Well Said: Peter Katzenstein and Jeffrey W. Legro

“During the last four decades American standing has sometimes seen major declines, but has typically bounced back because the American model continued to have strong appeal (i.e., esteem). One indicator of this is the continuing attractiveness of the U.S. higher education system and the fact that many who come to study in the United States end up staying. ... That said, the potential for a resurgence in America’s current standing varies by region, and how America responds to the global financial and economic crisis is especially important. If the United States provides fewer global and regional public goods, such as economic or military assistance, its standing will diminish in East Asia and erode even further in Europe. Similarly, if growing U.S. budget deficits require cuts in the recent expansion of American aid programs in Africa, this might also erode American standing in a continent where trends have been more positive in recent years.”

Peter Katzenstein and Jeffrey W. Legro

Katzenstein, professor of international studies at Cornell
University, and Legro, chair of the Department of Politics at the University of Virginia, wrote about the impact of America’s global image in the current issue of Foreign Policy magazine. We’d be better off if far fewer U.S. taxpayer dollars were used to influence overseas interests, but the authors correctly point out that others’ views of the United States often are predicated by how much we subsidize them.