Democracy Confronts the Superpower: The New Global Politics
Nossel, Suzanne
THE CONTROVERSIES over the invasion and now the reconstruction of Iraq have exposed a transformation underway in the relationships among states. The diversity and passion of the voices in...
...military prowess in their backyard, six Iraqi neighbors met within a week of the fall of Baghdad to criticize the United States and announce their opposition to American proposals to lift UN sanctions on Iraq...
...intervention...
...The Democratization of Geopolitics Regardless of how history judges the legitimacy of the Iraq confrontation, the realignments witnessed en route to Baghdad reflect a new dynamic in international relations...
...on Iraq...
...Yet tension brewed...
...They are ( I ) military and economic strength...
...Countries whose support the United States had taken for granted—such as Turkey, Mexico, and Chile— publicly debated where to stand...
...Global forums such as the UN are themselves becoming more democratic...
...That's because at home, it's accepted that the people will inevitably have their say over an administration's policies and the length of its term in office, whereas internationally the importance of military strength is still thought to carry the day...
...The disjunction between democratic norms at home and a U.S...
...Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder played to his people's antiwar sentiment in the face of a tough reelection fight...
...The success of these relationships, relative to America's, will eventually determine China's ability to challenge U.S...
...On many issues, the Bush administration has been seen as indifferent or afraid to act...
...military triumph of the past decade—Iraq, Bosnia, Kosovo, and Afghanistan—relied on shortlegged tactical air and ground power launched from the territories of allies...
...Despite the dazzling display of U.S...
...Well into the debate, many diplomats on all sides believed the United States would somehow pull it off...
...It will have to clean up after others, accede to international norms, and even sacrifice some of its own power in deference to others' views and needs...
...Already, when Americans go to the polls, peoples around the world feel as if their leader is being selected...
...Long-held alliances will shift according to strategic and economic imperatives...
...others it will need to develop...
...Global leadership will become less like stewardship in a family, where young children follow their parents because they depend on them for survival, and more like political leadership within a domestic democracy...
...As weaker countries become more ready to combine and oppose what they see as an errant superpower, U.S...
...Willingness to do the dirty work...
...As these populations pay closer attention to the dealings among states, the long-standing norms of power politics will come under increasing critical scrutiny...
...A more democratic international system will be closer to the cacophony, open horseDISSENT / Summer 2003 n 57 THE NEW GLOBAL POLITICS trading, and emotionalism of a developing democracy than to the courtly rhythms of the U.S...
...objectives to a persistent constraint on our superpower status...
...Two hundred years ago Austria, Great Britain, Prussia, and Russia were balanced against Napoleonic France...
...In one sense, the United States has been hoist with its own petard...
...in the end, they thought, the world would not risk the wrath of a superpower scorned...
...During the Iraq debate, incoming EU members Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic joined Britain, Spain, and others in supporting the U.S...
...Granting lucrative reconstruction contracts for Iraq to U.S...
...Congress to compromise their demands...
...It marks a failure to grasp what global leadership today requires...
...Without the backing of Qatar, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia, the job would have been nearly impossible...
...that some prisoners of war are protected under international conventions while others are not will give rise to growing criticism of those who call the shots in a system rife with double standards...
...Power elites still shape world affairs, but they no longer control them so completely as before...
...power...
...If, as demonstrated in Iraq, the United States is more than capable of "going it alone," why should it be patient with the skepticism and petulance of others...
...2) the willingness and ability to tackle the most serious global problems...
...Denmark but not Sweden...
...In early March, British foreign secretary Jack Straw cautioned that Europe would "reap a whirlwind if we push the Americans into a unilateral position...
...Tyranny of a Misguided Majority The administration has several good reasons for being skeptical about more democratic international relations...
...The United States should begin viewing the world population more as it does American voters and should look on national governments as the equivalent of state and local leaders...
...When charged with negotiating a cut in U.S...
...With the United States exercising self-restraint, the rest of the world felt less of a need to counterbalance it...
...Only once it has accepted the ongoing transformation can the United States get down to work bringing the formidable political know-how it has built at home to the business of international affairs...
...The Bush administration's response has typically been to try to sidestep or override the democratizing forces in the international system...
