Future, US Foreign Policy, America
America has been enjoying complete global domination for quite a while now. There is no other country on earth that has been able to do that; ever. For about 50 years, America has been the strongest in terms of its economy, its military might, as well as the cultural power it holds over the other countries in the world (Hastedt). For the last twenty years, all the rest of the world has known in terms of the world order is America and all the other countries.
The end of the fun times is drawing to an end. If the financial crisis of 2008 is anything to go by, as well as the concomitant recession; the United States is essentially going broke (Mandelbaum, The Frugal Superpower: America's Global Leadership in a Cash-Strapped Era). This year alone, the United States registered a $1.3trillion deficit. This means that it will have to find a way of paying for the outsized foreign policy it has; possibly borrow every Penny of the amount.
Michael Mandelbaum, the author of Frugal Superpower and a professor at the JHU School of Advanced International Studies, is quick to point out how President Obama, in his speech given at the West Point, talked a lot about limits. The President was talking about the intentions he had about escalating the war.
[...] He concludes that it is worse to have a weak America than a stronger one. From the documentary The Fog of War, we get to see certain revelations about American foreign policies through the eyes of the former defense secretary, Robert McNamara. While Mandelbaum believes that America's influence on certain countries like the Middle East countries seems to be dwindling, Hahn and Hastedt reveal to us that America never meant to bring peace to the Middle East, or at least that was not their initial intention. [...]
[...] The most vital theme from the remarks he put across was that he acknowledged the economic constraints America was having especially on its foreign policy; this is a theme that is hardly ever heard from American presidents, last time it was heard was when Roosevelt took America into the second world America's time as the sole world power that is able to impose all its wills on any country everywhere in this world is coming to an end (Mandelbaum, America's Coming Retrenchment). While this could be seen as a result of the aspect of the international environment, but it isn't exactly that. As a matter of fact, it is just a recent history artifact whose life was short. Mr. Mandelbaum tries to address the question, now what? Mr. [...]
[...] Future of US Foreign Policy America has been enjoying complete global domination for quite a while now. There is no other country on earth that has been able to do that; ever. For about 50 years, America has been the strongest in terms of its economy, its military might, as well as the cultural power it holds over the other countries in the world (Hastedt). For the last twenty years, all the rest of the world has known in terms of the world order is America and all the other countries. [...]
[...] Some of the lessons from the fog of war should be merged with the policies of Mandelbaum for the success of future American foreign policies. It will not be easy but America needs to get its act together rather than just seeking power and then not knowing what to do with it on getting it. Works Cited Hastedt, Glenn P. American Foreign Policy (8th Edition) . London: Longman Print. The Frugal Superpower: America's Global Leadership in a Cash-Strapped Era. Washington: PublicAffairs Print. [...]
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