Book Review: Jeffrey D. Sach's "A New Foreign Policy"

A New Year...A New Foreign Policy?

In today's geopolitical landscape, there are plenty of dichotomies: realism and liberalism, multilateralism and unilateralism, cooperation and isolation, democracy and autocracy, negotiation and war, prosperity and poverty. The Trump administration seems to have only deepened these positional differences with its tendency towards extremes and hyperbole. These rigid contrasts often find their way into America's foreign policy, which swings back and forth on the spectrum with each passing administration's different political alignment. Is there a middle ground America can tread in an era of global challenges like climate change and nuclear proliferation that demand flexibility at the local, national, and international levels? Professor and economist Jeffrey D. Sachs outlines a potential third path of American foreign policy in his 2018 volume A New Foreign Policy: Beyond American Exceptionalism.

For those tired of the inflexible debates in foreign policy circles, yet another arena of toxic partisanship, Sach's book is a breath of fresh air. While presaging his arguments with the usual language of (potential) American decline ubiquitous in today's media environment, proclaiming an end to the "American Century" that began in 1941, he places an asterisk on this bleak assessment (Sachs, 2018, p. 12). America gained its superpower status with its ability to rewrite the international system to its advantage in the wake of WWII, when the former powers in Europe were not spared the overwhelming devastation of the global conflict. It converted this political advantage garnered from its victory into an unmatched economic dynamism that in turn fueled its military dominance, facilitating the building of a far-reaching network of outposts on almost every continent except Antarctica. No one dared put up any meaningful opposition to its superpower status after the defeat of its only major competitor in the Soviet Union. This encouraged the re-emergence of the dogma of American exceptionalism, present from the earliest days of the Founding, to a front-and-center position in American life, a "civic religion" that exhorts America as God's most favorite nation and rightful shepherd of the world, able to do largely what it wishes (Sachs, 2018, p. 12). The latter, of course, eventually breeds a hubris that this status cannot be challenged, and that is dangerous in itself.

So, what about today? Are we still the stop dog in the international system, a nation exceptional in comparison to the other 193 nation-states on Earth? The United States still remains a powerful and rich country, but the emerging dynamos of Asia and Africa, home to a growing majority of the world's population, are quickly closing the gap. China is often tagged as the greatest threat to America's continued dominance, with its economy surpassing ours in recent years, with America barely holding onto its per-capita wealth advantage. However, Sachs sees as counterproductive the subsequent reactions of alarm from the military and intelligence communities that have fueled a new arms race against what seem to be new adversaries rather than mere competitors. Instead of succumbing to a largely self-inflicted and steep decline due to generations of exceptionalist-guided policies favoring military build-up and adventurism abroad, coupled with favorable policies towards the rich and not the struggling middle class, Sachs sees a way to stay the present course.

As a first step, Sachs urges Americans to take the first step in admitting that it is no longer possible for America to remain the sole superpower in the world and for America to be a central player in a new, multipolar world. (No one can be all-powerful for long. It's a repeating cycle. How one handles it makes the difference.) This means accepting the somewhat bitter pill that American exceptionalism may not hold true as other nations gradually acquire the power to become equals on the world stage. Rather than re-trenching in Trump's new and toxic variant of American exceptionalism in his America First doctrine of xenophobic and racist isolationism, protectionism and unquestionable unilateralism abroad, Sachs urges a new conceptualizing of exceptionalism in the 21st century into one defined by the incredible potential and diversity of America's melting-pot of citizens.

After the needed perspective shift described above, to reach our goals of continued national prosperity, he concludes with a detailed and prescient ten-point New Years resolutions list of sorts to America as a whole:

1. Be nicer to the United Nations and our allies as a whole, even if they do not agree with every single resolution or position we support. Disagreements may actually teach us more than our agreements when it comes to solving the myriad of problems out there. And it's okay if we're not all-powerful as in our prime; that's why we have allies! (Even better, allies mean we don't have to foot the bill alone!!)
2. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Climate Agreement frameworks brokered by the UN are by no means flawless, but provide the best forum we got for continued political and economic cooperation at the international level. Recommit to these.
3. Give more to the UN. Yes, not a popular sentiment nowadays, but a boost of funding, even a modest one, to the UN is a fantastic investment and a bargain, with other countries chipping in to grow the pot even more to fund critical programs that help people all over the world. Also, the less we need to spend on getting more ammunition.
4. Yes, commitments can be scary and somewhat limiting, but ratifying those outstanding treaties (those relating to the protection of biodiversity, children, and women's rights) gives a huge boost to our reputation abroad (we don't want to be a loner on the world stage, right?) and a better boost to our chances to work together for the common good.
5. Nuclear disarmament is good. Nuclear proliferation is not, as well as nuclear war. Consider revisiting the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. 129 other countries are also doing that and more. Why not us? We deserve happiness too.
6. Want to grow your economy and help with transnational problem solving? Of course you do! Invest anew in science and technology ventures with other countries, such as in renewable energy and smart grids. Two heads are better than one, remember?
7. You alone cannot broker Middle East peace (we know how that turns out). Get the powers-that-be there to the table with the leverage you have over allies in the region and into talks. Find what makes them insecure (extremism and poverty, anyone?) and push a framework that involves more cooperation on the common ground of the latter. Bullets don't help anyone listen after a while.
8. Invest in transparency! Start by making the CIA an intelligence-gathering agency only rather than a shadowy executive army that tends to destabilize and overthrow regimes worldwide if you let it, making it (overall) worse for us as a whole when we try to go in and clean up the mess.
9. You like being praised on the world stage? Yes! Then invest more in the R&D and education parts of the national budget for use domestically and abroad and cut down on ammunition and bombs. The world will definitely like you more then and you'll help the work towards eradicating the extreme poverty that tends to drive people to do desperate things in order to survive (i.e. terrorism).
10. Rediscover what makes you special and own it this year: your diversity. Migrants are our friends; most of us are descendants of them! Welcome them, don't shun them. Work towards comprehensive immigration reform that will help everyone concerned and watch your security and economy grow!

It's a new year America! What will we do in 2019? It's up to you!

Works Cited:

Sachs, Jeffrey D. (2018). A New Foreign Policy: Beyond American Exceptionalism. New York: Columbia University Press.