Beyond Neo-Con Culture?
Appreciate the comments on ‘cultural competence’.
A big problem is that the ‘community’ (Bunch? Herds??) of foreign policy professionals is split along all sorts of lines, as the commentaries here demonstrate. There are traditional conservatives, neo-cons, liberals, realists, etc. But one especially deep, far reaching and dangerous cleavage is the stark dividing line between those who inhabit the traditional national security culture, and those in the globalist culture. Each has its own journals, think tanks, conferences and watering holes; each has is own norms and lingo; each has its own foundation sugar daddies. Each has its own culture. Those drawn to and acculturated into the globalist culture concentrate on the environment, human rights, and maybe a little humanitarian intervention. And they mostly like the UN.
The folks in the national security culture prefer force structures and throw weights. They’re not crazy about the boys in blue helmets. Each culture thinks the other is deeply flawed, and often misguided. And as Huntington might predict, they rarely communicate directly with one another.
If you are interested in framing a sensible ‘progressive’ (yes, I know, as yet undefined) foreign policy, then there has to be a way to bridge these two cultures, and to do so consciously and deliberately. Alas, can’t be done just with words on the page or the digital post. Requires more active engagement and long difficult conversations over scotch and soda – and white wine. But don’t underestimate how difficult it will be to change institutional cultures.
ges asks if we should instill CC throughout the general population, or mainly train the foreign affairs elites to be more culturally competent. I think both. At the risk of sounding trite, America really is becoming more interdependent with the rest of the world, not less. CC really is, or should be, a growing priority for all Americans and taught in secondary schools everywhere. So far, it isn’t. At the same time, the service academies (Annapolis, etc.) NDU, the Foreign Service Institute, as well as professional schools like Woodrow Wilson, LBJ, JFK etc. need to rapidly expand their CC offerings.
Munguza is on track about the neo-cons cultural obtuseness, especially the crew now in control. They do seem to think the other guys are stupid. Not sure this is moral relativism, though. Mostly it's "my morals right or wrong. Your morals, wrong". They are pretty consistent on that note.
