Preparing America's Foreign Policy for the Twenty-First Century (review)

Preparing America's Foreign Policy for the Twenty-First Century. Edited by David L. Boren and Edward J. Perkins. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1999; pp. 448. $19.95 paper.

Since the ending of the Cold War almost a decade ago, the United States has tried to define its new foreign policy agenda, using such concepts as democratic enlargement and assertive multilateralism with limited success. David L. Boren and Edward J. Perkins bring a number of fresh perspectives to this debate with their timely and thoughtful volume on the diverse foreign policy challenges that the United States will face in the twenty-first century.

The volume is based upon a 1997 conference at the University of Oklahoma, and contains articles by scholars and policymakers as well as excerpts from some of the panels. The editors--Boren, president of the University of Oklahoma, and Perkins, executive director of the University's International Programs Center--have selected carefully from the conference proceedings to cover a wide range of topics in American foreign policy. A foreword by Admiral William J. Crowe, Jr., who chairs the International Programs Center board of visitors, defines the underlying challenge well: "For the first time in fifty years we live in an international community with no superpower adversary" (x). Given the immense resources of the United States, how can it best serve as a global leader in the twenty-first century? How should it exercise military, economic, and political leadership, and how should these areas be balanced in American foreign policy? These questions underlie the articles and presentations in the volume.

The editors recognize the critical importance of domestic politics in developing a new foreign policy agenda. As Boren writes, "In dealing with our role in the world there has been a tendency for domestic political issues to intervene excessively in foreign-policy decisions" (6). Developing public interest in foreign policy is possible, Boren says, but "We yearn for substance, not images and slogans. We desperately need serious, substantive conversation and more dialogue in our country" (10).

The volume begins this dialogue with an overview of global foreign policy challenges. It then moves to regional studies, focusing on the U.S. relationship with Asia, particularly China and Japan, in the twenty-first century. Other topics examined include military challenges, intelligence, trade, environmental concerns, and media coverage of foreign affairs. The volume concludes with a series of essays from such scholar-practitioners as Henry A. Kissinger, Zbigniew Brzezinski, and Jeane J. Kirkpatrick on paradigms for American foreign policy in the new millennium.

A consistent theme in the volume is the necessity of continued U.S. engagement with the world. None of the participants advocates a return to isolationism (the feasibility of which, in any case, is highly questionable), though they differ on specific policies in such areas as economic sanctions and military intervention. A daunting challenge, however, is making the case for U.S. engagement to a population that evinces little interest in global affairs. Walter Mondale points out that although half a million international students attend American colleges and universities, less than 100,000 Americans annually choose to study abroad (82).

Furthermore, public officials do not always illustrate to their constituents the importance of learning about foreign nations and cultures. One-third of the 105th Congress (1997-98), according to David R. Gergen, did not have passports. Gergen further notes that while party leaders "remain internationalists," the younger members of Congress, both Democrat and Republican, are "a very inward-looking group" (282). Gergen echoes a remark by a former State Department official about the congressional class of 1994: "It is not that they are isolationists; they just do not give a damn about international affairs" (282). The media exacerbates this problem with limited attention to international politics--network coverage of international affairs has declined from 40 percent of all stories in the 1970s to 13 percent today.

The American challenge in the twenty...