present study is to examine the influence of ideology, specifically democratic liberalism, on the foreign policy of the United States. Two models of the role played by ideology in foreign policy are identified: the see-saw model, which is based on the realist tenet that power and security interests outweigh ideological concerns, and the liberal lens model, which contends that ideology plays a key role in the determination of interests. These models provide a theoretical frame for the empirical examination of five cases of United States foreign policy. The cases, which all involve the question of diplomatic recognition, are (1) Woodrow Wilson\u27s nonrecognition of the Huerta regime in Mexico, (2) Wilson\u27s nonrecognition of Russia following the Bolshevik Revolution, (3) Franklin Roosevelt\u27s recognition of the Soviet Union, (4) Harry Truman\u27s nonrecognition of communist China, and (5) Richard Nixon\u27s rapprochement policy toward China. The case studies indicate that the see-saw model\u27s depiction of ideological concerns and security interests as distinct and usually countervailing forces is fundamentally misleading. The liberal lens model is able to explain that when viewing the international landscape through the lens of democratic liberalism, United States foreign policy makers often determine interests in a way not predicted by realism. Interests are not perceived objectively, but are shaped, or refracted, by the lens of ideology. However, the case studies also reveal that the description of ideology in United States foreign policy provided by the liberal lens model does not apply to three sometimes overlapping types of cases: those in which the makers of foreign policy do not view international politics through a democratic liberal lens, those in which the lens of democratic liberalism does not provide a significantly different view than that from a typical realist perspective, and those in which ideological concerns are rooted in morality and detached from interests