American Foreign Policy

Learning Target 33: Describe political, national security and economic challenges the U.S. faced in the post-Cold War period and following the attacks on September 11, 2001.

The post-Cold War period and the attacks on September 11, 2001, presented new challenges for the United States.

Political instability resulted from the decline of balance of power politics that dominated during the Cold War. The role of the U.S. role in global politics changed including engagement in preemptive (preventative) wars. The U.S. has also been impacted by issues surrounding the control of nuclear weapons and growth of terrorism. In responding to terrorism and security concerns, the U.S. has confronted the issue of balancing national security with civil liberties.

Economic challenges for the country included operating within a globalized economy. The country witnessed the change from the prosperity of the 1990s to the recession that began in 2007.

With the end of the Cold War, the U.S. cut spending for arms production and military spending shrank as a portion of the total federal budget. Reductions in defense spending due to the end of the Cold War led to the loss of millions of U.S. jobs in defense plants

The attacks on September 11, 2001 presented national security challenges for the country. The country was divided over two wars that were launched in response to the September 11 attacks. The U.S. invaded Afghanistan in 2001 and toppled the Taliban government (the political faction that provided safe harbor for al-Qaeda terrorists) in two months, but combat troops remained for thirteen years. In 2003, the U.S. invaded Iraq, claiming the country continued to possess weapons of mass destruction. Saddam Hussein’s government was quickly defeated, but U.S. military presence remained until 2011.

​The passage of the USA PATRIOT Act and the detainment and torture of enemy combatants also sparked intense debate.