...By ignoring Mexico's request for a migration accord, the United States was perceived to take its old friend and neighbor for granted...
...It makes sense that people living in democracies would press for a more democratic global system...
...In 1991, when Turkish president Turgut Ozal bucked public opinion and risked economic crisis and military retaliation by supporting the United States in the Gulf War, no one was surprised...
...Countries big and small had speaking parts in the Iraq debate...
...During the 1991 Gulf War, the United States stressed coalition diplomacy in its fight to drive Iraq from Kuwait...
...In his book The Paradox of American Power, Joseph Nye refers to such persuasive authority as "soft power," defined as "the ability to set the political agenda in a way that shapes the preferences of others...
...Some are traits the United States already embodies and should take care to maintain...
...Germany but not France...
...The United States does not have to take on every problem...
...that gross human rights violations are excoriated in China but ignored in Russia...
...Military and economic power is also vital as a source of "pork"—favors, handouts, and bargaining chips that can 58 n DISSENT / Summer 2003 be used to win support...
...Americans are right to fear the noxious conditions that Moynihan described: a zealous, knee-jerk antiWest, anti-Israel and anti-Semitic mob of nations blind to their own self-righteous hypocrisy...
...Whatever happens in this instance, their example is sure to be followed...
...It was the rift among permanent Security Council members that freed smaller countries to take sides...
...But a more democratic system offers some rewards for the United States...
...Undecided members of the UN Security Council, heavily courted by both sides, declined to kowtow to either...
...Democratic forces are also increasingly at play in the relationships among states...
...Its sluggishness in restarting Israeli-Palestinian peace talks until recently eroded its credibility, allowing the United Kingdom and the rest of the EU to seem responsible and engaged by contrast...
...A century later, Great Britain, France, and Russia allied to contain Germany...
...But already China is matching or outpacing the United States in its trade relationships with nearby nations...
...The Bush administration misread and mishandled the democratic forces it met on the world stage...
...In spurning Canadian and Chilean compromise proposals for the Iraq stand-off without even a "thank you," the Bush administration slammed the door in the face of friends who stopped by to offer help...
...Throughout the Iraq debate domestic critics voiced misgivings about the administration's arrogance...
...Europe's choice to scale back its military strength would prove a serious impediment should it ever try to challenge American leadership...
...Many nations have faulted the Bush administration for its reluctance to address issues that they consider urgent...
...The United States should apply to the international arena some of the ingredients for success in democratic politics...
...The proliferation of independent voices in global affairs is manifest in all parts of the world and on a widening array of issues...
...line...
...The Bush administration has said it assigns high priority to preventing the rise of a "peer competitor," presumably China...
...Although these will certainly play a key part in appealing to people around the world, political wheeling and dealing are essential too...
...Bush has derided "focus group" diplomacy when it comes to making foreign policy, but would never contemplate a major domestic campaign without it...
...The U.S.-Turkey relationship has long rested on a deal between the countries' leaders: the United States offered foreign aid and military defense in exchange for Turkey's support for American global and regional goals...
...The newcomers to international debates are for the most part not espousing democratic values so much as articulating their own perceived selfinterest...
...The same will likely be true on the international stage...
...The international system is not a democ racy, nor will it ever be...
...But as the cold war thawed, democratic currents flowed more freely...
...As in national polities, international democracy remains subject to power relations, manipulations, and to the influences of money, corruption, and hubris...
...SUZANNE NOSSEL was senior adviser to Ambassador Richard C. Holbrooke at the U.S...
...Like people, nations have egos, inferiority complexes, suspicions, ambitions, fears, and irrational impulses...
...Just as the candidate with the biggest war chest is perceived as a potential winner, U.S...
...cause...
...This democratization of international politics has implications for how the United States behaves in the world...
...Several Democratic presidential aspirants picked up on this theme, sensing its popular resonance...
...A major force driving this change is that the countries party to international controverDISSENT / Summer 2003 • 53 THE NEW GLOBAL POLITICS sies such as the Iraq debate are, increasingly, themselves democracies...
...Democratic Leadership on the International Stage Instead of trying to escape the forces of international democratization, the United States should acknowledge that a broadening circle of countries will insist on a say over global issues, and it should change its brand of leadership accordingly...
