{"id":11379,"date":"2023-05-04T15:05:52","date_gmt":"2023-05-04T15:05:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.globalpanorama.org\/2023\/05\/pb-4\/"},"modified":"2024-11-20T21:40:29","modified_gmt":"2024-11-20T18:40:29","slug":"the-demand-for-us-leadership-outpaces-resentment-against-it-pavel-k-baev","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.globalpanorama.org\/en\/2023\/05\/the-demand-for-us-leadership-outpaces-resentment-against-it-pavel-k-baev\/","title":{"rendered":"The Demand For US Leadership Outpaces Resentment Against It – Pavel K. Baev"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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President\nJoe Biden\u2019s long-awaited announcement of decision to run for the second\npresidential term has brought into a sharper focus the new quality of US\nleadership in global affairs, which he has delivered, perhaps without any grand\nstrategic design. The 2024 US elections will be run and determined primarily by\ncompeting domestic agendas, as is usually the case, but the coincidence of\nBiden\u2019s announcement with the state visit to USA of South Korea\u2019s President\nYoon Suk Yeol points to a greater prominence of foreign policy matters than was\nthe case in his previous contestation with President Donald Trump in 2020. For\nthe Korean guest, as for the majority of world leaders, with the obvious\nexception of President Vladimir Putin, Biden\u2019s second presidency is not just an\nentirely agreeable, but perhaps even the best possible prospect. This is not\nonly because the known quality is typically preferrable to an uncertain\ntransition, but primarily because Biden has consistently outperformed their\nexpectations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Public\nopinion in the world may be less kind to Biden, but he still remains in the\npositive territory, with 41 % approval and 33% disapproval ratings, according\nto a recent\nGallup poll<\/a>. It is certainly the\nRussian aggression against Ukraine that has set a crucial rest for Biden\u2019s\nleadership, and as the war hangs in a precarious balance after 14 months of hard\nfighting, the provisional\nconclusion<\/a> that he has delivered what\nwas necessary is beyond doubt. The US-led Ukraine Defense Contact Group, which\ncoordinates the supplies of military aid to the Ukrainian army, held its\neleventh meeting in the Ramstein\nformat<\/a> in the mid-April, and the NATO\nsummit<\/a> in Vilnius, Lithuania in mid-July is\nexpected to demonstrate yet again the unwavering commitment of Biden\u2019s\nadministration to ensuring Ukraine\u2019s victory, even if its key words \u201cas\nlong as it takes<\/a>\u201d may be questioned by sceptics\nof various persuasions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\nis a clear-cut and rigidly-structured confrontation in Europe, is at the same\ntime a far more complex and fluid competitive interplay in East Asia, where\nmultiple new tests for Biden\u2019s leadership are shaping up. Political\ninteractions in this vast region are well-developed, but cannot qualify as a\n\u201csecurity architecture\u201d, and the workings of ASEAN and its Regional Forum,\nwhich in 2023 are overseen by Indonesia<\/a>,\nhave traditionally proceeded by downplaying disagreements and bracketing\nconflicts out, rather than by addressing them. East Asian states are acutely\naware of China\u2019s geopolitical ambitions and expanding capabilities for\nprojecting power, which stimulates their interest in cultivating ties with USA.\nAt the same time, they are wary of the risks emanating from the maturing\nUS-China rivalry and seek to protect their commercial ties with the neighboring\neconomic giant from the damage of \u201cdecoupling<\/a>\u201d.\nThis ambivalence makes the task of alliance management more delicate and\ncomplicated for the US than charting a straight course to confronting China as\nthe multiplying flock\nof \u201chawks\u201d<\/a> in Washington D.C. advocates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

President\nBiden has managed to navigate these troubled waters without disappointing US friends\nand turning various fence-sitters into foes. The war in Ukraine demands his\npriority attention, but he has never lost sight of the stormy clouds around\nTaiwan, even if serious\ndelays<\/a> in deliveries of paid-for US arms\nhave occurred. When French President Emmanuel Macron returning from the state visit\nto Beijing made some ill-considered remarks about unnecessary risks for Europe related\nto \u201ctaking\ncue from US<\/a>\u201d in the Taiwan crisis,\nBiden refrained from any reprimands and merely let his traditionally self-aggrandizing\nally to weather\nthe storm<\/a> of European and domestic criticism.