Guide Globalization into a Just World Order

President John F. Kennedy's inspired words in 1963 could well be seen as prophetic today: "What kind of peace do we seek? Not a Pax Americana enforced on the world by American weapons of war ... not merely peace for Americans but peace for all men and women--not merely peace in our time but peace in all time." Envisaging a world illuminated by a universal peace based on consent and awareness and not on military power, Kennedy expressed the humanistic ideals that should be guiding the foreign policy formulation of the world's most powerful nation in the age of globalization.

As the values inherent to the democratic system of government become internationally accepted as those principles that best can assure humankind's well-being, global legitimating regulations become crucial. Two kinds of systems are discernible in today's world: regional integration arrangements, characterized by various levels of complexity and regulation; and the global system of the United Nations (UN), with its specialized agencies and financial institutions.

With these standards come more questions. What are the changes transforming the world at a vertiginous pace, resulting in the parallel movements of globalization and regionalism? What is the role of the United States in Latin America, and what are the prospects for cooperation? What is the role of the United States in reformulating the global system?

A Changed World

The predicted obsolescence of the nation-state as the primary political unit--entitled to absolute sovereignty, to be the dominant actor in international relations, and to be the only subject of international law--is not a new concern for experts in international relations. The increasing influence of multinational corporations in the 1970s resulted in the emergence of the "market," instead of the nation-state, as the key political actor.

In fact, the nation-state lacks appropriate tools and mechanisms to deal with those issues typical of an interdependent world. The internationalization of the economy and of production, expressed in the increased prominence of multinational corporations and the instant flow of investment across the globe made possible by computer and satellite, have superceded the old nation-state, in a way.

Issues such as terrorism, drug trafficking, environmental preservation, the rational use of natural resources, and the spread of contagious diseases have acquired an international dimension. One nation's sulfurous smoke becomes another nation's acid rain. No single nation-state, powerful as it may be, can deal effectively, by itself, with such issues. The threats to security that the nation-state must address are no longer necessarily of a military nature. They require conscious regulation, either on the regional or global level or on both, which can only result from mechanisms of cooperation devised by the nation-states themselves. As Hobbes wrote, what makes men give up their independence is fear. ¹

Additionally, the increased importance of economic issues has blurred the line between those themes that belong to the international sphere and those that are purely domestic. The impact of the flow of international investment on domestic economies is an obvious example. Global finance can generate crises that are capable of destroying emerging economies that are not based on sufficiently sound macroeconomic foundations.

The processes of economic integration simultaneously underway in different parts of the world represent another feature of the globalized world. Different mechanisms, ranging from free-trade areas to monetary unions, are being utilized and are making progress on all five continents. ² These processes, needless to say, impact the productivity of the state. Mercosul (the Common Market of the South), for example, has had to cope with a number of conflicts involving some of its most productive sectors, such as textiles, poultry, dairy, and shoe production. As a result, ordinary citizens are not surprisingly becoming more interested in their government's foreign trade and policy decisions.

In addition, events such as the Persian Gulf War, the cruelty of ethnic cleansing in the Balkans, brutal violence in Somalia, and genocide...