HOME AND ABROAD

Round-the-World Ruling (Jim Hoagland, June 26, 2003, washingtonpost.com)

The Supreme Court's reasoned, fundamentally fair majority rulings in two affirmative action cases -- and the acceptance by U.S. institutions, politicians and citizens of the binding validity of those rulings even as they debate them -- should provide a useful contrast to the American rogue superpower image that public opinion polls show is so rampant abroad right now.

They should at least raise the question for critics of whether a nation that emphasizes the importance of fairness, openness and legality at home -- as the United States does -- could long sustain brutal power politics and armed force as its chief instruments of policy abroad. Could the United States, or any other great power, really be John Locke at home and Thomas Hobbes abroad for very long?

I think not. Governments ultimately behave toward the rest of the world as they behave toward their own citizens. That was why Saddam Hussein was a grave international danger and why China's government still has far to go before attaining international legitimacy.

That is why the Bush administration must not think that dictators who may be momentarily useful in the war on terrorism can be counted on to promote democracy and liberty in their regions if given a little time and coaching. And finally, it is why President Bush has such limited opportunity to become world dictator (a goal often imputed to him abroad) when he and his government are under constant scrutiny and challenge at home.

This analysis also suggests why the natural foreign policy posture of the United States is isolationist and why it can be roused to intervene against especially despicable tyrants, but then does so badly in the nation-building afterwards. Posted by Orrin Judd at June 27, 2003 7:02 PM