In its broadest sense, foreign policy is the conduct of government abroad. It involves the negotiation of international relations, the pursuit of diplomatic solutions to global crises, and even the public presentation of official government positions on issues in the media. While diplomacy is often viewed as a soft, non-military tool, great military leaders like George Marshall and Dwight Eisenhower have also excelled as diplomats.
America’s unquestioned military and economic superiority, however, can breed resentment, especially among America’s allies. That’s why, after World War II, the United States created new security institutions, including NATO and the United Nations, along with a range of regimes that preserved its dominance while also promoting prosperity and stability: the Marshall Plan, the Bretton Woods monetary system, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.
The United States should pursue a similar strategy today. Instead of defying global norms and escalating tensions, it should seek to integrate the world’s have-nots into the zone of peace and prosperity that the United States and its allies helped establish in Europe, while curbing Iran’s threatening behavior and arriving at a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict.
American policymakers and the public need to recalibrate their vision of the United States’s role in the world, taking into account the limits of its power in a dynamic, competitive global environment. The country’s political elites may be reluctant to hear it, but sooner or later the United States must develop a foreign policy that is more attuned to its diminished status.