Congress and Foreign Policy

Session Submission Type: Full Paper Panel

Session Description

This panel focuses on the role of Congress in foreign policy. Recent developments, including executive unilateralism in global counterterrorism operations and controversial weapons sales, have renewed popular interest in reigning in executive power in countries such as the United States. The panel features four graduate student papers covering a diverse array of topics in the area, including congressional voting on defense issues, foreign lobbying of legislators, congressional position-taking, and legislative war powers. The findings from these papers will contribute to broader debates about foreign policy-making in democracies, legislative power, and the role of domestic politics in international relations.

Sub Unit

• Division 20: Foreign Policy

Individual Presentations

• Coercion, the Constitution, and the Search for Credibility - Michael Patrick Hulme, Stanford

• The Origins of Congressional Messaging on Foreign Affairs - Andrew Michael Kenealy, Duke University

• Foreign Policy Ideological Orientation and US Legislative Debate - Sowon Park, University of Virginia

• Speaking with One Voice? The Bipartisan Consensus on China in the U.S. House - Guan Wang, University of Maryland, Baltimore County; Weifang Xu, Florida State University

Chair

• Elizabeth Nathan Saunders Columbia University

Discussant

• Jordan Tama American University