Multilateralism

Opponents of a multilateral foreign policy often make the case that international organizations constrain the U.S., and that those who insist on trying to work with allies are just touchy-feely types who always worry about offending people. However, as Wesley Clark explains in this book excerpt, there's much more to it than that. A sample:

"The United States exercised leverage through international institutions and arrangements, initially through a frame of security treaties: the North Atlantic Treaty Organization for European allies, bilateral agreements with Japan and South Korea. Acting with allies, the United States was able to redistribute the financial, military, and political burdens of its global security interests. In Europe, NATO member states provided most of the ground manpower in the event of war. Independent French nuclear programs provided a backstop for Cold War NATO nuclear decision-making. Britain assisted in the Persian Gulf until the late 1960s. France and Belgium were active in Africa. And Japan not only came to develop surprisingly modern and effective self-defense capabilities; it paid a significant portion of the operating expenses of U.S. forces stationed there."