The Ties That Bind and Can Easily Break: A Case for Foreign Policy’s Importance in the 2024 Election

The surging volatility of the global order indicates foreign policy’s importance as a guiding criteria for presidential leadership in the 2024 election.

Courtesy of The Library of Congress

Americans can no longer afford to subscribe to the illusion that foreign policy as an issue stops at the water’s edge. According to the 2024 Commission on the National Defense Strategy, “The threats the United States faces are the most serious and most challenging the nation has encountered since 1945 and include the potential for near-term major war”. From the war in Ukraine and a highly volatile Middle East fueled by Iranian proxy warfare, to an increasingly aggressive establishment of primacy by China in the Pacific, the decline of the stability in the international landscape is intertwined under a common cause: reorienting the global order towards authoritarianism. This proffers sobering possibilities for the future of the American order and continually begs the question of America’s role in the world. 

The stability of the international order is being battered from all directions, threatening transatlantic security and American homeland security. With the upcoming election, foreign policy has never been a more important topic of consideration on the ballot. The serious threats America faces abroad are completely intertwined with security at home and the times of viewing the global landscape as mutually exclusive from domestic priorities are over. 

The three largest adversarial threats’ current conflicts have bled directly into the domestic security of the United States. Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the United States has experienced an appropriation of over $174 billion in military and humanitarian assistance, prices overall rose 6.1% in 2023, the price of crude oil increased to over $100 per barrel, and a mass supply chain disruption. The advent of the Israel-Hamas War has resulted in seven Americans kidnapped by Hamas, a contentiously divided populace over support for the Jewish and Palestinian communities, a 360% increase in Anti-Semitic incidents, an upended Middle East strategy for the United States, complete uncertainty over regional security, and global embarrassment for the United states at its failure to broker a peace deal. 

Not too far away, Iran continues to provide support to disruptive proxy militias, emboldens the “Axis of Resistance”, increases its nuclear capabilities, and launches cyber attacks and influence operations intending to destroy U.S. infrastructure.  

China, on the other hand, continues to extend a helping hand to US adversaries, deeply entrenched itself in American military supply chains for 12 critical technologies, embeds malign technology in American ports for espionage purposes, and costs the United States economy between $225-$600 billion in stolen trade secrets. Furthermore, China’s increasing investment in military spending and innovation places the nation to surpass the United States by 2035. China’s entire grand strategy is constructed on upending the American led global order. All of these demonstrate the direct impact of global security conflicts on the United States, and the ability for our adversaries to set the pace for America. National security is domestic policy. 

The exigency for a robust foreign policy and a clear grand strategy has never been more critical. Growing pessimism looms over the United States’ future as Americans wholeheartedly believe that life will grow grim as 2050 approaches. American citizens have the capability to change this. That change is through a critical evaluation of foreign policy. Foreign policy is a clear indicator of how a presidential candidate views America’s role in the world. It reveals how the United States should bolster its allies, fight its adversaries, support its citizens at home, respond to international crises, and shape the global order. Voters must realize that the most pressing challenges that face homeland security are directly intertwined with the conflicts escalating every day. Voters must prioritize an analysis of both candidates’ foreign policy and weigh that significantly in their decisions.

Promoting international security, deterrence, and showing commitment to our allies is where the American agenda needs to stand firm as malign escalation metastasizes across the world. Foreign policy must be one of the top criteria for presidential leadership. While congressional political theater continues to draw attention away from serious adversarial threats, China, Russia, and Iran continue to engage in aggressive operations to supplant United States security. The 2024 election presents a critical demand: electing a leader who understands foreign policy is inextricable from domestic policy. In the new age of great power competition, threats to the United States do not stop at the water’s edge. They become the vision for the future that voters demand. This election sets a precedent for how America will traverse an increasingly threatening world order and Americans must choose wisely.