"The United States, as the world’s most powerful nation, should continue to take the lead in sustaining and extending a rule based international order."
James Dobbins
NATIONAL INTEREST - July 24, 2015
Foreign policy and national security seem likely to play a significant role in the 2016 presidential election campaign.
Candidates from both parties will probably try to distinguish their
approaches from that of the current administration. Recent events, most notably Russian aggression in Ukraine, the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS),
and the continued proliferation of other violent extremist groups
throughout the Middle East, South Asia and much of Africa have created
concern that current American responses are still inadequate. Cyber
security, climate change, and the increasing power of China are also growing national preoccupations.
While some criticize the Obama administration for weak and indecisive
leadership, significant voices on both sides of the political spectrum
argue for even greater restraint, lower resource commitments and reduced
engagement in addressing at least some of these issues.
Defining national strategy was easier
when the country faced a single overarching threat. During the Cold War
it was possible to relate almost any endeavor to a genuinely
existential competition with the Soviet Union. With the collapse of the
Warsaw Pact and disappearance of the Soviet Union, the expansion of
Western values and institutions into this space became the initial focus
of American policy. In the aftermath of 9/11, the global war on terror
became the organizing principle for American engagement with partners
and against adversaries in every corner of the world. These
oversimplifications led the United States down some costly and
unnecessary paths but such easy to grasp rationales nevertheless
succeeded in mobilizing domestic and international support for strong
action and costly commitments.
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