Foreign policy doctrine

General statements of foreign policy made by the U.S. President often come to be referred to as that particular president's doctrine. Jimmy Carter's response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, for example, came to be called the Carter Doctrine, and Richard Nixon's justification for his phased withdrawal from Vietnam came to be called the Nixon Doctrine.

The tradition of calling these presidential statements "doctrines" dates back to the earliest such statement, the Monroe Doctrine. Since then, use of the term has expanded to include statements made by some non-U.S. leaders.

"Doctrine" is usually not meant to have any negative cannotations; it is especially not to be confused with "dogma". In fact, Presidential aides sometimes attempt to use the term to establish the historical importance of their President. The presidents themselves, however, do not officially call their important policy statements doctrines; something cannot become a doctrine by fiat, it seems, but must be labelled as such by common consensus.

American Presidential doctrines

• Monroe Doctrine
• Truman Doctrine
• Eisenhower Doctrine
• Nixon Doctrine
• Carter Doctrine
• Reagan Doctrine
• Clinton Doctrine
• Bush Doctrine which together with the Hearst doctrine is included in the National Security Strategy of the United States" [1], released on September 17, 2002

Other diplomatic doctrines

• Drago Doctrine
• Stimson Doctrine
• Brezhnev Doctrine
• Sinatra Doctrine
• Powell Doctrine

See also:

• Military doctrine