Utilitarian Multilateralism: The Implications of 11 September 2001 for US Foreign Policy

The 11 September terrorist attacks have led the United States to reassess its foreign policy. The overwhelming priority is the defeat of terrorism and to further this end the United States is prepared to engage with states, regardless of their democratic credentials, willing and able to help the United States on the terrorist front. There is little sign, however, that the new-found interest in promoting multilateral co-operation to deal with terrorism is spilling over into other policy areas. The United States shows no sign of modifying its opposition to a number of international treaties and agreements – such as Kyoto, CTBT or the ICC – all of which its closest allies support. The US approach may be described as 'utilitarian multilateralism'.     

Can society be commodities all the way down? Post-Polanyian reflections on capitalist crisis

Abstract

In his classic 1944 book, The great transformation, Karl Polanyi traced the roots of capitalist crisis to efforts to create ‘self-regulating markets’ in land, labour and money. The effect was to turn those three fundamental bases of social life into ‘fictitious commodities’. The inevitable result, Polanyi claimed, was to despoil nature, rupture communities and destroy livelihoods. This diagnosis has strong echoes in the twenty-first century: witness the burgeoning markets in carbon emissions and biotechnology; in child-care, schooling and the care of the old; and in financial derivatives. In this situation, Polanyi's idea of fictitious commodification affords a promising basis for an integrated structural analysis that connects three dimensions of the present crisis: the ecological, the social and the financial. This paper explores the strengths and weaknesses of Polanyi's idea.     

Regional coordination of federal programs: Has the difficult grown impossible?

As the various categorical programs of federal assistance proliferated during the 1960s and 1970s, the U.S. government sought to bring about some degree of coordination among the programs in any given region through a network of regional clearinghouses. Operating with inadequate resources, limited authority, and various other difficulties, the clearinghouses nevertheless chalked up some modest accomplishments. In 1982, as a step in the New Federalism concept of the Reagan administration, the clearinghouse system was drastically shrunk back in scope and decentralized in structure. If the concept of regional coordination among federal programs is to survive, it will have to depend on action at the state and local levels; but such action does not seem promising.     

Correspondence

Sir Tony Brenton, formerly British Ambassador to Moscow (2004-2008), considers in this article the Asian dimension of Russia. He considers the historical connections and importance of Asia (as opposed to Europe) in the development of Russia and the historical balance between Asian and European influence. This section pays particular attention to the development of Siberia and early encounters between Russia and China. He then examines shifting Russian attitudes towards Asia at significant moments in Russian history including the 19^th century (the Slavophile Movement), the Communist period, the post-Soviet 1990s and the current era under President Putin. The implications of the Ukraine crisis and the current relationship with China is studied. He concludes with a discussion of whether Russia is likely to see its future orientation as more towards China and Asia, and what implications Russia's deliberation about its future direction has for the western powers.