Home | Business News | Browse by Publication | T | The American Prospect

Bush''s flawed revolution: "if we''re an arrogant nation," said George W. Bush, "they''ll resent us." He was right.

Article Excerpt
GEORGE W. BUSH HAS LAUNCHED A REVOLUTION IN American foreign policy. In less than three years in office, he has discarded or redefined many of the key principles governing how America engages the world. He has relied on the unilateral exercise of American power rather than on international law and institutions to get his way. He has championed a proactive doctrine of preemption and abandoned the tested strategies of deterrence and containment. He has preferred regime change to direct negotiations with countries and leaders that he loathes. And he has promoted forceful interdiction and missile defenses to counter weapons proliferation, all the while downplaying America's traditional support for nonproliferation treaties and regimes.

While recognizing that Bush has made radical changes to American foreign policy, many are now convinced that he is in the midst of a U-turn. The mounting American death toll in Iraq, the soaring price tag of Iraqi reconstruction and Europe's talk of constraining American power have convinced Bush of the errors of his unilateralist ways-or so the argument goes. The shadow of the presidential elections will further prod him to embrace more moderate and sensible policies. In 2004, George Bush Junior's foreign policy will not look much differnt from George Bush Senior's.

This new conventional wisdom, however, is wishful thinking. It assumes that Bush's foreign-policy choices reflect political expedience--or the pressures of aggressive presidential advisers--more than principle. Yet Bush, like Ronald Reagan, brought to the Oval Office a deeply felt and coherent foreign policy worldview. Bush's critics missed it at the time--and continue to miss it--because they focus on how little he knows rather than how intensely he believes. It is a worldview that emphasizes the need to act, disparages the counsel of the cautious and promises that events will vindicate those willing to stand alone. Because Bush really believes he is right, he is unlikely to chart a new course abroad for the United States as long as he remains president. The Bush revolution will continue, and continue to inflict substantial damage to America's ability to influence events overseas for the duration of his presidency.

WHAT PRECISELY IS THE BUSH REVOLUTION IN FOREIGN policy? At its broadest level, the revolution embraces one fundamental pillar of the foreign-policy vision...