Beyond 100 days: social democracy and empire
- Source: The Global Times
- [22:46 May 05 2009]
- Comments
By Xiang Lanxin
US President Barack Obama has been in office for 100 days now. Most commentators seem to have paid little attention to the implication of his performance beyond the 100 days, as they focus on his limited achievements thus far. One exception is in foreign affairs, where his campaign promise of restoring America’s image has indeed shown quick effect. His primary focus is on domestic affairs, with economic recovery as his immediate goal. But it is Obama’s long-term ambition of importing social democracy into America − for the first time in American history, to be sure −that warrants our close attention. It is in this area, however, that Obama’s campaign slogan “change we can believe in” may end up in conflict with his external agenda.
Every new president faces the same challenge as his predecessors as he weighs his options and tries to strike a balance between domestic and international priorities. But President Obama and his team are also facing a different challenge: how to strike a balance between their social democratic instinct and the need to defend the empire, both the territorial empire and the “dollar” empire.
Many critics in the United States claim that President Obama spent far more time on healthcare and social welfare reforms than on rescuing banks and industries. This may well be true, but Obama is aiming for the long-term transformation of American society. Social welfare and healthcare issues are quintessential concerns of social democrats all over the world, and the time is ripe. In no time since the Great Depression has government intervention in economic life been taken for granted as it is today. History thus provides an opportunity for producing a great reformer.
What Obama intends to import is a social democracy modeled loosely after the European Union. But this may bring a serious problem to the administration. Social democracy is inherently anti-empire, but Obama’s social democratic agenda now heavily depends on an imperial position. Even if Obama succeeds in correcting an “imperious image” of America on the world stage, he can hardly change the reality in which the dollar remains an “imperial” currency and the American military remains the imperial police.
One critical result beyond Obama’s 100 days is the increasing importance of the relationship between the United States and China, as the latter has become the biggest creditor to America. So far the Obama administration seems to have handled this delicate relationship very well. The White House knows Beijing has no choice but to offer an involuntary Marshall Plan to Washington after it has, in Paul Krugman’s words, absent-mindedly acquired a “dollar empire” of its own.
Beyond the currency interdependence, China and America also have one thing in common: both are interested in European-style social democracy. The irony is, neither capitalist America nor socialist China boasts an adequate welfare system to provide a social cushion during the severe economic crisis. A time of reflection and reform has finally arrived. China has already started to take action while America seems on its way to revamping its entire welfare system.
Nevertheless, the much-exaggerated G2 concept (or “Chimerica”) has never been whole-heartedly accepted in China as it has in the United States. The reason is simple; mutual distrust, especially at the global geo-strategic level, remains deeply rooted.
In Washington policy circles, China is still regarded as a major potential rival to the United States. The Pentagon continues to publish annual reports on alleged Chinese military ambition and the State Department has not abandoned its high-handed manner in its annual human rights report.
Resource competition and the potential arms race continue to cast a long shadow over what is arguably most important bilateral relationship in today’s world.
Despite the inherent tension between social democracy and empire, there is little doubt that the Obama administration desires to restore not only the American image, but also its world leadership. Thus the administration’s internal and external policies will have to be adjusted constantly.
The first 100 days seem to indicate that, despite the military retrenchment plans in Iraq, the “imperial” tendency remains strong. In this context, it is hard to predict the future of Sino-American relations.
But one thing is certain: the two sides must work together to reduce tension and minimize the possibility for accidental conflict, such as the recent one in the South China Sea or a potential future incident in the Taiwan Straits.
The author is director of the China Center at the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva