Real Results Abroad‏

April 9, 2009

by Faiz Shakir, Amanda Terkel, Satyam Khanna, Matt Corley, Benjamin Armbruster, Ali Frick, and Ryan Powers

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

Real Results Abroad

This week, President Obama returned from an eight-day tour of Europe and parts of the Middle East. Despite his significant progress on a number of economic and international security issues, members of the media have focused on superficial issues related to breaches of diplomatic protocol, questions of public perception, and transparent political posturing. Worse, conservatives have suggested that Obama's attempts to rebuild America's reputation and tackle global problems with the cooperation of the international community is somehow "yielding" to foreigners or "humbling" the stature of U.S. in the world. Today's Progress Report redirects the focus to the actual substance of the economic and international security achievements of Obama's trip, as well as the significant work that lies ahead for the international community.

NAVIGATING THE G20: Despite claims to the contrary, Obama's trip to the G20 summit in London did move forward several significant developments. First and perhaps most notably, the G20 committed to expanding resources for global lending facilities and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) from $250 billion to $1.1 trillion. As the Economist noted, observers should be cautiously optimistic about the figures, as it's not yet clear from where all of the money will come from. However, "the fatness of the figures does suggest that the world's leading emerging and rich economies are serious about bulking up the IMF." The new resources will help the IMF and other global financial institutions to "cushion the collapse in global demand, by allowing countries from which private capital flees to cut spending by less than they otherwise would." Furthermore, the G20 agreed that "the heads and senior leadership of the international financial institutions should be appointed through an open, transparent, and merit-based selection process," paving the way to allowing the World Bank or the IMF to be led for the first time by an individual from the developing world. This change would be significant because, as former IMF chief economist Simon Johnson, has explained, many countries in need of assistance are reluctant to approach the IMF because of what they view as "rich countries" forcing them to accept "onerous" lending terms. "By giving middle- and lower-income countries a greater role in [IMF] governance," other countries that need assistance may be more likely to ask for it. Additionally, Obama played a key role in brokering an agreement on a new G20 "effort to list tax havens, as a way to 'name and shame' them into becoming more transparent and cooperating with international rules." The French and Chinese delegations disagreed on how the G20 Communique should address the tax havens list and French President Nicolas Sarkozy threatened to walk out of the meeting. Obama, however, delicately took the two delegations aside individually and successfully negotiated compromise language.

ENHANCING INTERNATIONAL PEACE AND SECURITY: After the G20 summit, Obama traveled to the NATO summit in Strasbourg, France, and he appealed for more European support for NATO operations in Afghanistan. Obama reiterated his new strategy in Afghanistan, explaining that "the first reason we are there is to root out al Qaeda, so that they cannot attack members of the alliance." The European members who had long pressed President Bush to reassess his lofty agenda in the country welcomed Obama's willingness to "set limited, achievable goals in Afghanistan." In response, Obama succeeded in securing the promise of 5,000 additional troops to aid the Afghanistan effort. In light of the 68,000 American troops in the country, the Europeans' new commitment is small but symbolic. Approximately 1,400 to 2,000 of the new European forces "will be sent to form embedded training teams for the Afghan Army and the police," while "3,000 of them are to be deployed only temporarily to provide security for the August elections in Afghanistan." At NATO,too, Obama again showed himself to be a strong international negotiator. Indeed, Turkey -- NATO's only Muslim country -- had objected to "Dane Anders Fogh Rasmussen becoming the next head of NATO" because of his "handling of a 2006 crisis over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad in a Danish newspaper." Obama, however, "met on the sidelines with Turkish President Abdullah Gul and then with Gul and Rasmussen together. By the end of a long day of repeated delays in the summit schedule, Turkey relented" on the condition that "a Turk would be Rasmussen's assistant." Also significant was the fact that prior to the NATO summit, Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev "agreed to open negotiations on a treaty that could slash their nuclear arsenals by a third," in an attempt to "move beyond Cold War mentalities."

SIGNIFICANT WORK REMAINS: Despite the substantive results of Obama's tour of Europe, significant work remains. Spencer Boyer, Director of International Law and Diplomacy at the Center for American Progress, noted that despite the sometimes slow progress of international cooperation, it is a necessary part of the now globalized world. Boyer and CAP researcher Archana Menon recently wrote, "Luckily, we have U.S. leadership that recognizes that going at it alone, or with the aid of small groups of like-minded countries, won't be sufficient. We don't really have a choice. Unless there's a global solution, there won't be a solution." While the new resources for international financial institutions and changes in their leadership selection are welcome, it will take time and significant effort to ensure that the international community makes the best use of those resources. Obama acknowledged that much work remains after the G20, noting, "I think we did OK. When I came here, it was with the intention of listening and learning, but also providing American leadership. And I think the document that has been produced as well as concrete actions reflect a range of our priorities." From here, the G20 could go further. As CAP explained recently, Obama could push the G20 to shape itself into an institution with "the legitimacy to lead discussions on global economic governance" by establishing "a G-20 leaders forum" with a clear mission, evolving membership, and a commitment to annual meetings. In the short term, Obama must work at repairing the damage done to U.S. relations abroad by the previous administration. Presidential Adviser David Axelrod explained, "Over time, the seeds that were planted here are going to be very, very valuable for the security and progress of the United States." Obama put it much more directly, telling the the Spanish Prime Minister (whom Bush often shunned), "You'll notice my approach is quite different from my predecessor."