REIMAGINING FOREIGN POLICY: Responses
Hoffmann, Stanley
IF JOHN KERRY becomes the next president of the United States, his task in foreign policy will be heavy and difficult. I agree with much of what Suzanne Nossel advocates, as well as with her...
...After Iraq, how many of our friends in the world will still see us as a power that "sees farther" and is wiser than anyone else...
...5) Much more needs to be said about a redistribution of U.S...
...This smacks too much of public relations...
...What other governments will ask for is not a sharing of the command structure, but a clear political design for exit, and a UN international peacemaking and peacekeeping force, not a U.S.-dominated one...
...interests does not require a budget of over $400 billion, much of which will go to the production of fancy new weapons in a world that is not currently faced with an imminent battle of Titans...
...But I have some serious disagreements as well...
...It is not up to us to decide what is or is not "central to the self-interest" of others...
...3) The Middle Eastern peace process should certainly, as Nossel states, be among the highest priorities...
...2) I believe that the United States should reconsider the way it envisages the battle against global terrorism: an approach that would emphasize struggles rather than war, and distinguish between kinds of terrorism, would make international cooperation easier...
...Goodwill has been lost not only because of the militant unilateralism of the Bush administration, and its attempts to divide or sideline those who resisted, but because of such policies as the sabotaging of various attempts at arms control, the campaign against the International Criminal Court and its supporters, the capitulation to Ariel Sharon, and, of course, the war in Iraq...
...We need to understand that our task ought to be to contribute to the definition of common policies, especially in all the areas where we can't operate without the consent and participation of others, even if this means compromises and the sharing of initiatives (in other words, acting in a way that has not marked either our policy in the case of the Israeli-Palestinian "road map" or our attitude toward the European Union's attempts at shaping a common EU security policy...
...in38 n DISSENT / Fall 2004 ternational goodwill, respect, and willingness to cooperate will follow...
...This will require a new oil policy at home, as well as serious thought about how to support forces of modernization and democratization abroad without turning them into clients and dependents...
...DISSENT / Fall 2004 n 39...
...His new book, Gulliver Unbound, is forthcoming...
...The main goal ought to be the definition of a foreign policy whose substance will above all contribute to the solution of the problems she lists at the end of her piece...
...As long as we not only exert leadership but interpret it as a right, or even a duty, to set (after consultation, to be sure) policies for the world that others will be glad to endorse, we shall be frustrated, and we'll discover that this desire "to exert more influence and hold American power in check" will persist...
...resources for foreign affairs...
...The first is a question of priorities...
...4) As in the Palestinian case, the obvious imperative in Iraq is a rapid end of the occupation...
...I agree with much of what Suzanne Nossel advocates, as well as with her concern for a restoration of American prestige and alliances, and cooperation with international organizations...
...The protection, by force and armed forces, of U.S...
...6) A new policy toward our Middle Eastern friends (or, in some cases, "friends") will require a new willingness to push more ardently toward a degree of democratization (the Bush speech of a few months ago turned out, as expected, to be mere talk), and to put more distance between us and authoritarian leaders on whom we have relied...
...She writes as if our main objective has to be a change in international attitudes toward the United States...
...My second quarrel is aimed not only at her piece but at much of the thinking of the Democrats who made foreign policy under Bill Clinton REIMAGINING FOREIGN POLICY and now advise John Kerry...
...THIRD, I HAVE disagreements on specific points...
...The absolutely vital tasks of economic development and statebuilding need to be undertaken on a vastly grander scale than at present, and taking these tasks seriously would contribute greatly to the struggle against terrorism...
...But it also requires a clear direction: a return to negotiations between the Israeli and the Palestinian officials, a repudiation of unilateral measures that aggravate the prospects of peace (such as a quasiunconditional endorsement of a West Bank wall that annexes de facto parts of Palestine), and a willingness to deal quickly with the fundamental issues, such as the creation of a viable Palestinian state...
...STANLEY HOFFMANN is the Paul and Catherine Buttenwieser University Professor at Harvard University...
...1) I believe that it is actually in America's own interest to allow groupings of foreign powers in Europe, in Africa, in Asia, in Latin America to increase their power and means of action...
...It is the occupation that breeds Palestinian terrorism and Iraqi hostility...
...They seem to believe that if we stopped mishandling friends and allies, sent delegations to them, and so on, they'd be willing again to follow us as the only superpower...
...A new Democratic administration will discover quickly that it will not attract into the Iraqi mess "tens of thousands of troops" willing to join us in the trap...
...In this connection, I believe that a prompt reversal of the administration's stand on the International Criminal Court is essential...
Vol. 51 • September 2004 • No. 4
