The Foreign Service Journal, January-February 2021

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2021 39 rado, Nebraska and Ohio—that included hundreds of interviews. The case study findings contain valuable insights that, while not the typical rawmaterial for foreign policy making over recent decades, are essential to grasp in fashioning an effective policy going forward. The following is excerpted from the report summary. If there ever was a truism among the U.S. foreign policy com- munity—across parties, administrations and ideologies—it is that the United States must be strong at home to be strong abroad. Hawks and doves and isolationists and neoconservative alike all agree that a critical pillar of U.S. power lies in its middle class—its dynamism, its productivity, its political and economic participa- tion, and, most importantly, its magnetic promise of progress and possibility to the rest of the world. And yet, after three decades of U.S. primacy on the world stage, America’s middle class finds itself in a precarious state. … If the United States stands any chance of renewal at home, it must conceive of its role in the world differently. … Five broad recommendations bear highlighting up front. First, broaden the debate beyond trade. Manufacturing has long provided one of the best pathways to the middle class for those without a college degree, and it anchors local economies across the country, especially in the industrial Midwest. … But debates about “trade” are often a proxy for anxieties about the breakdown of a social contract—among business, government and labor—to help communities, small businesses and workers adjust to an interdependent global economy. …Getting trade policy right is hugely important for American households but it is not a cure-all for the United States’ ailing middle class. … Second, tackle the distributional effects of foreign eco- nomic policy. Globalization has disproportionately benefited the nation’s top earners and multinational companies and aggravated growing economic inequality at home. …Making globalization work for the American middle class requires substantial invest- ment in communities across the United States and a comprehen- sive plan that helps industries and regions adjust to economic disruptions. … Third, break the domestic/foreign policy silos. For decades, U.S. foreign policy has operated in a relatively isolated sphere. National security strategists … have articulated national interests and set the direction of U.S. policy largely through the prism of security and geopolitical competition. … But threats to the nation’s long-term prosperity and to middle-class security demand a wider prism—informed by a deeper understanding of domestic economic and social issues and their complex interac- tion with foreign policy decisions. … It will take better inter- agency coordination, interdisciplinary expertise, and some policy imagination. Fourth, banish stale organizing principles for U.S. foreign policy. There is no evidence America’s middle class will rally behind efforts aimed at restoring U.S. primacy in a unipolar world, escalating a new Cold War with China, or waging a cos- mic struggle between the world’s democracies and authoritar- ian government. In fact, these are all surefire recipes for further widening the disconnect between the foreign policy community and the vast majority of Americans beyond Washington, who are more concerned with proximate threats to their physical and economic security. … The United States cannot renew America’s middle class unless it corrects for the overextension that too often has defined U.S. foreign policy in the post–Cold War era. It is equally evident that retrenchment or the abdication of a values-based approach is not what America’s middle class wants—or needs. … All this requires a larger international affairs budget to retool American diplomacy and development for the 21st century. … Fifth, build a new political consensus around a foreign policy that works better for America’s middle class. A foreign policy that works better for the middle class would preserve the benefits of business dynamism and trade openness …while mas- sively increasing public investment to enhance U.S. competitive- ness, resilience, and equitable economic growth. It would sustain U.S. leadership in the world, but harness it toward less ambitious ends, eschewing regime change and the transformation of other nations through military interventions. … The task force’s recommendations provide a blueprint for rebuilding trust. So much of what is required to make U.S. foreign policy work better for the middle class …will require working through difficult trade-offs, where the interests of industries, workers, or communities do not align. The American people need to be able to trust that U.S. foreign policy professionals are managing this tremendous responsibility as best they can, with the interests of the middle class and those striving to enter it at the forefront of their consideration. U.S. foreign policy professionals will also need to regain the trust of U.S. allies and partners, which no longer have confidence that the deals struck with one U.S. administration will survive the transition to the next. … Restoring predictability and consistency in U.S. foreign policy requires building broad-based political support for it. …The ideas in this report represent a starting point for discussion—one that will hopefully lead to healthy debate and bring many more inno- vative and actionable ideas to the table.