A career in foreign policy demands a deep knowledge of international law and a willingness to understand broad and complex scenarios. Yet the work of ensuring that democracy and open markets triumph on a global scale requires more than just intellectual firepower. It also requires a commitment to a set of strategies designed to sustain and strengthen America’s foundations of power.
The first of these strategies focuses on the domestic roots of American power. To keep its power effective, the United States must sustain its economic and human capital bases. This means not spending today what America might need tomorrow, ensuring that the nation’s military remains technologically superior, and demonstrating a clear understanding that the security of Americans depends on a world in which democracy and free markets thrive.
Secondly, the United States must preserve and enhance its access to key natural resources and markets across the globe. This includes the infusion of foreign capital investment into U.S. infrastructure projects, as well as access to the global marketplace for American consumers seeking everything from Swiss chocolate to Australian wine. Moreover, the United States must help to integrate the world’s “have-nots” into the globalized West. Doing so is not charity; it is profoundly in America’s interest.
Finally, the United States must recognize that its unquestioned military and economic superiority can breed resentment even among its closest allies. To counter this risk, the United States must seek to shape a new world order in ways that limit its resort to hard power and encourage its defenders to recognize that our alliances are mutually beneficial.