Introduction
In every democratic society, a country cannot survive on its own .It requires its neighboring countries to enhance its economic growth and development. To avoid conflict, all neighboring countries demarcate their borders to safeguard their resources and self-interest. Foreign policy relations enable countries to interact with each other especially in trading affairs and international policy discussions. To enhance a country’s external economies of scale dominance, it is necessary to observe the policies of other nations. Some countries advance their relations further to form a single union with common interests. For instance, United States of America was formed as a resolution of harmonious discussion among states that yielded a centralized government governing a collection of cities. (Herring, 2008)
Foreign relations policies are recognized and entrenched in the constitutions of every democratic country. This is important as the policies cannot be relevant without recognition of internal policies of a country. The international Act of law requires that all bilateral relations formed among a section of countries should be limited within the requirements of the international policy. In most countries, a department of foreign affairs is established and mandated to handle all external interactions with other countries. Foreign policies can be attributed to the global peace and development.
Foreign policies are designed by the legislature in consultation with their counterparts in other countries. Mutual agreements by a section of countries lead to establishment of a union or body to oversee the impact of such agreements. For example, the European Union Is a body mandated to oversee the relations of countries who subscribed to the treaty.
Foreign policy dates back to the times of Aristotle who argued that humans’ relations started since the evolution of humans. Besides philosophers’ deductions, the bible also details about human interactions, inter-clan conflicts and the social benefits of relations with foreigners. Some of the benefits of foreign relations include peace stability in the world, external economies of scale on trading and intercultural interaction. (Tight, 2005)
According to the article, the author highlights the challenges faced by America due to its involvement in other countries affairs. The citizens feel that the State is losing its grip in the world as its commitments collide to bring unsatisfying results
Main arguments
Most powerful countries should always lead over others to avoid international failure
People believed that the fighting that occurred in the world had caused devastation especially the relations among countries. The United States citizens thought that their country was the most affected due to its expansive political influence. After the World War 2 scholars and academicians prioritized their efforts towards studying the causes and effects of international relations in the world. The findings would no longer be kept in secret as this was thought to be the root cause of the world war.
Dominance of the powerful country in international matters could be dictatorial. This is evident when a developed nation offers its assistance to the nation in conflict and heartlessly restores peace through unorthodox approach. The country is left devastated with just one option, accepting the stay of the powerful country until peace is restored fully. Due to self-interest some members are partisan to the non reformists and take advantage in corrupting the countries resources for their own benefit. This double standard behavior inculcates hatred between the native and the foreigners and this could polarize the peaceful coexistence among the citizens.
Further, it causes inter-conflict between internal relations of both countries and foreign policy relations. The People Republic of China (PRC) has its own policies that guide them on how to relate with foreign nations. The china government has had a conflict of relations with the America over the way they handle foreign policies. China feels that America plays double standard with a motive of self –interest. This prompts china to play on the edge over foreign issues especially the sovereignty of every country. (Friedman, 2009)
Therefore I tend to differ, though not completely with the others opinion because dominance by one party may create biasness and cause future political turmoil in the world.
Multipolarity is unlikely to occur among states
The ideology about superiority of power has been attributed to possession of economic influence over the global economic trend of other nations. Power has for a long time been based on military personnel because the military is the defense weapon for any country against intruders.
With continued dominance of the United States military personnel, the author feels that the scenario is likely to change. However, countries continue to grow and their economic stabilities continue to improve by the day. Countries with strong economic resources will have an influence over the less economic developed. Their economic influence will determine the next powerful country and not possession of military personnel. (Joseph, 1990, p.155)
Therefore it is not logical for the author to claim that superiority power is unlikely to shift to other nations from the United States dominance. For instance, China’s economy has grown rapidly in the current century than the United States and its impact is felt in the African continent. China remains neutral on foreign policy interference and concentrates much on economic development. Its strategic approach has earned it praise over America in Africa. Further, China’s contribution to the international treaties has increased due to its economic power. China is a member of the United Nations Security council whose mandate is to ensure peaceful relations among the subscribed member states. China’s contribution is highly regarded since it’s an emerging economic giant. Therefore influence of a nation through its military personnel is likely to shift to other nations due economic development.
It is evident that America is not influential dominant in the current century. Other nations like Japan and China are slowly emerging to change the trend on influence of power.
Interdependence of countries has weakened the dominance power of United States
In the current century, no country can operate on its own. Each country has to observe and make rational decisions on the trending issues in the global perspective. The author claims that the most powerful nation will always dominate over others. However this scenario can change with time and the balance of power shift to the less dominating nation. United States has a lot of influence especially in resolving external conflicts among nations. This is because of its vast accumulation of resources needed to help resolve disputes. The nation also participates in decision making in the European Union member states where it can influence the amendment of treaties to suit their interests.
However, conflict of interest may interfere with the power dominance of a country .An influential nation will have to consider the interests of all nations in the world to ensure it does not contravene its foreign relations policy. For instance Peoples Republic of China (PRC) maintains a policy where its interactions with other nations would not interfere with the sovereignty of other nations. For the United States of America, the government has faced both criticism and praises with equal measures. (Hu, 2009) For instance, Its invasion on the dictatorial rule in Iraq portrayed the country as both a savior and destroyer of a nation. The government was toppled but the nation was left as wreckage. (Malone and Khong, 2003) These mixed results are the recipe of weakening influencnce of nation. Therefore, a nation’s interference with another’s sovereignty will always portray the helping nation as an enemy but cannot reduce its influence completely. This is due to its economic resources which remain intact. In addition the cost of assisting a nation is high and only the stable nations will afford to venture hence perpetual dominance
Other intangible factors are also influence international politics
America is technologically influential due to its sophisticated weapons which it uses to influence both internal and external affairs. However, technology being a growing entity, poses the risk of being toppled by other nations like North Korea which influences the world using their nuclear weapons. One of the inhibiting factors to technology is the cost to improve and maintain it to the standard level.
For instance, forex market is a platform where interdependence of nations is evident. In this sector, other exogenous variables determine the dominance of a nation. For instance, United States has for a long time dominated the currency value due to its stable economic environment. However the trend is changing slowly with other nations like China competing in the currency market. The currency market uses the Co-optive power strategy where a nation would influence other nations indirectly to use their currency for trading. This aspect gives the nation a higher influence over other nations. However this dominance is temporary and subject to fluctuations. Therefore, intangible factors may not completely alter the power dominance rather can only reduce the gap between the superpower and the average influential nations.
Conclusion
In summary powerful nations dominate over the less powerful due to their strong economic foundation. They utilize their resources to win over the support of other parties. However, their dominance cannot last forever due to the continued evolution of other nations. Economic development of other nations has strengthened their influence in the global decision perspective. America is facing a challenge from the eastern countries like China who have garnered considerable support among the developing nations. Developing nations, especially in the African continent are the key determining factors in the dominance of a nation. This is due to their foreign relations policies which maintain that the sovereignty of other nations precedes their own ambitions. Therefore, good foreign relations policies ensure that a nation is positively relevant in the world.
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