American Declinism and the Third Way Option

Abstract

America's embattled decline has brought the global community into an increasingly parlous condition. Embroiled in an unwinnable war in Iraq turning ever more sectarian and difficult to contain has deprived it of its aura of invincibility, while public confidence at home and abroad in US leadership is increasingly undermined. Curbs imposed on civil rights post-9/11, including prisoners held under military jurisdiction, and enforced by a powerful unitary executive over a supine Congress have redefined constitutional boundaries, although since the November 2006 mid-term elections Democrats' control of Congress should partially redress the imbalance. A fear that Republican ideals are threatened by imperial adventurism abroad, by corruption, favouritism and incompetence tarnishes the very values upholding the ‘American dream’. Meanwhile, globalisation is restructuring key industries and undermining financial stability by encouraging excessive consumption and debt. With the United Nations politically powerless, the European Union caught up in internal concerns, the world's most populous nations China and India as yet relatively non-assertive on the world stage and democratic nations disenchanted and apathetic, the outlook appears bleak. The war on terror is made more difficult by events in Iraq. An increasingly self-confident Iran, benefiting from the overthrow of the Sunni backed regime is gaining regional influence and is further emboldened with its nuclear enrichment programme. Similarly North Korea, another member of that ill-fated ‘axis of evil’, remains defiant of the US and UN. A reconfiguration of US foreign policy incorporating a modified version of the Third Way as a pragmatic blueprint is vital. A Third Way refocused away from domestic matters onto external relations through incorporating a new international agenda extending from climate change to nuclear proliferation, and based on principles such as deliberation and compromise, transparency, respect for others and predicated on pursuing global progress and peace. This would positively enhance America's image abroad, while additionally offering a more cooperative transatlantic alliance incorporating the soft power approach of the EU with that of the UN.