...Although the countries of the world may not agree on how imminent particular threats are, or on how to handle them, the broad consensus on what constitutes a threat contrasts sharply with the past century, when global political values were so diverse that fascist and communist repression could win genuine support...
...As the world's only superpower, with unrivaled military and economic strength, having just shown in Afghanistan its ability to topple corrupt penny-ante regimes without breaking a sweat, the United States looked unassailable...
...During the cold war, the superpowers faced off...
...The periodic election of rogue states to UN leadership posts feeds the view that the international community cannot be trusted...
...Ambassador to the UN in the late 1970s when 56 n DISSENT / Summer 2003 the UN General Assembly passed its notorious "Zionism is Racism" resolution...
...The "like-minded" group that championed the court reveals the new goyourown-way disposition: it includes Australia and Canada but not the United States...
...Argentina but not Brazil...
...Many UN delegations represent dictatorships...
...The overarching pattern was that there was no pattern: neither the dissolution of the West, the clash of civilizations, regional geography, political affiliation, nor historical alliances explain the alignment...
...Some U.S...
...and (4) legitimacy...
...military...
...leadership in a more democratic system than in a world ruled by superpowers...
...president had all but vowed would occur, citizens around the world took to the streets to protest against invasion...
...policy built on containing democratizing forces is unsound for another reason: the American people will not accept it...
...The State Department's initial list of allies in the Iraq War was instructive...
...Politics in a more democratic international system will be every bit as roughandtumble as in the era of superpower domination...
...After the triumph in Iraq this temptation has been strengthened, with the United States having demonstrated to the world that, dissenting views notwithstanding, America is still the boss...
...Over time, the democratic transformation may go from being a nettlesome impediment to certain U.S...
...At one level, it is natural that the world's most powerful country would strongly resist efforts to constrain national sovereignty...
...The General Assembly—where China and Tuvalu wield equivalent votes—is participatory but hardly fair...
...The last century showed that democracy could triumph in even the most unlikely quarters— such as South Africa and Eastern Europe— where powerful, well-armed, and ruthless governments ultimately capitulated to peoples bent on having a say over how they were ruled...
...It has broader economic and military ties, a stronger network of diplomatic posts, and a more vibrant and appealing culture—the global equivalent of charisma— than any other country...
...It may be clear to foreign policy elites why the two countries are being treated differently, but the distinction troubles citizens of democracies who think the international system, like their home governments, should offer predictability, consistency, and even equality...
...People raised with the ideals of free speech, self-determination, and the need for constraints on power at home naturally seek to extend these concepts into the realm of foreign affairs...
...6o n DISSENT / Summer 2003...
...A coalition of the unwilling decided to show the United States that it would no longer cower before a would-be hegemon...
...demands to exempt American troops from its jurisdiction...
...Too often the United States, rather than putting forward its best case, has dismissed the relevance of legitimacy entirely...
...But just as a city mayor who campaigned on the revitalization of the waterfront is also held responsible for garbage collection, a lone superpower claiming global leadership no longer has the luxury to pick and choose its own priorities...
...COUNTRIES ARE flaunting their independence on other issues, too...
...The rise of democracy around the world has led peoples to expect the powerful to act with a certain deference to those affected...
...Iraq pushed the conflict over the brink...
...But it unquestionably entails different norms of conduct, standards of judgment, and ways of getting ahead than did the old world of great-power politics...
...When the United States called, Turkey answered...
...But the United States must from now on factor international as well as domestic opinion into these choices...
...The multilateral system—by its nature a counterweight to power politics—has come into its own, with participatory bodies steadily gaining influence...
...On AIDS, poverty, and inequality, too, the United States has been blamed for not showing leadership...
...Meanwhile, some of the world's fledgling democracies, in Eastern Europe for example, were still finding their legs, keeping quiet long enough to be admitted to NATO and the EU...
...The administration believes that this difference reflects not just the way things are, but the way they should be...
...Senate...
...And these organizations' member states are also behaving more independently...
...Over the past fifty years, the number of peoples enjoying a democratic form of government has more than doubled...
