Fixing Uncle Sam’s Image Problem

That said, the United States is still the world's strongest country. That means it has plenty of cards to play. As well as formidable hard power, Washington retains significant soft power—the ability to attract, not compel. Foreign elites still dream of sending their kids to U.S. universities (indeed, all three of my children are happy to study there). More broadly, the American Dream continues to excite the imagination of young people everywhere. Were such assets deployed more intelligently, Washington could work wonders.

That's especially so because Americans can't get everything they want through threats or force alone. Take the Islamic world, with some 1.2 billion inhabitants. Nowhere is the U.S. image problem worse. Again, the problem stems from poor policies, especially toward the Palestinian territories. During the cold war, Washington tried to maintain an evenhanded policy in the region. But since the Berlin Wall fell, Americans have dropped this evenhandedness in favor of a strong pro-Israel bias. American neocons are right to say that solving the Arab-Israeli conflict wouldn't magically resolve all of America's image problems. But it would get rid of the main source of poison. Indeed, the United States, Israel and the Palestinians would all profit from a quick move toward a two-state solution. Compromise is critical; America is no longer as mighty as it once was, and it has to learn to be pragmatic.

A similar pragmatism should apply to India and China. Washington should work to ensure their emergence as modern, rules-based countries—and not try to stand in their way. China's rise is unstoppable, as is India's. Best, therefore, to manage their ascendance intelligently. Fortunately, America and China (and India) have many common interests. Global warming, energy shortages, financial crises and health epidemics affect Americans, Chinese and Indians alike, and require cooperation to address.

This brings us to another key point: the need for multilateralism. The Bush administration got things badly wrong by acting as if U.S. security could be enhanced by demolishing or ignoring key agreements, like the Kyoto accords or the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. Yet this radical unilateralism only endangered the United States, by undermining the strong global consensus that restrains regimes like North Korea. While Americans like to show off their toughness by mocking multilateralism, strategic thinking shows that the United States is well served by strengthening, not undermining, international cooperation.

Fortunately, the economic meltdown may have finally changed Americans' views on this question. The crisis showed how vulnerable the United States is and how, to avert a broader depression, U.S. policymakers must coordinate their response with officials in places like London, Beijing, Singapore and Tokyo. During the Asian financial crisis of 1997, American leaders were able to comfortably dish out prescriptions without worrying about America's own vulnerabilities. Not today: Fed chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson have needed international cooperation to stem the contagion.

All this suggests that the first step to fixing America's image problem will be for Washington to acknowledge that, despite its power, the United States is not invulnerable. If it's going to thrive in today's interconnected world, it needs new habits of cooperation based on a healthy respect for the interests of everyone else. Much of the world remains well disposed to the United States. But America needs to reciprocate this good will by listening carefully to voices from around the globe and trying to work with them. A little pragmatism in place of post-cold-war hubris will go a long way, enhancing U.S. security and creating a better world in the process.

Mahbubani is dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore and the author, most recently, of “The New Asian Hemisphere: The Irresistible Shift of Global Power to the East.”

© 2008