REIMAGINING FOREIGN POLICY: How America Can Get its Groove Back: The First Hundred Days of a New Administration
Nossel, Suzanne
DEMOCRATIC PARTY foreign policy circles are buzzing with ideas and initiatives aimed at undoing the damage of George W. Bush's foreign policy. Broadly speaking, these designs are based on a...
...counterterror efforts that go well beyond the UN...
...UN Engagement The Bush administration has consistently overemphasized U.S...
...As a growing number of key allies become democracies, the United States can no longer expect that these countries' economic and security needs will ensure their support for American ends...
...After the tour, participants should convene at a national security summit like the economic summit Bill Clinton held before taking office...
...For one thing, although many foreign governments and peoples lament U.S...
...Most Democratic objectives— defeating terror, disarming proliferators, promoting democracy—are long-term goals...
...The notion of a new administration ready to listen—rather than promise or bargain— would signal a sharp break...
...By referencing the committee and its audit and site visit functions as a key instrument for assessing which nations should be targeted in a campaign to "name and shame" those that abet terror, a new administration could begin to rebuild broad support for what has become an increasingly lonely fight...
...When the al-Jazeera correspondent Hassan Ibrahim caricatures the administration's approach as "Democratize, or we'll shoot you" (in the recent documentary Control Room), the rest of the world can understand why...
...EVEN IF KERRY WINS, international attitudes toward the United States won't change automatically or overnight...
...They are confident that once in power they will perform these tasks far better than their predecessors...
...This will require restoring confidence that America's motives for engagement in the world are genuine...
...That gathering should produce a report to the American public about world opinion and how America will respond to it...
...The United States needs allies willing to offer more than just highly selective, issue-specific backing...
...An incoming government should certainly not give in to those who think the worst of the United States...
...Appointments should be made to posts dealing with key issues and regions, such as a new ambassador to the UN and new assistant secretaries for Europe, Latin America, Asia, and Africa...
...power...
...But if John Kerry is elected president in November, Democrats will not be working with a blank slate...
...At the same time, domestic political considerations will need to be carefully managed so they do not get in the way of sending a clear message to the rest of the world...
...force as an instrument of global change...
...Luring foreign troops to Iraq may seem unrealistic, but when the presidency changes hands, governments around the world will be eager to find ways to advance their own interests by building close ties to the new administration...
...Rather, they will inherit an America that is less popular and less legitimate in the eyes of the world than at any point in its history as a superpower...
...If the U.S...
...TO REVIVE A liberal internationalist agenda that will endure, a new U.S...
...A presidential visit to Iraq—recalling Dwight Eisenhower's personal mission to Korea— could help effectively mark the transition to a new orientation...
...Because they relate to what Americans have come to recognize as among the most polarizing features of U.S...
...Broadly speaking, these designs are based on a vision of an activist foreign policy that is unafraid to use military power, confront enemies, and root out threats, but is at the same time far more mindful than the Bush administration of the need for allies, resources, and a realistic long-term perspective on the potential and limitations of American power...
...The consequences of either a continued violent antiAmerican insurgency or a U.S...
...Some of the steps to be considered in the first hundred days of a new administration include the following...
...This group includes not just sworn U.S...
...The administration could also augment the resources and expertise that the United States provides to the CTC for its capacitybuilding and technical assistance efforts to combat terror...
...It needs friends that will support, fund, and staff costly and risky joint missions and that will follow the American lead on issues less than central to their own self-interest— even when doing so entails some domestic political risk...
...To enlist this kind of foreign support, Democrats will first have to close the U.S...
...detention facilities, revise them to comport with international norms of justice, and heavily publicize the changes in American policy...
...For example, although a U.S...
...lending and training programs to foster entrepreneurship among under-employed Arabs...
...Depending on the potential troop contributor, commercial concessions in Iraq or trade measures, aid, or other political favors unrelated to the conflict may make the difference...
...ACCORDINGLY, IF they attain office, Democrats will need to rank their foreign policy aims and make rebuilding international credibility a top priority in the immediate term...
...These unilateral confidence-building measures will need to be carefully chosen, informed by a balance of symbolism and substance...
...In doing so, they will not only better inform themselves, but demonstrate that the United States recognizes the need for its role and policies to be widely understood...
...To reengage, Kerry should swiftly name a high-profile, well-qualified and wellconnected ambassador to the UN, preferably someone with a close relationship to Kerry himself as well as strong ties in Washington and on Capitol Hill, where skepticism of the UN is deeply ingrained...
...Nonetheless, a new administration must not lose sight of the need for carefully chosen measures to rebuild the foundation for American influence internationally...
