Reflections on a Future Foreign Policy

On a crisp November day in 1989, one of the most poignant scenes of recent memory dominated news around the globe. The Berlin wall had fallen; East and West Berliners—in a symbolic demonstration of the greater action that was soon to come—scattered tears of joy over the bloodstained soil that had divided them for almost thirty years. The Cold War was over. Yet twenty years after the climactic conclusion to one of the tensest periods in global history, we remain woefully ignorant of the lessons that the Cold War era had to teach us.
For decades, the globe was defined by a titanic rivalry, propagated by fear and driven by misunderstanding. The Wall became a permanent symbol of the chasm that separated the world’s superpowers and, at times, a grotesque reminder of the consequences that this partition wrought. The Fall elicited a new hope, from all sides, that finally we were entering an era of understanding, an era of cooperation, and an era of peace. Democracy became the proven government of the world, and now all peoples could willfully submit to its rule without hesitation or fear that it would bring violent retribution from a gleaming sickle or a stained hammer. The new democracies of Eastern Europe and Central Asia were praised as the embodiment of this success, and beacons to the world of the benefits that free markets and free peoples can bring to all.
Few stopped to observe humanity in its true light. Few recognized that the bipolar world of the past had unwittingly provided a black and white backdrop, upon which the political drama could easily play out. With the fall of communism, the black yielded, leaving a blank canvas ready to be splattered with a kaleidoscope of global dilemmas that had previously been overshadowed by the caustic bickering of Cold War politics. In the words of former CIA director James Woolsey, “it’s as if we were fighting with dragon for some 45 years and slew the dragon and then found ourselves in a jungle full of a number of poisonous snakes.”
This is no reason to lose hope, however, as our experiences during the Cold War, indeed the very measures that sustained it, hold the key to solving the problems that we presently face. Today’s obstacles will never be overcome through unilateral dictation, and though at times a policy of tough love has its merits, leadership demands that we approach each situation with an attitude of cautious compassion and open ourselves to the liberating possibilities of global thought. In this era of globalization and multinational exchange, the singular vision of the Cold War will incapacitate this country in its efforts to foster democratic development, and instead align it with the very forms of tyranny that it seeks to defeat. Understanding this fact, however, is impossible as long as we anchor ourselves to the narrow belief that because of our success we know best. It takes courage, it takes risk, it will take suffering, but we must, we must no longer address situations from our own privileged perspective, but endeavor to understand the perspectives of those we seek to aid. In constructing a new National Security Strategy and organizing a new foreign policy, it is of vital urgency that this transformation be a primary task of the next President of the United States.
When, in the first great foreign policy act of this nation, the founding fathers gathered in Philadelphia to declare our independence to the world it was a message of hope, of possibility, and of new beginning. We were at the forefront of global political development. We dared to be great; we took the dive and plunged into the depths of uncertainty, and we emerged as one of the greatest achievements in world history. We must find that path once more. What will be the next great step? Who will again thrust this nation to the margins of global development? The wall fell almost twenty years ago, it’s time we take down the walls that remain in our own minds. It’s time to dare greatness once again and take the next step towards a better world.