(This is an excerpt from the author’s article "The Way to a Just Foreign Policy"
Source: http://www.yesmagazine.org/article.asp?id=2680&utm_source=may08&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=N16_Feffr) 


How much difference will it make if a Republican or Democrat is elected president?

On some foreign policy issues, the Republican and Democratic candidates sound like they live on different planets. Both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama want to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq eventually, while John McCain is more supportive of Bush’s surge than Bush himself. The Democrats are more sensible than the Republicans on climate change, trade, and overall global cooperation.

But in other respects, the two parties are indistinguishable. For instance, no major presidential candidate has called for freezing the military budget much less reducing it. And terrorism remains a central preoccupation of both parties even though other threats—rising temperatures, nuclear apocalypse—challenge the very existence of humanity.

Although both Clinton and Obama have called for closing the detention facility at Guantanamo, neither has challenged the “global war on terror” framework. Nor have they called for closing the Guantanamo base or any of the other 800-plus U.S. military bases around the world. By failing to challenge the half-trillion dollar military budget, the Democratic candidates will be hard-pressed to find the funds to pay for their comprehensive health care and education plans.

The polling data suggest that Americans are eager to embrace a considerably more positive, more cooperative, and more optimistic approach to international relations. A majority of Americans believe their country should play an active part in world affairs and that the United States “should do its share in efforts to solve international problems together with other countries.” Most Americans prefer economic and diplomatic approaches to military action and believe that all countries should eliminate their nuclear weapons given a well-established international verification system. And Americans strongly believe that trade should help raise labor standards globally rather than precipitate a race to the bottom.

In other words, Americans want their country to stop being the neighborhood bully and instead act like a good neighbor. In this, Americans are not giving voice to utopian aspirations. The polls in fact reflect a new realism. The nation’s economy is flagging, our military is over-stretched, and our global legitimacy is exhausted. The public no longer wants to shoulder these various costs of empire.

Until now, Americans have not translated this realism into political expression. When this happens, regardless of who is president, the days of the American empire will truly be numbered.

From the One to the Many
Rejecting militarism and empire would not be entirely unprecedented for the United States. There have been moments in the past when the country turned decisively toward global cooperation. During the 1930s, the administration of Franklin Delano Roosevelt adopted a “good neighbor policy” toward Latin America that replaced militarism with cooperation in allowing countries in the region to pursue their own models of political and economic development. Other important, if imperfect, programs have included the distribution of Marshall Plan aid to Europe after World War II, the creation of the Peace Corps during the Kennedy administration, and the adoption of a new human rights policy in the early years of Jimmy Carter’s presidency.

To chart a new way in the world, we can look at these models from our own past. But we should also take a look around us.

The European Union is an example of what can happen when countries that once pursued global dominance and colonial empire decide instead to work together to solve common problems. The EU has been comparatively inclusive—expanding to embrace some countries from the former Soviet sphere and considering Turkey as well for membership. It has transferred income from the richer to the poorer parts of Europe, which has enabled countries like Ireland and Portugal to become prosperous. And with the principle of subsidiarity—the notion that authority should rest at the lowest possible level—the EU has attempted to preserve participatory democracy in what otherwise would be an all-encompassing bureaucracy. Through it all, the EU has generally favored cooperative diplomacy over military action. Although the EU is far from perfect, these initiatives still represent a distinct alternative to the U.S. go-it-alone ethos.

The United States should apply these approaches to the international system to make it similarly inclusive, economically equitable, and democratically rich. For this to happen, though, the United States must stop placing itself above the law. Only when we recognize the international rule of law will the specter of unilateralism fade away. The United States must acknowledge the higher power of international law in the same way that Germany and France accepted the sovereign power of European institutions.

European countries did not, of course, simply decide to create the European Union because their interests magically converged. Rather, the United States helped to push them together by amplifying the threat of the Soviet Union. This external threat helped to overwhelm the inevitable internal bickering among countries that imperiled European integration at several points after World War II.

The world today faces a similar cohesive threat. In place of the “red scare” there is the life-threatening “green scare” of climate change. All the countries of the world are affected by climate change, and this threat should convince them to redefine sovereignty in order to save the planet. The United States must show it can be part of the solution by once again taking the rule of law and international institutions seriously.

Through binding international mechanisms, the United States can help radically cut back on carbon emissions. It can achieve global security through agreements that shrink the arms trade and reduce nuclear arsenals eventually to zero. Other treaties could establish corporate codes of conduct and set a floor for labor and environmental standards in trade negotiations. The United Nations would need to be restructured to reflect post-Cold War realities and be given a financial shot in the arm to mount peacekeeping operations that can end simmering conflicts and prevent new ones.

The United States must lead by example, not by force. Our country is number one in several dubious categories—most powerful nuclear arsenal, largest greenhouse gas emitter, leading arms exporter, biggest military spender, greatest number of overseas military bases. So, if we want to change the world we have to start by changing ourselves.

Where Will Change Come From?
Politics is too important to be left to politicians. Hemmed in by powerful special interests, forced to devote an increasing amount of time to fundraising, and ever more beholden to focus groups and demographic calculations, politicians are less and less likely to come up with visionary plans or muster the courage to implement them.

Unless they are pushed to do so.

Social movements have in the past mobilized the American public behind dramatic shifts in U.S. policy. The civil rights movement and the women’s movement have both remade U.S. society. The successes of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama would have been inconceivable a mere generation ago. They are remarkable people, but they also stand on the shoulders of powerful social movements.

Today, we need a different kind of social movement—one that focuses on U.S. foreign policy. Such a movement, drawing heavily on the peace and global justice efforts, would aim for nothing less than a transformation of the U.S. role in the world. This would be no mere change of politicians or adjustments to a few policies. It would be a change of truly global proportions.

After all, the pursuit of empire is neither feasible nor desirable. At this pivotal moment, it’s time to strengthen the structures of international cooperation and consign empire once and for all to the dustbin of history.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
John Feffer wrote this article as part of A Just Foreign Policy, the Summer 2008 issue of YES! Magazine. John is the co-director of Foreign Policy In Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies and the author of numerous articles and books.