Mr Reagan & Catholic apprehensions:

...From Neustadt's study, Presidential Power, through Graham Allison's research on the Cuban missile crisis, The Essence of Decision, to a spate of books and articles in the 1970s, the bureaucratic dimensions of policy have been examined in detail...

...Ambassador, Dr...

...In Seoul, San Salvador, and Sao Paulo, many are watching Washington these days with severe apprehension...

...There are some givens in the superpower relationship which any administration must face when it moves from campaigning to governing...

...Haig is the player to watch...

...Kirkpatrick, has been available for extended commentary on all topics...

...hdiocese of Boston...

...Whatever one might think of the substance of Mr...

...policy toward developing countries through the prism of East-West relations...

...The awareness of this fact is sharpened for church leaders by the advent of a new administration in Washington, intent on redirecting the course of the United States in the world...

...For the Reagan administration the places where Secretary Haig's Soviet-dominated perspective and Ambassador Kirkpatrick's desire to reform the Carter policy coincide is in the El Salvadors and the South Koreas of the developing world...

...From Seoul to San Salvador, from Poland to Pretoria and from San Paulo to Salisbury, the Catholic church, often through its bishops, has been a voice and a force influencing war and peace, human rights and human needs in a world scarred by injustice and oppression...

...Nothing in Caspar W. Weinberger's past, including his confirmation hearings, provides evidence of substantive views on defense policy...

...In the campaign President Reagan committed himself to a cabinet-style of governance, and specifically to a strong secretary of state who would be the Mr...

...Every foreign policy, however, is a mix of ideas, personalities, and organizational patterns...

...The issues differ in each country and the style of Catholic engagement varies significantly...

...Haig's views, it is clear from his confirmation hearing that he holds them in a manner unfettered by doubt or question...

...At treasury, Mr...

...In contrast to this strong center in the secretary's post,, there is a veritable vacuum concerning foreign policy in the other key cabinet positions...

...The superpowers act in a disciplined manner when confronting each other directly...

...J, Bryan Hehir is Associate Secretary for International Justice and Peace at the United States Catholic Conference in Washington and a priest of the Archdiocese of Boston...

...Haig does not come to office with an extensive publication record of his ideas in the style of Kissinger or Brzezinski, but two themes seem to shape his view of the world...

...For that reason the transition from the Carter to the Reagan policy is being watched quietly but very closely...

...In these cases Dr...

...Secretary Haig has not pronounced himself on all these points, but the new U.N...

...Her perspective fits the wider logic of seeing U.S...

...The U.S.-Soviet rivalry is the organizing principle of his perspective, and jn this competition, as James Reston has observed, he sees diplomacy in military terms...

...The salience of this analysis has been illustrated by the continuing competition, in both Democratic and Republican administrations, between the national security adviser and the secretary of state...

...The key selection has been Alexander Haig as secretary of state...

...The specifics of such a policy are not yet clear, but the first to feel the effects may be precisely those countries where the Catholic witness on human rights and social change has been most vigorous...

...allies appears to signal the new age of policy...

...These two themes are joined in the new administration to a set of other policy ideas: relativizing the human rights component of policy, reducing the significance accorded to North-South issues, returning to a clear division of the globe between those who are "for us" and those who are not, and revivifying the ideological struggle with the Soviets...

...Reagan & Catholic apprehensions J. Bryan Hehir determining voice in foreign affairs...

...but policy is essentially about ideas...

...These include the universally recognized danger of nuclear war, the strength and determination of one's adversary, and the mutual interest both powers have in the survival of the international system, however much each would like to change its composition...

...As one moves away from the central superpower balance, the willingness to inflate rhetoric, to experiment with policies, and to illustrate how different a new policy team is from its predecessor increases dramatically...

...This focus on the Soviet Union and emphasis on defense spending fits the framework of the Reagan team and the temper of the times...

...The lines of President Reagan's foreign policy will take some months to surface...

...While a miscalculation in this relationship can produce disastrous consequences, the danger of adventurous action is much greater in other areas of policy...

...Richard Allen, the National Security Adviser, repeatedly affirms his agreement with the president's position that the National Security Council should not in symbol or substance rival the State Department in the policy process...

...The president's cabinet choices point toward fulfillment of that commitment...

...The ironic feature of the policy picture is that in spite of an intensification of the U.S.-Soviet rivalry, the precarious choices reside in other areas...

...Kirkpatrick's tolerance for authoritarian regimes and intolerance of a strong human rights policy when dealing with U.S...

...One constant in the religious and political equation, however, is that all of these nations are strongly affected by the prevailing posture and policies of the United States...

...At present we have indications of what the policy may be, but not clear examples...

...While the style and even the substance of superpower policy is open to modification by a new administration, the range of options is narrow...

...Richard Neustadt's dictum, "Where you sit determines where you stand," has focused scholarly attention on the organizational patterns of policymak-ing and the personalities in them...

...On the bureaucratic field of policymaking Mr...

...J. BRYAN HEHIR ("World/church watch" will be a regular feature in Commonweal...

...Reagan cerntainly has wide-ranging experience in international finance, but few known views on international economic policy...