Review: The Crisis of American Foreign Policy
| Author | Sergio Fabbrini |
| Date | 01 December 2009 |
| Published date | 01 December 2009 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070200906400422 |
| Subject Matter | Review |
| International Journal | Autumn 2009 | 1157 |
| Reviews |
administration’s diplomatic preferences, but he concludes that the
Americans and the Europeans po ssess too many reasons for wanti ng to
cooperate for anyone to desire a replay of the recent transatlantic troubles.
It is a conclusion with which the book’s final chapter, by Laurent Cohen-
Tanugi, is in basic agreement. To this Paris-based international lawyer, there
will be a growing and not a diminishing need for transatlantic cooperation
in the comin g decades. More over, h e suspects (though things could go
wrong) that elites on both sides of the Atlantic will rise to the challenge of
crafting policy so as to advance interests they hold in common. In a thinly
veiled criticism of Robert Kagan’s depiction of the geopolitical solar system,
one in which with transatlantic strife is caused by America’s being from Mars
and Europe’s from Venus, Cohen-Tanugi reminds his readers that, to the
contrary, “American and European views of the twenty-first century’s world
have…become closer, with Europe’s awakening from its pacifist dream and
Washington’s rediscovery of the virtues of soft power” (222).
David G. Haglund/Queen’s University
THE CRISIS OF AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY
Wilsonianism in the Twenty-first Century
G. John Ikenberry, Thomas J. Knock, Anne-Marie Slaughter, and Tony Smith
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2009. 157pp, US$24.95 cloth
ISBN 978-0-691-1396-2
Speaking before the United Nations general assembly on 22 September
2009, American President Barack Obama recognized that he took office “at
a time when many around the world had come to view America with
skepticism and distrust.” “Part of this,” he said, “was due to opposition to
specific policies, and a belief that on certain critical issues, America has acted
unilaterally, without regard for the interests of others. And this has fed an
almost reflexive anti-Americanism.” Determined to change those “specific
policies,” Obama has pledged to open a new era of multilateral cooperation.
In fact, he stressed that “we’ve also re-engaged the United Nations. We have
paid our bills. We have joined the Human Rights Council. We have signed
the Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities…and we address
our priorities here, in this institution—for instance, through the Security
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