Anti-Pessimism

An emerging theme in the election-year debate over U.S. foreign policy is that a "new pessimism" is eroding American strength and will. That idea is analyzed in the current issue of the quarterly Foreign Policy by two men who might well play important foreign policy roles if Jimmy Carter wins the Democratic nomination.

In one article, Managing Editor Richard Holbrooke notes that two strikingly different groups have converged to create a downbeat appraisal of the U.S.: the "guilt-ridden," Viet Nam-haunted American Left, and a number of "neoconservatives" including Henry Kissinger, former U.N. Ambassador Daniel Patrick Moynihan and ex-Defense Secretary James Schlesinger. It was an odd linkage for the members of this trio, who strongly disagree on some policies and would certainly deny being downbeat on America. At any rate, says Holbrooke, the U.S. is not in bad shape--it still leads the world in gross national product, food production and military strength. Warnings of America's imminent decline, he concludes, could become self-fulfilling prophecies.

Columbia Political Scientist (and Carter foreign policy adviser) Zbigniew Brzezinski emphasized the same point in his article. Deploring a growing American xenophobia and introversion in the face of a world that no longer seems interested in emulating the U.S. system, Brzezinski notes that the nation's chief role has long been "to stimulate change." Yet "an inward-oriented America would gradually cease to perform that role." That would be unfortunate, says Brzezinski, since "America still provides to most people in the world the most attractive social condition (even if not the model), and that remains America's special strength."

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