An American expert: Washington must set an example internally
Biden Summit for Democracy Won't Make America Safer
Biden applies the language of ideology rather than interests in dealing with the outside.
Reuters
The American war on Iraq came to impose democracy on the Iraqis by force, and it failed.
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US President Joe Biden called on more than 100 countries to participate, virtually, in a "Summit for Democracy", scheduled for next Thursday, with the aim of working to strengthen democracy in various parts of the world and stop the deterioration it is witnessing.
Biden describes his vision of his country's foreign policy as a competition between the world's democracies, led by the United States, and between authoritarian regimes, led by China and Russia.
Sasha Glaeser, an expert and associate researcher at the American think-tank Defense Priors, who focuses on US grand strategy, international security, and transatlantic relations, says that this summit would make the elite in Washington feel that they have a moral advantage, but the state of international relations In this context, it is naive and dangerous.
Glaeser adds in an analysis published by the American magazine "National Interest", that the foreign policy of the United States must serve the interests of the American people, to the fullest, and this sometimes requires working with lower-level regimes. Global issues such as preventing the spread of nuclear weapons and combating cross-border terrorism, Confronting epidemics, mitigating the repercussions of climate change, and promoting fair trade require countries to cooperate, without looking at each other's internal policy structures.
Scholar Sasha Glaeser believes that President Biden's decision to formulate his country's foreign policy on the basis of an ideology of "us versus them" rather than the pursuit of the country's core interests, will be destined to lead the American people down a less secure and less prosperous path.
Ideology declaration
Unfortunately, Biden is just the latest US president to put ideology at the expense of interests.
The United States, having emerged victorious from the Cold War, overlooked the reason for its victory - an interest-based foreign policy - and instead, with no adversary in sight capable of challenging American hegemony, the United States spurred a campaign to restore Shaping the world in her image.
American policymakers, of both major parties, Republicans and Democrats, incorrectly believed that the use of military force was all they needed to turn countries like Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya into liberal democracies.
It was no surprise that efforts to socially engineer other nations failed, leading to chaos and a decline in America's security, prosperity, and standing in the world.
Pointless interventions
Glaeser believes that US military interventions in countries that do not have a great strategic value have distracted Washington from more pressing issues, especially the astonishing rise of China, as it led to decades of US foreign policy aimed at spreading democracy and liberal values among peoples without history or Interest in this way of life, to the erosion of America's relative strength in the face of China.
While the US wasted blood and money in the Middle East, China was growing incredibly wealthy.
The American elite has moved strongly towards normalizing trade relations with China and integrating it into global economic institutions such as the World Trade Organization, based on the belief that this would transform China into democracy and make it an influential and responsible global power.
Instead, America has helped empower a giant that is transforming its vast economic power into a military one and seeking to challenge the United States in the Indo-Pacific.
China has the potential to become the greatest enemy the United States has faced in its history, with a total population of more than 1.4 billion people, and an economy that is poised to overtake America to become the largest in the world.
Glaeser argues that in order for America to remain the world's most powerful, and therefore safer, country, it must adopt a foreign policy that focuses on interest and reflects the geopolitical realities of 2021, not 2001.
Glaeser recommends that President Biden learn from history, and says that during the 1940s America allied itself with the former Soviet Union, which of course was not a bulwark of liberal democracy, in order to defeat Nazi Germany.
In the aftermath of World War II, the Soviet Union remained the only power in the world that could threaten the United States.
In order to manage this competition, America cooperated with many illiberal regimes, including communist China, when they wisely exploited the division between the Soviets and China.
realistic approach
Today, China is the only country with the potential to challenge American hegemony.
And, as it has done in the past, America should adopt a realistic approach, putting aside ideological prejudices and cooperating with non-democratic countries in Asia that have an interest in balancing against China, such as Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, the Philippines, and even Russia.
Glaeser pointed out that it would not be wise for America to limit itself to cooperation only with countries that share the same values and good governance.
More specifically, liberal democracy remains the greatest form of government mankind has ever come to, and yet the past three decades have shown that trying to propagate this model abroad by force is counterproductive and doomed to failure.
Instead, Washington should set an example at home by maintaining the security of Americans by judiciously pursuing its strategic interests abroad, free of ideology.
The famous British statesman, Lord Palmerston, summed up succinctly why the foreign policy of the British Empire was so effective during the 19th century: “We have neither permanent allies nor permanent enemies.
Our interests are the only ones that do not change, and forever, and it is our duty to abide by them.”
In the conclusion of his analysis, Glaeser says that policy makers in America have completely ignored this wisdom during the past three decades, and President Biden does not seem to have any plans to adopt this perspective.
Glaeser asserts that the interest of the American people lies in a foreign policy focused on the core interests of their country.
He believes that a "Summit for Democracy" held via the Zoom application will not lead to a major change in this regard.
• China has the potential to become the biggest enemy America has faced in its history, with a total population of more than 1.4 billion people, and an economy that is set to become the largest in the world.
• American policy makers, of both major parties, Republican and Democratic, incorrectly believed that the use of military force was all they needed to transform countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya into liberal democracies. Not surprisingly, efforts to socially engineer other nations have failed, leading to chaos and a decline in America's security, prosperity, and standing in the world.
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