Strains In The Unipolar Order And Multilateralism

In Chapter 10, America Under Fire, two subtitles in the chapter are called “Strains in the Unipolar Order” and “Retreat from Multilateralism”. These two topics help the reader understand the tension and thought processes American had in the late 1990’s. The relative calm of the late 1990s affirmed Americans’ long-standing belief that the peace, is the natural state of global affairs, and that the spread of democracy and free markets would produce violent conflict. In addition to the unrest over globalization, a second source of tension confronted the makers of American foreign policy after the Cold War: the growing rift between Washington and the array of international institutions the United States had actively supported since World War II.
American stains in the unipolar order and its retreat from multilateralism both had a universal embrace of American leadership. The finish of commitment and solidarity, antagonist was setting in between the United States and the international community.
American preeminence provoked resentment and a certain measure of jealousy within states and societies with fewer resources and less clout. Most of discontent was directed toward American soft power, the multinational corporations and media outlets whose promotion of consumer culture threatened traditional customs and forms of expression in multiple cultures. Some people denounced American foreign policy, mainly the governments selective procedure to free trade. Critics perceived American officials to be overly moralistic. Mostly because U.S. actions often proclaimed democratic values were misplaced, but because U.S. actions often contradicted them. These controversies tarnished America’s image at the peak of its world power. America traditionally views the nation as a city on a hill, but foreign governments and citizens saw a Washington arrogant with power and indifferent to problems such as global warming, mass starvation in Africa, AIDs, and weapon proliferation. It was clear that the unipolar order was far from a harmony of interest, let alone a universal embrace of American
leadership. In the retreat from multilateralism, American leaders seemed to be turning their backs on the more democratic world order that, like globalization, also represented a long standing American dream. This unilateral turn in American foreign policy occurred despite Clinton’s continued calls for engagement with the international community. But the president could not overcome pressure from congress, which is still controlled by the Republican Party to scale back the nations nonmilitary commitments. President Clinton did not strongly resist this pressure and effectively surrendered his strategy to legislators. Clintons relations with congress also continued to get worse with time. In 1998, the Monica Lewinsky scandal lead to Clintons impeachment by the House of Representatives for not being open about his extramarital affair, which left Clinton and his administration embarrassed and ruined for the rest of his presidency. The depth of Clintons downfall in foreign policy was in 1999 when the senate rejected the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty.
More than 150 governments from different countries pledged to support the treaty. The treaty was based on the premise that a ban on testing would prevent potential proliferators from building weapons in the first place. Critics predicted that hostile nations would exploit American restraint and threaten the United States when its guard was down. The United States found itself an outcast on a wide variety of other international agreements. Clinton refused to sign the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention calling for a worldwide ban on land mines, whose primary victims were civilians in war torn developing countries. The Department of Defense opposed the land mines treaty on the grounds that “antipersonnel” mines were vital to preventing a North Korean invasion of South Korea. George W. Bush became president in January 2001. He was the governor of Texas and the son of former president George H. W. Bush. Bush had no intention to mend fences with some relationships with some countries. Condoleezza Rice was Bush’s national security adviser who had dismissed during the campaign as an illusion. To her, the multilateral cooperation and institution building embraced by the United States since the end of World War II had not brought the rest of the world in line with the nations democratic values. Bush’s administration produced open ended commitments and
mounting obligations that threatened U.S. sovereignty while empowering countries that are hostile to the United States. The second Bush administration would be selective in observing such commitments and making new ones. Bush eagerly joined the legislative attacks on multilateral commitments that had begun in 1995. The president also blocked new measured to strengthen the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention. Bush also opposed a global treaty that prevented the trafficking of small arms. Colin Powell was the new Secretary of State in the Bush administration. Powel used the conventional view the agreements establishing standards of appropriate behavior in world politics served both U.S. national interests and the greater cause of international stability. The Retreat from Multilateral and Strains in the Unipolar Order mainly were based around Clinton and Bush’s presidency. These two topics helped someone learn more about the tension and controversies going on in the 1990’s. After reading the text it seems as if President Clinton was a very good president other than his impeachment after the Monica Lewinsky scandal. President Bush was not a very popular president until a terrorist attack on September 11, 2001on the World Trade Center in New York.