Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
In a world of diffuse and transnational threats, the problem of security interdependence be-
comes even more severe. Put simply, there are more people in more places around the globe
who can matter to American security. So what these people do and how they live matter in
ways that were irrelevant in earlier eras—at least irrelevant in relation to national security.
The ability of states in all parts of the world to maintain the rule of law, uphold internation-
al commitments, and engage in monitoring and enforcement of security agreements matters.
The presence of weak or failed states in remote regions of the world matters. The socioeco-
nomic fortunes of states—that is, the ability of states to satisfy their citizens—matter.
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Given these circumstances, the United States has an incentive to seek greater cooperation
with other states. It will want to rebuild and expand the authority and capacities of the inter-
national community to engage in multifaceted collective action—ongoing tasks that include
arms control, state building, economic assistance, conflict prevention, WMD safeguarding,
disaster relief, and technology sharing. It will find itself increasingly involved with other
states to create more extensive forms of security cooperation and capacity building.
The Obama administration appears to have put the problem of security interdependence
at the center of its foreign policy vision. President Obama has argued consistently and re-
peatedly in speeches and policy declarations that American national security is increasingly
tied to the security of others. The United States and other countries cannot be secure alone;
they can only be secure together. Around the world, what people do and how they live matter
in ways that were irrelevant in earlier eras. The Obama administration's focus on reviving the
Non-Proliferation Treaty and its agenda for radical reductions in nuclear weapons, together
with its emphasis on development, human security, and multilateral cooperation, are markers
in the Obama administration's attempt to craft American foreign policy for an era of escalat-
ing security interdependence.
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Rising economic and security interdependence is creating incentives for the United States
to seek new and more extensive forms of multilateral cooperation. Other states will also find
themselves responding to these incentives for cooperation. Major states disagree on the spe-
cific ways in which economic and security cooperation should proceed. Nonetheless, the Un-
ited States and these other leading states will have reasons to avoid a breakdown in multilat-
eral order itself. They will increasingly find reasons to experiment in new and more extensive
forms of formal and informal collaboration.
Hegemonic Power and Strategic Restraint
American support for rule-based order will also stem from a grand-strategic interest in pre-
serving its power and creating a stable and legitimate international order. Whether unipolar-
ity is long lasting or in slow decline, the United States has incentives—as it has had in the
past—to facilitate the building of rules and institutions that reinforce and legitimize its power.
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