CIAO DATE: 05/02

Georgetown Journal of International Affairs

Volume 1, Number 1, Winter/Spring 2000

 

Editor’s Introduction to the Premier Issue
by Stephanie Kaplan & Ben Powell

 

The Georgetown Journal of International Affairs premieres in a new millennium wrought with growing contradictions and enduring tensions. Advances in communications technology and a growing acceptance of democracy and capitalism have effectively put interdependence on steroids. The disrupting forces of globalization now collide with the traditional order, redefining standard notions of security, identity, and the state itself. The consequences of this collision will determine how we come to understand–and define–this new era in international affairs.

A principal theme of this inaugural issue is that in a globalized world, no country can go it entirely alone. German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer writes that Europe and America’s future lie in increased cooperation, with a more independent Europe playing the role of “indispensable partner.” Frank Cilluffo and Paul Byron Pattak make the case for a stronger partnership between the public and private sectors to meet unprecedented security threats in cyberspace.

Despite the globalization revolution, however, old issues stubbornly persist. Our Forum contributors weigh in on religion’s role as a catalyst for conflict, an agent of peace, and a moral lens through which to view the world. John Osborn looks to history for an answer to peace in Northern Ireland, and Kenneth Waltz cites the past as evidence to explain why nuclear doctrines of old still apply in the post–Cold War world.

And all of this on the watch of a leader that does not always lead. As Richard Matthew argues, the United States has been more laggard than leader on international efforts to protect the environment. Washington, long a force in the global environmental movement, may today be “irrevocably out of touch with the rest of humankind.” Princeton Lyman echoes this sentiment, arguing that globalization has brought with it new challenges that firmly resist unilateral control and that will require a concerted public response.

How will nations, especially the United States, react to this unfamiliar world of growing contradictions and enduring tensions? With some humility, we hope. Towering over the world like a global colossus, a benign hegemon, or a drunken gorilla (depending on taste), the United States would be wise to follow John F. Kennedy’s intonation that with privilege comes responsibility. Today and into the foreseeable future, responsibility means applying vision, equanimity, reliability, and good faith to the conduct of statecraft. We hope the articles in our first issue contribute to this goal, and we hope that you enjoy reading them.

Ben Powell

Stephanie Kaplan