Anne-Marie Slaughter, a former Obama adviser and a member of the liberal interventionist club from the mid-2000s, spoke for many who saw Libya as precisely the sort of effort they had envisioned as an alternative to George W. Bush's unilateralism — multilateral, values-centered and precise in its aims.
He became an internationalist, someone who's capable of feeling intensely about alliances, multilateral endeavors, the value of global institutions; a fellow traveler of the Council on Foreign Relations, a politician who actually reads Foreign Affairs.
In this context in particular, the European Union's fundamental values of multilateral understanding and solidarity are of great importance.
Both Mr McCain and Mr Obama set greater store by multilateral organisations and the value of partnership than Mr Bush has done.
The action plan does note the value of multilateral action but also says that "particular focus should be put on mobilising the private sector as a major source of financing and of innovation to tackle climate change".
On top of the IMF funding, the programme also agrees "other bilateral and multilateral funding" to a total value of about $40bn.
Ironically, the tragedy of Sept. 11, by causing economic prospects throughout the world to worsen and by making leaders reassess the value of a multilateral approach to solving global problems, created a sense of urgency that proved decisive in the go-ahead for the Nov. 9-14 WTO ministerial conference in Doha, Qatar.
Failure by the United States to join multilateral treaty regimes reflecting fundamental American values, such as those protecting the rights of women and children, undermines our ability to successfully promote those values abroad.
Utility values according to the multilateral Nash bargaining solution (state no. 4; ω=0) for players SHI (solid line), MCO (dashed) and RI (dotted) in relation to marginal changes in μ SHI (left panel) and (bar c) (right panel).
What made a resolution of the crisis possible was a multilateral approach based on shared responsibility, shared values and, in terms of brute realpolitik, recognition that there was no credible alternative.
With sustained attention, personal engagement, and a clear vision of a multilateral global order that reflects American liberal values and progressive ideals, President Obama now has the opportunity once again to shape world affairs to the benefit of the United States and mankind.
