Paying for Essentials A Policy Paper Series The United States in a Global Age: The Case for Multilateral Engagement Shepard Forman Princeton Lyman Stewart Patrick In various points in its history, the United States has adapted creatively to changing international conditions. After World War II, most famously, the country assumed global leadership, sponsoring an array of multilateral institutions to promote global security and cooperative economic relations. Despite the perils of the Cold War, these institutional foundations anchored the peace and prosperity of the free world for several decades. Today, at the dawn of the twenty-first century, the United States faces a new challenge: adjusting its foreign policy vision and adapting domestic and international institutions to the demands of globalization. This paper outlines a new conceptual framework for U.S. Foreign policy appropriate to a global age. It argues that constructive multilateral engagement is essential if the United States is to grapple with the challenges and take better advantage of the opportunities presented by globalization. The paper emerges from a collaborative study sponsored by the Center on International Cooperation (CIC) to examine the causes and consequences of U.S. ambivalence toward multilateral cooperation. CONTENTS Preface Why We Need to Rethink Our Approach to Foreign Policy Understanding U.S. Ambivalence and Selectivity The Case for Cooperative Engagement Adapting the Executive Branch to a Global Age Partnering with Private Actors Building a Public Constituency The Road Ahead Download a PDF of the entire paper