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America Should be the World's Policeman

From the Panel

  • For: Max Boot

  • Going It Alone Because We Have To
  • Max Boot, Los Angeles Times February 28, 2007
  • Nearly all the major U.S. allies are disarming themselves, which leaves the U.S. acting alone out of necessity.
  • Wilsonian – That’s Us
    Max Boot, Los Angeles Times October 11, 2006
  • Wilson was not the first president to inject idealism and interventionism into our foreign policy.
  • America’s Destiny is to Police the World
    Max Boot, Financial Times February 18, 2003
  • The United States is obligated to police the world because no one else will do the job.

  • For: Michael Mandelbaum

  • David’s Friend Goliath
    Michael Mandelbaum, Foreign Policy January 4, 2006
  • The world’s guilty secret is that it likes the security and stability provided by the United States.

  • For: Douglas Murray

  • Mission Distorted
    Douglas Murray, Guardian October 31, 2006
  • Neoconservatives supported the invasion of Iraq – but if it fails, it will be Iraq that suffers.
  • Against Relativism
    Peter Berkowitz, Weekly Standard April 1, 2007
  • In the face of an increasingly multipolar world, Western leaders must continue to promote both respectfor human rights and also the state’s legitimate monopoly on political violence.
  • Here’s How the World Works
    Damien Thompson, Daily Telegraph September 30, 2006
  • An explanation of Ian Bremmer’s “J curve,” which tracks the fall and rise of nations as they open up to democracy and the markets.

Related Articles

  • Overview: U.S. Foreign Policy

  • U.S. Political Parties and Foreign Policy
    Eben Kaplan, CFR October 31, 2006
  • An outline of the major foreign policy tendencies in the two major political parties in the United States today.
  • Contending Schools
    Charles William Maynes, National Interest April 1, 2001
  • A new debate is emerging about America’s role in the world.

  • Bush Administration

  • Fishing for a Way to Change the World
    Jacob Weisberg, Excerpt from The Bush Tragedy, Newsweek January 28, 2008
  • George W. Bush’s greatest failures have come from trying to craft a grand doctrine.
  • The New New World Order
    Daniel W. Drezner, Foreign Affairs March/April, 2007
  • The Bush administration has wisely been trying to reconfigure U.S. foreign policy in order to account for shifts in global power and the emergence of China and India; they should keep up these efforts.
  • The End of the Bush Revolution
    Philip H. Gordon, Foreign Affairs July 1, 2006
  • President Bush and his team can no longer sustain the tenets of the Bush doctrine; it is time to put U.S. foreign policy on a more sustainable course.
  • Big-Think Central
    Laura Secor, American Prospect April 19, 2005
  • At the Council on Foreign Relation, a growing debate about Bush and democracy is emerging.

  • America’s Decline/Multipolar World

  • Waving Goodbye to Hegemony
    Parag Khanna, New York Times January 27, 2008
  • The distribution of world power changed fundamentally during Bush’s two terms – with America’s standing declining steadily.
  • After the End of Empire
    Philip S. Golub, Le Monde Diplomatique October 1, 2007
  • The war in Iraq has severely weakened the United States’ hegemony.
  • Like It or Not, the U.S. Will Have to Accept a Multipolar World
    David Clark, Guardian February 16, 2007
  • We need to create a more balanced and democratic world order.

  • Losing Latin America

  • Requiem for the Monroe Doctrine
    Daniel P. Erikson, Current History February, 2008
  • U.S. hegemony in Latin America is fading.
  • Roll Over, Monroe
    Joseph Contreras, Newsweek December 10, 2007
  • U.S. influence in Latin America is slipping away quickly.

  • Isolationism

  • The Case for Restraint
    Barry R. Posen, American Interest November/December, 2007
  • Our current consensus strategy in foreign policy is unsustainable; we need to adopt a grand strategy of restraint.
  • The Closer
    Justine A. Rosenthal, National Interest November 2, 2007
  • The U.S. should stop acting as global policeman and step back – we do not and should not take responsibility for all the world’s problems.
  • Yanks Stay Here
    London Times December 19, 2006
  • The rest of the world needs the U.S. to be fully engaged internationally; it cannot retreat into isolationism.
  • The ‘Isolationism’ Canard
    Justin Logan, CATO Institute February 9, 2006
  • President Bush needs to acknowledge that foreign affairs are much more complicated than his policies versus isolationism.