...As the world's most robust democracy, the United States is well equipped for the challenge of mobilizing voluntary global support...
...This turn of events surprised Washington and the world...
...power, we must stop viewing international norms as thorns in our side...
...Further, Americans, who have long struggled with the problem of the tyranny of the majority at home legitimately worry that a more democratized world system may produce the tyranny of the majority writ large...
...At a macro level, there is greater democracy among states...
...What many predicted would be a "unipolar moment" for the United States—when its unmatched force was coupled with an unprecedented willingness to use it—turned into one of the most multipolar moments in history...
...Leadership will fray where it is spread too thinly...
...As in domestic politics, the key is identifying potential "wins...
...The Refashioned Superpower A superpower in a democratic system is like a superhero stripped of some powers...
...Over U.S...
...Ultimately, even small and powerless countries made their own decisions...
...AROUND THE world, people questioned how the United States could justify tak ing military action in Iraq while dealing diplomatically with a more serious threat in North Korea...
...During the East Timor crisis of the same period, Australia demonstrated that regional powers can successfully shoulder what might otherwise be superpower burdens...
...We will have to judge what issues have become sufficiently pressing that they can no longer be ignored, THE NEW GLOBAL POLITICS and we will be judged by the judgments we make...
...Rather than issuing edicts from on high, it will—more often than not—have to traipse from capital to capital, making its case, listening to others, and cobbling together support...
...Here, too, maintaining the goodwill of smaller nations matters greatly...
...Germany's position on the Iraq War was similarly dictated by domestic political imperatives...
...This outcome belied the idea that only a superpower such as the United States can afford to let domestic politics influence its foreign policy...
...Tactics that in the past had always shored up wobbly backing from friends did not seem to work...
...For centuries, great-power politics ruled the globe...
...This failure to craft international messages designed to attract broad support is more than just flat-footed diplomacy...
...is becoming an open question...
...As the 2000 election drama in Florida unfolded, the UN membership was mesmerized, cutting meetings short so delegates could watch the latest counts from Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties...
...Populations have been schooled (often with American textbooks) to believe that absolute power corrupts absolutely and that the weak need protection from the strong...
...NATO and the European Union will expand next year...
...foreign policy that showed contempt for differing views led to a drop in Bush's approval rating as his diplomacy imploded...
...Though deeply flawed, the system can usually be made to work in favor of the United States when the stakes are high...
...The argument over who plays what part in postwar reconstruction in Iraq suggests that this phenomenon is here to stay...
...this was how power politics worked...
...Most countries consider international law to be hortatory more than binding...
...This objective, more than any sympathy for the Iraqi regime, fueled global popular opposition to the war...
...The tide of democratization in international relations will likely gain momentum as more countries become democracies and demand a voice in global issues...
...More support would have made the Bush administration's task in Iraq far easier...
...Because they took place in public, these slights hurt all the more...
...The contrast with how a democratically elected leader would behave in a domestic context is striking...
...Although these bodies often fall short of expectations, in most of the world their failings are seen as cause to strengthen, rather than do away with, the organizations themselves...
...A U.S...
...Backroom deals are giving way to more open debates in the Security Council, the newspapers, and the airwaves of CNN, the BBC, and al-Jazeera...
...The Bush administration's rejections of the Kyoto Protocol on Global Warming, the International Criminal Court, and the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty were criticized as unilateral and illegitimate...
...Whether a more democratic world system proves to be a better one remains to be seen...
...Beyond that, the United States must not lose sight of the fact that the world it confronts is in large part one of its own design...
...From threats of UN irrelevancy to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's contemptuous reference to "old Europe" to the administration's ham-handed threats against Mexico, the administration's messages seem calculated to insult and intimidate rather than to inspire support...
...Conversely, all but three of the European Union candidate countries flouted France and Germany to join the United States and Britain...
...When there were two superpowers, each could shift blame onto the other...
...In Chile, too, President Ricardo Lagos refused to spurn popular opposition to the war, defying predictions that a pending U.S.-Chile free trade pact 54 n DISSENT / Summer 2003 would compel him to toe the U.S...
...Increasing numbers of countries are taking positions free from the overweening influence of a superpower patron...
