The ever-interesting Schwartzreport carried a story about a poll conducted in various countries that showed how little the United States is trusted to act responsibly on the world stage. Well that’s a big surprise! However, a closer look at the data as reported indicates a more hopeful trend. Look at these two items:
“The survey also finds that majorities in most countries want the U.S. to do its share in multilateral efforts to address world problems and do not want it to withdraw from world affairs.”
“Americans agreed with the rest of the world, that the U.S. should not remain the world’s preeminent leader. Instead, they prefer that it play a more cooperative role. They also believe U.S. plays the role of world policeman more than it should.”
To my mind, these are the two facts that the article should have concentrated on, because here, in a nutshell, is the outline of a responsible and sustainable foreign policy for the United States if it ever gets over its post-September 11, 2001 nervous breakdown. Neither isolationism nor unilateral hegemony, but cooperation among peers.
Would that be so hard?
Poll: Most Countries, Except The Philippines, Do Not Trust The U.S.
GEOFFREY RAMOS, Staff Writer - All Headline News (Philippines)
This is so painfully evident whenever one travels abroad… and so embarrassing. It makes me very uncomfortable, and I am sure I am not alone.
MANILA, Philippines — While the rest of the world rejected the idea that the U.S. should continue to play a preeminent role as a world leader, the Philippines came out as its strongest supporter, based on a multi-nation poll released Wednesday.
The worldwide poll, conducted by The Chicago Council on Global Affairs and WorldPublicOpinion.org, also showed that majority of the world’s population, except in the Philippines, believes that the U.S. plays the role of world policeman more than it should and cannot be trusted to act responsibly.
The survey also finds that majorities in most countries want the U.S. to do its share in multilateral efforts to address world problems and do not want it to withdraw from world affairs.
Views are divided on whether the U.S. should reduce the number of military bases it has overseas and in some countries, respondents perceive an improvement in their bilateral relations with the U.S.
The study is the fourth in a series of reports based on a worldwide poll conducted in cooperation with polling organizations around the world. The larger study includes polls in China, India, the U.S., Indonesia, Russia, France, Thailand, Ukraine, Poland, Iran, Mexico, South Korea, the Philippines, Australia, Argentina, Peru, Israel and Armenia, including the Palestinian territories.
Not all questions were asked in all countries for the poll, where respondents represented about 56 percent of the world’s population.
Americans agreed with the rest of the world, that the U.S. should not remain the world’s preeminent leader. Instead, they prefer that it play a more cooperative role. They also believe U.S. plays the role of world policeman more than it should.
Steven Kull, editor of WorldPublicOpinion.org notes that this poll reinforces the conclusions of other recent global surveys, which have found that the U.S.’ image abroad is bad and growing worse. But he added that this survey also explores what kind of role the international community would like the U.S. to play in the world.
“This survey shows that despite the negative views of U.S. foreign policy, publics around the world do not want the U.S. to disengage from international affairs, but rather to participate in a more cooperative and multilateral fashion,” Kull said.
According to the survey, majorities in all 15 of the populations polled wanted the U.S. to stop playing preeminent world leader in solving international problems. However, only respondents in Argentina and the Palestinian territories want the U.S. to withdraw from most global problem-solving efforts.
All of the countries surveyed want the U.S. to pursue a cooperative, multilateral approach by doing “its share in efforts to solve international problems together with other countries.” This is true in South Korea (79 percent), the U.S. (75 percent), France (75 percent), China (68 percent), Israel (62 percent), Peru (61 percent), Mexico (59 percent), Armenia (58 percent), Philippines (55 percent), Ukraine (52 percent), Thailand (47 percent), India (42 percent) and Russia (42 percent).
Most also believe the U.S. should give up playing policeman. About 13 out of 15 countries expressed this view, including large majorities in France (89 percent), Australia (80 percent), China (77 percent), Russia (76 percent), Peru (76 percent), the Palestinian territories (74 percent) and South Korea (73 percent). More than three out of four Americans (76 percent) also agree.
The only exceptions are the Filipinos - a majority of whom (57 percent) do not think the U.S. is exceeding its role as world policeman - and the Israelis, who are divided on the issue.
This desire for a reduced American role may flow in part from a lack of confidence that the U.S. can be trusted to “act responsibly in the world,” according to a statement released by the organizers of the poll.
This lack of confidence was the most common view in 10 out of 15 countries. Two Latin American countries show the highest numbers expressing this mistrust-Argentina (84 percent) and Peru (80 percent)-followed by Russians (73 percent), the French (72 percent), and Indonesians (64 percent).
But in four countries, majorities or pluralities say the U.S can be at least “somewhat” trusted to act responsibly, led by the Filipinos (85 percent), Israelis (81 percent), Poles (51 percent) and Ukrainians (49 percent).
Despite the widespread belief that the U.S. should be more cooperative and less dominant, countries express mixed views about whether the U.S. should reduce its military presence around the world.
In only five out of 12 publics polled does a majority favor decreasing the number of overseas U.S. military bases: Argentines (75 percent), Palestinians (70 percent), the French (69 percent), Chinese (63 percent), and Ukrainians (62 percent).
In four, majorities favor either maintaining the current number or increasing it: Philippines (78 percent), Americans (68 percent), Israelis (59 percent), and Poles (54 percent). Armenians and Thais lean in favor of maintaining or reducing, while Indians are divided. No country favors increases.
Based on the study, most respondents believe their countries’ relations with the U.S. are getting better despite their negative sentiments for the U.S.
Majorities in India (58 percent) and China (53 percent) say relations with the U.S. are improving. Pluralities think so in Australia (50 percent), Armenia (48 percent), Indonesia (46 percent) and Thailand (37 percent). In the other countries polled, majorities or pluralities say relations with the U.S. are staying about the same: 60 percent in Poland, 56 percent in South Korea, 52 percent in Israel, 52 percent in the Ukraine, and 45 percent in Russia.
None of the countries polled had a majority who felt U.S. relations were going badly.
“The publics in many countries differentiate between their negative views of the U.S. international role and their perceptions of bilateral relations, which are seen as improving in a significant number of countries, even some that are highly critical of the U.S.,” said Christopher Whitney, executive director for studies at The Chicago Council on Global Affairs.