Amid seemingly countless barricades and gun-toting security personnel locking down the streets of Washington, the administration of new U.S. President Joe Biden has been launched.
The heavy security arrangements that muted the celebratory mood of the occasion were a stark reminder of this month's deadly storming of the Capitol by supporters of then President Donald Trump, who continues to insist there was fraud in the presidential election he lost in November. For the United States, a nation that has spread freedom and democracy around the world, the fact that the peaceful transfer of power had been jeopardized hung heavy.
Biden takes over a nation torn by volatile divisions. Some scholars have predicted Biden could become the "weakest president" since Jimmy Carter, who has often been considered the weakest U.S. leader since World War II. Facing up to burning domestic crises such as the novel coronavirus pandemic will not be simple without bipartisan support.
Can the United States afford to lead efforts to forge international collaboration at a time when it has many pressing domestic problems to tackle? Many leaders around the globe are not yet convinced that it can.
The decline of the United States as the self-anointed leader of democratic nations became obvious during the four years of the Trump administration. However, not all of this was Trump's doing.
Thirty years ago, the United States became the world's sole superpower following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Confident that its own values would reign supreme, the United States pressed nations with different political systems and at different stages of development to adopt them. Interventions in foreign countries, including the use of military operations, severely eroded U.S. prestige and national strength. The advance of globalization battered the U.S. middle class, especially white American workers.
Some pundits had expected China might become more democratic as it became wealthier. The Chinese Communist Party, however, has kept its iron grip on power during China's rise. Beijing is now able to shake Washington's dominance and the existing international order.
The United States has always put its own interests first, with a long history of isolationism before World War II. The expansionist policy after the Cold War got bogged down and became exhausted, so U.S. foreign policy under Trump could even be viewed as reverting back to an earlier approach. Expectations that with the inauguration of a new president a 180-degree turn back to more international collaboration could be considered optimistic.
"America is strongest when it works with its allies," Biden has said. At this point, it is unclear whether Biden aims to restore American leadership on the global stage, or whether his view is premised on a weakened United States needing to rely on its allies.
Biden proposed hosting a "Summit for Democracy" that brings together nations with shared values. He has also said he will pursue a "foreign policy for the middle class" that keeps American workers in mind. The finer details of these plans need to be carefully examined.
The international situation is growing increasingly uncertain, taking into account how tensions between the United States and China will play out. Nations hoping for a U.S. rebound have seemingly joined the United States on an unstable rubber raft as it heads into white water rapids. Rowers in this boat will need to use their own judgment and ability to navigate these waters. Japan tops the list on this count.
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