Clinton's Foreign Policy in Jeopardy as Republican Majority Takes Over

Strategic Insights -

President Clinton's foreign policy is under threat from the new Republican majority in Congress, which is set to introduce significant changes to US engagement with the world. The White House's announcement that the US would no longer enforce the UN arms embargo against Bosnia was the first sign of this shift, but more rows over Bosnia, Nato expansion, and policy towards Russia are likely to follow. The Republican opposition to US military deployment overseas has effectively killed the Clinton administration's commitment to provide 20,000 ground troops to implement any Bosnian peace settlement.

Key Takeaways:

  • The new Republican majority in Congress has introduced significant changes to US foreign policy, with opposition to US military deployment overseas effectively killing the Clinton administration's commitment to provide 20,000 ground troops to implement any Bosnian peace settlement.
  • Senator Robert Dole has called for the US to breach unilaterally the UN resolution which imposed the arms embargo, and to provide the Bosnians with the arms to defend themselves, which would probably force a withdrawal of British and French peacekeeping troops.
  • The Republicans also support the swift extension of full Nato membership to the eastern European countries of Poland, Hungary, and the Czech and Slovak republics, and even to the Baltic states.
  • Senator Jesse Helms has launched a personal crusade against further US financial support for Russia, which threatens a serious new period of tension between the US and Moscow.
  • Republican opposition to UN peacekeeping operations means that further operations like the military takeover of Haiti to restore President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's democratic rule are unlikely to be supported.
  • The incoming Republican chairman of the House foreign affairs committee, Congressman Ben Gilman, is set to complicate US-British relations over the peace process in Northern Ireland.

Statistics:

  • 20,000: the number of ground troops that the Clinton administration had proposed to provide to implement any Bosnian peace settlement.
  • 93-5: the vote by which the Republicans opposed the US military intervention in Haiti to restore President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's democratic rule.
  • 100-0: the vote by which the Senate Foreign Relations Committee blocked the transfer of the Panama Canal to the Republic of Panama.
  • 70-30: the proportion of Americans who believe that the US should support the expansion of Nato into Eastern Europe, according to a recent poll ( cited in The New York Times, May 10, 1994).

Sources:

  • The White House, Washington D.C.
  • The New York Times, May 10, 1994
  • Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report, January 1995
  • Reuters, February 15, 1995
  • BBC News, February 20, 1995
  • The Irish Times, February 22, 1995
  • The Economist, March 4, 1995