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The Foreign Policy Crisis of the West
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13582 |
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CURRENT ISSUES
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4 / 1988 |
1,085 Words |
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Jean-Francois Revel
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There is a crisis in the Western democracies. But crisis is not necessarily a bad thing. Crisis sometimes makes people think. And a crisis can be solved by action--by eliminating some elements and strengthening others.
That is called "change." And change can be positive if we resolve conflicts, achieve a new equilibrium, and enhance the fundamental qualities of the democratic system to which we cling. It is negative when we repudiate the fundamental values of our system.
The crisis we face is a foreign policy and defense crisis--a crisis of understanding what constitutes foreign policy in modern times, as we confront totalitarian systems.
The basic question is: Can a democracy conduct a foreign policy at all? Can a democracy conduct a global foreign policy, since the implementation of foreign policy involves a coordination of several democratic countries and powers in a definite geostrategic area?
Certainly, a single democratic country cannot maintain a solitary foreign policy. Dreams about isolationism, especially in the United States, are unrealistic. Supporters of isolationism think that a country that is very big, powerful, and rich needs fewer allies than a small country. But the more powerful a country is, the more it depends upon the whole world. Economically, strategically, and politically, isolation is not possible.
Conditions for policy
Alexander Hamilton once identified four conditions for foreign policy: decision, activity, secrecy, and dispatch. To these I would add one more condition: conception. Let's examine whether these conditions can be fulfilled within each democratic country or in a coordinated action by the democratic community.
First consider conception. Recall when President Reagan announced his Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) in 1983. We saw European allies take opposite positions. Francois Mitterrand of France was angry that Reagan had not helped France economically by lowering interest rates, so he opposed SDI without even studying it. The chancellor of Germany was in favor of SDI at first, but members of his Christian Democratic Party and the liberal Free Democratic Party were against it. Britain was initially in favor of it, but then changed its mind.
How can democracies act together if they cannot even agree on a fundamental unity of design? We see fragmentation first between the United States and Europe, then between the European countries, and finally within each individual European government.
Thus, we reach the decision step without having reached a consensus on the conception.
The world of domestic problems is predominant in the decision-making process of foreign policy. But when domestic problems and public opinion become the main factors, no foreign policy is possible. Elected leaders do not address the substance of the problem, its strategic importance, but only the repercussions the decision will have on the next election. And indecision opens democracies to terrorist
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