Can America Lead When It’s Divided? U.S. Political Polarization and Foreign Policy Effectiveness

As partisanship within domestic politics in the United States continues to intensify, inconsistencies in U.S. foreign policy present themselves as a major challenge to American hegemony on the world stage. This paper analyzes the implications of growing political polarization in the United States on the overall effectiveness of U.S. foreign policy. Drawing on case studies, interviews, and literature reviews, this paper explores several key points: the perspectives of political scientists Jordan Tama and Rachel Myrick on the scale political polarization has on foreign policy; shifts in presidential administrations and public opinion regarding conflict resolution and the economy; insights from various experts and officials on how partisanship influenced their work and organization, and; recommendations for mitigating the negative effects of political polarization from impacting U.S. foreign policy. No water’s edge here.