Remember the Institutions

The main thing I worry about these days is the possibility of a severe, Depression-style economic downturn. But another thing I worry about is that efforts to avoid a severe, Depression-style economic downturn will suck so much of the oxygen out of the room that there’s no political capital left to do the things that I would have called essential 9 months ago. Like revitalizing and reinvigorating the whole system of international institutions on which the climate of geopolitical peace and prosperity rests. My CAP colleague Nina Hachigian has a great piece on the TNR website trying to make the case that these are complementary issues:

But Roosevelt’s foreign policy–and his focus on global architecture–offers equally important lessons for Obama. What is missing so far from today’s talk of a progressive-era-in-the-making is a unifying agenda for American foreign policy that will leave the world safer and more prosperous when President-elect Obama leaves office. In his time, FDR led America through World War II and then became a key architect of the new world order that followed. Before he died, Roosevelt conducted the critical diplomacy that established the United Nations, the world’s first lasting institution of global governance.

Obama’s national security team will need creative solutions to today’s urgent foreign policy challenges, from Iraq and Afghanistan to North Korea, Iran, Congo, and Middle East peace. These complex issues will take a new caliber of diplomatic muster, and progress on any would be a triumph. But the times call for an ambitious, coherent international focus that goes beyond specific predicaments and ensures lasting change. How should America use this moment, with a progressive in the White House, a roiling worldwide crisis, and enormous power relative to our peers, to shape the world beyond our shores? The Obama administration should advance toward a goal that FDR championed–the strengthening of international institutions. [...]

More importantly, the threats we face today, from the global financial crisis to terrorism and climate change, even more than 60 years ago, demand international coordination. Plus, by engaging in the renewal of international regimes, America will earn goodwill it needs for all its international aspirations. Working again toward the common good, in concrete ways, and through organizations that benefit all, will begin to repair America’s image in the world. Finally, in today’s economy, it’s important to note that working through international institutions, when effective, can be a bargain. The U.N. is conducting some 17 peacekeeping operations with more than 70,000 troops for less annually than the cost of one month of U.S.-led operations in Iraq. At a time when the U.S. doesn’t have an extra penny for anything, working through collaborative institutions will stretch our security dollars.

The U.S. should not lose sight of the fact that the American people have little sense of the alphabet soup of international regimes that help keep them safe and prosperous. With his rhetorical skills and international outlook, President-elect Obama is the right leader to advocate for them, invest in them, create them and in doing so, create his own legacy.

Certainly I hope so. As of this afternoon, I’m a bit pessimistic about the prospects that this will actually happen in terms of US domestic politics. On the other hand, the global downturn does seem to be tending to reduce the level of international tensions and to focus leaders and populations alike on the basic commonality of the challenges facing the world.