Wednesday, September 24, 2008
The New East-West Divide
No, I am not talking about Russia and the West over Georgia; but rather the growing divide between the global "north and west" and the rising "south and east". Via Business Week-which in turn got its report from Transitions Online, a new report from the European Council on Foreign Relations concludes that it is not just the United States which is losing influence--Europe is too. So much for the argument that European diplomats could do what "American cowboys" could not. The ECFR used as their criteria the ability to form coalitions and win votes at the UN---the report concludes that "the EU has lost the regular support of 41 former allies (including most of the countries of the Caucasus and Central Asia)."
The winners? Russia and China. As this analysis concludes, "The Russian and Chinese mantra about protecting national sovereignty in the face of encroaching international organizations and the United States carries much weight around the world ..."
The winners? Russia and China. As this analysis concludes, "The Russian and Chinese mantra about protecting national sovereignty in the face of encroaching international organizations and the United States carries much weight around the world ..."
Comments:
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Mr Gvosdev,
Don't you worry that this divide is - and you mention this briefly in the next post - increasingly separating the pragmatists and the idealists?...
...and that WE are fast becoming the latter?
Don't you worry that this divide is - and you mention this briefly in the next post - increasingly separating the pragmatists and the idealists?...
...and that WE are fast becoming the latter?
From the Business Week article online:
"The Russian and Chinese mantra about protecting national sovereignty in the face of encroaching international organizations and the United States carries much weight around the world, especially among countries with a democracy deficit."
I don't see a net loss to the EU or the US if countries with a "democracy deficit" have shifted from voting with the West to voting with Russia and China at the UN on human rights. These shifting countries are now voting in a way that is more consistent with their domestic behavior.
The question is whether the EU as well as the US are losing ground as development models to the rest of the world. The recent union of South America and the struggling but continuing African Union suggest that the European model may still have a future. The question is whether continental unions will be any more hospitable to human rights than individual nations are today.
"The Russian and Chinese mantra about protecting national sovereignty in the face of encroaching international organizations and the United States carries much weight around the world, especially among countries with a democracy deficit."
I don't see a net loss to the EU or the US if countries with a "democracy deficit" have shifted from voting with the West to voting with Russia and China at the UN on human rights. These shifting countries are now voting in a way that is more consistent with their domestic behavior.
The question is whether the EU as well as the US are losing ground as development models to the rest of the world. The recent union of South America and the struggling but continuing African Union suggest that the European model may still have a future. The question is whether continental unions will be any more hospitable to human rights than individual nations are today.
David, the problem is that as long as the Europeans hold the position that without UN Security Council approval a whole host of activities are not permissible and they won't join, then it means that as long as Russia, China and some of the other states that rotate on and off the Security Council hold these views, the UN is paralyzed. What this report doesn't really suggest is whether the EU is prepared to endorse the notion of coalition of the willing to act outside the UN.
# posted by 
: 12:13 PM
: 12:13 PM
Coalition of the willing is a very clumsy and divisive idea. It alienates too many countries and makes it impossible to prevail in today’s fast changing world.
# posted by : 9:15 PM
: 9:15 PM
Coalition of the willing is a perfectly acceptable method.
It is basically an ad hoc alliance.
Everyone does it and that should actually be the rule.
However, for the world's superpower, that spends the time preaching about international law, rule of law, and due process; to completely alienate allies and the international institutions IT CREATED, might be slightly counter-productive...
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It is basically an ad hoc alliance.
Everyone does it and that should actually be the rule.
However, for the world's superpower, that spends the time preaching about international law, rule of law, and due process; to completely alienate allies and the international institutions IT CREATED, might be slightly counter-productive...
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