...The Bush administration voiced confidence that Mexico, the closest thing to a client state the United States still has, would stand by its side...
...power...
...As Chilean diplomats acknowledged after the fact, had the major powers had a common position on Iraq, the smaller players would not have mattered...
...The Bush administration insisted that by defying its wishes, the United Nations would render itself irrelevant...
...The United States refusal to pay its full UN dues was deeply resented...
...Indeed, unilateral U.S...
...When the administration of George W Bush approached the United Nations in September 2002 to seek support for military action to disarm Saddam Hussein, few doubted that it would ultimately get its way...
...UN membership has more than tripled since its founding in 1948...
...Similarly, the EU's inaction in Bosnia and Kosovo—problems that were seen as Europe's to solve—compromised its claim to global leadership...
...John F. Kennedy's famous appeal to the beleaguered people of Berlin won the United States love and loyalty that lasted decades, and Clinton's many trips overseas, including the first ever presidential visit to Africa, nodded to the idea that his electorate extended well beyond American citizens...
...Countries freely choosing which side to support in international debates will still take account of who has the means to protect or harm them...
...Reporters traveled to Guinea, THE NEW GLOBAL POLITICS Angola, and Cameroon to cover the story of whether the world's superpower would get its way...
...Instead of resisting change, we would be wise to adapt, harnessing these emergent democratic forces in the international arena so that they voluntarily support, rather than undercut, American leadership...
...On an array of THE NEW GLOBAL POLITICS international issues, "Which side are you on...
...Bush does not believe in a more democratic international arena...
...That Western countries are allowed to possess nuclear weapons while Eastern and Southern ones are not...
...There is no world government or global constitution...
...The United States will not remain the chosen leader of a democratic international system unless it begins to establish in ternational legitimacy for its actions...
...firms without a bidding process reinforces the suspicions of those who saw ulterior motives in the U.S.-led invasion...
...As the world watched, Washington offered billions of dollars in aid to induce Turkey's leaders to extend basing privileges to the U.S...
...The point is that the required tactics will be different...
...All along, the poverty, instability, or weakness of smaller countries rendered them mostly voiceless...
...dues to the UN, Ambassador Richard C. Holbrooke recognized that such an unpopular measure could not be imposed as a diktat and worked to convince both UN members and the U.S...
...In the fall of 2002, after decades of encouraging Turkish democracy, the United States saw its steadfast supporter back away...
...For a time, there were few outright confrontations between these rising democratic influences and U.S...
...By informing Russian President Vladimir Putin that the ABM treaty was dead irrespective of what Russia thought and wanted, the United States undercut Russia's self-perception as a power on the road to recovering its international stature...
...As in domestic politics, an excess of one quality unleavened by others can transform assets into political liabilities...
...Although Turkey's reliance on the United States had not changed, newly elected prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan faced domestic political challenges that undercut his willingness to spend political capital for an unpopular U.S...
...World leaders aren't elected...
...Our North American Free Trade Association partners, Canada and Mexico, were absent, as were all but three of the thirty-four members of the Organization of American States...
...The Chinese government's inward focus and ossified structures, exemplified by its unwillingness to face up to the danger posed by SARS, has kept it from being seen as a global leader...
...Although its military might remains unchallenged, the Iraq debate showed that without the ability to rally the world to its side, using that might will become trickier...
...policymakers may be inclined to suppress this new pluralism and preserve the more familiar norms of power politics...
...Though the Bush administration is championing a Free Trade Area for the Americas, Argentina and Brazil now oppose the alliance, putting the administration's goal in doubt...
...President Bill Clinton and his top aides voiced respect for the UN, dampening resentment toward the United States...
...Whereas Clinton had a wary respect for a strengthening multilateral system, Bush ignored and undercut it, announcing a doctrine of preventive war predicated on an unapologetic conception of American exceptionalism and power-driven realpolitik...
...In a situation where most countries of the region enjoy closer ties to China than they do to the United States, America's ability to defend its interests in the region— for example, Taiwan—could well be compromised...
...In taking South Korean president Kim Dae Jung by surprise when announcing a sudden policy shift on North Korea, Bush humiliated the leader and his people...
