“Clinton’s World”

by Alan Tonelson

The Atlantic Monthly, Feb 93’ Vol. 271, pgs 71-74

Intro

Despite the fact that Bill Clinton was elected due to his campaign’s focus on domestic renovation, the changing landscape of foreign policy will complicate these renovations beyond which Clinton can foresee. With the fall of the Soviet Union, the Cold War is over, will Clinton be able to adapt to this change, and overcome entrenched ways of thinking about the US’s role in the world?

The Fiscal Crunch

America’s practice of foreign policy since WWII was one of containing the spread of communism at all costs, and cost the US it has. During the period of the Cold War, America has spent a great deal of money, enough to produce a terrible deficit, on our own military, as well as bolstering our democratic allies, in order to curb communist aggression. This produced a deficit due to the fact that the US spent more then it could afford, with the other option being to cut domestic spending, which would have been political suicide due to the lay American’s tendency to want more for less. With the Soviet Union gone, Clinton shrunk military spending to 3.5%, a low not seen since before Pearl Harbor, which marked the beginning of the US’s exponential military growth.

With the threat of communism gone, Clinton has turned his attention inwards, funding large infrastructure plans that are now feasible with the planned decrease in military and foreign spending. In the short run, this will strain the budget, since most of the cuts will take effect over a period of time, whereas the infrastructure renovations would be started as soon as possible.

How much World Order?

With the fall of the Soviet Union, America’s main concern that has guided the federal government’s decision making process also fell. Now the two main concerns of the federal government are global stability and the triumph of worldwide democracy. Most politicians have taken the prudent stance of shaping foreign policy to assist with global stability, mainly due to the fact that many nations, especially the vast expanse of the Soviet Union, have nuclear capability. The main question persists however, how much stability or world democracy is needed? Tonelson believes we should become more, not less interventionist, and devote most of our military funding towards developing conventional weapons that can counter ICBM’s.

How much Interdependence?

Now that only one superpower remains, the way towards international cooperation and globalization is opened up. In many ways this will be beneficial to all, but to some, this is not something highly desired. With international cooperation comes unpredictable shifts of power, and those that have economic and military power now will not let go very easily. This will cause everyone to ponder whether letting market forces fully guide the world economy, or to keep things as they are in order to ensure American power and advantage over the rest of the world. This will probably be the most “politically” decided factor that will shape American foreign policy for the coming years.

The Romanization of American Life

The events at Pearl Harbor, and the advent of the Cold War have shaped American military and foreign policy for the last 50 years. This “Romanization” of American life presents the largest obstacle towards dealing with the fall of the Soviet Union and the changing international landscape.

Since the other “bid kid on the block” no longer exists, American politicians have a daunting task ahead of them. They will have to deal with internal desires for improvement, as well as the role of “cop of the world”. If the US focuses too much on solving internal problems, we might not have the funds needed to stop third world flashpoints from escalating to conflagrations. However, if we neglect internal problems, and only pay attention to national security and defense, we will collapse from the inside. This gives even further meaning to “Romanization”, for that is how the greatest empire the world had seen finally fell. In order to see America through this time, politicians need to buckle down, and do something they have not done for a long time, govern.

Summary by Ray Malkowski