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Global Order and Peace
Making without the US
By Muqtedar Khan
ccun.org, June 23, 2008
We live in an era of global governance. Through a complex network of
international organizations like the United Nations, the World Bank, the
International Court of Justice and the World Trade Organization, we have
succeeded in creating a pattern of governance without government at the
global level. Much of this global order was created under the leadership,
the financial assistance and the persuasive powers of the United States. It
all began with the vision of President Woodrow Wilson to create a League of
Nations.
For six decades, since the end of World War II, the U.S. has been the
primary mover behind the emerging global order and its main underwriter. But
for a while now, experts of international relations have been wringing their
hands wondering what would happen to this Wilsonian World once US' global
prominence and leadership declined. If the US turned its back to the
global order and refused to sustain it, or lost the capacity to do so, would
it collapse?
A possible answer has come from tiny Qatar.
Qatar is a tiny oil rich emirate in the Gulf and quite comparable to the
State of Delaware. Qatar has a population of about 950,000 and
Delaware is about 850,000. Qatar's GDP [the size of its total national
income] is $67 billion and Delaware, which in 2007 had the highest per
capita income in the US [of $59,000], is about $63 billion.
Last month, the Delaware of the Middle East, stepped up to the plate and
pulled of a coup in diplomacy and peacemaking. It resolved a conflict
between feuding Lebanese factions that was threatening to break out into
another civil war with the dangerous possibility of embroiling Iran, Israel
and the U.S.
Lebanon had been politically unstable since Israel's devastating invasion in
2006. Its US backed government had become dysfunctional with the withdrawal
of the opposition, the position of the President remained vacant and
attempts by the pro-US government to limit Hezbollah's influence had
backfired resulting in the Iranian backed group's takeover of Beirut and its
defeat of pro-US militias. As violence escalated and the death toll reached
65, a civil war seemed inevitable.
Usually in such circumstances, the U.S. would intervene by sending a
prominent Ambassador or the Secretary of State to conduct shuttle diplomacy,
and resolve the conflict. But not this time. President Bush, who just last
week described himself as a "man of peace", abstained from taking any peace
initiative.
Even if the US had sought to address the crisis, it would have failed. As
has been the case in recent years, the US found itself aligned with one side
– the government and Sunni Muslim leaders, and not on talking terms with the
other side. The "we talk only with those who agree with us" policy has
disabled US diplomacy. The world's most powerful player is finding itself on
the margins of peacemaking.
Tiny Qatar moved into the leadership void, hosted all the conflicting
parties at a conference in its capital Doha and five days of intensive
negotiations later, they all came out with a peace deal. Lebanon now has a
President, a new electoral law, a functioning government and above all,
Hezbollah has withdrawn its fighters and peace prevails.
Qatar has shown that with the decline of the US, regional players who enjoy
the respect trust and confidence of all parties can play the role of
peacemakers in the absence of the super power. Perhaps it is trust not power
that is the currency of peacemaking. The deal in Doha has diminished US
influence in Lebanon and by empowering Hezbollah the deal has also hurt US
interests. Above all, Doha has sent the message that US diplomacy is not
always indispensable.
Across the region we now see players stepping up to fill the diplomatic
leadership gap. Turkey has taken the initiative to open indirect talks
between Syria and Israel. For several months the two countries have been
talking to each other through Turkey despite Washington's passive-aggressive
response. Even the warring Palestinian factions, Hamas and Fatah, have
launched their own effort towards a rapprochement. Pakistan has begun a
complex effort to make peace with Taliban and its allies. All of these
initiatives are without US' blessings.
Clearly all the above are small initiatives with limited scope but full of
promise. No single nation, or a coalition of nations has so far emerged that
can play the role of the US to sustain our global order.
But tiny Qatar, with one giant step, is showing the way. Perhaps other
regional players like India, Japan, South Africa, Brazil, Turkey, Saudi
Arabia and the European Union can combine to give the US a much needed
staycation from global intrigue.
The world has benefited from the US sponsored global order; it is time for
others to share its burden even as they enjoy its fruits.
Dr. Muqtedar Khan is Director of Islamic Studies at the University of
Delaware and Fellow of the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (
www.ijtihad.org).
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