Military Intervention

Richard Kugler outlines the eight main features of the current United States National Security Strategy. A few of the features Kugler mentions can be accomplished unilaterally, as they apply specifically to domestic strategies. Most of the National Security Strategy features are, however, better suited for multilateralism. As Kugler claims, "Many countries must now be internationalist in their outlook, and the United States more than others," (p. 37). The lofty goals of the National Security Strategy include humanitarian goals that transcend national boundaries altogether. In fact, multilateralism is implicit in the first six of the National Security strategies. Only the final two address issues that focus more on how the nation will develop its own institutions to respond to global needs. For example, the seventh feature, "Develop agendas for cooperative action with main centers of global power" encourages public policy initiatives and stimulates interest in diplomatic and humanitarian aid organizations: either governmental or non-governmental. The eighth feature reads, "Transform America's military and other national security initiatives." Clearly, strengthening America's military is a unilateral objective that requires a focused military agenda.

The remaining six features that Kugler identifies from the National Security Strategy are inherently multilateral. Championing aspirations for human dignity, the first feature, is vague but likely refers to issues related to gender, class, and social struggles worldwide. Resolving such struggles requires multilateral efforts. The second and third features, strengthening alliances to prevent and defeat global terrorism and working with others to defuse regional conflicts are explicitly cooperative in tone. Preventing enemies from threatening peace may require both multilateral and unilateral action, depending on the situation. Igniting a new era of global economic growth and expanding the circle of development both clearly require the cooperation of foreign markets, regional trade organizations, and the international private sector as well.

Reference

Kugler, Richard L. "A Distinctly American Internationalism for a Globalized World."