04/17/2003
Shaping Foreign Policy
Foreign Affairs magazine is known to be as influential a publication as you’ll find in the corridors of Washington. The other day I saw a reference to a 1996 article by William Kristol and Robert Kagan as having a profound impact on shaping Bush Administration policy in the war against terror, specifically, the doctrine of preemptive strikes.
Well, it just so happens that I have every Foreign Affairs issue of the past 20 years so I thought we’d take a look at the Kristol / Kagan piece titled “Toward a Neo-Reaganite Foreign Policy.” Kristol, of course, is the Editor of The Weekly Standard, while Kagan is one of the most influential strategists of our time and author of the highly acclaimed book, “Of Paradise and Power: America Vs. Europe in the New World Order.” This release goes beyond a Policy Review piece he did last year titled “Power and Weakness,” which I featured in this space 1/30/03.
Understand the backdrop for the July/August 1996 essay. The Republican Party was being pulled by both the isolationists and internationalists, the Buchanan vs. Dole factions, as the presidential election heated up. You’ll recognize many of today’s themes, though, in the excerpts I have chosen.
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“(Today) conservatives tailor their foreign and defense policies to fit the presumed new political reality: an American public that is indifferent, if not hostile, to foreign policy and commitments abroad, more interested in balancing the budget than in leading the world, and more intent on cashing in the ‘peace dividend’ than on spending to deter and fight future wars.”
“(President Ronald) Regan called for an end to complacency in the face of the Soviet threat, large increases in defense spending, resistance to communist advances in the Third World, and greater moral clarity and purpose in U.S. foreign policy. He championed American exceptionalism when it was deeply unfashionable. Perhaps most significant, he refused to accept the limits on American power imposed by the domestic political realities that others assumed were fixed.”
“Conservatives will not be able to govern America over the long term if they fail to offer a more elevated vision of America’s international role.”
“During the Cold War, the strategies of deterrence and containment worked so well in checking the ambitions of America’s adversaries that many American liberals denied that our adversaries had ambitions or even, for that matter, that America had adversaries. Today the lack of a visible threat to U.S. vital interests or to world peace has tempted Americans to absentmindedly dismantle the material and spiritual foundations on which their national well-being has been based. They do not notice that potential challengers are deterred before even contemplating confrontation by their overwhelming power and influence.”
“In a world in which peace and American security depend on American power and the will to use it, the main threat the United States faces now and in the future is its own weakness. American hegemony is the only reliable defense against a breakdown of peace and international order. The appropriate goal of American policy, therefore, is to preserve that hegemony as far into the future as possible. To achieve this goal, the United States needs a neo-Reaganite foreign policy of military supremacy and moral confidence.”
“Whether or not the United States continues to grant most- favored-nation status to China is less important than whether it has an overall strategy for containing, influencing, and ultimately seeking to change the regime in Beijing.”
“U.S. military leaders harbor justifiable suspicions that while they serve as a kind of foreign legion, doing the hard work of American-style ‘empire management,’ American civilians at home, preoccupied with the distribution of tax breaks and government benefits, will not come to their support when the going gets tough.”
“The United States achieved its present position of strength not by practicing a foreign policy of live and let live, nor by passively waiting for threats to arise, but by actively promoting American principles of governance abroad – democracy, free markets, respect for liberty.”
“(History shows) that the American people can be summoned to meet the challenges of global leadership if statesmen make the case loudly, cogently, and persistently. As troubles arise and the need to act becomes clear, those who have laid the foundation for a necessary shift in policy have a chance to lead Americans onto a new course.”
“Conservatives these days succumb easily to the charming old metaphor of the United States as a ‘city on a hill.’ They hark back, as George Kennan did in these pages not long ago, [ed. the “Mr. X” article on containing the Soviet Union] to the admonition of John Quincy Adams that America ought not go ‘abroad in search of monsters to destroy.’ But why not? The alternative is to leave monsters on the loose, ravaging and pillaging to their hearts’ content, as Americans stand by and watch. What may have been wise counsel in 1823, when America was a small, isolated power in a world of European giants, is no longer so, when America is the giant. Because America has the capacity to contain or destroy many of the world’s monsters, most of which can be found without much searching, and because the responsibility for the peace and security of the international order rests so heavily on America’s shoulders, a policy of sitting atop a hill and leading by example becomes in practice a policy of cowardice and dishonor.”
“It is worth recalling that the most successful Republican presidents of this century, Theodore Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan, both inspired Americans to assume cheerfully the new international responsibilities that went with increased power and influence. Both celebrated American exceptionalism. Both made Americans proud of their leading role in world affairs. Deprived of the support of an elevated patriotism, bereft of the ability to appeal to national honor, conservatives will ultimately fail in their effort to govern America. And Americans will fail in their responsibility to lead the world.”
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Frankly, were it not for 9/11 the current administration may not have fulfilled the hopes and dreams of Kristol and Kagan. But since the attacks, the President has been focused like a laser beam and has basically followed the gameplan outlined above.
Brian Trumbore
*Hott Spotts will return next week.
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