America’s Seven Deadly Sins: Loch Johnson’s Critique of American Foreign Policy
Pride has often been considered the deadliest of sins, the root that propagates into all others. Pride in achievement becomes a dangerous form of hubris when boasted in excess. Excellent evidence of this can be seen in the events presently occurring in the post-9/11 world. Despite a sympathetic response from the international community immediately after the terrorist attacks, the common international perception of America has slowly become one of disillusionment and at times hostility. Why is this? Loch Johnson argues in his book Seven Sins of American Foreign Policy that the United States has boasted a prideful attitude which has resulted in questionable foreign relation initiatives, or “sins.” He lists them as ignorance, executive branch dominance, excessive emphasis on the military, unilateralism, isolationism, lack of empathy, and arrogance. Johnson argues that because of America’s prideful hubris it has no grand strategy in foreign policy. Instead, the United States has focused too much on its own initiatives and has neglected to see the grander scene of events that dominates the modern world.
In order to better understand the current situation one must delve into the past to find the causal roots. Johnson presents a brief history of American foreign policy as an introduction to today’s events. Beginning with George Washington’s Farwell Address in which he urged America to stay out of foreign entanglements, Johnson explores the gradual change of American foreign policy from isolationism to internationalism, with the most apparent divergence occurring between the start of the Spanish-American War and President Wilson’s tenure as Commander-in-Chief. From there, Johnson explores the rise of America as a superpower during WWII and its victory over the Soviets during the Cold War. The perspective then shifts to the years after the fall of the Soviet Union and America’s reign as the hegemonic superpower to present day. He uses this historical summary to provide the foundation for his critique of America’s foreign policy in its current state.
He criticizes the fact that despite $15 billion and 16 agencies devoted to gathering intelligence, the United States government was not able to prevent the worse attack on American soil in history. He claims that the chief error lay in the faulty assumption that the fall of the Soviet Union was considered the last major threat to the world and the United States. The CIA had its budget slashed, disabling the intelligence community to effectively combat considerable national threats. Johnson sees also that much of this stems from the lack of professional individuals who are well educated in world affairs and have a high proficiency in a foreign language, especially in languages such as Arabic, Russian, Farsi, and Chinese. He states that the education system here in America severely needs to be overhauled to produce more efficient and educated individuals who are more fluent in the affairs of the world.
Another crucial problem Johnson sees with American foreign policy today is the excessive emphasis on the military to solve the problems. The old adage that “might makes right” was often evoked during the Bush Administration, which led to a two front war and the alienation of America’s allies. Given that America boasts the world’s strongest military, there’s created a sense of arrogance, an arrogance that leads to the notion that America is the one in charge. This policy of unilateralism is counterproductive as it alienates our allies and gives them less reason to help us in the long run. The “our way or the highway” approach is not the best way to gain friends (or keep them) in the international community. More emphasis needs to be placed on diplomacy, economic statecraft, and especially espionage to further combat the changing grounds in the foreign policy environment.
What should also be a cause of concern is the amount of power the Executive Branch has gained and how it uses that power to isolate itself from the oversight of the Legislative and Judicial Branches. The President and Congress were meant to work with one another. Having the Executive call the shots, so to speak, denies Congressional oversight into the actions done by the President and the members of his cabinet.
Seven Sins of American Foreign Policy provides for an easy read for the lay person who is unfamiliar with the happenings in the world of foreign policy. It overall provides for an interesting perspective which is critical of American foreign policy as a whole rather than a particular policy instituted by a particular presidential administration.
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