US Diplomacy

Daniel Drezner of Tufts University writes about US diplomatic efforts on behalf of rising powers like India and China in poly sci journal Foreign Affairs (via RCP).

"the Iraq controversy has overshadowed a more pragmatic and multilateral component of the Bush administration's grand strategy: Washington's attempt to reconfigure U.S. foreign policy and international institutions in order to account for shifts in the global distribution of power. The Bush administration has been reallocating the resources of the executive branch to focus on emerging powers."

The challenge is to integrate the the new powers in old institutions while placating the old powers which lose influence, a tricky prospect under the best of times, worsened by the perception that the US operates "unilaterally". While both the Pentagon and the State Department have shifted personnel from Old World powers in Europe to developing states in Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Pacific rim, the vast majority of staff still remain wedded to older established allies. However, the US has had some succcesses, such as helping China to join the WTO, the Indian nuclear agreement, and the Asia-Pacific agreement on clean development. Challenges still remain, as other nations sometimes create institutions where the US does not have a role, such the the Shanghai agreement between China, Russia and Central Asia nations. A Deomcratic Congress could also make life difficult for the administration as well.