An American Perspective

Source #3: "Reshaping the World Order: How Washington Should Reform International Institutions" by Stephen G. Brooks and William C. Wohlforth in the March/ April 2009 Foreign Affairs

Brooks and Wohlforth are Professors of Government at Dartmouth College, and thus are valid experts on this subject. However, they write about reforming the international order exclusively in terms of how it may advance US interests. While this will not be the approach that I take in my essay, this is an important perspective to consider, as Brooks and Wohlforth do bring up the valid point that in terms of resources and power, the US is the largest worldpower. Without American consent and support, reform will not be as feasible and attempts at reform will not be as productive. Brooks and Wohlforth subscribe to the idea of political realism which assumes that power is and should be the main goal of political action, that might is right. For example, in their examination of the US's legitimacy to lead institutional reform, they write that "legitimacy is not necessarily about normative approval: one may dislike the United States but think its leadership is natural under the circumstances or the best that can be expected" (p 58). I disagree with this point of view. I think that this ideology assumes that this world is "an anarchic world of self-interested states" (p 49): an assumption that I believe is becoming and will become less and less valid as our world becomes increasingly interconnected and one country's interests becomes inseparable from another country's. I think Brooks and Wohlforth's assumption that international reform can only be feasible when a hegemon takes the lead and their belief that the US is "the only contender for such a role today" (p 49) is wildly off the mark because it misses what I consider the main problem with current international institutions: that they are completely dominated by the interests of the powerful and are anti-democratic. I think US policy makers must realize not only, as Brooks and Wohlforth write: that reform of international institutions is in the best interests of the US, but that US interests (the interests of any nation) are tied to the welfare and success of all global players.