  • Realism

  • The Road to Recovery
    Paul J. Saunders, National Interest January 1, 2008
  • There is an opportunity for realism to emerge in our foreign policy.
  • The Palmerstonian Moment
    Richard N. Haass, National Interest January 2, 2008
  • The Bush administration’s foreign policy is not realistic – and it is time for that to change.

  • Balancing Idealism & Realism

  • A Moral Core for U.S. Foreign Policy
    Derek Chollet, Tod Lindberg, Policy Review December 1, 2007
  • American values are necessary in our foreign policy and can translate into a moral core that both conservatives and liberals can rally around.
  • American Idealism and Realpolitik
    Paul Johnson, Forbes March 12, 2007
  • Should America, along with its idealism, also practice realpolitik – or are these two forces in conflict?
  • The Grandest Strategy of Them All
    Daniel W. Drezner, Washington Post December 17, 2006
  • There is great dissension today about U.S. foreign policy and a number of new grand strategies have been proposed, but it is possible that what looks chaotic today may appear smarter, better and more grand in the future.
  • The Crusade of Illusions
    Jack Snyder, Foreign Affairs July/August, 2006
  • Can realism and idealism be combined in U.S. foreign policy?
  • Chastened Hegemon
    Anthony Dworkin, Prospect Magazine April 20, 2006
  • The only practical foreign policy for America right now is a chastened internationalism that accepts the lack of easy answers to problems.

  • Unilateralism/Multilateralism

  • Goodbye to Going It Alone
    Joseph S. Nye, Project Syndicate October 11, 2007
  • The problems in the world today require multilateral cooperation between nations.
  • Pax Americana or Primus Inter Pares?
    Leon T. Hader, Globalist July 13, 2007
    The U.S. must shed its ideas of global hegemony.
  • Grand Strategy for a Divided America
    Charles A. Kupchan, Peter L. Trubowitz, Foreign Affairs July/August, 2007
  • The U.S. must scale back its overseas commitment to a level that is more sustainable politically.
  • Beyond American Hegemony
    Michael Lind, National Interest May/June, 2007
  • The idea of U.S. global hegemony does not work as a foreign policy strategy; we must come up with alternatives.
  • Strategic Fatigue
    Graham E. Fuller, National Interest June 1, 2006
  • U.S. foreign policy shows signs of turning into imperial overreach.

  • American Empire/Imperialism

  • Bush’s Neo-Imperialist War
    John B. Judis, American Prospect October 22, 2007
  • U.S. occupation of Iraq is a throwback to the kind of imperialism that led to World War I.
  • Naked Imperialism
    John Bellamy Foster, Monthly Review September 1, 2005
  • The U.S. has gradually shifted to a more openly militaristic imperialism – and it is heightening international instability.

  • American Public

  • The War We Deserve
    Alasdair Roberts, Foreign Policy November 1, 2007
  • The real fault for our problems with the war in Iraq and the war on terror lies with the American people, not the government.
  • The Peace Party vs. the Power Party
    Matthew Continetti, Weekly Standard January 1, 2007
  • The real divide in American politics is over the use of American power abroad.
  • Mind the Gap
    Daniel W. Drezner, National Interest January/February, 2007
  • Both American elites and foreigners are wary of the way ordinary Americans see foreign relations.
  • Public Wants New Approach on Foreign Policy
    Jim Lobe, Inter Press News Service October 20, 2006
  • A new survey finds that more than 70% of the American public would prefer that the U.S. took a different approach in its foreign policy.

  • Polls

  • Global Unease with Major World Powers
    Pew Global Attitudes Project June 27, 2007
  • Global public opinion is wary of the dominant nations of the world and there is increasing disapproval of American foreign policy.
  • World Public Rejects U.S. Role as the World Leader
    WorldPublicOpinion.org April 17, 2007
  • A multinational poll finds that most people do not feel that the U.S. should play the role of world policeman or preeminent world leader.