Are American politicians out of sync with the public when it comes to foreign policy? There is considerable reason to believe so.
Throughout the scramble for the GOP presidential nomination, the major candidates have certainly been rabidly nationalistic. In a major foreign policy address on Oct. 7, 2011, Mitt Romney proclaimed that “the 21st century can and must be an American Century.” Championing a vast military buildup, he argued that to secure this “American Century” the United States should have “the strongest military in the world.”
By contrast, polls show that most Americans favor a more cooperative world order based on international law, a stronger United Nations and a less dominant role for the United States in world affairs.
In a World Public Opinion poll of 16 nations in 2009, 69 percent of Americans supported the view that nations are obliged to abide by international law even when doing so is at odds with their national interest.
Furthermore, most Americans favor expanding the role of the United Nations in world affairs. Polling in 2010 by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs found that majorities of Americans — 64 percent — favored creating a standing UN peacekeeping force, 72 percent favored giving the United Nations the authority to enter countries to investigate human rights violations and 73 percent favored creating an international marshals service with the power to arrest leaders responsible for genocide.
Overall, as public opinion studies show, Americans want a smaller global footprint for their nation. According to a 2010 poll by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, only 8 percent favored the United States playing the role of the pre-eminent world leader, while 71 percent favored a cooperative approach. Much of this opposition to U.S. dominance in the world is undoubtedly based on distaste for the overseas U.S. military intervention of the past decade.
Of course, during the frenzy of an election campaign, it is tempting to whip up nationalist sentiment through high-flying rhetoric about an “American Century” and America’s allegedly unique virtue. How many times have we heard, in these circumstances, that America is the greatest nation in the history of the world? But, in the end, Americans might prove more committed to an internationalist policy than this year’s flag-waving politicians think.
Lawrence S. Wittner, Emeritus Professor of History at the State University of New York/Albany
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