Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown Report on Diplomacy Criticizes President and Congress

Kelly L. Karsner Hoya Staff Writer

The president and Congress are to be faulted for a lack of leadership and ability to collaborate on world issues essential to carrying the United States into the new century, according to a report issued Jan. 18 by Georgetown University’s Institute for the Study of Diplomacy.

“The Foreign Policy Struggle – Congress and the president in the 1990’s and Beyond” criticizes Congress and the president for their diminished ability to effectively address foreign policy issues in the past decade. The report also calls for both the president and Congress to improve their leadership skills and legal/executive relations so as to be strong and effective foreign policy makers in the coming decade.

Persistent distrust and competition between the president and the Republican-majority Congress of the late 1990s are cited in the report as an obstacle to this necessary leadership. The report calls for a more united leadership in foreign policy in the coming decade, in contrast to the sharp legal/executive power struggle of the 1990s.

According to the report, the complexity of world events and a sense of reduced danger since the end of the Cold War have contributed to an attitude that an understanding of world events is less politically important than in previous years. Foreign policy was less of a national priority in the last decade, says the report, and public opinion on foreign policy has had less effect on Congress.

Also, turnover in Congress has resulted in 403 newly elected members with the knowledge base of a new generation. According to the report, also detracting from congressional expertise has been the decrease in influence of foreign affairs advisory and authorization committees. However, effective Congressional leadership has been found to be beneficial in foreign affairs cases more often than effective presidential leadership has been. The report revealed that partisanship was not necessarily a decisive factor in determining 1990s foreign policy. Rather, intraparty divisions were equally prominent as the divisions between parties.

According to the report, budgetary concerns resulting from the U.S. budget deficit of the early 1990s have had higher priority than foreign affairs, straining finances on foreign affairs issues. Also faulted is the recent phenomenon of more time spent on domestic issues by Congress members to augment their domestic support.

“The findings are that the system may not be broken, but that it is showing a great deal of wear and tear that needs attention,” said Mary Locke, an associate at the Georgetown University Institute for the Study of Diplomacy.

The report was based on discussions that took place among a bi-partisan group of 35 former and current congressional staff, academic experts and executive branch officials between November 1998 and October 1999. The group examined 10 foreign affairs cases discussed on Capitol Hill in the 1990s. These cases, which involved significant amounts of legal/executive interaction, dealt with issues that are ongoing today, including use of force in the Balkans, U.N. funding and NATO expansion.

These problems, which the report blamed on institutional and partisan weaknesses, could result in troubling consequences in the future. In the coming decade, Congress and the president will need to be unified as they face issues such as U.S.-China relations, complications resulting from globalization and world trade liberalization efforts, said the report.

For those interested in learning more about this report and related issues, the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy will host a program the afternoon of Feb. 28.

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