American exceptionalism has led to America’s growing rejection of cooperative solutions and diplomatic approaches to global challenges. For the past quarter-century, the United States has turned its back on almost all UN treaties, refusing to sign or ratify several important agreements reached by all or almost all other UN member states. We have gone from being the creator and inspirer of the United Nations to a rogue nation that rejects UN initiatives for the perverse reason that most other nations endorse them.
American aloofness and often outright hostility to diplomacy comes at an odd time. The world community has recently shown that it can agree on many important matters. The most important global agreements in recent years are Agenda 2030, which commits all nations to sustainable development and the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (17 SDGs), and the Paris Climate Agreement, which commits all nations to work cooperatively toward limiting global warming to “well below 2 degrees Celsius.” Recent experience also points to the high returns from well-designed and well-targeted development assistance, which in recent years has proven its worth in fighting diseases such as AIDS, tuberculosis (TB), and malaria.
In this section I suggest that the United States would benefit enormously by adopting a UN-oriented foreign policy, one that aims to bolster the UN Charter and the work of UN institutions rather than resist them. Global cooperation can prevent or end wars through cooperative diplomacy in the UN Security Council, while sustainable development can be promoted through the 17 SDGs and the remarkable work of UN specialized agencies.
In the final chapter, I summarize ten major steps to creating a new U.S. foreign policy based on diplomacy and sustainable development. Such a foreign policy is our best chance for true security, enhanced well-being, and a better world for coming generations.