Sustainable development as an organizing principle for US foreign policy: Opportunities and enduring constraints

Conference · Sat Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 1995

OSTI ID:93774

Munro, J F

The disintegration of the Soviet Union has dramatically changed the international topography. Bipolar international relations have given way to a multipolar world wherein the United States is the only true superpower as gauged by both economic and military might. The decline of the Soviet Union has removed an important stabilizing force in international politics and a critical organizing principle for American Foreign Policy -- namely, the containment of international communism. The Soviet Union`s dismantlement has created opportunities for both cooperation and conflict. It means that increasingly cooperative relations between Russia and the United States have reduced the threat of nuclear war while intensifying regional political instability among present and former allies and former client states. Without the Soviet threat more resources are available to restore the nation`s transportation, communications, and industrial infrastructure, clean up the environment, and to develop technologies that promise to increase US economic competitiveness while minimizing environmental impacts. Internationally, there should be additional resources to promote international economic growth, to preserve natural environments, and to build democratic institutions in developing nations.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-84OR21400
• OSTI ID: 93774
• Report Number(s): CONF-9506115--5; ON: DE95013980
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
CONSTRAINTS
ENVIRONMENT
FOREIGN POLICY
INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION
POLLUTION ABATEMENT
SECURITY
SOCIO-ECONOMIC FACTORS
USA