bout de papier, Vol. 10, No. 1 (1993) — Winter 1993 // Hiver 1993, pp. 43–45
Sea Changes: American Foreign Policy in
a World Transformed edited by Nicholas X.
Rizopoulos, New York, Council of Foreign
Relations Press, 1990, 294 pp., US $14.95.
Same Bed, Different Dreams: America
and Japan — Societies in Transition
edited by Alan D. Romberg and Tadashi
Yamamoto, New York, Council of Foreign
Relations Press, 1990, 138 pp., US $14.95.
Reviewed by Steven Lee Although Sea Changes is aimed primarily at an American audience, its essays are relevant for anyone wishing to understand the implications of the global changes which have occurred over the past decade. The articles encompass a wide range of topics centred around the theme of the end of the bipolar world. Part One analyzes USA relations with the major geographic regions and assesses the foreign policy implications of technological and environmental issues. Part Two is more synthetic in approach and scholars present their prescriptions for the future direction of American diplomacy. The variety of views presented in this section demonstrate the lack of consensus on how to approach the post cold war era.
A particular strength of the book is that issues are analyzed in both their international and domestic USA context. Most authors agree that American diplomacy will be more concerned with regional and local factors and less with global strategic considerations. The large public debt and conflict between domestic and foreign policy goals will enhance the need for the United States to moderate its participation in world affairs. As Crawford Young’s essay on Sub-Saharan Africa points out, the United States is unlikely to devote the same scale of resources and aid to Africa that it gave in the cold war period. Similarly, Mark Falcoff’s article on USA relations with Latin America argues that the absence of an overall ideological and strategic rationale for the region will mean a lessened American presence in the area as a whole. In relation to drug smuggling he suggests that if a solution is to be found, it should begin with the internal domestic problems in the United States.
If Africa and Latin America do not sustain their importance in American foreign policy, Europe is likely to remain a key interest to policymakers. Ronald Steel argues that in the context of a united Germany and turbulent nationalism along the Soviet periphery, it is not in the American interest to allow the Soviet Union to disintegrate into a series of feuding nation-states. Sceptical about the ability of the European Community or NATO to dilute German hegemony in Europe, he recalls the importance of reestablishing the balance of power on the continent. A peaceful and prosperous Europe, notes Steel, requires both a strong Germany and a broader security partnership between the former Soviet Union, America and Western Europe. Essentially Steel advocates the creation of a broader hegemonic system to replace the outdated cold war balance of power.
The articles on environmental and scientific issues are both topical and important. Roger Stone produces some rather alarming statistics about the international costs of environmental problems and concludes with the optimistic hope that a combination of American antipollution technology and Japanese capital could make important strides toward a solution. However in light of America’s position at the Rio summit in June 1992, Stone is apt to be disappointed Kenneth Keller also takes issue with American science and technology policy. He argues that the United States will have to develop a coordinated scientific strategy to deal with the global problems of energy, ecological change, the environment, and population growth.
Perhaps the most interesting theme to emerge from this collection of essays concerns how the changing focus of economic power in the world system affects traditional concepts of national sovereignty. Miles Kahler, Robert Heilbroner, and Susan Strange discuss the political and economic implications of the acceleration of the supranational aspects of international capital. Strange argues that the past decade in particular has witnessed a shift in relative power away from the state to the multinational corporations and banks in the global market. According to Heilbroner, the growth of supranational capitalism has eroded the sovereign powers of the traditional state system, and nations are losing their ability to regulate supranational capital in their domestic economies. The implications of this shift in power for democratic politics are wide ranging, because it means that the individual voter is losing his ability to control the forces which shape his community and nation. For Strange, the problem is “how to translate the reality of corporate power in the world market economy into a share of political responsibility for its better government.”
The major weakness of the book stems from the fact that recent events have overtaken some of the analysis. The section on the Middle East was written before the Gulf War, and in general, the book lacks an adequate discussion of the role of the military in the emerging multipolar international system. Canadian readers will be disappointed that only a passing reference is made to the North American Free Trade discussions. Nevertheless, the collection is stimulating, comprehensive, and a very useful introduction to themes which will predominate international politics in the foreseeable decades.
The essays edited by Romberg and Yamamoto originated at a conference held in Osio Japan in December 1988. The general thesis of the book is that the United States and Japan should work to get along better in the international system because the costs of increased conflict would hurt both American and Japanese interests. This proposition is substantiated in William Gleysteen’s article in Sea Changes and readers may wish to consult his discussion of the regional implications for USA East Asian policy of increased Japanese-American tensions. Although Same Bed, Different Dreams has a more narrow focus than Sea Changes, its essays have less overall cohesion and have not survived the test of time as well. Of value in themselves, the articles do not always provide a systematic treatment of American and Japanese societies “in transition”. Furthermore, the linkage between popular opinion and policymaking is not precisely defined or rigorously evaluated. For example, Howard Shuman argues that overall trends in the USA are toward a more liberal orientation. Even if one accepts this proposition (perhaps a better case can be made that American society is becoming more polarized than less), how these trends are being translated into government or corporate strategy toward Japan is not made clear. Other evidence is cited to suggest that American and Japanese societies are moving in similar directions. Sumiko Iwao states that Japanese are emphasizing greater individuality, more respect for the role of women in the workplace, and less emphasis on productivity and greater emphasis on leisure activity. All these indicators are said to be mitigating competition between the two countries and providing an avenue and context for greater cooperation and peaceful coexistence. The extent to which non-western cultures are adopting western liberal values is a fascinating and valuable theme. However selective use of public opinion surveys can distort trends in the opposite direction and asking Japanese whether they feel equal, superior or inferior to Americans may not yield the most significant sociological insights into Japanese societal attitudes.
The essays on American and Japanese policy processes are interesting but the reader will have to look elsewhere for an analysis of specific issues in Japanese-American relations. A discussion of President Bush’s Japan strategy and the executive branch’s relations with Congress would have been helpful in setting the broader context for Japanese- American relations. All in all, researchers and academics are more likely to turn to this book for its individual contributions to comparative political science and sociology than for any overall systematic analysis of trends in Japanese-American relations.
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Originally published in bout de papier, Vol. 10, No. 1 (1993) — Winter 1993 // Hiver 1993, pp. 43–45. Read the rest of this issue →
