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International Relations of the Asia-Pacific
Dealing With Dictators: Westphalian And American Strategies
by K.J. Holsti
Abstract
The 1648 Westphalia settlement contained a recipe for the tolerance of political and religious diversity within states. Until the twentieth century, European governments generally tolerated a plurality of political forms. Breaking with the Westphalian tradition, the Bolsheviks were the first to deny moral and diplomatic legitimacy to 'bourgeois' regimes. Although the United States has recognized, placated and supported a number of dictatorships, it has also used extreme measures to oust regimes that do not meet unspecified tests of democracy. The United States, breaking ranks with the UN Security Council strategy of containing Hussein, has sought to destroy him through bombing. The Rambouillet agreement, I argue, was a case of 'faux' diplomacy, an ultimatum designed to provoke Milosevic to war. American responses to political diversity in the world raise a number of important questions about the continuation of the Westphalian tradition. Are we to have a world of political heterogeneity or homogeneity? If the latter, who will decide on the criteria for inclusion in the club of states, and how will the decisions be made?