U.S. Foreign Policy Articles
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Column
By
Nikolas Gvosdev
20 Nov 2009
World Politics Review
During his trip to Asia, President Barack Obama laid out a grand vision for a U.S.-China partnership, working together to solve the world's most pressing issues. It sounds very dramatic, almost like a form of co-dominion, with two global powers sharing the burdens of maintaining the international
order. There's just one small problem: That is not what the United States is offering.
By James Locher
19 Nov 2009 |
World Politics Review
An increasing number of U.S. national security missions now require interagency approaches. But because of the excessively rigid structures and processes of the current national security system, the White House is compelled to take charge of most strategy development and planning. The result is over-centralization of decision-making, and insufficient coordination for effective policy implementation.
By James Locher
18 Nov 2009 |
World Politics Review
The current Department of State was not designed to manage the increasingly diverse responsibilities of the U.S. government in a globalized world. To remedy this situation, the United States needs a Next-Generation State Department that can apply an integrated approach to the management of global civilian affairs.
By Richard Weitz
17 Nov 2009 |
World Politics Review
BEIJING -- Although nuclear arms control is not likely to be a major
agenda item during President Barack Obama's visit to China, it should
be. One of the obstacles facing the president as he seeks to realize
his ambitious arms control goals is the
need to transform the primarily bilateral strategic arms control
relationship inherited from the Cold War into a multilateral framework.
By Thomas P.M. Barnett
16 Nov 2009 |
World Politics Review
By prioritizing economics above terrorism and climate change, President Barack Obama has begun to reorient America's grand strategy impulse back to its Rooseveltian roots. The one area where Obama has failed to maintain his pragmatic centrism is on the subject of nuclear weapons, arguably America's most successful 20th-century technological achievement.
By Masoud Shafaee
16 Nov 2009 |
World Politics Review
It remains uncertain whether Iran will ultimately accept the agreement that negotiators in Geneva drafted late last month to send Iran's stockpiled enriched uranium abroad for further enrichment. But the deliberations in Tehran have made one thing clear: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is under enormous domestic pressure from all sides to reject the P5+1 deal.
By Patrick Burns
13 Nov 2009 |
World Politics Review
HAVANA -- The current U.S.-Cuba relationship is a fragile, quid pro quo arrangement with enormous expectations building on both sides. The Obama administration's recent pragmatic measures somehow won support in both Miami and Havana. Still, despite the diplomatic dance taking place, normalization will take time, as the two countries remain deeply divided on core issues.
By Frida Ghitis
12 Nov 2009 |
World Politics Review
President Barack Obama has managed to improve the popular standing of the United States in many countries previously hostile to it. Ironically, though, relations between Obama and the leaders of U.S. allies have turned rather frosty, particularly in Europe. If Obama's first foreign policy chapter was marked by engagement with America's foes, the next chapter may well require improving ties with its friends.
By Seth McLaughlin
10 Nov 2009 |
World Politics Review
China figures into virtually every major U.S. foreign policy objective -- from North Korea and Iran to economic recovery and climate change -- and plays the role of U.S. rival, competitor and partner all at the same time. Managing this complex relationship is a major policy priority for the Obama administration.
By Richard Weitz
10 Nov 2009 |
World Politics Review
BEIJING -- One of the issues President Barack Obama will discuss when he visits China next week is the deadlocked Six-Party
Talks to resolve the North Korean nuclear crisis. Over time, the Chinese government has developed a stake in the talks'
successful outcome as well as in maintaining a smooth negotiating
process. But significant differences remain in the two parties' approach to the talks.
By Thomas P.M. Barnett
09 Nov 2009 |
World Politics Review
For roughly four decades, a clear foreign policy rule set has existed between the U.S. and Latin America: U.S. foreign aid in exchange for
aggressive efforts to curb illegal narcotics. By virtually all accounts, the strategy has been a massive failure. Now the old deal is off. New rules are on the way, whether we like it or not.
By Andrew Bast
06 Nov 2009 |
World Politics Review
Contrary to the realists who believe that international politics is a
zero-sum game, the world is more complicated than, "If I win, you
lose." If U.S. power is waning, it remains damn strong. And that it is
waning is far less a function of choice, than the
result of a global order outside the comprehensive grasp of any single
state -- or empire, for that matter.
By Colby Pacheco
06 Nov 2009 |
World Politics Review
This week's visit of a high-level U.S. diplomat to Burma is the latest in a series of moves geared toward engaging with that country's reclusive ruling military junta. Unfortunately, though the aims of the Obama administration are admirable,
effecting change in Burma is something the U.S. cannot accomplish if it
acts alone.
By Kingston Reif
02 Nov 2009 |
World Politics Review
Ten years ago last month, the U.S. Senate failed to approve the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. A decade later, the dangers posed by the potential spread of nuclear weapons and materials to additional states and terrorists have increased dramatically. Stopping proliferation will require a global effort -- and an early, essential step in that effort must be U.S. ratification of the test ban.
By Thomas P.M. Barnett
02 Nov 2009 |
World Politics Review
Is the privatization of American development aid a case of the U.S. "outsourcing" sovereign functions, or of weak and failed states
insourcing them? The question is not simply one of semantics but of directional
causality: Is this stunning evolution the
result of a supply-push on the part of the U.S. government or a
demand-pull on the part of developing economies and failed states?
By Saurav Jha
30 Oct 2009 |
World Politics Review
The U.S.-UAE 123 Agreement on civil nuclear cooperation, set to come
into force, has the firm backing of the Obama administration,
which sees it as a model for countries looking to introduce nuclear
energy to their territories. For the UAE, the deal
reaffirms its close ties to the West, and represents a gateway to developing a source of energy that, for a number of reasons, makes sense for the Emirates.
By Alan Boswell
30 Oct 2009 |
World Politics Review
Sudan has become an unlikely foreign policy priority for the Obama administration. For this, the Sudanese can thank the Darfur advocacy movement, which effectively put the nation on the map for the American public over the past six years. But the internal tension hidden within President Barack Obama's newly
formulated Sudan policy is that Darfur is no longer the main
attraction. Not even close.
By Andrew Bast
30 Oct 2009 |
World Politics Review
It is striking how little attention the wider American discussion over foreign policy pays to Japan. Japan still claims the title of the world's second largest economy. Its relationship with the U.S. has been as intimate as any other
between major powers in the last 50 years. And to
complicate matters, experts say the Japanese have long worried about being abandoned by the Americans.
By Jordan Michael Smith
28 Oct 2009 |
World Politics Review
In breaking off relations with Iran almost 30 years ago to the day, the U.S. lost its most valuable source of information about the Islamic regime. To fill the void, the Obama administration has turned to scholars and experts for insight. Indeed, President Barack Obama's policy of outreach toward Tehran has been decisively shaped by the wide array of Iran experts from whom he has taken advice.
By Richard Weitz
27 Oct 2009 |
World Politics Review
A bipartisan commission last week reiterated its warning that the U.S. government is responding inadequately to the threat of bioterrorism. The latest report by the U.S. Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism affirms that progress has been made. But according to the commission, "the clock is still ticking."
By Jamsheed K. Choksy
26 Oct 2009 |
World Politics Review
A major reorientation in U.S. policy toward Pakistan is underway,
with the planning, administration, and staffing of reconstruction
projects being handed over to the government of Pakistan and to private
Pakistani organizations. What remains uncertain is whether local Pakistani organizations have the expertise and capacity to implement development efficiently.
