“Better for all,” the missing piece in America’s Grand Strategy
The national security community is obligated to provide the American people a feasible grand strategy centered on pursuing better outcomes for the global community. In this era of great power competition, the country is at risk of overextending by competing in all domains without some guiding principles and a poorly informed public. This is a crucial lesson learned from the estimated $2 Trillion war in Iraq and Afghanistan. To quote scripture, “Where there is no vision, the people perish,” and it would be foolish to say we left better outcomes for these countries. Now we are engaged in great power competition, testing whether our democracy or any democracy, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. At least that’s my impression, that this is a contest between autocracy and democracy. A competition to maintain international norms, freedom of the seas, access to markets and reap the benefits of foundational technology. President Biden has taken positive steps to bring back U.S leadership: strengthening the transatlantic alliance, G7 agreements, the Quad, cyber defense initiatives, climate initiatives, cooperating on global health, funding the innovation ecosystem, etc.
Nevertheless, the “forever wars” have taught the American people that our hubris is overconfidence. Therefore, the administration must start a public education campaign to communicate our complex landscape and articulate our grand strategy. The primary reason is that engaging with complexity will help inoculate the country from opportunistic political leaders trafficking simple narratives about international relations. A public education campaign will allow the community to provide feedback and free the political landscape for more policy experimentation. The 2nd reason is that we can come to terms with our limitations by engaging with complexity as a country. In the words of Moises Naim, “power is decaying.”[3] The landscape is full of new influential players; international organizations are ineffectual, illiberal democracies are on the rise, and developing countries have more options. Moreover, the poor performance of western countries at the onset of the pandemic highlights global issues that require international cooperation.
If the United States is to “win” in the era of great power competition, initiatives to “counter and compete” are inadequate. The administration should articulate its vision for the future. For me, maintaining the rules-based order is a poor goal post. This is clear when we examine global inequality, cyclical humanitarian issues, and our inability to prevent state-sanctioned violence. The administration has the opportunity to communicate that the international order is failing the global south and brainstorm bold reforms. A commitment to creating a better international order for all and that a core component of this is expanding human freedoms through democratic institutions is a solid grand strategy. This framework communicates to the world our core values and moves away from a cold war mentality. This administration can popularize the Sustainability Development Goals and help our community to participate in SDGs projects. For example, the climate crisis is existential for the world, and we need to continue scenario planning on how to mitigate the cost for the global community. And that goes further than climate commitments, but investments specifically for the most vulnerable. At the heart of that can be a commitment to decolonize the aid sector, create consistent funding for mitigation efforts, and move critical infrastructure to the global south. The political economy also requires a reset because we see the global architecture leads to divestment and overly privileged corporation. The race to set the agenda for innovation should have commitments from American corporations to ensure that they have an in-house discussion on ethics. In addition, we can help young entrepreneurs navigate and participate in emerging economies.
Finally, as we think of ways to operationalize our values to ensure an equitable future for all, we must continue to learn from our mistakes and think critically about what a just world looks like. As the administration works on restoring our credibility abroad, it should remind us that foreign policy starts at home. We must continue to pursue justice for the BIPOC community, achieve gender parity, champion LGBTs rights, the rights of the differently-abled and strengthen our institutions. Furthermore, we should continue discussing historical wrongdoings with the world because embarking on a journey of repairing, restoring, and reconciliation would make us shine. We have an opportunity to set the stage for the next phase in history, and the helm of that should be that we built a better world for all.
