PRESENTATION: Hamilton F. Kean, "Challenging Americans to Confront our Changing Global Order"

(Hamilton F. Kean is a member of Citizens for Global Solutions’ Education Fund Board of Directors. He delivered the following presentation at Princeton University in June 2007. He was invited to participate as part of a panel presentation as part of his 60th class reunion.)

Most thoughtful proposals including the recent Princeton Project assume a global role for the United States in which we engage with other nations to create an order based on mutual respect for the legitimate interests and opinions of each. The American public traditionally agrees, as Professor Milner has pointed out.

Why then has U S policy, since the end of the Cold War, been so often unilateral? During the 1990’s we refused to pay our dues to the United Nations. The current administration has tried to render the International Criminal Court impotent. Not only did we not endorse the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, but we have failed to join in international attempts to deal with the problem. In 2003 we invaded Iraq without U. N. sanction and with few allies. Now, in spite of the fact that the United States voted for each of the 18 United Nations peacekeeping missions currently deployed around the world, we are more than $1 billion in arrears in our payments to support these missions.

It has been suggested that a significant cause for unilateralism in our foreign policy is that Congress and the Executive branch have tended to believe that the American public wants to disengage from the world when in fact that is not the case. This tendency, known as “the foreign policy gap” was convincingly demonstrated by a comprehensive study, completed in 1999, conducted jointly by the Center for International and Security Studies of the University of Maryland and the Center for the Study of Policy Attitudes. Its unanimous conclusion was that “there is a significant gap between the dominant perceptions of public attitudes held by the policy community and the attitude held by the majority of the American public.” Although 9/11 moved public opinion somewhat towards unilateralism, the latest Maryland report in January of this year indicates that the electorate, republicans as well as democrats favors a more cooperative approach to international affairs.

In any event, it is clear that those members of the public who would disregard the rest of the world have tended to be the most vocal and most strident and thus have received a disproportionate share of the attention of policy makers. With the exception of the recent focus on Iraq, most voters have not considered foreign policy issues to be of high priority. The broader American public therefore needs to become aware of global problems and their solutions so that their leaders have the support they need to move in a multilateral direction.

I should like to discuss the program of one organization, namely Citizens for Global Solutions, which is dedicated to encouraging Americans to address global problems. While there are a number of national organizations which deal with these issues, I have chosen Citizens for Global Solutions or CGS for two reasons: First because I know its activities well as I am giving a substantial part of my time to efforts on its behalf and secondly, because I believe that it is operates more effectively than any other organization in this area and has the potential for the greatest success.

If the name Citizens for Global Solutions is unfamiliar it is because it dates only from 2004. It resulted from a merger of the World Federalist Association and the Campaign for U.N. Reform, two organizations which had been long active in attempting to strengthen the United Nations.
While I shall focus primarily on the educational efforts of Citizens for Global Solutions, let me mention briefly some of the policy areas where it promotes change:

CGS heartily endorses the concept of a responsibility to protect. Thus we call for support for the International Criminal Court, so that egregious violators of human rights will be held accountable. We have been active in the Darfur crises, for example bringing together domestic Muslim and Arab groups and helping to integrate them into the Save Darfur coalition;

We favor a permanent U.N. Emergency Peacekeeping Service which can effectively deal with threats at early stages.

CGS is leading a coalition advocating the creation of a bipartisan Commission dealing with torture, so that US policies in this area can be improved in the interest of restoring lost moral stature.

Finally, we are concerned with global environmental issues. No problem is of more obvious global significance than climate change. We are active in the energy area. We don’t stress the need for energy independence, which has become the accepted political line but energy interdependence. If the United States imported not one drop of oil from abroad, this would still not solve global warming, nuclear proliferation or other problems associated with the use of energy around the world.

On the educational front, I’ll discuss two major projects that CGS is concerned with. The first, which has received substantial support from the Ford Foundation, is called “Connecting Global to Local.” It involves identifying and informing groups and individuals in local communities in the United States on global issues. CGS has convened workshops, arranged lectures and forums and created networks of civic organizations, businesses and individuals to build a citizens’ framework that will actively help shape America’s foreign policy.

A crucial project of ours involves attracting and stimulating youth. Young people not only provide energy and enthusiasm but they are the electorate and the leadership of the future. To engage them CGS has used cutting-edge technology. In 2005 we introduced a flash movie contest. We asked contestants to use readily available software to develop short movie cartoons illustrating their ideas for global solutions. The first year brought 3,000 registrants and the second year 9,000 more. Another winner has been a Virtual Poetry Competition which this year had over 7,000 entries. I only wish that we had the technology here so that I could show you some of the responses to these competitions. I know you would be excited as we were by the passion, whimsy and creativity represented.

Within two years as a result of such innovative approaches more than 15,000 young people had not only learned about global issues but also connected with CGS. As the e-mail of one contestant put it: “the truth is that your organization rocks.”

Through these competitions and other outreach activities CGS is developing relationships with high school teachers and university professors nationwide.

We provide them with guidelines and resources for effective educational communication regarding U S foreign policy.

More importantly, we are developing a group which will help shape a new and better world order. As one student said: “It makes me very excited when I can use the knowledge and education I’ve gathered for something that is progressive and beneficial. ---- I want to educate others on these benefits and opportunities that await society when we become more conscious about the decisions we make. Be they small or large, our decisions and demands will shape the future of our world and make it a future worth saving.”

Indeed, if enough Americans like this student become engaged in challenging global issues, we may well be able to create for our grandchildren a new peaceful, global order based on respect for law and freedom.