fbpx
Politics Foreign Affairs Culture Fellows Program

“Independent” America and Superpower

U.S. foreign policy has been dominated for decades by those that prefer the "indispensable" role, and the results have been deeply unfortunate.
fighter planes

Peggy Noonan reviews Ian Bremmer’s new book, Superpower: Three Choices for America’s Role in the World:

Mr. Bremmer gave his choice at the end of the book. It seemed to me surprising from one who appears to have thrived in the heart of the foreign-policy establishment. He felt the tug of each course but in the end came down for Independent America, and for interesting reasons.

According to the summary on Bremmer’s website, “Independent” America “argues that it’s time for Washington to declare independence from the responsibility to solve everyone else’s problems.” I will be interested to read why Bremmer opted for this approach rather the one of the other two, but naturally I consider something like it to be the obvious and best choice by far. It is certainly the least costly of the three alternatives that Bremmer describes, and it is one that is most consistent with our older foreign policy traditions. It is also the one most in line with U.S. interests, since America doesn’t have and shouldn’t want to have “the responsibility to solve everyone else’s problems.”

Given the colossal failure and exorbitant price of the “indispensable” approach over at least the last fifteen years, it doesn’t surprise me at all that Bremmer would prefer the least ambitious role for the U.S. After all, U.S. foreign policy has by and large been dominated for decades by those that prefer the “indispensable” role, and the results have been deeply unfortunate for the U.S. and much of the rest of the world. The so-called “Moneyball” approach would be a slight improvement over this, but it also appears to commit the U.S. to doing far more than necessary to provide for U.S. security and prosperity. It may be a less hubristic and obnoxious approach than the “indispensable” one, but it will still be too costly and entangle the U.S. in too many conflicts.

Advertisement

Comments

Become a Member today for a growing stake in the conservative movement.
Join here!
Join here