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September/October 1994
Vol 73, Number 5 << Previous: July/Aug 1994 | Next: Nov/Dec 1994 >> FIND FOREIGN AFFAIRS ON A NEWSSTAND NEAR YOU
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The Recovery of Internationalism: Stemming the Isolationist Impulse
David C. Hendrickson
President Clinton has tried to pursue a foreign policy agenda even more ambitious than his predecessor’s. But as international realities and domestic priorities become clear, he has been forced to retreat in area after area of policy. The resulting flips and flops of policy toward Bosnia, Somalia, Haiti, North Korea, and China have undermined U.S. credibility. But more important, they risk making Americans turn inward in dismay, forsaking the prudent internationalism that has characterized American foreign policy since World War II. Let us abandon a kind of leadership we are not prepared to exercise on behalf of a world order the price of which we have no intention of paying.
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Why the U.N. Fails: It Cannot Mediate
Saadia Touval
Its diplomatic debacles in the past few years demonstrate one thing: the United Nations cannot mediate. It has too many mouths to speak with one voice, lacks the resources needed for political leverage, and diminishes the credibility of its own promises by its incoherence. Those problems are ingrained in the nature of international organizations, and no amount of revamping the United Nations will correct them. Instead, the United Nations should encourage self-interested states to mediate those conflicts they have the best chances of resolving. That is the best way to salvage the organization’s steadily diminishing prestige.
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Russia's Success Story: Chernomyrdin Pulls It Off
Anders Aslund
The Western perception of Russia as a destitute country on the verge of collapse or of falling into the hands of fascists could not be further from the truth. Much of the Russian economy has been successfully privatized and is now relatively strong. Russia possesses the basic political and economic institutions to oversee the final stages of its transition to a market economy. It must now move to combat crime and to control inflation by finally adopting a full-fledged economic stabilization program. Even if they don’t quite know it yet themselves, the Russians have already turned the corner on success.
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The Baltic Litmus Test: Revealing Russia's True Colors
Carl Bildt
Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia should be watched closely as barometers of Russia’s progress toward better relations with the West. Besides their strategic borders with Russia, these nations have been the historical harbingers of Moscow’s intentions abroad, as their early revolts presaged the collapse of the Soviet empire. The Baltic states are still subject to a “demographic occupation” by postwar Russian immigrants, even if Russian soldiers have finally left. For those in Moscow who still harbor designs on the “near abroad,” a greedy eye will focus on these newly independent nations first. Western nations, particularly the United States, must steel their resolve and preserve the place of the Baltic states in the new Europe.
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Arming Genocide in Rwanda: The High Cost of Small Arms Transfers
Stephen D. Goose and Frank Smyth
Rwanda is only the latest example of what happens when small arms and light weapons are freely sold to countries plagued by ethnic, religious, and nationalist strife. These weapons cause the most death and destruction in local wars and are closely tied to human rights abuses and other violations of international law. Yet the world has focused predominantly on controlling the proliferation of major weapon systems. It is time to establish a viable mechanism to monitor and control small arms transfers. The United States should take the lead in this difficult but increasingly urgent task.
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The World Bank: Is 50 Years Enough? A Child of War, a Parent of Prosperity
Henry Owen
The World Bank Group was a child of World War II, conceived to help developing countries build infrastructure, establish the foundations of economic self- sufficiency, and indirectly nurture political stability. But it should not retire at the age of 50. The bank’s mission should be revised to benefit from the colossal growth of private sector financial resources and to help coordinate the work of nongovernmental organizations. A good first step would be more openness about its work.
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Germany’s Chained Economy: The Social Contract Frays
Amity Shlaes
Germany, the grandmother of social welfare states, is being forced to take a hard look at its long tradition of generous social benefits for workers (and now for eastern Germans as well). Lengthy paid vacations, guaranteed jobs, cash-heavy unemployment benefits, and labyrinths of regulations are conspiring to set up daunting hurdles to a competitive economy. Starting a new business is laborious; hiring workers is expensive compared with elsewhere; and the country’s once-renowned education system is stagnant. Even worse, when German baby boomers are ready to claim their hallowed pensions, the money may not be there. Germans will have to pen a new social contract for the 21st century.
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The Past In Japan’s Future: Will The Japanese Change?
Michael M. Mochizuki
Even as Japan struggles to redefine itself, the nation’s future may look a lot like its past. Excellent new books by James Fallows, Richard J. Samuels, and John W. Dower find that Japan’s passive foreign policy, “technonationalism,” and economic chauvinism are likely to endure.
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The Past In Japan's Future: Will The Japanese Change?
Michael M. Mochizuki
Even as Japan struggles to redefine itself, the nation's future may look a lot like its past. Excellent new books by James Fallows, Richard J. Samuels, and John W. Dower find that Japan's passive foreign policy, "technonationalism," and economic chauvinism are likely to endure.
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China Under Deng: A Great Leap Forward?
Ross Terrill
Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn have written an insightful book about the late Deng era. The authors look at China with a steady eye, depicting an economy going through the roof and politics stuck in Stalinism.
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Recent Books on International Relations
Africa
Eastern Europe and Former Soviet Republics
Middle East
The United States
Western Europe
Western Hemisphere
Economic, Social, and Environmental
Military, Scientific, and Technological
Political and Legal
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