...anti-terror strategies...
...foreign policy, these steps should be capable of attracting domestic support...
...It should neither subordinate American interests to international opinion nor shrink from the exercise of force out of concern for those who resent U.S...
...Cleaning House at Guantanamo The scandals at Abu Ghraib have brought U.S...
...Renewed engagement at the UN, the global body now seen as the most independent of U.S...
...When President Kerry takes office, the United States will almost certainly remain the dominant security force in Iraq—with troop levels exceeding a hundred thousand...
...Mission to the United Nations and writes frequently on foreign affairs 36 n DISSENT / Fall 2004...
...pullout and subsequent security vacuum in Iraq are both so dire that little should be off the table when it comes to offering incentives for others to come in...
...enemies in the Islamic world and elsewhere, but also constituencies in European, Latin American, and Asian nations that see America's estrangement as an opportunity to exert more influence and hold American power in check...
...Whereas governments may have pragmatic motives for seeking rapprochement with the United States (for narrow, selfinterested reasons, the French continue to share intelligence on terrorism amid deep rifts over Iraq), citizen opinion may prove harder to reverse...
...Israel's moderate Arab neighbors must play a critical role in the process, as should the UN, the European Union, and any other countries whose influence and pressure can help press the parties toward a breakthrough...
...In commandeering liberal ideas and language for self-serving purposes, the Bush administration has blurred the lines between its own agenda and the Democrats' alternative...
...Even the Bush administration has slowly acknowledged that the highest U.S...
...The right symbolism will signal to audiences abroad that the United States has changed its guard, that it takes seriously the harm done over the last few years, and that it is not taking the world's re-embrace for granted...
...But a president elected to undo the damage of a headstrong and stubborn foreign policy should exercise the self-restraint necessary to sequence his agenda, devoting his first hundred days in office to making it more likely that high priorities are ultimately achieved...
...In a March 2004 Pew Center poll, majorities in Britain, Turkey, Russia, Germany, and France agreed that it would be a "good thing if the EU were as powerful as the U.S...
...Incoming nominees should meet not only with government counterparts, but also with nongovernmental organizations, citizens' groups, students, and others...
...decision to rejoin the International Criminal Court would reverberate powerfully as a sign of U.S...
...The Bush administration has appropriated—and tainted— liberal internationalist rhetoric...
...If an incoming administration were to secure tens of thousands of troops from Germany, Australia, or the Netherlands, for example, it would immediately change perceptions in Iraq and elsewhere...
...Unforeseen events—for example, another major terrorist act on U.S...
...The United States should work to buttress the UN Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC), a body that has enjoyed widespread cooperation around the world, but has played a limited role in U.S...
...control, can demonstrate this reorientation...
...Doing so will require calculated, highly visible steps...
...electorate turns the president out, the world seems inclined to give the country a chance to recover lost goodwill...
...SUZANNE NOSSEL was senior adviser to Ambassador Richard C. Holbrooke at the U.S...
...This does not mean that the UN can or should be a centerpiece of U.S...
...Elements could include a mandate that all incoming Cabinet secretaries— including those with domestic portfolios such as Education and Health and Human Services— lead delegations of influential Americans to travel to the region and meet their counterparts, and host return visits...
...Listening Tour The incoming national security team should be named promptly after the election...
...Democrats can take some consolation from international polls that show that anger at the United States is focused on the Bush administration...
...Though diplomats are often skittish about such horse-trades, when it comes to Iraq, a new administration should not be...
...If successful, these and similar efforts should position a Kerry administration to gradually build support for the campaign's key international objectives, including redoubled international efforts to clamp down on terror networks, to secure loose nuclear material and isolate proliferators, and to rebuild failed states through multilateral institutions and coalitions...
...Few measures would resonate as powerfully as succeeding where Bush has failed—in attracting significant international troop contributions...
...In addition to visiting American troops, the president should meet with leading Iraqi officials and lay leaders and address a public audience...
...IF IT CAN MAKE visible progress in the abovenamed areas during its early months in office, the Kerry administration will signal to the world that it understands the deep concerns that have arisen about the direction of U.S.-international relations in recent years, and that its commitment to restoring America's place in the world is more than just rhetorical...
...In order to effectively combat terror in the 34 • DISSENT / Fall 2004 years to come, a new administration will have to restore foreign support for the fight...
...With the right team, President Kerry can tell regions of the world that have felt neglected by President Bush that their concerns are back on the agenda...
