Presidential Approaches to Organizing Foreign Policy Mechanisms.
Abstract
The organization of foreign policy mechanisms will determine the types of policies a President can create. Presidents organize their administrations using a formalistic, collegial or competitive approach. In order to manage foreign policy a President must develop a balance between the formalistic and collegial approaches. This thesis analyzes how the Eisenhower and Kennedy Administrations structured their national security organizations and examines their policy decisions towards the Vietnam crisis. Eisenhower used a formalistic approach to create a highly structured organization with defined procedures to review foreign policy issues. Kennedy's style was far less rigid and relied on a high degree of personal interaction and group problem solving. This thesis demonstrates that there was a direct relationship between the manner in which the United States' foreign policy apparatus was structured and the decisions that were made to escalate US involvement in the Vietnam War. This thesis concludes that the formalistic and collegial approaches are complimentary and that a President should utilize a combination of both approaches.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 1994
- Accession Number
- ADA288729
Entities
People
- Edmund B. Hernandez
Organizations
- Naval Postgraduate School