Indispensable Nation Thesis Statement

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Issue 1: Should the United States Seek to Remain the Indispensable Country?

Ted Galen Carpenter, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, challenges conventional wisdom and argues that the United States should not seek to remain the indispensable nation in the international system in “Delusions of Indispensability”. Carpenter depicts the concept of the U.S seeking to remain the indispensable nation as “dubious” and a “blueprint for strategic overextension” of resources leading to a “failed paradigm” (Pg.19). Carpenter frames his argument against the indispensable nation thesis around the following topics: unilateralism versus multilateralism, U.S. engagement as binary light switch, the failure to acknowledge that U.S. engagement can take different …show more content…

policy of acting reaming indispensable and acting unilaterally by providing examples of what differentiates the supporters of unilateralism from multilateralism. He acknowledges that while there are supporters of a multilateralist foreign policy approach, those supports have tendency to be weary if the U.S. is not in control or leading the situation at hand. Supporters of the indispensable nation policy collectively believe that there would be global chaos, resulting in numerous negative repercussions for the U.S. if it decided to reduce its role in global engagements. These supporters have also instilled the idea that the world is dependent on the U.S. to maintain international peace and prevent global …show more content…

The reason being the leadership and credibility U.S. seem to be at risk indefinitely and it is inevitable that both will likely suffer when the U.S. policies of indispensability run into their practical limits of power.

In the next section of Carpenter’s argument, he discusses the failure of the U.S. to recognize the different forms of engagement options. The most constructive alternative to the current indispensable policy is the consortium model of regional actors that has the U.S. serving as the “first among equals” (pg.24) allowing the U.S. to off-load security responsibilities as well as adopting a more detached strategic role would benefit the U.S. at minimal

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