THE REALITY THE REALISTS HAVE TO RECKON WITH:

The case for pragmatic idealism (James A Baker, 9/06/07, Asia Times)

[T]he most significant phenomenon shaping global affairs today remains the uniquely pre-eminent position of the United States. Compared with earlier superpowers - ancient Rome, Napoleonic France and Britain just prior to World War I - we possess far greater advantages over potential rivals.

The United States is the world's economic powerhouse. Our output represents almost a quarter of the global gross domestic product (GDP). Moreover, our performance over the past two decades has significantly outpaced that of our traditional competitors such as Japan and the countries of western Europe. And, despite the scandals that rocked corporate America earlier in this decade, we remain at the forefront of economic efficiency, innovation and entrepreneurship. In the past decade, American companies have created trillions of dollars in new wealth by spearheading products that are driving the information-technology revolution.

No other advanced industrial power - and no rising power - can match us in the military arena. The defeat of the Taliban and the overthrow of Saddam Hussein clearly demonstrate our unparalleled ability to project decisive force across vast distances. No other countries even begin to approach this capability today, nor will they for years - if not decades - to come. China's defense buildup, for instance, is significant and bears close watching. But Beijing is still far from being able to challenge us in East Asia, much less other critical regions like the Persian Gulf.

Moreover, despite concerns about America "being alone", we still continue to exert immense diplomatic influence in the global arena. The United States enjoys strong and durable bilateral relationships with a host of friendly countries - including key European states, Japan and, more recently, India. And we also play a leadership role in international organizations such as the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

Last but not least, we represent an ideology - free-market democracy - without a serious global rival. Communism, our old international adversary, has been swept into the dustbin of history. No other ideology with a universal reach has risen to take its place. Yes, Islamic fundamentalism is a potent force. But, by definition, its appeal is limited to countries with significant Muslim populations.

It is true that the model of free-market democracy is clearly not triumphant everywhere. But the trend over recent decades has unmistakably been in the direction of democracy and free markets - even in states that are still far from achieving these goals. Today's China, however authoritarian, is a far cry from the China of Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution. We need only compare regions like eastern Europe and Latin America with what they were a quarter century ago to appreciate the broad, if imperfect and incomplete, trend toward market democracy. This is true even with the recent backsliding that we have witnessed, say, in parts of South America.

In short, today there is no country or group of countries that can challenge our international pre-eminence in economic, military or political terms. This may change as countries like China and India acquire a greater share of world GDP and loom larger on the world stage. But for now and for decades to come, the United States is and will be the major global power.

The ease and rapidity with which we won in Afghanistan and Iraq really drove home the point that we are so powerful and the costs of exercising that power are so low that we bear moral responsibility for every evil regime that we allow to remain in power, though other peoples are responsible for what they make of the opportunities we provide them.

Posted by Orrin Judd at September 5, 2007 4:04 PM