Scholars Debate the Future of American Foreign Policy at University of Virginia Conference
By Jean Scrimgeour
June 26, 2007 | Printer Friendly

Once again the topic of the future of American foreign policy was at the fore at a June 7-8 conference held at the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia.  In an op-ed summarizing the event, written by David Brooks of the New York Times, contentious issues such as China and its rising hegemonic status as well as the influence of Islamic extremism on American foreign policy were raised.  Brooks specifically focused on two competing arguments between CCD Board Member John Ikenberry and Robert Kagan about the future role for the United States and whether it will face a multitude of security challenges or an overarching rivalry between democracy and autocracy.  Despite their substantive disagreements, Brooks noted that both John Ikenberry and Robert Kagan showed support for the concept of a concert of democracies where “states can consolidate and share their common success.”

Ikenberry, professor of politics and International Affairs at Princeton University, argued that the “U.S will not face one big threat”, but instead a multitude of “security challenges” which include “collapsing nation states, global warming, nuclear proliferation, terrorism, [and] pandemics.” It is therefore his contention that the US has to pursue a more situational approach which would make the US “the center of a series of new global institutions where nations could come together and solve common problems.”  This would be similar to the 1940s where the US initiated the Bretton Woods Agreement, the Marshall Plan, and the UN.  In keeping with this approach, the US needs to institute a “global services sector”, a renewed security alliance, and lastly a reformed UN in addition to the creation of a Concert of Democracies.

The paper by Kagan, senior associate of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, argues that the world will look like it has always looked.  Kagan refutes Ikenberry’s prescriptions stating that they would never work due to the lack of common interests and understandings between the superpowers of Russia, China, and the United States.  Instead, according to Kagan the world will have three principle features, namely, “continued US dominance…, increasing regional competition… and an overarching rivalry between democracy and autocracy.”  Kagan argues that authoritarian governments are ‘confident and thriving’ and that there are many states, particularly Russia and China, which have a vested interest in seeing autocracy spread thus staving off democratic reform.

Reference:

New York Times, June 19, 2007
David Brooks: A New Global Blueprint