How U.S. domestic politics shapes the nation's foreign policyWhen engaging with other countries, the U.S. government has a number of different policy instruments at its disposal, including foreign aid, international trade, and the use of military force. But what determines which policies are chosen? Does the United States rely too much on the use of military power and coercion in its foreign policies? Sailing the Water's Edge focuses on how domestic U.S. politics-in particular the interactions between the president, Congress, interest groups, bureaucratic institutions, and the public-have influenced foreign policy choices since World War II and shows why presidents have more control over some policy instruments than others. Presidential power matters and it varies systematically across policy instruments.Helen Milner and Dustin Tingley consider how Congress and interest groups have substantial material interests in and ideological divisions around certain issues and that these factors constrain presidents from applying specific tools. As a result, presidents select instruments that they have more control over, such as use of the military. This militarization of U.S. foreign policy raises concerns about the nature of American engagement, substitution among policy tools, and the future of U.S. foreign policy. Milner and Tingley explore whether American foreign policy will remain guided by a grand strategy of liberal internationalism, what affects American foreign policy successes and failures, and the role of U.S. intelligence collection in shaping foreign policy. The authors support their arguments with rigorous theorizing, quantitative analysis, and focused case studies, such as U.S. foreign policy in Sub-Saharan Africa across two presidential administrations.Sailing the Water's Edge examines the importance of domestic political coalitions and institutions on the formation of American foreign policy.

List of Tables viiiList of Figures ix
Preface xi
1 INTRODUCTION 1
Motivation and Focus1
Core Contributions 6
What Is Foreign Policy? 7
Presidential Power in Foreign Policy 10
Overview of Our Theory 18
Implications for US Foreign Policy 21
Organization of the Book 27
Conclusion 30
2 A THEORY OF PRESIDENTIAL POWER AND US FOREIGN POLICY 33
Foreign Policy Instruments 35
Distributive Politics and US Foreign Policy 39
Political Ideology and the Extent of Ideological Divisions over US Foreign Policy 56
Connecting to Policy Substitution 67
Hypotheses: Presidential Influence and the Characteristics of Policy Instruments 69
Alternative Explanations 71
Conclusion 74
3 FOLLOW THE SAND DOLLARS:
Interest Groups and American Foreign Policy Instruments 77
What Are Interest Groups and What Do They Do? 82
Testimony and Lobbying Data about Interest Groups across Foreign Policy Instruments 83
Interest Groups and International Engagement 85
Who Gets Lobbied? 104
Conclusion 119
4 FROM THE FLOOR TO THE SHORE:
Budget Politics and Roll Call Voting on US Foreign Policy 121
When Do Presidents Get the Budgets They Request? 123
The Voting-Legislating Connection 129
Conclusion 153
5 CONTROLLING THE SAND CASTLE:
The Design and Control of US Foreign Policy Agencies 157
Institutional Design 159
Analyzing Bureaucratic Control 162
Case Studies 168
Implications for Substitution 180
Conclusion 182
6 THE VIEW FROM THE PUBLIC BEACH:
Presidential Power and Substitution in American Public Opinion 185
Public Opinion and Foreign Policy 186
Chapter Outline 188
The Role of the President: Information and Impact 189
Ideological Divisions and Substitution across Foreign Policy Instruments 196
Conclusion 206
7 AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY TOWARD SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA, 1993-2009:
A Case Study of Policy Instrument Politics and Substitution 209
Sub-Saharan Africa Policy (1993-2001): The Clinton Years 212
Sub-Saharan Africa Policy during the George W Bush Administration (2001-2009) 234
Conclusion 252
8 CONCLUSIONS 255
Our Argument and Findings 255
Important Implications for IR Theory 263
Domestic Politics, Foreign Policy, Polarization, and Bipartisanship 266
How Does Our Argument Apply to Other Countries? 267
Limitations and Future Research 269
Implications for American Foreign Policy 272
Works Cited 285
Index 319