America’s Foreign Policy, November 1999
November 17, 2008

RADIO 2CBA FOCAL POINT COMMENTARY BROADCAST ON FRIDAY NOVEMBER 26 1999 ON RADIO 2CBA FM.

American foreign policy is becoming bogged down in domestic politics. The US is becoming too insular and it is forgetting its international responsibilities.

The US Congress has blocked a number of innovations. For example, it has blocked the US’s ratification of the comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty – despite the pleas from the US’s allies (including Australia) that the treaty be ratified. It is difficult to urge countries like India and Pakistan to restrain their own nuclear ambitions when the US itself is not restraining its own.

The US has gone from Cold War to cold feet. It is reluctant to use its forces in case soldiers get killed. The US is reluctantly willing to carry out some bombing raids. But there is a limit to what any air force can achieve. There is a need for troops on the ground – the US is worried that they may be killed. The British Government has an equally great concern for its own soldiers but it is more willing to use them. British soldiers have been killed on active service each year since at least 1939 (with the exception of 1966). The US, by contrast, wants to be a super power on the cheap.

The US Congress is turning inwards. It is worth recalling that for most of the past two centuries, Americans have not got involved in foreign policy issues. Their first president, George Washington, warned Americans not to become entangled in the problems of the Old World (that is, Europe) and instead they should build up the New World (in the Americas). The US played only a small part in World War I and was reluctant formally to enter World War II. The high level of US involvement in world affairs is due mainly to the change that occurred in World War II.

But there is a now a generational change underway. The new generation of politicians do not have World War II or Korean War experience. They have little knowledge of the wider world. 70 per cent of the US politicians do not even have a passport.

Meanwhile, the voters are also having a generational change and so are expecting their politicians to focus more on domestic matters. There is a phrase that “all politics is local”. If a politician wants to get elected they had better focus on local matters. Unfortunately, an “all politics is local” viewpoint means that foreign policy matters are not so much settled on their intrinsic merits as on domestic political considerations.

For example, some of the recent Senate setbacks for President Clinton (such as over the comprehensive test ban treaty) may not have been motivated by a detailed knowledge of nuclear weapons. Instead, there was a desire for revenge against Clinton’s evading punishment in the Lewinsky scandal and to hinder Al Gore’s campaign for the November 2000 presidential election.

This is not a good time for people to become self-absorbed. There is a need for international co-operation to solve international problems. We are not learning from history if these problems continue unresolved. This is a time for greater involvement in world affairs – rather than less.