The Sources of American Legitimacy

Robert W. Tucker and David C. Hendrickson

From Foreign Affairs, November/December 2004

Summary:  The 18 months since the launch of the Iraq war have left the country's hard-earned respect and credibility in tatters. In going to war without a legal basis or the backing of traditional U.S. allies, the Bush administration brazenly undermined Washington's long-held commitment to international law, its acceptance of consensual decision-making, its reputation for moderation, and its identification with the preservation of peace. The road back will be a long and hard one.

Robert W. Tucker is Professor Emeritus of American Foreign Policy at Johns Hopkins University. David C. Hendrickson is Robert J. Fox Distinguished Service Professor at Colorado College.

The United States, to be sure, did not always scrupulously adhere to the rules of the charter in its conduct of diplomacy, as for instance when it quarantined Cuba to prevent the arrival of further Soviet nuclear armaments in 1962. But U.S. leaders generally made every effort to square their actions with international law. And despite some transgressions, the overall fidelity of the United States to internationalist norms contributed strongly to the legitimacy of U.S. power. The converse proposition-that world public opinion was reassured by illegal and aggressive U.S. actions, such as may have existed-would be absurd. This, clearly, is not what European leaders say now, and it is not what they thought then.

The legitimacy of U.S. power was also enhanced by Washington's commitment to consensual modes of decision-making, a commitment that stemmed from the democratic character of the U.S. polity and that was reflected in the flurry of institution building that occurred during and after World War II. Although the collaborative system of decision-making envisioned by the UN Charter was an early victim of the Cold War, the United States continued to seek for its policies the widest possible consensus within the Western alliance and within international society more generally. The normative order of the alliance enshrined the importance of consultation, and U.S. policymakers worked tirelessly to reconcile the divergent views of the nation's partners and forge a common policy through compromise.

As the preponderant military power within the alliance, the United States was always accorded a special role, but U.S. leaders took close account of the vital interests and perspectives of their allies. This attitude arose both from the exigencies of the Cold War, especially the danger that allied states might be tempted by neutralism, and from a heartfelt commitment to democratic procedures. From the standpoint of the U.S. political tradition, which based legitimate rule on the consent of the governed, it was apparent that the union of like-minded republics could be created and preserved only through institutions that gave its members a voice in their common concerns. It was not always possible to do that, and U.S. administrations prosecuted the war in Vietnam despite mounting worldwide opposition nearly as strenuous as that which attended the Iraq war of 2003. The United States' isolation in international society in the late 1960s, however, also represented the lowest ebb of U.S. legitimacy in the post-World War II era.

A third factor underlying U.S. legitimacy was the reputation Washington acquired for moderation in policy. After World War II, it seemed apparent that the United States had assumed its responsibilities as guardian of the peace with genuine reluctance. European leaders therefore worried that the United States might at some point be tempted again by the siren call of isolationism. By virtue of its geographic separateness, the United States could have considered opting out of the superpower contest, as it had previously opted out of the Treaty of Versailles, and that very sense of unwilling participation helped underpin U.S. legitimacy. So, too, its geographic remoteness gave its participation in the system a more disinterested character than that of European states and fitted it well for the pursuit of what the political scientist Arnold Wolfers called "milieu goals" relating to the broader international environment, such as the pursuit of peace.

The fourth factor accounting for U.S. legitimacy was Washington's success in preserving peace and prosperity within the community of advanced industrialized democracies. Although Western European and Japanese leaders sometimes worried that U.S. belligerence might land them in a war with the Soviet Union, peace among the great powers was preserved. Happily, the contradictions of "extended deterrence" and the nearly theological disputes over nuclear doctrine were never put to the test, and it was not unreasonable to attribute the long peace to the persistence and stability of U.S. power. To those whose memories had been formed by the catastrophic world wars of the twentieth century, this seemed like deliverance from unspeakable evil. The widespread response within the free world was gratitude for the salvation wrought by the United States and the belief that U.S. power was both necessary and rightful-was, in short, legitimate.

RUINS

Seen against the backdrop of these factors, the startling loss of legitimacy that has occurred in the administration of President George W. Bush is not so mysterious. Even before the attacks of September 11, 2001, the Bush administration revealed a deep suspicion of international law. Its undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, John Bolton, had noted in the late 1990s that "it is a big mistake for us to grant any validity to international law even when it may seem in our short-term interest to do so-because, over the long term, the goal of those who think that international law really means anything are those who want to constrict the United States." This augured a fundamentally contemptuous attitude toward the principles that had previously sustained U.S. legitimacy. But what were straws in the wind before September 11 soon became a virtual tornado as the Bush response to the attacks became clear.

In short order came a series of pronouncements and a set of doctrines that stood in stark contrast to the ideals and principles that had attended the United States' rise to superpower status. By declaring that "either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists," President Bush cast profound doubt over whether his administration would even bother to consult with traditional allies. Rather, it seemed intent on issuing diktats to which they were expected to conform. A new doctrine of preventive war, misnamed the "strategy of preemption," took the place of the doctrines of containment and deterrence that had preserved the nuclear peace during the long contest with the Soviet Union.

Even when the administration approached international institutions it did so with an air of feigned regard but real contempt. The White House made clear that it intended to invade Iraq even in the teeth of Security Council opposition and repeatedly warned that the UN would pass into irrelevance unless it bowed to U.S. demands. The Bush administration also asserted that war against Iraq was justified to depose a tyrant and free the Iraqi people-a position that strongly suggested that Bush accepted in principle the legitimacy of war against any government failing a democratic litmus test.