Comments on: Note On Exceptionalism

By: My, That Is An Exceptional 6 Train « Around The Sphere

My, That Is An Exceptional 6 Train « Around The Sphere — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 23:13:39 +0000

[...] James Poulos at PomoCon [...]

By: James Poulos

James Poulos — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 12:35:43 +0000

Somewhere between duck and cover and Custer’s last stand is a sane, assertive foreign policy. I have no doubt that you and I could cash that out in practical terms, but I worry a bit more about our clashing ideological armies (including the ‘moderate’ FP version of Broderism, Keohane-based ‘complex interdependency’). If Europe is finished and China is sure to dominate the half of the globe that isn’t finished, well, that sets up some stark choices for the US — choices that too many commentators remain unwilling to name and tally up in their proper grim context.

By: Samuel Goldman

Samuel Goldman — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 04:13:32 +0000

Well, if that’s what you have in mind, I fear it’s game over–with the exception of India and Iran. I don’t think China can be prevented from dominating Asia and developing an even stronger position in Africa. And Europe is finished as a world power. I’m not a Paulista, and I don’t think that this prognosis means that we should withdraw into ourselves and batten down the hatches. But seriously tough times ARE ahead–and in my opinion we should be thinking about how to weather them rather than planning a last efflorescence of imperial glory.

By: James Poulos

James Poulos — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 22:54:29 +0000

You tease! I’m not talking about a free hand around the world, as you seem to hint by getting specific about China. But China already dominates East Asia, and we’ve never had a problem with that. I’m talking about rebuilding a world in which China does not dominate most of Asia and Africa, a world in which Europe is flourishing, not failing, a world in which India, not Iran, prevails. Should the fate of the world run counter to our interest, really terrible things are likely to happen for a long time. People touting a turn inward with all haste are not being frank enough about how unpleasant things are likely to get if we don’t get cracking on the order that will inherit what we leave it. Maybe we can’t create that order no matter how hard we try. But if that is true, we should all just be Paulistas or something.

By: Samuel Goldman

Samuel Goldman — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 16:49:24 +0000

Count me among the skeptics, James. If we’re going to get out of the empire business–as we must, sooner or later–we’ll have to acknowledge that we can’t shape the world at our pleasure.

In other words, we can’t impose an imperial exit strategy through which everything will turn out just as we’d wish, but unsupported by our hard power.

Probably the best thing we can do to maintain stability is to get serious about working with China–which means accepting its dominance in East Asia. Our colleague Spengler been pushing something like this for a while.