The United States needs a comprehensive foreign policy strategy that can provide stability and improve policy makers’ ability to manage emerging threats, according to a report released Wednesday by a Santa Monica-based think tank.
The Rand Corp. report asserts that a coherent international strategy will be difficult to achieve without a greater degree of domestic political consensus on the U.S. role in world affairs, and finds that political dysfunction is now the greatest obstacle to effective U.S. global leadership.
The United States is better positioned than any of its rivals to deal with the coming challenges — but it will need to shore up several critical vulnerabilities in order to protect and advance American security and prosperity, the report says.
“The next administration will have to deal with a growing military threat from both the Russians and Chinese, yet seek their cooperation on global security and economic issues,” said Andrew Hoehn, lead author of the report and Rand’s senior vice president for research and analysis.
“Dealing with these shifting relationships will, more than ever, require creative, multi-dimensional thinking and the ability to manage ambiguous relationships with governments that have both shared and conflicting interests,” he said.
In the report, Rand researchers assess the challenges that confront the U.S. on the international scene and outline the core national interests that any foreign policy should satisfy. They also spotlight key challenges such as Russia, China, the Middle East, national defense, climate changes and domestic policy issues related to national strength that will require attention from the Trump administration.
The report offers three plausible alternative strategic concepts, each reflecting aspects of the contemporary political debate: domestic renewal and international restraint; America as promoter of world order; and an agile America that adapts foreign and domestic policies primarily to become more economically competitive in a changing world.
For each option, the report analyzes the underlying assumptions, objectives, degrees of international activism, budgetary implications, constraints and risks.
–City News Service