GOING OUR WAY
Artículo de Thomas L. Friedman en "The New York Times"
del 15-9-02
Con un breve comentario al final
EL LIDERAZGO DE EEUU EN LA POLITICA INTERNACIONAL
Luis
Bouza-Brey
President Bush made a strong case at the U.N. for why
the world community should not allow Iraq to go on flouting U.N. weapons
inspections. But what struck me most about the scene was how intently the U.N.
delegates were waiting for, and listening to, the president's speech. We should
listen to their listening — because it is telling us some important things
about our world.
First, for all the noise out there about rising
anti-Americanism, America remains the unrivaled leader of the world — the big
power, which makes its share of mistakes, but without which nothing good
happens.
But, second, while our leadership requires American
valor, it is ultimately based on American values. That is, what gives America
its unprecedented power and influence today is the fact that, more than at any
time in history, the world has come to accept the Western values of peace,
democracy and free markets — around which American society is organized. That
is the truly significant trend in the world today — not terrorism or
anti-Americanism.
Third, while terrorists like Osama and rogues like
Saddam can unleash lethal events against us, they do not represent an
alternative trend with any global appeal. Indeed, the reason the terrorists
unleash huge events like 9/11 is precisely because they have no mass following
and must substitute sound and fury for compelling ideas, enduring achievements
and popular support.
Hitler's Germany, Stalin's Soviet Union and Mao's
China not only represented powerful alternatives to U.S. leadership in their
day but also powerful, and popular, alternative ideologies to peace, democracy
and free markets. With Hitler's, Stalin's and Mao's downfalls in the last
century, there is no longer any serious military or ideological rival to these
ideas. That global trend is enormously favorable to us — but its sustainability
depends on America's health and the wisdom with which it leads this world,
particularly now.
I wish I could say I had thought of all these concepts
on my own. But I didn't. They come from reading an important and compelling new
book, "The Ideas That Conquered the World: Peace, Democracy and Free
Markets in the Twenty-first Century," by Michael Mandelbaum
of Johns Hopkins and the Council on Foreign Relations.
Mr. Mandelbaum's thesis is
that all the powerful ideological rivals to America and its democratic allies
have been vanquished and that three big ideas now dominate global politics: The
first is peace as a way of organizing international relations. By that he means
the core idea that has finally stabilized a fractious Europe, namely arms
control — the notion that armies should be configured primarily for defense,
with a high degree of transparency so everyone knows what everyone else is
doing. The second idea that has triumphed is the notion that free markets are
the best way for nations to grow from poverty to prosperity. And the third is
that democracy is the ideal form of political organization.
"To be sure, these ideas are not practiced
everywhere," Mr. Mandelbaum said, "but they
are far more powerful and attractive than any other ideas and have no serious
rivals today. Bin Laden and Saddam pose a threat to the personal safety of
people living in our world, but they do not pose the kind of existential threat
that Hitler, Stalin or Mao did. Neither man controls a major country with
large, attractive ideas."
And that brings us to today. It is crucial that as we
confront Iraq, or other terrorist events, that we do it in a way that
reinforces the positive global trends already in our favor.
"That means," Mr. Mandelbaum
said, "dealing with Iraq with as many allies as possible, with as broad an
international endorsement as possible, so that confronting Iraq is seen as
enforcing what are now widely accepted norms — rather than the policy of one
particular country. We must act vis-à-vis Iraq in a way that persuades people
that this is an international imperative, not an American preference."
Never forget: We are winning. The terrorists and the
rogues do not have the power to dislodge our world, or reverse the broad
positive trends. Only we, the trendsetters, can do that — by acting in ways
that would upset the trend toward peace, disrupt global markets and put the
democracies at odds with one another. Do that, and we really would create a
dangerous world — a world where the best Western ideals would be mismanaged and
the country most important for sustaining those ideals — America — despised,
weakened or discredited.
Breve comentario final
EL LIDERAZGO DE EEUU EN LA POLITICA INTERNACIONAL
Luis Bouza-Brey
La tendencia de fondo que describe Friedman, a mi juicio, es cierta. EEUU debe asumir
decididamente el liderazgo que le corresponde en un mundo globalizado, y
defender los valores de la libertad y la modernidad con firmeza. Pero es
imprescindible que su liderazgo no se ejercite al desnudo, sino amparado y
legitimado por las instituciones internacionales y por los procedimientos de consenso
multilateral que ellas, junto con otros mecanismos, proporcionan.
De esa manera se podría construir un nuevo
orden internacional basado en un liderazgo consensual que tuviera más en cuenta
los problemas y necesidades mundiales, formulados institucionalmente por las
potencias regionales a través de mecanismos de cooperación.
Pero para institucionalizar y consolidar
ese nuevo orden es imprescindible que EEUU se implique más en él y con una
perspectiva nueva: con más distancia de sus intereses inmediatos y con la
responsabilidad derivada de su nueva responsabilidad internacional.
Por eso es tan importante que Bush haya
optado decididamente por plantear a las Naciones Unidas su responsabilidad ante
el asunto de Irak, impulsándolas a adoptar una respuesta institucional
que recupere la dignidad de las NNUU y la esperanza de su operatividad futura.
La alternativa a este camino es la
solución imperial, el aumento de la conflictividad internacional y posiblemente
el fracaso del liderazgo norteamericano.
Las condiciones existentes en la
actualidad a nivel internacional parecen favorables a la puesta en marcha de un
camino como el mencionado, con la UE y Rusia en disposición colaboradora, y
China actuando con sabiduría y sensatez. Las dificultades pueden derivarse de la
debilidad internacional de la UE ---no se consigue entender a Schroeder si no
es a partir de una perspectiva inmediatista electoral y torpe--- y
de posibles conflictos de intereses en Asia de EEUU con Rusia.
Pero el peligro mayor es la crisis del
mundo islámico y el fundamentalismo, que realmente no representa una
alternativa, pero que puede disparar la inestabilidad en Oriente Próximo y Asia
Sudoccidental y Central. Si a partir de esta inestabilidad se desencadenan
conflictos bélicos, crisis energética mundial y guerra de civilizaciones, se
habrá generado la alternativa del caos ---con altos riesgos de utilización de
armas nucleares, químicas y biológicas de modo generalizado--- y el bloqueo del
progreso, o la expectativa ominosa de un desarrollo siniestro del siglo XXI.