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Few people have been at the heart of the U.S. relationship
with the rest of the world over the past three decades, as has
Clyde Prestowitz. During the 1980s he was one of America’s
principal trade negotiators, and as such, he was the only American
to be included in the inner circles of Japan’s Ministry
of Trade and Industry (MITI) as Japan formulated trade policies.
(He had lived in Japan and speaks Japanese.) Prestowitz founded
and is president of the Economic Strategy Institute, one of
Washington’s premier economic research institutes.
Rogue Nation asks whether America has turned its back on the
world. Its 10 chapters catalogue America’s withdrawal
from a treaty to control world traffic in small arms, the Kyoto
accord, a treaty to eliminate land mines, the Biological and
Toxins Weapons Convention; how we turned a cold shoulder to
NATO’s offer to assist with the invasion of Afghanistan,
unilaterally terminated the Anti-Ballistic Missile Agreement
with Russia, and actively opposed the creation of an International
Criminal Court.
More and more, says Prestowitz, America acts alone, with little
regard for, or even awareness of, the needs and goals of other
nations. What we’ve lost sight of, he suggests, is that
the rest of the world” doesn’t necessarily see us
as we see ourselves, doesn’t necessarily want to be like
us even if it likes us, and is already moving to counterbalance
our power. The rest of the world, he asserts, has its own traditions,
ways, and values for which it receives scant recognition or
respect from the U.S.
Not that Prestowitz necessarily believes the U.S. should have
signed all these various agreements. Some yes, others questionable.
Rather, it’s the arrogance and “go-it-alone”
attitude that he feels has characterized our actions that is
a retreat from the closer cooperation the reality of global
conditions requires. What perhaps bothers Prestowitz most is
the fact that, whereas the U.S. once defined our national self-interest
in terms of the whole world could embrace favoring strong global
institutions, due process, and the rule of law, we now seem
to think more narrowly in terms of our immediate military and
economic security. While this might be understandable in light
of 9/11, Prestowitz believes it is a self-defeating approach
-- not only in terms of combating terrorism, but also in terms
of the galloping globalization that is reorienting relations
between nations.
This is no liberal screed. What we need, Prestowitz concludes,
“is a return to real conservatism.” The imperial
project of the so-called neoconservatives, he says, is not conservatism
at all...” Real conservatives, he believes, “have
never been messianic or doctrinaire.” Prestowitz offers
a telling quote from one of the founders of political conservatism,
Edmund Burke: “I dread our being too much dreaded,”
Burke said. That is a warning, which, in Prestowitz’s
view, America would do well to heed.
Rogue Nation is not an argument against American dominance or
the exercise of power. It’s an argument against arrogance
and ignorance in that exercise of power. Prestowitz explores
the historical roots of the unilateral impulse and shows how
it influences every important area of American foreign policy:
trade and economic policy, arms control, energy environment,
agriculture. The challenge we face, he argues, is that in every
area a multilateral approach, consistent with America’s
humane and liberal core values, is now in our long-term best
interests.
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Van Wishard heads WorldTrends Research, a Washington-based consultancy
specializing in the analysis and synthesizing of global trends.
His briefings for members of Congress and professional groups
have been televised by C-SPAN and his Voice of America commentary
was broadcast worldwide. His speaking audiences include AT&T's
Strategic Planning Group, Charles Schwab & Co., the Naval
War College and many others.
Wishard entered government service in 1970, and during the '80s
was an assistant to the U.S. Secretary of Commerce writing on
U.S. competitiveness, international trade and economic policy.
He was a major contributor to the ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE FUTURE,
published by Simon & Schuster Macmillan. His 2000 book --
BETWEEN TWO AGES: The 21st CENTURY AND THE CRISIS OF MEANING
-- is available through Amazon.com
or Xlibris.com.
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