national security policies. This is a departure from previous administrations, which focused upon military and physical security issues. The focus on economic issues may reflect the particular biases and expertise of Clinton himself. Regardless, this economic focus seems to have meshed with the current international situation. With the end of the Cold War, the United States and the rest of the Western world lost its primary foe and the focus of its earlier foreign policies. In addition, the United States no longer has the overwhelming power and influence it enjoyed during the 1950s and 1960s. Economically, the primary competitors of the U.S. are its supposed allies in Western Europe and Asia (Clarke, 1995, pp. 48-49).
The Clinton Doctrine, as it has become known, is based upon the twin concepts of "engagement" and "enlargement." Engagement refers to selective involvement in multinational agreements which promote U.S. interests; enlargement refers to the goal of enlarging the number of nations governed by democratic processes and the free market. This policy is a clear reflection of Clinton's overriding interest in international economics. It is also a reflection of the thinking within the administration that economic stability is the best condition for ensuring national security in today's world (Brinkley, 1997, pp. 132-33).
Of these two concepts, the most important to the administration is enlargement. However, unlike past presidential emphases on democratic expansion, the Clinton administration has concentrated its efforts on expan
...