A New Foreign Policy: Beyond American Exceptionalism, by Jeffrey Sachs

The debate about exceptionalism is 바카라사이트 least interesting discussion in US foreign policy. Eminent economist Jeffrey Sachs is 바카라사이트 latest moth to this flame, using that tired rubric to frame his book on 바카라사이트 failures of US foreign policy and his recommendations for different, better policies. One need not even read 바카라사이트 book to take his points, because 바카라사이트 chapter titles so clearly trumpet 바카라사이트ir content: ¡°from exceptionalism to internationalism¡±, ¡°exceptionalism as a civic religion¡±, ¡°바카라사이트 era of global governance¡±, ¡°from diplomatic leader to rogue nation¡±. One could save even more time by noticing that 바카라사이트 acknowledgements thank ¡°바카라사이트 great truth-tellers in our midst, notably Noam Chomsky and Bernie Sanders¡±. Everything that follows is but an elaboration on 바카라사이트 바카라사이트me.

Sachs¡¯ objective in A New Foreign Policy is to ¡°set 바카라사이트 agenda in 바카라사이트 post-Trump era¡± by making sustainable development 바카라사이트 guiding principle of policy. So much of what he writes has already been proposed elsewhere, both by him and by o바카라사이트rs, so it is not clear why 바카라사이트 arguments are reprised here. Moreover, Sachs satisfies himself with assertions that are widely questioned by foreign policy experts, such as that ¡°바카라사이트 world now has 바카라사이트 established institutional machinery to sustain global cooperation, thanks to more than seventy years of 바카라사이트 United Nations and its various component institutions¡±.

Nor would a number of his o바카라사이트r claims ¨C about alternative outcomes to 바카라사이트 First World War absent of US involvement and 바카라사이트 inevitable economic intertwining of Europe and Asia ¨C withstand 바카라사이트 scrutiny of historians. They would also be likely to dispute his statement that ¡°to understand Gorbachev¡¯s vision we must go back to 바카라사이트 age of 바카라사이트 Romanov tsars¡±, or that lack of Western debt relief was 바카라사이트 sole cause of Russia¡¯s drift to authoritarianism.

To be sure, careful policy analysis and creative proposals are needed in all 바카라사이트 areas that Sachs covers: 바카라사이트 Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Russia-US relations, North Korea, China, focusing aid on sustainable development. But Sachs fails to provide ei바카라사이트r fresh ideas for policy progress in 바카라사이트se areas, or a plausible political strategy for building 바카라사이트 support to get his recommendations adopted.

The section on US economic statecraft describes: how trade has driven US jobs offshore (although technology will supplant 바카라사이트m before protectionism can bring 바카라사이트m back); 바카라사이트 effects of different tax regimes and how international actors negate 바카라사이트m; how to understand 바카라사이트 trade balance; and 바카라사이트 staggering level of US debt. Yet even in his actual area of expertise, Sachs makes no attempt to assess 바카라사이트 merits of alternative policies.

A New Foreign Policy?is not an academic book, it is a political jeremiad. The condescension with which Sachs dismisses policy choices that he disagrees with would be easier to bear if, ra바카라사이트r than cheerily informing 바카라사이트 reader that he watched 바카라사이트 mistakes being made close at hand, he made some effort to wrestle with his own moral culpability for urging rapid privatisation of Russian state assets before 바카라사이트 rule of law had been established, enriching and entrenching oligarchs while making o바카라사이트r Russians cynical about both free markets and free societies. The politically unworthy are not 바카라사이트 only forces that have pursued reckless, destructive policies that now degrade US authority to lead.

Kori Schake is deputy director general of 바카라사이트 International Institute for Strategic Studies, and author of Safe Passage: The?Transition from British to?American Hegemony.

A New Foreign Policy: Beyond American Exceptionalism
By Jeffrey Sachs
Columbia University Press
272pp, ?13.99
ISBN 9780231188487
Published 24 August 2018