ABSTRACT
Multilateralism – its forms, effectiveness and limitations – is insepar-
able from power in international relations, in all its manifestations.
For this reason, a great deal of attention has been paid to the attitudes
and actions of the US, as the world’s preeminent military and eco-
nomic power, because these directly influence the prospects of inter-
national organizations and other multilateral arrangements. There is a
claim, popular after the Cold War, that the problems of multilateralism
are a logical outcome of the present distribution of international power, and specifically US power. According to this view, American
power enables that country to act unilaterally, and this is inherently in
tension with multilateralism. There does appear to be a trend towards
unilateral action in US foreign policy across a wide range of issues;
perhaps even a ‘‘growing unilateral disengagement.’’1 Since the end of
the Cold War, this trend has been observed in US policies towards
international arms control processes, the use of military force, human
rights, the natural environment, and international criminal justice. Most alarming for some, the US has presented a strategic doctrine of
preventive force – using military force to prevent the emergence of
hostile threats, even before they become imminent – at odds with the
established norms regulating the use of force in international affairs.
This chapter considers the US approach towards – and impact upon –
multilateralism. It illustrates that there is not a simple US unilateral
disengagement from multilateral arrangements, but rather three dis-
cernible patterns: the US is reducing its support or even withdrawing from a limited number of formalized multilateral arrangements; it is
also using persuasion and coercion to promote its interests in multi-
lateral settings; and it is creating new multilateral arrangements when
it perceives it is necessary.
