America’s Superpower Panic
interests in limited government, mercantile prosperity, and anti-Catholicism formed the basis of a durable alliance in which the Dutch were the junior partner. Or, as a viral slogan of the 1700s more bluntly put it, there would be “no popery or wooden shoes!” – the latter being a contemporary symbol of French poverty. And with British backing, the Dutch remained independent, rather than falling involuntarily under French control.
More than a century later, imperial Britain eventually adopted a similar strategy of engagement and cooperation with America. This culminated, as Harold Macmillan unwisely (because too publicly) put it when he was seconded to General Eisenhower’s staff in North Africa during World War II, in Britain playing Greece to America’s Rome. As a result, the US became Britain’s staunchest geopolitical ally of the twentieth century.
Today, US policymakers could learn much by studying the actions of the Dutch Republic and Britain when they were global hyperpowers pursuing soft landings. In addition, they should read “The Sources of Soviet Conduct”, the 1947 article by US diplomat George F. Kennan that advocated a US policy of containment toward the Soviet Union.
Three of Kennan’s points stand out. First, he wrote, US policymakers should not panic, but recognize what the long game is and play it. Second, America should not try to contain the Soviet Union unilaterally, but rather assemble broad alliances to confront, resist, and sanction it. Third, America should become its best self, because as long as the struggle between the US and Soviet systems remained peaceful, liberty and prosperity would ultimately be decisive.
But since taking office in January 2017, Trump has steadfastly ignored such advice. Instead of forming alliances to contain China, Trump withdrew the US from the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal. And he continues to make random, incoherent demands – such as immediately eliminating the bilateral US-China trade deficit.
Rather than carefully playing the long game with regard to China, Trump seems to be panicking. And, increasingly, China and the world know it.
Copyright: Project Syndicate, www.project-syndicate.org 2019.