U.S. Foreign Policy: A Comparison

Recently some journalists have called the U.S. the new Roman Empire. However, American foreign policy is more like the ancient Athenians than the Romans. From Ronald Regan to George W. Bush, U.S. foreign affairs have mirrored Periclean Athens of the 5th century B.C.E. rather than Augustan Rome.

These Athenians, like Americans, were very proud of their democratic virtues and system. Pericles proclaimed in his famous Funeral Oration that "our system…is more the case of being a model to others, than of our imitating anyone else…We rely, not on secret weapons, but on our own real courage and loyalty…We make friends by doing good to others...or suffering inflicted on our enemies." [1] Whether fighting evil empires or warning about the axis of evil, Americans pursue arch-enemies like Athenians going after Persians and Spartans.

It appears that the Athenians and Americans share four criteria in their foreign affairs:

• protectors of democracy
• unilateral approach
• imperialism of willing allies
• political shift to the right

Protecting Democracy, Alone or With Allies

In December 2004 in Halifax, George W. Bush said that “The energetic defense of our nations is an important duty…We must take the fight to them. We must be relentless and we must be steadfast in our duty to protect….” To protect the American way, whether it be missile shields or the fight against terror, the U.S. will go it alone or use willing allies. Certainly the Americans believe they have a right to fight for democracy and against terror anywhere, a legacy of the Monroe Doctrine. They would prefer to have cooperation, even thinly, as they do in Iraq, albeit with 21 allies, but will act unilaterally if need be, as they have with Cuba.

The Athenians also co-opted an alliance system of Aegean inhabitants into their sphere. This group paid tribute towards a common fleet, virtually an Athenian fleet, as security against any Persian resurgence or Spartan interference against them. Athens would be their protector. By 454 B.C.E. Pericles moved the treasury from neutral Delos to Athens itself causing several allies to believe Athens was more interested in its own aims. Some in the alliance, like Mytelene and Melos, rebelled and the Athenian democracy voted to punish them for their waywardness.

So too, U.S.interventions undermined Sandinista Nicaragua and Grenada who each differed from America's sense of Western Hemisphere protection and democracy. Iraq must be questioning the merits of the American-style also.

A Society of the Right

Athens took its war against Sparta to far off Sicily and lost two fleets and armies there. The losses shocked Athens, its own Iraqi experience, where the U.S. has already lost 4,500. Fear moved its democracy to the right and rights were eroded. In fact, Athenian democracy sentenced Socrates, one of its eminent citizens, to death for treason – because he taught youth to question their elders constantly. It was not a time to question but a time to be on guard, not unlike the Homeland Security measures.

Obama has chosen Senator Joseph Biden, who is also chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, as his running mate. John McCain is a Vietnam veteran. Will their credentials change American foreign policies? Athens let its wars ruin its democracy. Will American society heed Athenian lessons?

[1] Thucydides, The Peloponnesian Wars, Penguin, 1967, pp. 117-120

Athenian ruins

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