The challenge of unilateralism (Henry C K Liu, 7/01/06, Asia Times)
State policies or actions are deemed “unilateral” if they have significant impacts on people in other states but undertaken by a single state without the mandate of bilateral or multilateral treaties or in violation or defiance or rejection of such treaties.
US unilateralism did not start with the administration of President George W Bush. Its moralistic roots lie in Christian Right influence on US foreign policy after World War II, especially over policy on China. It was the ideological basis for the Cold War, with a self-righteous superpower leading subservient allies who did not have the wherewithal to resist it. It has continued after the end of the Cold War even as allies attempt to assert increasing independence with the disappearance of perceived Soviet threat. The huge power differential between the US as the sole remaining superpower and its former subservient allies gave the United States a natural claim to, and de facto privilege of, unilateralism.
Which begs the question: when has America ever not been primarily a unilateral actor driven by Judeo-Christian moralism? It’s especially dubious to date the unilateral period from after the presidencies of TR, Wilson and FDR.
