Abstract
The end of the Cold War left the world without a structure of international relations. The first Bush Administration briefly flirted with the vague idea of a New World Order. The Clinton Administration pursued a policy of selective intervention with an emphasis on development of civil society and human rights, as in Bosnia and Kosovo. The second Bush Administration came to office preaching disengagement, unilateral pursuit of US interests, suspicion of multilateralism, preoccupation with threats from China and Russia, and a determination to implement an unproven national missile defense system. In the war on terrorism, the Bush Administration arranged a broad coalition of states to assist in responding to the attacks of September 1lth through military intervention in Afghanistan. But aside from driving the Taliban from power in Afghanistan and catching Osama Bin Laden, what shall be the course of this ware This essay, drawing on my involvement in the Balkans, suggests a strategy of engagement for US foreign policy, below and beyond the nation-state level. The United States must build civil society, rule of law, democracy, and open markets in countries that now breed terrorism, and develop a military capability to meet actual threats within a multilateral context.
Recommended Citation
Perritt, Henry H. Jr.
(2002)
"Lessons from the Balkans for American Foreign Policy: Building Civil Society within a Multilateral Framework,"
Chicago Journal of International Law:
Vol. 3:
No.
1, Article 20.
Available at:
https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/cjil/vol3/iss1/20