Opinion | The Problem With U.S. Foreign Policy? The Urge to 'Do Something' - The New Yo... - 0 views
www.nytimes.com/...trump-us-foreign-policy.html
foreign policy bias syria libya action 2nd order consequences history
shared by Javier E on 14 Apr 18
- No Cached
-
since entering office, Mr. Trump has reversed course. He evidently shares the assumption that America must do something in response to atrocities in Syria — a wholehearted embrace of the Washington bias toward action.
-
This bias toward action is one of the biggest problems in American foreign policy. It produces poorly thought-out interventions and, sometimes, disastrous long-term consequences, effects likely to be magnified in the era of Mr. Trump.
-
The concept of a bias for action originated in the business world, but psychological studies have shown a broad human tendency toward action over inaction.
- ...10 more annotations...
-
Researchers have found that World Cup goalkeepers, for example, are more likely to dive during a penalty kick, though they’d have a better chance of catching the ball by remaining in the center of the goal.
-
political scientists have also applied this concept to explain the decisions of leaders like George W. Bush, whose impetuous choices have been attributed by scholars to his “impatience for unnecessary delay.
-
Political pressure and criticism from opponents, combined with the news media’s habit of disparaging inaction, can render even the most cautious leaders vulnerable to pressure.
-
America’s overwhelming military strength and the low cost of airstrikes only add to the notion that action is less costly than inaction.
-
Acting too quickly means that policymakers don’t have full information when making key decisions, and it prevents them from carefully considering the long-term consequences
-
Mr. Obama’s own reflections on Libya (as well as Iraq) and his criticisms of the bias for action in American foreign policymaking were ultimately behind his decision to resist pressure to strike Syria in 2013. Mr. Obama came to understand that poorly thought-out military interventions can be even costlier.
-
If Mr. Obama found it challenging to resist the bias for action in foreign policy, imagine how difficult it is for a president with questionable impulse control, a military-centric foreign policy and a fixation on media praise.
-
It takes a determined leader to resist the overwhelming pressure to “do something” in a crisis. Mr. Trump is not that leader.