Special Providence_ American Foreign Policy and How It Changed World - Walter Russell Mead

TheRiseandRetreatoftheNewWorldOrder 293

ThePar~nershipSags

EvenasbothHamiltoniansandWilsoniansdiscoveredthelimitsof
theirpoliticalpowerwithintheUnitedStates,theyalsoincreasingly
begantodiscovertheconflictsandfissurepointswithintheircommon
globalistagenda.WilsoniansandHamiltonianswereclosertoaneffec-
tiveconsensusin 1990 thantheyweretenyearslater.
Muchofthe problemcame from the growingWilsonian doubts
about twocorefeatures oftheHamiltonianproject.First,thegrow-
ing environmental movement began to see Hamiltonian plans for
unrestrictedfree tradeas subversiveofenvironmentaleffortsbothat
homeandabroad.Athome,environmentalistsfeltthattheWTOand
NAFTAundercutAmericaneffortstoensure,forexample,betterfishing
practices-requiringthattunaandshrimpfishermenused,respectively,
onlydolphin-andturtle-safenetsintheiroperations.Abroadandmore
generally, environmentalists saw Hamiltonian trade and investment
policyasfacilitatinga laissez-fairedevelopmentstrategythatplacedfew
ornoobstaclesinthepathofthosewhowishedtosacrificeenvironmen-
talprudenceforthesakeofimmediateprofitsandjobs.
An additionalelement ofopposition developed around the con-
sequences ofthe Hamiltonian agenda on labor rights. A slow and
generallyunnoticedmovementduringtheninetiessawanumberof
prominenthumanrights organizationsraise labor rightsto thelevel
ofprimaryhumanrights.Inparticular,therightoffreeassociationhad
longbeenseenasa fundamentalhumanright,permitting,forexample,
thefreeestablishmentofpoliticalparties.Inthe 1990Shumanrights
organizations came tofeel theforce ofarguments that the rightof
free associationalsoincludestherighttoformfree tradeunions,and
suchgroupsasHumanRightsWatch,FreedomHouse,andAmnesty
Internationaladdedcertainlaborrightstotheirlistofkeyrightswhose
violationshouldtriggera responsebyinternationalcivilsociety.
Characteristically,thehumanrightsgroupsaswellastheenviron-
mentalgroupswantedinternationalpracticeandlawtosanctionthose
whoviolatedcorelaborandenvironmentalstandards.Thiswasa direct
challengetotheheartoftheHamiltonianagenda.TheWTOrulesdefin-
ingfairtradepracticesscrupulouslyomittedanyprovisionsforsanctions
linkedtolaborandenvir:onmentalpractices.Theideathatlaborunions,
environmentalgroups, andhumanrightsorganizationswouldusetheir
powerininternationalcivilsocietytoimposelaborandenvironmental