...The diversity and passion of the voices in the debates, the departures from traditional patterns of allegiance among countries, and America's failure to win support from longstanding allies all point to a new reality: the geopolitical system, as never before, is displaying democratic features associated more commonly with national states than with global society...
...A democratized international system will give new meaning to Tip O'Neill's observation that "all politics is local...
...Thus, the administration dismissed the tidal wave of anti-Americanism in the run-up to the Iraq War as, in Fouad Ajami's metaphor, "road rage," believing that "no great apologies ought to be made for America's 'unilateralism.'" But the Iraq debate showed that although the international community's behavior sometimes warrants disdain or even contempt, the administration can neither ignore nor override it...
...To much of the world, in the absence of legitimacy and willingness to listen, Bush's resolve seems more frightening than admirable...
...Increasingly, the hegemonic state cannot dictate to others, garner support by snapping its fingers, or brush away obstacles with the wave of a hand...
...If current trends continue, with important countries shaping their foreign policy by the goal of counter-balancing the United States, such fissures will be frequent, and the positions of smaller countries will be closer to the fore...
...As with voters choosing a candidate, these factors have every bit as much to do with a country's stance on policy issues as do reason and power politics...
...The United States must cede a DISSENT / Summer 2003 n 59 THE NEW GLOBAL POLITICS certain amount of autonomy in exchange for the greater latitude it will enjoy over time if the weight of free international opinion is on its side...
...Relationships between the United States and other contending powers and smaller countries will only grow in importance...
...Mission to the United Nations and writes frequently on foreign affairs...
...The UN Security Council is profoundly undemocratic, with five unelected countries holding permanent seats and veto power...
...Leadership Qualities There are four key traits that will qualify leaders in the emerging more democratic international system...
...The United States will have to monitor closely the tides in international opinion, its own political strengths and vulnerabilities, and the views both of its close allies and the broader pool of "swing votes" that might side with or against it at any time...
...3) attentiveness to constituency relations...
...The United States must refashion itself as the global leader of choice—a country that others will follow not just because they have to but because they want to...
...Displaying the right combination of traits, in the right balance, is essential...
...Rather than resigning themselves to the inevitability of a war that the U.S...
...Indeed, every U.S...
...To prevent perceived crises of legitimacy from undermining U.S...
...Yet, as disputes erupt over the shape of postwar Iraqi reconstruction and the handling of other hot spots such as North Korea, the varied voices in the debates show no sign of quieting down...
...52 n DISSENT / Summer 2003 A Funny Thing Happened in the International Forum The Iraq debate underscores this new dynamic...
...For better or worse, international "law" is malleable enough that a wide range of actions can be justified within it, provided we take the time to try...
...In contrast, China's emphasis on building its military has reinforced the idea that it will someday compete as a superpower...
...On many matters involving the use of force, such as Bosnia and Kosovo, the superpower stayed its own hand until the world clamored for U.S...
...Having worked to seed democracy in far-flung corners, the United States now sees the fruits of its efforts impinging on its prerogatives as a superpower...
...Populations that take a keener interest in their own countries' foreign policy will be watching to make sure that they get something in return for taking risks or controversial stands that favor the United States...
...Domestic politics exerted an unexpected pull on lesser players, too...
...Challenges to leadership—tacit "votes of no confidence"—may come at any moment, over any issue that gains enough momentum...
...Strength...
...The Clinton administration rightly assessed that the late 1990s conflicts in Africa were ones in which UN involvement would be broadly perceived as the right course...
...Plenty of Americans embraced the administration's devil-may-care bravado, but a significant portion were nervous about the United States antagonizing friends and isolating itself...
...Norms like consistency and equality need not take precedence over all other considerations, but when they are trumped, the decision must be made carefully and explained...
...Europe unified itself, with countries of different size and strength functioning on nominally equal terms...
...A president or governor who similarly dismissed pressing domestic concerns with the environment, criminal justice, and gun control would risk political oblivion...
...A more democratized international system will not give up on the idea that power should be checked and balanced through multilateral organizations...
...The administration's rhetoric has reinforced the impression of its impatience with others' views...
...Turkey is a case in point...
...But the concept of "soft" is both ill-named—it sounds much too indefinite and squishy—and incomplete...