...Rather than a retreat, the answer is a systematic, highly visible set of strategic initiatives designed to undo the worst of the damage during the first hundred days of a new administration, and put the United States back in a position where its credibility and influence serve to shore up its economic and military security...
...Americans will accept such an approach as necessary to strengthen a new administration's ability to work with international constituencies whose support is needed but has been lost...
...A new administration should begin bridging this gap by embarking on high-profile, long-term efforts to build understanding and relationships...
...It can do so by building on the anti-terror mechanisms that enjoy the widest support...
...The policy consequences of having squandered the regard of the world are now painfully apparent: a failed Iraqi occupation, aborted attempts at peacemaking in the Middle East, stalemate over North Korea combined with the eclipse of American power in Asia, impasses with once-close allies in Europe and Latin America, the ouster or ostracization of the few world leaders who have stood by the United States, a global public that took the horror of Abu Ghraib as confirmation of what they have come to expect of the United States of late...
...isolation, plenty of others have a vested interest in seeing it continue or worsen...
...Between the January 2005 inauguration and the September opening of the UN General Assembly, Kerry can seek out consensus on a series of measures, including bolstering the UN's capacity for rapid deployment of peacekeepers and augmenting the organization's rule-of-law and democratization programs...
...Where their populations are hostile to America—as in Germany, South Korea, and Spain, for example—political leaders have overridden traditional loyalties to pander to popular anti-Americanism...
...As Kerry understands well, the effectiveness of revamped approaches to fighting terrorism, curtailing proliferation, and promoting democracy will hinge on American credibility and influence around the world...
...Re-legitimizing the War on Terror It is a mark of the Bush administration's failure that its highest foreign policy priority—the battle on global terrorism—has steadily lost international support and is widely viewed as a cloak for American designs on empire and oil...
...DISSENT / Fall 2004 n 31 REIMAGINING FOREIGN POLICY In Europe, the favorable rating of the United States, according to the Pew Center, has declined from above 60 percent in both Germany and France to below 40 percent, and in the United Kingdom from 75 percent to 58 percent since 2002...
...With such obstacles before the Democrats, the success of their foreign-policy-in-waiting will depend on ensuring that the forces willing to reintegrate the United States into the international system win out...
...As president, Kerry will need to adopt a new strategy focused on the pursuit of liberal internationalist goals through multilateral means...
...desire to control Mideast oil as the true underlying goal...
...Most of these skeptics cite a U.S...
...Islam and the Middle East The lack of communication and understanding between the United States and the Islamic world has worsened markedly since September 11...
...By canvassing support for such measures behind the scenes among individual member states, the administration can ensure that by the time the presiDISSENT / Fall 2004 n 3 5 REIMAGINING FOREIGN POLICY dent arrives in New York to deliver his annual address, the groundwork is laid for a U.S.-led agenda that enjoys wide support...
...DISSENT / Fall 2004 n 33 REIMAGINING FOREIGN POLICY Turning a Page in Iraq A new administration will have to depart from the American approach to Iraq of the past two years...
...The appointment of a prominent Muslim Arab-American to coordinate such efforts within the White House could kick-start such a program...
...It is unclear where the implementation of the Supreme REIMAGINING FOREIGN POLICY Court's June decision concerning detainees' right to hearings will be at the time a new administration takes office...
...and tax incentives to American companies operating in the Arab world that offer jobs and job training to local residents...
...By investing in the UN's antiterror capabilities, it would signal its willingness to engage positively with the world body, departing from the Bush administration's pattern of skirting the UN wherever possible...
...commitment to international engagement, because of the politics that have surrounded the issue in recent years it risks triggering a powerful backlash at home that could cause such an overture to backfire, reinforcing the notion that most Americans want to exempt themselves from international norms...
...foreign policy priorities demand intensive and reliable cooperation from others and, despite repeatedly spurning the UN, has found itself returning to the world body for help on Iraq...
...Rather, it means that the UN can be a tool for resurrecting global unity against terror, a consensus that will be valuable to U.S...
...Support for an "independent European foreign policy" has risen commensurately...
...Hokey as it sounds, once named, these officials should embark on a "listening tour" to key capitals, seeking input from international counterparts while the new agenda is still being framed...
...Without undertaking a politically risky, sustained effort to mediate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, any positive moves in Iraq or in cultural engagement with the Arab world will yield limited gains...
...international credibility gap Complicating matters further, the Democrats' agenda has not simply been preserved in 32 n DISSENT / Fall 2004 storage for the last three and a half years, waiting to be brushed off for service...
...Although no government will agree to send troops into Iraq without getting something in return, realizing the goal of a truly internationalized presence in Iraq would be worth some significant trade-offs...
