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Introduction: America: The World's Policeman?
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10096 |
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CURRENT ISSUES
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4 / 1993 |
737 Words |
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As U.S. troops withdraw from their successful humanitarian mission in Somalia and the carnage continues in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the debate about America's role in the post-Cold War world increases in intensity. Who should be responsible for global security: the world's sole superpower, the United Nations, regional security organization, or some combination of all three?
There are essentially two camps in the debate: those who favor multilateralism based on a new world order idealism and those who counsel a "strategic independence" under which the United States would act only to defend its vital interests.
Both sides acknowledge the following factors in determining U.S. policy: (1) the serious economic constraints facing the United States--and the United Nations; (2) the ability of NATO and other regional groups to accept additional security responsibilities; and (3) the place of national sovereignty and self-determination in an ever more interdependent world.
When crafting a foreign policy for the 1990s, says Larry Diamond of the Hoover Institution, America must meet two principle challenges: promoting democracy and building a new system of collective security. He proposes a doctrine of "democratic globalism" based not on "misty-eyed" Wilsonian idealism but on protecting traditional interests within a global perspective.
Although the world now seems less threatening than during the Cold War, warns Diamond, the United States must preserve sufficient military strength into the foreseeable future to assure collective security. Further cuts in defense spending would seriously damage national security.
President Clinton is likely to follow a somewhat different path, according to Washington journalist Martin Sieff. Based on his campaign statements and administration appointments, the president seems determined to make moralism a major factor in U.S. foreign policy. He has asked for greater cuts in the defense budget, targeting the Strategic Defense Initiative.
His economic appointments, led by Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen, indicate that Clinton will tilt toward protectionism. He is expected to pursue a much more vigorous human rights policy toward China while maintaining his predecessor's policies in the Middle East and Russia.
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