Roger Cohen Missing the Point About Shifting Power Posted by David Shorr

Not only does Roger Cohen's NYT column today set up a huge straw man of believers in American decline, he off-handedly points toward the weak links in his own presumptuous optimism.

Those of us who are concerned about the challenges of a power-shifting world rarely predict that the bottom will drop out of American material power. If all we really cared about was power for power's sake, we'd be a lot less worried. But power itself isn't the issue. The real question is: does superpower-dom get you the kind of world you want?

I don't see how anyone could deny that being a superpower ain't what it used to be. In fact, Cohen doesn't deny it. In the same paragraph where he says what formidable challenges Europe and China face, and they do, he admits that, "America must work closely with them, but inspiration and leadership are unlikely to come from them."

In effect, Roger Cohen is conceding the very point on which we fretters (is that a word?) are focused -- the necessity of working with the other powers on nuclear nonproliferation, global warming, economic development, genocide, etc, etc. In order to actually tackle world problems, the different powers have to cooperate. So remind me why we should be so carefree about our power? Rather than accept Cohen's straw man, you should check out Nina Hachigian and Mona Sutphen's excellent new book, The Next American Century (disclosure, a recent project of my Stanley Foundation colleague Michael Schiffer worked in tandem with Nina and Mona).

The reason we're worried, well me any way, is that we have a lot of lost time to make up for. I actually agree with Cohen that America's capacity for political self-renewal will be critically important. I'm hopeful that this will be a moment of renewal; it's badly needed. But it's something that will require concerted effort from us, not complacent self-satisfaction.

Comments

[murray thomson]

Dear Roger Cohen:

I read you r column “The Whole World Is Watching” while visiting family in Holland. I am a Canadian who loves many things American: from the Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights through American literature, films, music and sports.. I met Martin Luther King in New Delhi and Paul Nerwman at the UN in New York and each for me represented different aspects of the American Dream.

So I wish your rosy picture of America today would be true. But as the world grapples with the three biggest threats to human existence, I fail to see the leadership to which you refer. Is not the poverty gap far larger today than ever? Are we not in serious danger of a runaway climate with perhaps 10 years to turn it around?
And are we not under continuing threat of nuclear oblivion, either from accidental nuclear war or the longer range disasters of nuclear proliferation involving multiple nuclear weapon states? Many commentators today dismiss these threats? Do you?

Yes, there are a million people wanting to enter the US, as there are into Europe and proportionately into Canada We are the have nations and, by and large, we have jobs and treat our citizens with respect. But we also maintain our high standards of living regardless of what happens in the Third World.

The US is certainly the leader in increasing the sinews and funding for militarism, starting with NATO’s nuclear weapon policies, which all 26 NATO members are obliged to support. These include flat statements that nuclear weapons “:are essential for peace” and must be “maintained indefinitely” both violations of the Non Proliferation Treaty and its 13 Steps which the US signed.

In fact the US has led all of the great powers in helping to destroy the fabric of international law by disregarding the NPT articles with which it now disagrees, ignoring the International Criminal Court, failing to ratify the CTBT and treating the ABM and Outer Space Treaties with disdain.

A similar dismal record can be pointed to regarding the Kyoto Protocol and other global measures to right the foundering environment.
The US is not alone, of course. Canada’s recent record on all three of these issues has been dismal. Russia, China, the Middle Eastern countries and those of South Asia share much responsibility for the regional conflicts endangering world security. But I feel you owe the readers of the Herald Tribune, which I am always glad to read when traveling, a more balanced and critical survey of “The whole world” and who or what it is watching today.

Sincerely,

Murray M. Thomson, O.C.
Ottawa
mothom@sympatico.ca

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I would say in new century, foolhardy zero-sum thinking can generate needless risk and self-fulfilling prophesy. But where others see risk, Hachigian and Sutphen see opportunities—for innovation and for the transformation of America’s increasingly important relationships with a range of emerging states.

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