A Global Good Neighbor Ethic for International Relations

[Steel City Slim]

What in the world are we doing?

Seldom, if ever, has U.S. foreign policy been as confusing or as divisive as it is today. The occupation of Iraq , the deepening trade deficit, saber-rattling abroad, and disdain for international cooperation have left the American public uncertain about what exactly the U.S. government is doing overseas, and why.

The George W. Bush administration has reoriented the nation’s foreign policy through its doctrine of preventive war and its ideological mission to export “freedom.” Rather than building broad consensus after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the administration has polarized the citizenry.

Public uncertainty about what in the world we are doing is not a new phenomenon, certainly not one that’s distinctive to the George W. Bush era. The U.S. public has frequently questioned whether Washington ’s foreign policy really serves U.S. interests and truly makes us more secure. These concerns have long shadowed foreign policy, especially since the 1890s when our revolutionary republic began thinking more about expanding the U.S. dominion abroad--and less about its own independence, democracy, and freedom.

http://www.irc-online.org/content/ggn/0505ggn.php