Lately, on this blog, I have been discussing the continued need for U.S. world leadership. We have been providing such leadership since the end of WWII and our leadership has been the main factor in preserving the stability and relative peace that has prevailed in the world since then.
But now the U.S. needs a new strategy, that understands that it remains a formidable power but operates in a far less quiescent world. Our challenge is to run fast but not scared. The analyst, Fareed Zakaria, has described how the U.S. can step up and achieve an enhanced role in world affairs. Consider:
- The U.S. is now stronger than ever. In 2008, the American and eurozone economies were roughly the same size. Now the U.S. economy is nearly twice as large as the eurozone. Of the ten most valuable companies in the world in 1989, only four were American, and the other six were Japanese. Today, nine of the top ten are American. Today, the U.S. is the world’s largest producer of oil and gas, larger even than Russia or Saudi Arabia. The dollar remains the currency used in almost 90% of international transactions. The country has a high debt load and rising deficits. But its total tax burden is low compared with those of other rich countries.
- Between worlds. Despite its strength, the U.S. does not now preside over a unipolar world. Today, the U.S. faces a world with real competitors and many more countries vigorously asserting their own interests. But the U.S. remains the single strongest country when adding up all hard-power metrics. China is our main competitor but its power has limits, beyond shrinking demographics. It has just one treaty ally, North Korea, and a handful of informal allies, such as Russia and Pakistan. The U.S. has dozens of allies.
- The new disorder: the invasion of Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas war. In attempting to conquer Ukraine, Putin miscalculated, but it was not a crazy move since his previous incursions had met with little resistance. Iran has now spread its influence into Iraq and Syria, and supported Hamas in its war with Israel. But this, in turn, has brought Saudi Arabia and Egypt closer to Israel. Saudi Arabia is also becoming closer to China, its largest oil customer.
- Staying Power. The international order that the U.S. built and sustained since WWII is being challenged on many fronts. But the U.S. is still the most powerful player in that order. The “free world” coalition that fought and won the Cold War has now expanded into the coalition supporting Ukraine’s military or enforcing sanctions against Russia, which includes almost every country in Europe, as well as a smattering of other states. Overall, this “West Plus” encompasses about 60% of the world’s GDP and 65% of global military spending. The challenge from China is a different one. China is now a superpower. But China is not a spoiler state like Russia. It has grown rich and powerful within the international system and is uneasy about overturning this system. China is searching for a way to expand its power. The U.S. should accommodate legitimate efforts in this respect.
- The danger of declinism. Washington’s alliances in Asia and elsewhere act as a bulwark against its adversaries. For that reality to continue, the United States must make shoring up its alliances the centerpiece of its foreign policy. The greatest flaw in Trump’s and Biden’s approaches to foreign policy derives from their similarly pessimistic outlooks. Both assume that the U.S. has been the victim of the international economic system that it created, and that the U.S. cannot compete in a world of open markets and free trade.
- Keep the Faith. But the GATT system created right after WWII was designed to let poor countries grow rich and powerful, making it less attractive to wage war and to try to conquer territory. Much of the appeal of the U.S. has been that we have never been an imperial power on the scale of the UK or France. The world order created was good for the U.S. but also good for the whole world. It sought to help other nations rise to greater wealth, confidence, and dignity. That remains the United States’ greatest strength. The most worrying challenge to the rules-based international order does not come from China, Russia, or Iran. It comes from the U.S. itself.
Conclusion. If the U.S. truly turned inward, it would mark a retreat for the forces of order and progress. Washington can still set the agenda, build alliances, help solve global problems, and deter aggression, even while using limited resources, well below the level it spent during the Cold War. For all of its internal difficulties, the U.S. above all remains uniquely capable and positioned to play the central role in sustaining this international system.
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It Does Not Add Up 
Given veto power by 4 nations to terminate any actions enacted by the Security Council of the United Nations, there is no hope for establishing the basis for promoting international law. Our nation’s access to controlling international trade would be the only means to slowly engage worldwide cooperation to achieve HUMAN DIGNITY as the gold standard for international human affairs.
International law doesn’t really exist because, as you say, there is no way to enforce it. But there still is an informal rules-based international order under GATT and the WTO. This international order is held in place by the U.S. and its democratic allies around the world.
The international law community is a unique professional network for establishing the content of international agreements. Interestingly, their epistemological efforts to define HUMAN DIGNITY have yielded a vigorously progressive bibliography. WHO KNEW!
My favorite author is Kai Moller. See his: (2021) “Beyond Reasonableness: The Dignitarian Structure of Human and Constitutional Rights.” [ It is easily accessible through Google Scholar. ] The title belies the essay’s philosophical depth. He is a Professor of Law at the London School of Economics and Political Science.
I’m all in favor of trying to clarify and specify international law. It has value as the basis for discussion of how countries should interact with each other in an open and sensible manner. ut there is no world government and so there are no international laws.
Ran across a unique report in the NYT – September 4, 2023: annual Medicare health spending has “NOT” increased since 2010. My own view is that the Medicare Advantage Plans are more efficient.
Paul Nelson
But Medicare overall is still running a huge deficit, about $400 billion per year, which must be brought down significantly, in order to get our annual deficits under control.
Well yes, of course. Wouldn’t it make sense for the Federal government to evaluate the seemingly odd change since 2010 as the basis for managing our nation’s annual health spending? For 2019, our health spending was 18% of GDP. The other OECD nations allocated 13%, or less, of their GDP to health spending. For our nation during 2019, the difference between 18% and 13% of our GDP was $1 Trillion. Yes. really!
More and more people are shifting to Medicare Advantage all the time. Perhaps this will help somewhat to make Medicare more cost-efficient. But MA, itself, also needs to be tightened up to bring down the overall cost of Medicare.