Discuss the foreign policy positions of former President George Bush, Essay

Discuss the foreign policy positions of former President George Bush, Jr. and President Barack Obama in terms of realism and idealism - Essay eccentricPolitical realism highlights the role of the country and assumes that the states foreign policies are driven by the nations interest. It is primarily based on the states efforts to preserve its territory integrity as well as political autonomy. This means that the state interests are based on major power and security. This power is defined in terms of military, economic, cultural, diplomatic and economic terms. In a realist state, every nation should use their resources in order to defend their nation. This belief is derived on the fact that the international environment is an anarchical environment. Therefore, regardless of the treaties made by the state, it is the duty of the state to defend its interest. According to the realism school of thought, the state is under no foreign authority (Crawford 15).Political idealism, also re ferred to as Wilsonian Idealism, holds that a states foreign policy should reflect the upcountry policy. Although it is based on human nature, it significantly puts ethics and morals into consideration. Idealist government fosters equal rights, democracy rule and religion in their foreign policy (Crawford 50). It is based on civilian-scientific development methods rather than war and power. The idealist state emphasizes on the international values rather than the nations interest. The doctrines of realism play off those of the idealist school in that ethics and morality take a centre stage in idealism.During his campaign, the incumbent president George Bush openly stated that he was a realist who was committed to ending the Clinton doctrine and the indiscriminate use of the military force where they did not serve the interest of the US (Mackubin 24). During his campaign, he did not speak of democracy and freedom in the country. He clearly stated that, like his father, Bush was