I just finished reading Fareed Zakaria’s book “The Post-American World” and highly recommend it. While some would probably claim it is naively optimistic, I think it just seems that way because so much of the tone in politics has come to embrace an inaccurate an overly fearful perspective to international relations, making Islamic fundamentalism, China, Iran, etc, more threatening than the facts justify.
One thing he mentions in the conclusion that seems particularly important is the notion that foreign policy starts at home. This probably goes for most countries, but it is particularly important with America as the world’s greatest power and thus a country of great influence.
Take for example the choice by the Bush Administration to sacrifice civil liberties in the name of “security.” What this tells the world is that freedom and security are tradeoffs, and a dictator can feel justified in practicing poor human rights. This concept isn’t just bad, it is wrong. What America needs is to display strength THROUGH civil liberties, THROUGH measured responses to the threats of the day. It is that response that is likely to set the right example for the world, making our actual foreign policy tasks easier.
Another example relates to trade and immigration. The US has the best record on immigration in history. It has had a remarkable ability to take in people from the entire world and meld them into a peaceful, productive country. Politicians have always been concerned about it, but it has never really been a problem. We must not let those who fear immigration win this time either. And like my earlier post, we must resist the temptation for protectionism. It is beneficial for the world if we demonstrate that having no fear of ethnic diversity and free trade is appropriate. If we react to immigration with a sense of racism and trade with a sense of nationalism, we encourage the same across the globe, increasing ethnic conflict and decreasing economic growth.
There are plenty of other examples where our domestic policies send signals around the world. We clearly need changes in our foreign policy, but righting our own ship can go a long way towards helping our foreign policy goals.
