|
US Current Foreign Policy: Trigger for a New World Order?
|
by
Andrea Cañón Arias:
Graduate Student in International Business Administration
11/07/2003 |
 |
It is a fact that US is facing a historical turning point.
Current events put the eyes of the world on this country,
and the eyes of its citizens on their government. The global
community moved from mere spectators to playing different
roles in a transformation that leaks out to the trajectory
of contemporary history.
For the first time after the Berlin Wall fell, significant
changes in the balance of power and international order are
taking place. For quite a time the world became used to the
two facet US hegemony in the international scenario. On one
side the "cooperation focused" international politics
towards industrialized countries, and on the other the "parental"
foreign policies to support the developing ones. There was
not a real counterpart in negotiations and global politics.
As a result, resolutions and actions ended up favoring US'
interest and leaving no choice to other countries but to cooperate
(unless they wanted to face the consequences).
Trying to follow this same line, US government moved forward
to unilateral initiatives regarding Iraq. Fortunately, the
Iraq crisis joined the evolution of international public domain
due to globalization, communications and interdependence.
Images and testimonies that went around the world made people
wake up. Anyone could watch the news and form an opinion,
many decided to march in favor of peace and even openly criticize
and oppose the war, others even felt pride because of the
"liberating" role of US in this conflict. The important
thing was that everyone got involved and that attention was
present in every sphere of our global community, translating
itself into awareness and wide variety of actions.
The fact that many countries chose their own official positions
is a complete breakthrough in international relations and
diplomacy. More than ever we realized the great need of up-dated
international organizations and of commitment from its members
to ensure sustainable dialogue an actions. The differences
of opinion and the search for other viable alternatives contributed
to the out coming US' unilateral actions. US foreign politics
left behind the characteristic "mayeutic" process
and "subtle" diplomacy used before in international
forums, they simply decided to act and "invite"
other countries to join the resolution that served their purposes.
It is more than clear that US was not used to have a counter-opinion,
to pursue true dialogue and negotiation. After the intense
actions and reactions from many parties, everyone ended up
realizing that world order should definitely evolve. So there
is an imminent need of changes in the structure of international
politics. But in order to achieve this, there are internal
aspects to take into consideration.
In the case of US, government has a tough job restoring domestic
and foreign credibility. Public domain see Iraq crisis as
an election-oriented action, a way to justify investment in
warfare development, a move to gain a strategic position in
the Middle East, an attempt to destabilize EU. Many things
have been said and deduced up to know, and if we add such
actions as the "freedom fries", the manipulation
of the media, the diplomatic pressure on Syria and the migratory
policy towards Mexico, US has a long way to go.
Anyhow, these events have a positive impact on society. More
than ever in a long time, US citizens are actively involved
in public life. They don't want to feel deceived by their
government again, they don't want to be drawn into supporting
actions with global-dimension consequences, and all of it
under questionable pretenses that were carefully concealed.
Society will then contribute to the transformation of government,
policy-making and its translation into concrete actions.
This transformation will be also influenced by international
relations. Nowadays no country, not even US, can think of
being on its own. Globalization, interdependence, free trade,
internet, are part of our everyday reality; realizing so and
acting congruently with it is a key factor in terms of politics,
economy and culture. The way US make politics and relate to
other countries nowadays will have to change, foreign policies
have to be more cooperation-oriented.
The world has to attend the great need of real dialogue and
cooperation to balance power, wealth and opportunity as will
as illiteracy, conflict and poverty. True sustainable actions
should take place, or else living in our globalized and growing
interdependent world, we will end up experiencing and managing
the effects of crisis. International politics need to transform
in the course to global development.
US historical turning point generated a domino effect throughout
the world. An unilateral action generated a crisis in Iraq
and as other players entered it ended up in a movement of
global dimensions. Today we are witnessing the process by
which the world order is changing. We can not define results
yet, we are still in a moment in which contributions can be
made, and hopefully they will make this movement not to loose
its inertia but to take us to our common goal of order, development
and peace.
copyright
TIES
|
)
