Hope for a New Global Order

The challenge Obama faces is in proportion to the hope that he has aroused: To recapture the torch of leadership for the free world, Barack Obama must also become the flag bearer for a green planet. Fortunately, the U.S. president has broken with the imperial egotism shamelessly displayed by his predecessor. As the aggressive policeman of international conflict and instigator of trouble himself, George Bush steered the course of the world according to the strict interests of the United States. Because of his crusading spirit, he has left behind a more divided and more dangerous world than the one he found. And with regard to environmental issues, he had voluntarily given the deplorable example of a nation indifferent to fate.

Adept at multilateralism, Obama has revived the dream of open and effective international cooperation. Yet, it is necessary that this noble ideal be translated into action. Thus the challenge for the Copenhagen conference is not just climate related. America must of course assume its share of the collective burden by accepting binding targets [for emissions reduction] and fight for another model of development. But this global meeting should also serve to set a precedent. It must, in short, go from one realpolitik to another. The mere combination of national interests and an intellectual framework based on strategies of the past is no longer sufficient to ensure the future of the planet. Instead, it is marching toward a global, democratic order that will now set the conditions for the future of humanity. It depends on Obama whether or not this necessary utopia undergoes a beginning that can be sustained.