...For example, the resolutions passed by the UN Security Council right after September 11, 2001, imposed a series of counter-terrorism obligations on all states, and established a committee to monitor fulfillment of them...
...Democrats are not shrinking from the challenges posed by Iraq, global terrorism, or nuclear proliferation...
...Yet symbolic measures alone risk being dismissed as window dressing—substantive policy changes will be essential too...
...The detention of more than five hundred so-called enemy combatants at Guantanamo Bay for what will in many cases soon be more than three years symbolizes the perceived American unwillingness to bind itself to the international human rights norms it preaches...
...All this is good thinking...
...detention practices elsewhere under fire...
...They pledge to succeed where Bush has failed—in restoring alliances and building new ones, cracking down on terror networks, containing nuclear proliferation, realigning relationships in the Middle East, and bringing to bear American political and moral influence in support of these and other goals...
...Other objectives imputed to the United States included a wish "to dominate the world," "to target unfriendly Muslim governments" and "to protect Israel...
...But the Kerry administration should be vocal and unequivocal in its support for an expeditious and objective review process, mindful of the concerns raised by civil liberties groups about the Pentagon's efforts to maintain full control over the mechanisms of judicial review for these prisoners...
...Better planning, improved supervision, more adequate resources, and wiser divisions of labor will enable them to accomplish an ambitious set of goals...
...Other measures should include lobbying Congress to ensure appropriation of full annual U.S...
...More important than quick victories will be restoring American bona fides so that the United States is equipped to advance these objectives over the coming years...
...counter-terrorism policy...
...The president should propose to the Congress that seed money be made available to fund collaborative projects conceived by these delegations...
...The identification of these priorities does not suggest that these are the only things a new administration should do right away...
...Other dimensions should involve multiplying the numbers of Fulbright and other government grants available to scholars for travel and study in the region and to Middle Eastern students for exchanges here...
...The administration should also swiftly reexamine the interrogation procedures in place at Guantanamo and other U.S...
...It should also require the appointment of defense lawyers to all prisoners and ensure those attorneys ample access to their clients...
...Theirs is a muscular, engaged vision that builds on bold liberal internationalist traditions of using American power to advance freedom, democracy, and global security through alliances and international institutions...
...In the March Pew poll, majorities in Russia, France, Germany, Turkey, Morocco, Jordan, and Pakistan said that the United States was "not sincere" in its efforts to curb international terrorism (majorities in Britain and the United States said it was sincere...
...Although for campaign purposes Democrats have rightly cast their vision as predicated on hard-headed notions of American national interest, once in office the first order of business will be to turn toward an international audience, creating conditions and rebuilding relationships around the world that allow that vision to be realized...
...Although favorable ratings for the American people are higher, those numbers have also dropped...
...To do so would allow the mistakes of the Bush years REIMAGINING FOREIGN POLICY to make Americans afraid of their own shadow on the world stage...
...This rhetorical muddying makes it harder for Democrats to proffer an assertive new agenda that opponents overseas can't recast as simply more of the same...
...He should make clear that this issue will remain at the top of his agenda until a comprehensive settlement is reached...
...Kerry should identify the Middle East peace process as among a handful of the highest priorities for himself and the secretary of state or a comparably senior official, demonstrating his attention with a trip to the region in the first hundred days...
...The administration claims that the invasion and occupation of Iraq were undertaken to spread democracy and advance freedom, that their fleeting and uneasy coalitions with countries that can barely field an army are the equivalent to lasting collaborations with important powers, and that the detentions at Guantanamo and elsewhere are consistent with international human rights standards...
...By capitalizing on the shock of September 11, the Security Council was able to legislate duties that would normally have only become binding on states as a result of their voluntarily subscribing to a treaty...
...soil—will inevitably raise other matters to the top of the agenda...
...Most American allies recognize that an isolated, unilateralist superpower makes for a dysfunctional international system...
...Administration must clear up this confusion and reestablish a consensus that American power can be a force for good...
...Some Kerry supporters may want to move quickly on bolder plans—to launch ambitious initiatives, propose new treaties, or design new international institutions...
...By restoring the post of the UN envoy to Cabinet rank, he can further show that the envoy will have his ear...
...dues to the UN and other vital funds for peacekeeping and the UN's specialized agencies...
...Anti-American attitudes won't evaporate quickly for a second reason: because they have permeated beyond elites to ordinary citizens...
...Consultations with leading Israeli and Palestinian officials, as well as trips to the region, should be constant instead of sporadic...
Vol. 51 • September 2004 • No. 4
