Regaining economic strength should be a geopolitical priority where trade is not a subordinate of national-security but is national security,” Clyde Prestowitz. In his personal statement of 7th October 2010 to mark the 40th anniversary of Fiji’s Independence, US President Barrack Obama, affirmed his support for the Fiji Government by stating, “The people of our nations enjoy a friendship founded on the mutual commitments of our societies to peace, freedom, rule of law and democratic ideals." And declared, “I am confident that we will build ever closer ties between our countries.” Ironically though, Prime Minister Bainimarama chose to celebrate Fiji’s 40th Anniversary of Independence attending the World Expo in Shanghai engaging, with new friend China where he stated that since Fiji lost out to Australia, New Zealand and America, in terms of much needed aid for infrastructure, water and electricity. China stepped in and provided the aid for these projects. My argument follows that the Obama administration has made a difference to US-Fiji relations in differentiating itself from the isolationist policies portrayed against Fiji by its traditional allies and some international organizations. In terms of its foreign policy, and what can be seen as a geopolitical move, the United States is rebalancing its shift towards the Asia-Pacific region where military, political, trade and investment will be priorities. Although United States National Security advisor, Donilon insists this is not a containment of China, the proverbial outlook is that the central factor driving President Obama’s pivot back to the Asia-Pacific region with the redeployment of American priorities and military forces away from Europe and the Middle East to Asia i... ... middle of paper ... ... reassessment of national security and geopolitical priorities where the decline of U.S. influence in Asia is not the outcome of lacking in military power and presence but the eroding competitiveness. To this effect USAID has opened up trade, investment opportunities in Fiji and its regional partners including climate change projects that in the future would lead to sustaining trade and employment of the American people. Influence of Obama’s Pacific Pivot on Fiji’s ‘Look North Policy’ The Pacific pivot would be the counterweight against the ‘The Look North Policy’, where China has become a major aid donor and Russia is supporting Fiji’s peacekeeping in the United Nations. The influence has only brought about a balancing of old and new partnerships, where the United States and traditional allies are no longer hegemonic interests in Fiji’s foreign policy. With global
As the United States developed into a world economic power, it also became a military and political power. Certain things led Americans to become more involved in world affairs, such as territorial growth. There were also consequences to the nation’s new role, like conflict between citizens and people of power. United States government and leaders had to learn the “hard way”, the challenges and negativity that they would face, such as loss of money and lack of control between certain nations, and the positive effects such as expansion of territory and alliances.
Without understanding the importance of foreign relations the American people’s way of life could be at stake. Not only could the economic strength of the U.S. diminish, but the military might of the U.S. could also be compromised. Mead argues that without the centrality of foreign policy being evident in American politics the happiness of the world is at risk. “Since the United States has become the central power in a worldwide system of finance, communications, and trade, it is not only the American people whose happiness and security will be greatly affected by the quality of American foreign policy in coming years (Mead 176). I contend that without a strong emphasis on foreign policy, we could begin to see the end of American
Thomas Wright’s “The Fall of the Unipolar Concert” describes the decline of U.S. global power to other states like Russia and China. It claims that these countries have been initiating revisionist and power balancing measures that threaten U.S. global hegemony. Russia brings back a light red scare by annexing Crimea to stop the expansion of the European Union and NATO, building up its military capabilities, and executing special military operations (Wright, 8). China has strengthen its claims on the South China Sea through aggressive marine operations which have created tensions with Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and the United States. China has station and intimidated the surrounding countries where they claim as their economic exclusion zones while blocking the U.S.’s freedom to navigate the waters.
Mingst, K. A. (2011). Essentials of international relations. (5th ed., p. 78). New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company.
In 1776, even as Adam Smith was championing the ideals of a free market economy, he recognized that the interests of national security far outweighed the principles of free trade. More then two centuries later, that sentiment proves to still be accurate and in use. Since the early 1900s, the United States has used this precept to defend its position on trade barriers to hostile nations, and through the majority of the century, that predominantly referred to the Soviet Union and its allies.
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate how the growing Chinese presence in Kenya affects the United States’ international interests. In order to do this, we must look at how China was able to create such a presence, what the U.S. did or failed to do to alleviate this, Kenya’s view on both the U.S. and China, and if the U.S. would benefit from expanding or decreasing economic investments in the country.
It is somehow strange for today’s reader to find out that the situation with America’s foreign affairs hasn’t changed much. As some clever people have said, “The History book on the shelf is always repeating itself.” Even after nineteen years, Americans think of themselves as citizens of the strongest nation in the world. Even after the September the 11th. Even after Iraq. And Afghanistan.
INTRODUCTION : a brief overview of the current situation regarding the security issue in the Pacific region
" Journal of International Affairs 52.2 (1999): 691. Academic Search Elite -. Web. The Web. The Web.
Roskin, M., & Berry, N. (2010). IR: The new world of international relations: 2010 edition (8th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Longman/Pearson Education.
A nation that possesses strong industry, a favorable trade balance, and a lack of dependency upon foreign states is optimum. This ideology is one that has been strongly advocated throughout America’s existence, by politicians from Alexander Hamilton to Pat Buchanan. When a nation faces a trade deficit, it means that competing states are producing more efficiently, and ultimately making profiting. Also, a deficit means that industry and jobs, which could exist domestically, are being “stolen” by foreign nations. According to mercantile policy, this is a zero-sum game; when a competitor is winning, we are losing. The United States faces this situation, having evolved from the world’s largest creditor nation during and following World War II to its current position as the world’s largest debtor. Because America imports much more than it exports, an additional 600 billion dollars is needed every year to balance the equation. This money is “borrowed” through the sale of government assets, sometimes to domestic investors, but increasingly to foreign ones. Many circumstances can be blamed for this situation: cheap foreign labor, foreign government subsidy, and closed foreign markets, among others. The question therefore arises: how to negate obstacle...
The Instability of China–US Relations", The Chinese Journal of International Politics 3, no. 3 (2010): 263-292, http://cjip.oxfordjournals.org/content/3/3/263.
... The Costs of US Hegemony: Military Power, Military Spending, and US Trade Performance. Sage.
Realist perspective explains globalization in terms of the relative distribution of power (Nau 2007, 278). In their opinion, trade and economic activities thrives “only under favorable security conditions,” and those conditions rely on the relative distribution of power (Nau 2007, 279). They believe that alliances and hegemony are the two most affirmative security conditions. “’Free trade is more likely within than across political-military alliances; and …alliances have had a much stronger effect on trade in a bipolar than in to a multipolar world.’” (Nau 2007, 279) In other words, the fewer dominating states with power there are in the system, the stronger is the alliance and its effect on trade. In a multipolar world, countries cannot trust each other in trade because alliances are rarely permanent and therefore, countries might use the gains from trade to increase its military power and threaten to cause damage to the other country. Thus, realists argue that,
Fedman, David. "Rethinking Asia: “Smart Power” and US-China Policy." The Olive & Arrow. The Word Press, 8 Mar. 2009. Web. 18 Nov. 2011. .