Mr Magoo Abroad

In the October 22 issue of TNR , Walter Russell Mead compares American foreign policy to Mr Magoo, since it seems to “wanter nearsightedly but relatively unscathed past one hazard after another.” The pattern goes back at least to the Jefferson administration, and Mead quickly summarizes Magoo’s foreign policy through World War I and II, the Cold War, and into the Bush Presidency.

How does it work? How does Mr Magoo avoid the open manhole? Mead answers: “In a classic Bismarckian state, a single genius masters the complexities of the international system, calculates the national interest, and pursues it in a multidimensional chess game, matching his wits against the ministers of rival states. By contrast, in the American system, bureaucracies, parties, industry groups, advocacy organizations, ethnic lobbies, and others wreste over foreign policy. We don’t have a single pilot steering our ship of state; we have a brawl on the poop deck as everyone on board scrambles for the chance to get his or her hands on the wheel.” The reason is works is because “over time, the resulting foreign policy generally reflects the views and interests of American society as a whole.”

More, US foreign policy aims often resonate with the aspirations of other nations: “our core strategic interests - liberal society, global economic growth, geopolitical stability - fit well with the interests and aspirations of other people around the world. They remain popular even when U.S. policy is widely disliked; when we fail to achieve our goals, others often do the work for us.”

Mead thus thinks there’s somethign to Bismarck’s claim that God has a special providence for drunks, fools, and the USA.