Value-Based Foreign Policy, Yet …

Given the current state of American democracy, it is unrealistic to say that moral superiority is the United States’ guiding foreign policy principle.

Usually, established doctrines characterize the foreign policy principles and strategies of U.S. presidents. For example, the essence of former President George W. Bush’s Bush Doctrine, which developed post-9/11, was to unilaterally assert U.S. national security interests even, if necessary, through military incursion. The Iraq and Afghanistan wars arose from this doctrine. Former President Donald Trump’s “America First” doctrine essentially sought to unilaterally advance the economic interests of the United States, with little distinction between allied and hostile nations. What will the Biden Doctrine be? We will have a better understanding in the coming months when the president’s national security strategy is established. Based on statements made by the new president and his foreign policy staff so far, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Biden Doctrine is labeled “America Is Back.” This indicates that after the isolationist Trump cycle and lack of world leadership, Washington is returning to the world stage to sit at “the head of the table.”

During his presidential campaign, Joe Biden identified himself as anti-Trump and said that the main goal of his foreign policy would be to restore America’s moral and global leadership in the world. After Trump, America must lead the world, not through economic and military power, but rather with the example of American values and democracy. This goal is in line with traditional foreign policy “idealists.” Former Democratic Secretaries of State Madeleine Albright and Hillary Clinton are strong examples, who proclaimed America’s “exceptionality,” “indispensability,” and “moral superiority” with religious passion.

President Biden has appointed individuals to key government positions who share his foreign policy philosophy of focusing on morals, human rights and democracy. Secretary of State Antony Blinken described America as the “last best hope on Earth.”

[https://usunrome.usmission.gov/meet-americas-new-secretary-of-state-antony-blinken/]

Blinken explained the need for Washington’s world leadership by describing the alternative: chaos in the international system, or others (mainly China) taking global control. A “democratic recession” would spread around the world, from which China and Russia would take geopolitical advantage. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan talked about the resurgence of faith in America’s exceptionalism and global leadership and that American ideological values must be at the forefront of foreign policy. According to Sullivan’s exaggerated take, “China may ultimately present a stronger ideological challenge than the Soviet Union did, even if it does not explicitly seek to export its system.”

[https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2020/02/07/refocusing-the-china-debate-beijings-ideological-exports-and-the-question-of-who-lost-china/]

While much of the world welcomes America’s return to the world order based on mutually agreed upon rules and norms, President Biden must reckon with the fact that, after Trump, Washington faces a lack of confidence from both its major allies and opponents. By strengthening world organizations, international conventions, treaties and international agreements that were weakened by President Trump, Washington can repair its damaged credibility and trustworthiness with time. Considering the critical current state of U.S. domestic policy (deep social divisions and inequalities, systemic racism, extreme partisanship, a dysfunctional governmental system, questionable electoral system, domestic terrorism that led to the siege of the Capitol), echoing America’s moral and ideological leadership role seems resoundingly outdated. Richard Haass, prominent president of the liberal Council on Foreign Relations, shares a similar view. According to him, it is not wise of the new administration to elevate the democracy campaign as the central focus of its foreign policy. “Biden is right to criticize Russia and China for violating the rule of law, but he cannot force their hand. Putin and Xi [Jinping] are prepared to pay the price of sanctions to maintain control, and we cannot hold the entire relationship with either country hostage to human rights, as we have other vital interests to consider,” Haass said.

[https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/the-world-likes-biden-but-doubts-the-us-can-reclaim-global-leadership]

The strategic challengers of the United States, Russia and China, are not interested in the ideological battle. Strategic competition between superpowers today is essentially about geopolitical influence and expansion. When it comes to democracy and human rights, Beijing and Moscow can easily tell Biden to take care of his own backyard first. Biden will certainly strengthen the American-led security cooperation called the Quad group, also known as “Asian NATO,” its other members being Japan, Australia and India. Beijing treats these plans as a hostile conspiracy. It will increase military tensions between the two countries, as Biden’s goal is to ensure “freedom of navigation” by strengthening the U.S. Navy in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait.

Even larger than the American (by more than $6 trillion), the Chinese consumer market is an irresistible attraction for a number of export-oriented countries. So, it is to be expected that Asian allies will minimize their involvement in Washington’s ideological and human rights campaign against China, as well as in strategic actions aimed at halting and weakening their economy, because of their close economic ties to China. The situation is similar for European countries, which are highly dependent on the Chinese market. For example, the German car industry would not exist without the huge Chinese market, as one in three German cars is sold to China and several German car companies have already outsourced part of their production. German geoeconomic nationalism is trying to find an equal distance for itself between the West and East (China and Russia).

The new Washington was disappointed to realize that the European Union signed a comprehensive investment agreement with Beijing a few weeks ago, without even waiting for Biden to take office. The agreement, created under German pressure, makes no mention of the treatment of the Uighur minority in the Xinjiang province. The Trump administration called it genocide and the Biden administration has taken a similar position. Committed to transatlantic cooperation, the Biden administration can likewise count on limited European partnership with regard to political sanctions against Russia, especially from the Germans and the French. (President Biden considers the Nord Stream 2 Russian-German gas pipeline “bad” too and will potentially sanction the project, but he cannot expect Berlin to backtrack from committing to economic cooperation with the Russians — regardless of the Navalny situation.)

Freedom House in Washington highlighted the recent “democratic recession,” i.e., the decline of democratic systems. In addition, during Trump’s presidency, autocratic and populist regimes around the world have found courage and strength. There is a real danger of further global erosion to democratic values. Biden therefore sees the strengthening of democracy as so important that he had already mentioned during his campaign that in the very first year of his presidency, he would convene a global summit for democracy in Washington where he would “honestly confront countries that are backsliding.” (The Biden administration includes among them the European countries Turkey, Hungary, and Poland.)

[https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2020-01-23/why-america-must-lead-again]

At the summit, they will discuss how nations in the free world can protect their democratic institutions from corruption, electoral misconduct, disinformation in the mass media, domestic terrorism and the dangers of an emerging autocratic model. The democracy summit is an integral part of the Biden Doctrine and is expected to take place later this year. Washington will be confidently humble and will not be busy teaching lessons — or at least so they say on the banks of the Potomac.