The Involvement of State Governments in US Foreign Relations

273 Pages·2012·4.667 MB·English

by  Samuel Lucas McMillan (auth.)

The Involvement of State Governments in
US Foreign Relations
The Involvement of
State Governments in
US Foreign Relations
Samuel Lucas McMillan
THE INVOLVEMENT OF STATE GOVERNMENTS IN US FOREIGN RELATIONS
Copyright © Samuel Lucas McMillan, 2012.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2012 978-0-230-11325-1
All rights reserved.
First published in 2012 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN®
in the United States— a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world,
this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited,
registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills,
Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies
and has companies and representatives throughout the world.
Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States,
the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN 978-1-349-29501-2 ISBN 978-1-137-01540-2 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9781137015402
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
McMillan, Samuel Lucas.
The involvement of state governments in U.S. foreign relations /
Samuel Lucas McMillan.
p. cm.
1. State governments and international relations—United States.
2. Subnational governments—Foreign relations—United States.
3. United States—Foreign relations—1945–1989 4. United States—
Foreign relations—1989– 5. United States—Foreign economic relations.
6. Globalization—United States—States. I. Title.
JZ1480.M38 2012
327.73—dc23 2011028062
A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library.
Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India.
F irst edition: February 2012
To Lisa Cameron McMillan
Contents
List of Figure and Tables ix
Acknowledgments xi
1 Introduction 1
2 Linking International Relations to American Politics 13
3 The Changing Roles of Governors 31
4 US State Politics, Federalism, and Intergovernmental
Relations 51
5 Subnational Governments in the International System 75
6 US States and Governors in Foreign Relations 105
7 Analysis of Governors’ Foreign Relations Activities 123
8 US States and Governors in Foreign Economic Relations 143
9 Analysis of Foreign Direct Investment and Export
Promotion 163
10 Conclusions and Future Research 187
Appendix 203
Notes 213
References 219
Index 247
Figure and Tables
Figure
7.1 Sums of sample governors’ foreign relations activities 133
Tables
3.1 History of governor-led overseas missions 39
3.2 Factors encouraging governors’ foreign
relations activities 49
5.1 US states’ international offices, 1953–2006 81
5.2 Interviews with directors of US states’
international offices 89
6.1 Countries in which sample governors met with
national & subnational officials 113
7.1 Governors examined in this study 124
7.2 Research hypotheses for governors’ foreign
relations activities 128
7.3 Results of independent variables on governors’
foreign relations activities 135
8.1 US states’ relationships with overseas
chambers of commerce 157
9.1 R esults for study of US states’ per capita foreign
direct investment, 1995–2005 174
9.2 Results for study of US states’ per capita
exports, 1995–2006 181
Acknowledgments
T
he initial stages of this research took place at the University
of South Carolina, so I thank the members of my dissertation
committee: Harvey Starr, Blease Graham, and Jerel Rosati as
well as Earl Fry of Brigham Young University. Each has been instru-
mental in improving this project. I also benefited from gifted teachers
and scholars at Wofford, St. Andrews, and Warwick. The late Larry
McGehee helped me to realize that I wanted to spend my life on a
college campus, and many professors shaped my interests, including
William DeMars, Linton Dunson, John Seitz, Ben Rosamond, Ann
Bowman, Donald Puchala, and Joel Samuels. Scholars such as Thad
Beyle, Timothy Conlan, Phillip Stone, and Kelly O’Reilly offered use-
ful advice. Kimberly Richburg is a trusted colleague, and Adam Haigh
of Lander University’s Jackson Library supplied helpful assistance.
Numerous officials agreed to be interviewed for this project, pro-
vided reports and data, and offered their expertise. This includes gov-
ernment officials at the US state and federal levels, as well as officials
associated with many nongovernmental organizations. The opportu-
nity to speak with former governors was perhaps the most exciting part
of my research, and the assistance of all practitioners heightened my
scholarship. USC’s Walker Institute for International and Area Studies
helped fund my research and travel expenses to interview officials in
the United States and abroad. I thank the South Carolina Department
of Commerce because of the many officials that aided me, Michael
Samuels and Dan O’Flaherty for help with interviews, and the staff
of the South Carolina Department of Archives and History for assis-
tance with my examination of governors’ papers. Chris Whatley of the
Council of State Governments also deserves special thanks.
Earlier portions of this research were published in Foreign Policy
Analysis and International Interactions , so I thank Wiley-Blackwell
and Taylor & Francis respectively for allowing me to use some similar
xii ● Acknowledgments
language here. Finally, I thank the editors at Palgrave Macmillan, espe-
cially Robyn Curtis and Farideh Koohi-Kamali, for all of their help
with this project.
My parents, Jill and Sam McMillan; brothers, Jason and Austin; and
grandmother, Martha McMillan have been supportive since the early
years of my fascination with history and politics. Other family members,
especially Barbara and Steve Cameron, and friends have continuously
supplied encouragement. Our son William has always been a source of
endless enjoyment and laughter. I know that our new son Henry will
as well. With this project completed, I look forward to spending more
time with our boys.
Most of all, Lisa, my Phi Beta Kappa wife, gives immeasurable sup-
port every day. Her contributions to me, to our family, and to this
research are numerous.
CHAPTER 1
Introduction
A few years ago it would have seemed incongruous—i f not wholly
inappropriate—f or State governors to be concerned officially with for-
eign affairs. Yet in recent years, delegations of governors have conferred
with heads of foreign states in Buenos Aires, Rio, and the Kremlin, while
a steady flow of foreign policy resolutions has issued from the annual
Governors’ Conferences. While these actions have had only a minor
influence in the international scheme of things, they notably alter the
traditional role of the State executives.
In a sense, the addition of this international aspect of the daily con-
cern of governors is merely a reflection of the growing interdependency
of all nations in a complex planet.
— Glenn E. Brooks in When Governors Convene (1961)
G
overnors and other US states’ leaders are increasingly involved
in American foreign relations and international politics. They
help to recruit foreign direct investment (FDI), promote
exports and tourism, and take positions on the use of National Guard
troops and the US military. They sometimes voice beliefs about foreign
policy issues and work on a variety of internationally oriented issues
such as border security, counterterrorism, environmental concerns,
immigration, and public health. These subnational leaders have become
transgovernmental actors in world politics due to heightened interde-
pendencies and the blurring of foreign and domestic issues, especially
since 1945.
The Constitution’s mandate that the national government oversee
external relations “appears to establish a non- permeable internal politi-
cal boundary that excludes the states from dealing directly with political
entities located outside U.S. territorial borders” (Kline 1996, 330). Yet,
governors meet with high-l evel officials abroad and receive ambassadors