Home › Features › Comments › States' Rights and Foreign Policy: Some Things Should Be Left to Washington

States' Rights and Foreign Policy: Some Things Should Be Left to Washington

Brannon P. Denning and Jack H. McCall
January/February 2000
Summary: 

Sanctions slapped on foreign countries by U.S. cities and states are starting to be struck down by the courts, and rightly so. America can afford only one foreign policy.

Brannon P. Denning is Assistant Professor at Southern Illinois University School of Law. Jack H. McCall is an Associate at Hunton & Williams in Knoxville, Tennessee.

We're sorry, but Foreign Affairs does not have the copyright to display this article online.

Related

Comment, Mar/Apr 2005
The Overstretch Myth
David H. Levey and Stuart S. Brown

The United States' current account deficit and foreign debt are not dire threats to its global position, as would-be Cassandras warn. U.S. power is firmly grounded on economic superiority and financial stability that will not end soon.

Read
Essay, Summer 1984
The American Trade Deficit in Perspective
Arthur F. Burns

In recent years, the strong American recovery in overall production and employment has been accompanied by further deterioration in the merchandise trade of the United States with other countries. The reasons for focusing on American merchandise trade are not merely parochial; it is important for Europeans and others to understand that this poor trade performance of the United States reflects a disequilibrium in the world economy as well as in the American domestic economy. Political strains in many countries have been the inevitable result. The promises made at last year's Williamsburg Summit with regard to international trade and finance have not been fulfilled. If anything, international tensions arising from economic issues have increased during the past year.

Read
Essay, Winter 1988
The U.S. - Decline or Renewal?
Samuel P. Huntington

Examines areas which have been cited by 'declinist' writers as causes of the US economic, and hence national, decline, in particular (1) deficits (2) declining shares (3) 'systemic' failures. Highly critical of the arguments propounded by Paul Kennedy, counters that the real source of any nation's decline -- 'internal stagnation' -- is something from which America is not suffering. Economic or military power are not the only determinants of national power, and so decline cannot be seen against a purely economic background. Concludes that although US predominance in world affairs is not so secure as it was, "the ultimate test of a great power is in its ability to renew its power". Director, Center for International Affairs, Harvard University.

Read
Cover image

In the Magazine

March/April 2010, 2, 89
Essay
After Iran Gets the Bomb
James M. Lindsay and Ray Takeyh

Despite international pressure, Iran appears to be continuing its march toward getting a nuclear bomb. But Washington can contain and mitigate the consequences of Tehran's nuclear defiance, keeping an abhorrent outcome from becoming a catastrophic one.
Read