Supporting efforts to promote corporate accountability at home and abroad while working to insure that the global governance mechanisms of the international economy—including the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF), and World Trade Organization (WTO)—are embedded within a framework that effectively addresses the poverty, inequality, environmental degradation, and social disintegration that are among the greatest threats to security in the world today. In the past several decades, the international community has made progress in reaching effective agreements in the areas of human rights, environmental protection, arms control, and collective security. We turn our backs on this progress at grave risk to ourselves and humankind.
This framework of international cooperation can help us address current threats such as international terrorism, arms proliferation, and deepening global poverty. Rather than spurning multilateralism, U.S. leaders should dedicate themselves to reforming and reinvigorating the processes and structures of international problem solving. As a world power with national interests around the globe, the United States has the greatest stake in building international institutions, fostering international cooperation, and instituting the international rule of law. Voices for an Alternative U.S. Foreign and Military Policy Our Fateful Choice Toward a Real Security Agenda A good-faith effort in this regard would include: Remitting all unpaid UN dues and making regular and timely payments of future assessments to UN programs, including those for peacekeeping operations. Committing to help reform UN decisionmaking to reflect the new realities of world power and population distribution in the 21st century.
Strengthening international justice by ratifying the International Criminal Court. Expanding the international human rights regime by ratifying such key international human rights covenants as the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights; the International Labor Organization’s core labor rights conventions; the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women; and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Now, more than ever before, U.S. foreign policy should draw inspiration from the deep but often suppressed democratic and internationalist foundations of this nation. Borrowing a phrase from the Declaration of Independence, this administration needs to show “a decent respect for the opinions of mankind.” We are compelled—both by our consciences and our hopes for future generations—to call for a new foreign policy that successfully meets the new challenges that threaten global security, peace, and development. Threats to our common security need multilateral responses.
Not in our name can the U.S. government ignore world opinion, reject international treaties, adopt first-strike prerogatives, and put power before reason. We stand behind a foreign and military policy that uses U.S. power responsibly—one that wins respect at home and abroad through its commitment to global partnerships and prudent international leadership. It is precisely such a policy that will best ensure America’s own well-being and protect our own security. Signed December 11, 2002 by the FPIF staff and members of the FPIF Advisory Committee listed on the first page.
Add your voice to those supporting an alternative foreign policy online at Foreign Policy In Focus (FPIF), a joint project of the Interhemispheric Resource Center (IRC) and Institute for Policy Studies (IPS), initiated this statement for a new foreign and military policy. We offer it for consideration by policymakers, other policy reform organizations, and constituency groups that share similar concerns. We believe that a unified response is needed to oppose the administration’s radical policies and to propose principled and effective alternatives. Individuals and organizations that would like to add their voice in support of an alternative foreign and military policy, send a message to <fpif@fpif.org> or visit to fill out an official endorsement form.