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| American Power and Global Security |
The People Speak
| Updated Nov. 26, 2004 Webmaster |
UCO hosts foreign policy forum
Experts spoke last week on U.S. involvement in the world
and on global security to an audience of about 50.
by Michael Robertson - Staff Writer
The Vista (UCO Student Newspaper)
October 19, 2004
Approximately fifty people gathered in the Nigh University Center Oct. 12 to participate in the "American
Power and Global Security" discussion about the United States' foreign policy. The event was part of
"The People Speak" series of community forums, designed to stimulate discussion among the public
about current political issues.
The event was funded by the United Nations Foundation and co-sponsored by the Oklahoma Campus
Compact and the Greater Oklahoma Chapter of the United Nations Foundation.
A panel of experts spoke on issues of foreign policy, including: Dr. Don Betz, UCO provost and
vice-president for Academic Affairs; Dr. Randal Jones, UCO political science professor; Retired General
Dennis J. Reimer, director of the National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism; Dr. John
Cragin, political science professor at Oklahoma Baptist University; and Dr. David Nixon, department head
and associate professor of political science at OSU.
Sue Darst Tate, director of the Alternative Dispute Resolution System for the Oklahoma Supreme Court,
moderated the forum. She opened it with comments from each panel member, asking them to talk about
the different forms of power available to America when dealing with other countries.
Gen. Reimer spoke first, citing the collapse of the Soviet Union and the subsequent end of the Cold War
in December 1989 as the time when America's position in the world changed.
"(The Cold War) was a world we understood," Reimer said. "We hadn't thought through what would
happen if the Soviets collapsed."
Reimer went on to identify military, moral, economic, and diplomatic powers as the primary tools available
to the United States when making foreign policy.
Betz went second, agreeing with Reimer on the importance of the end of the Cold War as it pertains to
America's current relationship with the world. He also emphasized the importance of the United States'
moral responsibilities when engaged in conflict resolution.
Dixon then referred to an incident in 1618, in which the Pope sent a tax collector to Prague, who was
killed as a gesture of rebellion against the Holy Roman Empire's authority.
Dixon said this incident marked the beginning of the modern nation state as an autonomous political
entity, and that the current trend toward globalization is undermining the distinctive independence of
nation states, thereby causing conflict between them.
Jones said that the Cold War was a bi-polar, fear-driven system, in which both sides had comparable
military power. He said that with weapons pointed at each other, the United States and the Soviet Union
functioned as a sort of "system of checks and balances" for each other.
Jones said that with the collapse of the Soviet Union, there hasn't been another superpower to keep the
U.S. in check, so he said it could be easy for the U.S. to become arrogant in their exercise of power.
"Where does the eight-hundred pound gorilla go? Wherever the eight-hundred pound gorilla wants to
go," Jones said.
Jones said that while the "check" of the Soviet Union is gone, there are new checks emerging in the
world, mostly economic, like the European Union, OPEC, and China.
"We need them," Jones said. "We need their products. We need their oil. We need their markets, we
need their jobs."
Cragin talked about the feelings he's had when traveling, being delayed on his flights so the baggage
crew could search the luggage hold for bombs. He said he also takes different views on terrorism abroad
because he is concerned about his daughter and son-in-law traveling around the world. He said it's
difficult to be objective about it when it could affect him so closely.
Tate then opened the floor for questions from the audience to be addressed by the panel. Comments
from the audience ranged from U.S. relations with Latin America, the loss of manufacturing jobs to foreign
labor pools, America's current reputation in the world, and national security since the September 11,
2001 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City.
In regard to national security and the intelligence the Bush administration used to justify the current war
in Iraq, Reimer said, " The military does constant planning for different eventualities, and 99 percent of
the time they don't get used." He said that it's impossible for the government to anticipate every
eventuality. "You can't go back and make yesterday perfect, you have to concentrate on tomorrow," he
said.
Jones said that he thinks much of the terrorist problem stems from culture clash fed by modern
communications.
"In an era of satellite TV and communications that are so inclusive and instant, this is a problem that will
continue," he said.
The subject of America's cultural influence on the rest of the world tied into the question of whether or not
the U.S. is currently engaged in building an empire.
Betz said that while America is not an empire in the traditional sense, in that it doesn't conquer and
occupy other geographical regions, the concept of empire also has cultural connotations. Betz said
empire could be constant presence in the lives of people in other countries.
"You can't get away from American influence," Betz said.
The dominant theme of the panel discussion was that America has to co-exist with the rest of the world,
and the U.S. needs to re-evaluate its role to better understand how to interact with it.
"This is an interdependent world economically, and that's something the U.S. can't ignore," Jones said.
"(But) foreign policy has to be in the best interest of the country."