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This\nconsiderate patience is a defining feature of Biden\u2019s style of leadership, perhaps\ninfluenced by reflections on many\ngaffes<\/a> he himself has committed during his\nlong political career. Leading with patience, he has not pressed Japan to\nincrease its defense\nbudget<\/a>, but is very supportive to the plans\nfor investing in modernizing the capabilities of Japanese Self-Defense Forces. He\nhas refrained from any interference in the deal on exporting South Korean tanks\nand howitzers<\/a> to Poland, but grants US\nsupport to the remarkable surge in modernization of defense industry in South\nKorea. The Philippines felt no pressure from the USA regarding the access to new\nbases<\/a>, but are eager to engage in enhanced\nmilitary cooperation, despite the deep-seated\nreservations<\/a>.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joe\nBiden is not striving to get his name attached to a US security doctrine, in\nthe tradition of Harry Truman and Ronald Reagan. He didn\u2019t expect his hard-won term\nin the high office to be a war-time presidency, but he has risen to the\nextra-tough challenge and delivered the leadership necessary for uniting the West\nshocked by the crude Russian aggression. He is also very aware of the\nresentment that the re-energized and determined West generates in many quarters\nof the hugely diverse and naturally disunited Global South. Russian and Chinese\nnarratives on countering the alleged US \u201chegemonism\u201d make poor fit with Biden\u2019s\npolicy of closer engagement with allies and respect of differences with many emerging\npowers, from India and Indonesia to Brazil and Mexico. Irrespective of his\nsuccess or the lack of thereof in the election race, he has proven that the US\nleadership can be patient and positive, rather than arrogant and egoistic, and\ndeserves credit for this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Pavel K. Baev, Dr., Peace Research Institute, Oslo (PRIO)<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Pavel K. Baev is a Research Professor at the Peace Research Institute, Oslo (PRIO). He is also Senior Non-Resident Fellow at the Center for the U.S. and Europe at the Brookings Institution (Washington D.C.), Senior Associate Researcher at the Institut Fran\u00e7ais des Relations Internationales(IFRI, Paris), and Senior Associate Research Fellow at the Italian Institute for International Political Studies (ISPI, Milan). His research interests include the transformation of the Russian military, the energy and security dimensions of the Russian-European relations, Russia\u2019s Arctic policy, Russia-China partnership, post-Soviet conflict management in the Caucasus and the Caspian Basin, and Russia\u2019s Middle East policy, which is supported by the Norwegian Foreign Ministry. He writes a weekly column in Eurasia Daily Monitor<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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To cite this work:<\/strong> Pavel K. Baev, “The Demand For US Leadership Outpaces Resentment Against It”, Panorama<\/em>, Online, 04 May 2023, https:\/\/www.globalpanorama.org\/blog\/2023\/05\/04\/pb-4\/ <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Copyright@UIKPanorama.<\/em> All on-line and print rights reserved. Opinions expressed in works published by the Panorama<\/em> belongs to the authors alone unless otherwise stated, and do not imply endorsement by the IRCT, Global Academy, or the Editors\/Editorial Board of Panorama. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Joe Biden\u2019s long-awaited announcement of decision to run for the second presidential term has brought into a sharper focus the new quality of US leadership in global affairs, which he has delivered, perhaps without any grand strategic design. The 2024 US elections will be run and determined primarily by competing domestic agendas, as is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":10056,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[486,499],"tags":[656,615,585,641],"class_list":["post-11379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion","category-usa","tag-english","tag-joe-biden","tag-leader","tag-united-states-us"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.globalpanorama.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.globalpanorama.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.globalpanorama.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalpanorama.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalpanorama.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11379"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalpanorama.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11379\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalpanorama.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.globalpanorama.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalpanorama.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalpanorama.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}