...In developing and democratizing countries, the masses are less ignorant, quiescent, or afraid than they once were...
...The tilt toward democratization does not guarantee global good government...
...And yet the international system is more heavily affected by democratic influences than ever before...
...Quietly and without much controversy, inter-governmental forums now make decisions about the environment, trade, health and medicine, the regulation of financial markets, the restoration of failed states, intellectual property protection, and other issues...
...objections, most American allies have signed the International Criminal Court treaty (itself an example of democratic institution building gone global), and few have given in to U.S...
...On the global stage, power breeds power...
...As they grow more affluent, educated, and informed, democratic peoples will become better equipped for debate on international affairs...
...The administration's dismissals of the Kyoto Convention, International Criminal Court, and ABM Treaty and its unDISSENT / Summer 2003 n 55 THE NEW GLOBAL POLITICS willingness to proffer alternatives showed a willful disregard for how America is perceived by those it wants and purports to "lead...
...The only thing holding the United States back in this new, more democratic world order is its own tendency to resist rather than capitalize on the changing tides...
...Having tasted greater autonomy and influence, smaller countries will not give it up without a fight...
...Roots of Democratic Transformation The roots of this trend run deep...
...In international forums, by and large, the forces that dominate are not dictators and troublemakers but a loose constellation of fundamentally liberal open societies—mostly democracies or soon-to-be democracies—both western and not, that have joined together in a fundamentally peaceful system...
...Yet France, Germany, Russia, and China stood firm, backed by dozens of smaller countries...
...For some countries, this failure became an excuse to decline to support the U.S...
...When the government came around, the Turkish Constitution— modeled in part on the American—necessitated a parliamentary vote of approval, and a controlling minority in Parliament tempted fate and voted the other way...
...As in domestic democracies, leadership that is seen as self-interested, corrupt, or hypocritical will be vulnerable to attack...
...In A Dangerous World, Daniel Patrick Moynihan recounted his experiences as U.S...
...But Mexico's frustration with its failure to secure an immigration accord or other benefits of the special relationship promised by Bush to Mexican president Vicente Fox ultimately put its vote out of reach...
...With the disintegration of colonial spheres of influence and the cold-war-era blocs, the countries of Latin America, Eastern Europe, Africa, and Southeast Asia are increasingly free to frame their own positions...
...Legitimacy...
...presidents have had a natural affinity for global politicking...
...Why should democratically elected leaders, answerable to their electorates, consider that accountability to stop at their borders...
...Four months later, the world was held rapt by a bitter feud between the United States and a handful of key allies who favored an Iraq invasion and France, Germany, Russia, China, and others, who demanded continued weapons inspections instead of war...
...The UN finally went beyond offering a stage for cold war theater, and enjoyed a renaissance under Secretary General Kofi Annan...
...Responsiveness to a global constituency...
...The informal coalitions protesting the Iraq War showed how the Internet and other new methods of communication among activists and nongovernmental organizations can amplify small voices in foreign policy debates...
...THE CONTROVERSIES over the invasion and now the reconstruction of Iraq have exposed a transformation underway in the relationships among states...
...The unanimous resolution backing the reinstatement of weapons inspectors in November 2002 reinforced the idea that the United States could bring the world around to even highly controversial positions...
...military and economic strength make it the presumptive frontrunner in international contests...
...Like teenagers coming of age, countries are surprising the United States and other traditional powers with their newfound autonomy...
...The maintenance of a powerful military will be no less essential to U.S...
...position on Iraq, confounding French president Jacques Chirac...
...Nye writes well about the appeal of America's culture and values...
...Instead of relying on fiat, it will have to learn how to campaign on behalf of its priorities, convincing others to side with it voluntarily...
...behavior may backfire, strengthening the hand of democratic forces...
...This shift represents a culmination of forces operating at two levels: at the micro level, democratic forces within states are jostling to influence their governments' positions in an ever growing number of countries...
...In this universe, radical, THE NEW GLOBAL POLITICS violent, and threatening elements—the likes of Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, Slobodan Milosevic, and Muammar Qaddafi—are for the most part seen for what they are and quarantined either formally or informally...
Vol. 50 • July 2003 • No. 3
