The principles that guide American foreign policy during the coming years will determine how successful the United States will be as it addresses the complex global challenges that confront us. A foreign policy simply rooted in values without a reasonable rationale of concrete interests will not succeed. But our foreign policy will also fail if it too narrowly focuses on the national interest and disregards the role that democratic ideals and human rights play in establishing a more secure world.
These truths will confront the next president regardless of his or her political party. He or she will face an international environment in which the use or misuse of American power in all its manifestations - military, diplomatic and economic - will bear decisively on our national security and on global stability. The United States will likely remain the pre-eminent global power for some time. But how we wield that unparalleled capability will determine exactly how long we remain at the front of the international pack.
Despite setbacks and doubts associated with the ongoing Iraq war, the most significant phenomenon shaping global affairs today remains the uniquely pre-eminent position of the United States. Compared with earlier superpowers - ancient Rome, Napoleonic France and Britain just prior to World War I - we possess far greater advantages over potential rivals.
The United States is the world's economic powerhouse. Our output represents almost a quarter of the global gross domestic product (GDP). Moreover, our performance over the past two decades has significantly outpaced that of our traditional competitors such as Japan and the countries of western Europe. And, despite the scandals that rocked corporate America earlier in this decade, we remain at the forefront of economic efficiency, innovation and entrepreneurship. In the past decade, American companies have created trillions of dollars in new wealth by spearheading products that are driving the information-technology revolution.
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