Selective Multilateralism: A Preliminary Assessment of the Emerging Post-9/11 US Foreign Policy
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Review Essay
Selective Multilateralism: A Preliminary Assessment of the Emerging Post-9/11 US Foreign Policy Chris J. Dolan Department of Political Science, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL 32816-1356, USA. E-mail: [email protected] Special Providence: American Foreign Policy and How It Has Changed the World W.R. Mead Routledge, Taylor, and Francis Group, New York, 2002. 378 pp. $30.00 hardcover, $19.95 softcover Multilateralism & US Foreign Policy: Ambivalent Engagement S. Patrick and S. Forman (eds.) Lynne Rienner Publishers, London, 2002. 507 pp. $59.95 hardcover, $22.50 softcover Unilateralism & US Foreign Policy: International Perspectives D.M. Malone and Y.F. Khong (eds.) Lynne Rienner Publishers, London, 2002. 460 pp. $59.95 hardcover, $23.50 softcover The New Face of Terrorism: Threats from Weapons of Mass Destruction N. Gurr and B. Cole (eds.) I.B. Tauris Publishers, London, 2002. 311 pp. $24.50 softcover Preventing Biological Warfare: The Failure of American Leadership M.R. Dando Palgrave/St. Martins Press, New York, 2002. 230 pp. $68.00 hardcover
International Politics (2003) 40, 425–431. doi:10.1057/palgrave.8800030
Introduction Since the end of the Cold War, scholars in international relations and comparative politics have criticized US foreign policy for not advancing clear objectives or coherent principles. As Wallace observes in his essay in the Patrick and Forman volume, Multilateralism & US Foreign Policy, the US continues its struggle ‘to redefine the basis for partnership under post-Cold War conditions’ (p. 143). While all five works reviewed here make clear that US global leadership is a requirement, they all argue that US foreign policymakers should embrace multilateral engagement rather than take the path of unilateralism.
Chris J. Dolan Selective Multilateralism
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In attempting to shape the post-Cold War era in the wake of September 11, 2001, President George W. Bush outlined the most assertive foreign policy doctrine since Ronald Reagan. It involves a strident policy of counterproliferation, a firm commitment to implementing a missile defense program, withdrawal from particular international agreements and treaties, and the right to exercise pre-emptive, first strike military options to topple regimes and dismantle terrorist groups seeking weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Despite this assertive new policy, Mead cautions, ‘the American foreign policy process rarely satisfies the expectations of the doctrinally pure’ (p. 308). What is clear in the Bush doctrine is that Cold War containment and deterrence strategies are no longer sustainable. According to the Bush foreign policy team, there is no way of containing or deterring states and/or groups that oppose the United States. However, the new policy of first strike, preemption, and selective global withdrawal may erode support for vital US interests, especially the war on terrorism and economic and monetary agreements. In the reviewed books, big thinkers such as G. John Ikenberry, Stewart Patrick, Michael Mastanduno, Yue
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