RSS

September 10, 2008 | The Shift in Global Power Calls for More Burden Sharing

Anna Wojnilko: Institutions for global governance must become more balanced; the United States and the European Union cannot continue to carry the onus of global decision-making on their own. The emerging economic powers must be given more say in multilateral organizations and also take on more international responsibility.

July 18, 2008 | Is the US Really Better Off With Sarkozy?

Nikolas Kirrill Gvosdev: Despite the proclaimed cooperative approach, Franco-American tensions could grow bigger than under Chirac. Sarkozy’s Euro-Atlantic, yet independent, foreign policy moves could well be at odds with the next US president’s understanding of multilateralism.

June 13, 2008 | American Foreign Policy Between Unilateralism and Multilateralism

Sonja Davidovic: Through the changes in the global power structure resulting from the breakdown of the Soviet Union, the USA inevitably assumed the role of a “Global Leader”. This shifted position within the international community provided the American theorists of foreign policy with new tasks. It has become imperative to define the positioning of the USA in the modified global political landscape and to find a suitable strategic orientation of the activities in the field of foreign policy.

April 18, 2008 | Yes, We Can! Our New Transatlantic Agenda in a Changing World

Frank-Walter Steinmeier: For the past 60 years the transatlantic relationship has been the world’s transformative partnership. America’s relationship with Europe - more than with any other part of the world - enables both of us to achieve goals that neither of us could achieve alone.

September 21, 2007 | NATO Is Regional For A Reason

Nikolas Kirrill Gvosdev: I reject Rudolph Giuliani’s call to expand NATO membership to other, non-Western democracies. Adding states like Australia or India to “globalize” NATO would undermine its original and enduring purpose: collective security through Article 5.

September 12, 2007 | US and EU "Focused Like a Laser Beam" on Global Challenges

John Koenig: The transatlantic relationship is more complex—and more vital—than ever before. Responding to Egon Bahr’s article, I note that NATO is and should remain rooted in the transatlantic community.

September 4, 2007 | Europe Must Say No to Globalizing NATO

Egon Bahr: Europe must emancipate itself from the United States and take a stand for multilateralism. I see NATO expansion as an invitation for the US to continue to dominate the alliance—Europe should oppose it.

September 19, 2008 | Multilateralism - Making the Market Work

This is not the end of capitalism, but “the global financial system will never be the same again.” ++ Those responsible for the mess are now entrusted with cleaning it up. ++ Politicians had little choice: socialize the debt or sit and watch as depositors are sucked into the maelstrom. ++ The primary task of politicians should be to establish a system of credible international

September 12, 2008 | Wake up and Smell the Multilateralism

The unipolar moment after the Cold War passed as quickly as it emerged. ++ The new US president will suddenly see some decisions also being made in Beijing, Moscow, and Europe. ++ A league of democracies would be nonsense in the current geopolitical mess. ++ A “for-or-against”-the-US view would bring some definition to new poles but it would be more flexible than Bush depicted. ++ America’s

July 16, 2008 | Helpless Multilateralism

In the era of globalization, there is no alternative to multilateralism. ++ But multilateralism can only function with an accepted leadership and within institutions which are capable of acting. ++ Both the G8 and the security council do not include all of today’s important powers. ++ The G8 is loosing influence and should be a group of 14 or 16 members. ++ Industrial countries have to offer

July 11, 2008 | Does the World Need a 'League of Democracies'?

Uncertainty in an emerging “new world order” has brought with it new approaches to the provision of multilateral responses. One concept gaining attention in the US is a ‘league of democracies’, an institutionalized body of nations with a strong transatlantic focus dedicated to concerted efforts based on common democratic beliefs. If elected, John McCain has promised to begin discussing the

June 9, 2008 | Establish China as a Responsible Global Stakeholder

A power shift from West to East is taking place in the international system. ++ The question is whether states like Russia, China, and India will act unilaterally, bilaterally, or multilaterally. ++ US power decline and Chinese power rise suggest that Europeans “are best placed to make the case to China for working through international institutions” to draw them to multilateralism and make them

April 28, 2008 | American Power: Hegemonic Due to Lack of Options

In the prospect of US presidential elections all three candidates distance themselves from President Bush and promise more multilateralism in foreign policy and therefore burden sharing. ++ They forget that the US is the only hegemonic power and that the international community rests under the security umbrella of the US. ++ The next administration’s foreign policy will not be much more

November 29, 2007 | Restrain, Modesty, and Multilateralism: A New American Grand Strategy

The last 16 years provide valuable hindsight into the grand strategic approach of the United States and highlight the need to reshape American foreign policy around the principle of restraint, argues Barry R. Posen, director of the security studies program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Writing for the American Interest, he points out that US policy makers have struggled to

July 23, 2007 | Time For a Transatlantic Consensus on International Law

William H. Taft and Frances G. Burwell from the Atlantic Council advise the EU and US to coordinate their positions before the ICC review conference in 2009. The transatlantic partners must set an example for the rest of the world.

With the review conference on the International Criminal Court (ICC) coming up in 2009, a concerted transatlantic effort to build global consensus on international

April 25, 2007 | Joseph Nye on Soft Power After Iraq

America has a “profound misunderstanding of the nature of power in world politics,” says Harvard professor Joseph S. Nye. Power is distributed at three levels: unipolar military relations among states, multipolar economic relations, and transnational issues outside the control of governments. The most urgent challenges faced by the US today, such as the Iraq war, global climate change, pandemics,

April 2, 2007 | Daniel W. Drezner on "The New New World Order"

Tufts University professor Daniel Drezner highlights the Bush administration’s recognition of the shifting geopolitical order. The author of All Politics is Global credits the US for its multilateral approach on incorporating China, India and other rising powers into a reconfigured foreign policy strategy. But there are clear obstacles to US leadership in twenty-first century international