BY: Adam Dentor
PEJOURNAL – After four years, the Biden administration is trying to regain the lost global position of the United States and restore the leadership role of America. Although the solution to some of the problems in this area can be in the hands of the White House, but due to the fact that today’s world conditions are not comparable to 2016 by any measure, the solution to a large part of these issues is outside Washington access; And it is in the hands of other global players, especially America’s powerful rivals, led by China, Russia and the European Union.
Although the Biden administration has put the plan to rebuild relations with Europe on the agenda since its, European countries, and most notably Germany and France, are no longer very those who cooperate to revive U.S. leadership, a fact that is abundantly recounted in global and European political circles.
Of course, Biden is more concerned with the decline of the United States in global governance than with European distrust, and that is why one of his first actions on the first day was to sign a decree returning to the “Paris Agreement” on climate change. In fact, in this way, the new US administration is trying to reopen cooperation with China in this field and restore its position at the macro level of global management.
But in contrast to the United States is China, for which the American flag is no longer an indisputable fact, in other words, today China and other countries, not only the United States as the founder and architect of the “system of norms” and international economic and security law They do not know after the Second World War, but consider this country as a revisionist actor or at least a disruptor in the international arena. In this way, even if Biden can regain the trust of Europe, persuading China to accept it has no clear horizon.
Of course, Europe is not interested in re-accepting the uncertain and unreliable leadership of the United States at the moment, and the old transatlantic relationship is now more endangered than ever, and Europe is determined to threaten the absence of American leadership as an opportunity to rebuild its role. Transform its geopolitics and become an influential actor in the international arena, independent of the United States.
Four years of highly isolationist U.S. policy under President Donald Trump have made America’s rivals globally confident and take advantage of the rift between Western countries. Beijing has no longer noticeably abandoned the policy of non-intervention, which was the legacy of former leader Deng Xiaoping, and under the guidance of Xi Jinping, has focused its efforts on “becoming a central actor in the world”, and in recent years has played a very active role in global organizations and institutions, and patiently with continuous efforts to effectively influence these international institutions, norms governing important areas such as the Internet, standards. Beijing has changed technology and even rewritten human rights to its own benefit.
The Biden administration must understand that after Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States from some international organizations and treaties and refuse to cooperate with allied countries, China was able to fill the gap in US leadership in the world and now refuses to relinquish it under any circumstances, and by chairing four of the 15 United Nations agencies, reviving US leadership or even playing Washington’s active role in global health has made climate change and strategic stability out of reach for the United States.
The formation of new economic alliances in the absence of the United States and led by China, such as the RCP or Comprehensive Regional Economic Partnership, with the participation of 15 Asia-Pacific countries, including China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, 30 percent of the world’s gross domestic product, as well as 30 percent of the world’s population, is the largest trade deal in history, another major obstacle to the United States returning to the forefront of global politics, and further evidence that a “world without America” is not only possible. But now it has become very probable.
In the Middle East, the countries of the region, especially the Arab countries of the Persian Gulf, are deeply concerned about the decline of the US role in the region, and the growing tension between Iran and the US due to its weak political and security structure in the face of regional developments and experience of interim government strategies. Trump is always worried about being left alone with the big regional players; And they have come to the conclusion that they need to reduce their reliance on the United States.
The main concern of countries such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE is that the “Ibrahim Agreement”, which was originally signed between the UAE, Bahrain and the Israeli regime, is in the same direction and is designed for a future without the presence of the United States and regional governments.
In fact, by looking at the Biden and Trump votes, the world can easily see the depth of the crisis in American society and political structure, and the countries of the world are witnessing the splitting of American society and political structure; And from their point of view, the gap is so deep that there is no guarantee that after four years of Biden’s presidency, he will not turn on another heel and that Trump himself – who has a significant base – or anyone else with such tendencies will not come to power; Or even the government should not make unconventional decisions under difficult internal and external conditions.
Countries around the world, and even the American elite, have accepted the fact that the United States no longer has a foothold for intervention or even humanitarian and democratic advice, and that the “American model” has lost its function in today’s world. Thus, the image of the United States, as well as its ability to influence, have been severely damaged, and the Biden administration has worked very hard and even largely impossible to revive a divided American society and rebuild the corona economy, as well as restore lost international trust.
It has partners and allies. Biden has to admit that the international situation is changing dramatically, that the United States is no longer the only major player in the world, and that it no longer has the capacity to form alliances with China, Russia, and even Iran.
Given the extent and depth of the damage, as well as the dire economic situation of the United States during the Corona outbreak and the fact that the United States has not been able to manage social and economic conditions well compared to other countries, even if the priority is to fill these gaps. It is almost impossible to repair and compensate for these damages during at least four years.
The big problem is that the way to repair the internal and external image of the United States passes not from outside but from inside the country, which faces many problems and gaps in various sectors, including paralyzed health insurance, economic recession and political and social apartheid. So, another important point that practically prevents the return of the United States as a normative power in the international arena is the effects of the events of the domestic catastrophe and the events after the announcement of the results of the presidential election, which culminated in the attack on the Capitol, the Congress building.
The attack, carried out by Trump’s extremist supporters, was a clear indication of the fact that the foundations of democracy in the United States are more fragile than they seem, and it shows that the country itself is in such a deep crisis that the reference Its legislation is under attack and it calls on the National Guard to control the situation. It can never, or at least can no longer be, a universal model for human rights and democracy.