Use Others’ Eyes to See Yourself
Engagement versus confrontation is an incessant bipolarity of international relations. It is cyclical, with a period of intense competition and conflict suddenly giving way to co-operation and peacemaking. Here Mel Gurtov, professor emeritus at Portland State University and senior editor of Asian Perspective, navigates the bipolarity through cases of successful engagement (Us-cuba, Us-iran), halfway engagement (Us-china) and disengagement (Us-russia, Us-north Korea), as well as relations trapped in historical animosities (Israel-palestine, China-japan), from an idealistic “human interest” perspective that underscores human values such as empathy, respect, nonviolence and social justice.
Gurtov argues that the purpose of engagement is to improve one’s own security by enhancing mutual security. Therefore, it should aim at building trust and reducing tensions between adversaries, with due regard, even empathy, for the other party’s political, socioeconomic, cultural and historical circumstances. This book draws on both successful and unsuccessful case lessons: A fundamental key to success of engagement diplomacy is empathy, seeing the world through the other party’s eyes. If Chinese and Americans, Russians and Americans, Israelis and Palestinians, and North Koreans and Americans accept each other’s international legitimacy, acknowledge each other’s grievances and understand each other’s security needs, a genuine transformation would be possible. For this purpose, the author suggests building a collective dialogue mechanism for “collaborative security” in Northeast Asia.