To what extent is US national security policy determined by "bureaucratic tribal warfare"?

Résumé du document

In his book, 'The Power Game', Hedrick Smith speaks of the foreign policy game in the United States as a 'bureaucratic tribal warfare', using tribal as a metaphor to describe the fierce fights which take place in Washington DC. The notion of the bureaucracy emerged in the early 20th century, with the work of a German sociologist, Max Weber, who described the process of 'rationalization' in Western administrations. For Weber, the term was positive, but it now has created negative implications, for it evokes red tape, lengthy procedures and complexity. The machinery of the US national security policy is indeed bureaucratic, since it involves many agencies and governmental departments, and unlike other Western countries, where foreign policy is run by professional diplomats, political appointees shape the US diplomacy. Since 1945, the United States has asserted itself as the 'policeman' of the world and has generated a huge bureaucracy, along with an enormous military power. The National Security Act of 1947, under Truman, is a watershed date, from which the US never escaped its global responsibilities, even when it was willing to back out.

Extraits

[...] Battling bureaucracies Unlike in any other countries, in the United States, the making of the national security policy is shared by several institutions. Literally, the Constitution grants few powers to the President in this field, whereas Congress received considerable powers. Article II of the Constitution says that the President shall have the power, upon the advice and consent of the Senate, to make treaties and to appoint ambassadors and other public ministers and consuls. A later section authorizes the President to receive ambassadors and other ministers. [...]

[...] The campaign for next year Presidential election has already begun, with the front-runner Democratic candidate, Howard Dean, strongly criticizing the war in Iraq. It appears that Iraq will be the Achilles' heel of George W. Bush, as the economy recovers: Joe Lieberman, another candidate for the Democratic investiture, has backed war and now seems to have few chances of winning the primaries. References Graham T. Allison, Essence of Decision (Harper Collins, 1971), pp. 144-184 Jonathan Bendor and Thomas Hammond, “Rethinking Allison's models”, American Political Science Review, vol no pp. [...]

[...] After such an enumeration, it appears that large amounts of powers are in the hands of the various actors of US national security policy. It can be expected that these actors are eager to fight to preserve their powers and to favour decisions that do not run counter their interests. As Hedrick Smith points out in his book The Power Game, the pledge to make the Secretary of State the principal spokesman and adviser on foreign affairs has been made by every President since Kennedy, and then broken by all but one of them (Nixon in the Kissinger era)[6]. [...]

[...] Newmann, “Reorganizing for National Security and Homeland Security”, Public Administration Review (Volume 62, Special Issue, September 2002), p Ibid., p “Washington's mega-merger”, The Economist, November 22nd 2003 Kegley and Wittkopf, American Foreign Policy, Chapter 13 Ibid. http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/031215/usnews/15terror.htm [Date of retrieval: December 9th] Graham T. Allison, Essence of Decision (Harper Collins, 1971), p Jonathan Bendor and Thomas Hammond, “Rethinking Allison's models”, American Political Science Review, vol no pp. 457-474 Barry Rubin, Secrets of State (OUP, 1987), pp. [...]

[...] Pollard, “Homeland Security: The Difference between a Vision and a Public Administration Review (Volume 62, Special Issue, September 2002), pp. 138-144 John Dumbrell, “Unilateralism and “America First”? President George W. Bush's Foreign Policy”, Political Quarterly (Volume 73, no 2002), pp. 279-287 Charles Kegley and Eugene Wittkopf, American Foreign Policy (Basingstoke Macmillan, 1996), Chapter and 13 William W. Newmann, “Reorganizing for National Security and Homeland Security”, Public Administration Review (Volume 62, Special Issue, September 2002), pp. 126-137 Barry Rubin, Secrets of State (OUP, 1987) Hedrick Smith, The Power Game (Fontana Paperbacks, 1989), pp. [...]