Uncertainty envelopes the world as it moves into the second year of the 21st century. U.S. President George W. Bush, who launched a "new war" against international terrorism after Sept. 11, is resolved to carry on the campaign in 2002. It is ironic that the end of the Cold War -- which supposedly marked "the end of history" with the triumph of free-market democracy -- has instead spawned conflict and danger worldwide.
The trend toward global instability is rising at the same time the United States is increasingly dominating the world as the sole superpower. Something must be wrong with the way in which the U.S. exercises its power. It is widely perceived that U.S. foreign policy lacks universal principles that resonate with the rest of the world. The worry is that an America projecting its power in pursuit of its own interests will end up destabilizing the globalizing world.
Globalization will produce more problems than it solves if it is driven by self-interest. That was part of the message of the antiglobalization protests, led by nongovernmental organizations and others, that swept much of the industrialized world last year. The U.S., it should be noted, was the main target of those angry demonstrations, along with the International Monetary Fund and other influential global institutions.