PES Manifesto

Eric Sundström: foreign policy according to our left side of the brain

Published Saturday, February 16, 2008 at 21:00
by Eric (1422 views and 4 comments)

Hello for the last time in a while!

This is my last blog post as your guest blogger, and as promised I will write about ”EU in the world”.

The big debate in Swedish politics this week was the yearly foreign policy debate in the 'Riksdag' (our parliament). Across the Atlantic, ”the Potomac Primaries” in dear old Washington DC, Maryland and Virginia pretty much locked up the presidential nomination on the Republican side for John McCain. Between those two events, a striking similarity must be underlined.

It is often said that foreign policy never determines the outcome of elections, a ”truth” that had to be modified in the US after a the 11th of September 2001. In Europe, foreign policy is still rarely the dominating factor in our elections, but it sure can help to reinforce the general message of a campaign. An example is the general election in Sweden in 1985, when Olof Palme was our Prime Minister. A vote for Olof Palme, and thus the Social Democratic Party, was a vote on equality and solidarity in Sweden (in that campaign, more jobs, higher pensions, and increased funding for football clubs etc who organized activities for kids). But it was also a vote for something bigger; more equality in the world and an end to apartheid in South Africa. A vote on more equality, both in Sweden and abroad.

One of the most interesting areas of research these days is political psychology and how the brain reacts to different political messages. The Republican Party in the US of A has understood this. In the wake of the 11th of September 2001, a ”War on Terror” was declared, and it was no coincidence. America at War reinforces the image that the Republican Party would like the voter to associate with their president in the White House: ”We Republicans are strong and we are defending our nation, America. But this war is expensive, so we have to stimulate the economy with big tax cuts. And thus, we cannot afford to spend any money on welfare. And if you are against us, you are with the terrorists”. That’s a message that effectively speaks to the Republican side of the voter’s brain.

We should all worry about the fact that this message will be defended by John McCain in the presidential election of 2008. McCain has one of the most impressive foreign policy CV's in the US, as y’all should know.

In our Swedish foreign policy debate the other day, a good friend of mine, Mr. Urban Ahlin, defended our Social Democratic colors. In a way, he faced a challenge similar to the one that Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama will have. Sweden’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, the very conservative Mr. Carl Bildt, also has an impressive foreign policy CV. In a situation like that, you cannot and should not triangulate and move closer to your opponent’s position. You need to fight the battle right on, stand firm in your ideology, and move the debate to the part of the brain where your message resonates with what you normally say to the voter. On your own turf, you can deliver your totally different philosophy about how another world is possible.

Why is this important? Foreign policy is also about ideology, not about who is having the best and longest foreign policy CV. Remember, John McCain supported the war in Iraq, as did Sweden’s now Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Carl Bildt. When McCain recently was asked a question about Iran, he started to sing ”bomb, bomb, bomb” to the melody of an old song of The Beach Boys. These two men’s idiotic world view does not become any better, just because their foreign policy CV's are long.

In our Swedish foreign policy debate, Urban Ahlin did not fall into the trap of the political right, where politics are not supposed to be about ideology, but about who has the best CV when the next bomb is about to be dropped.

Instead, Urban Ahlin called Mr. Bildt’s speech ”a document of a coward”, and he constantly returned to how the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Norway, Mr. Jonas Gahr Støre, is building his foreign policy on a totally different world view: the ideology of progressive social democrats.

In his speech, Urban Ahlin also presented an concrete 12-point initiative promoting nuclear disarmament, and he denounced the use of cluster bombs in the Swedish Air Force, and said that diplomacy also includes dialogue with your political enemies, such as Hamas.

In that way, Urban Ahlin spoke to the part of the brain that resonates with the rest of the powerful Social Democratic message: Equality, solidarity, peace, dialogue, a world free of nuclear weapons. Indeed, a very smart way of conducting the debate. He played on his own turf, and not on the side of the pitch where we find George W. Bush, John McCain, and Carl Bildt.

So, my concrete policy proposal is this: When we develop our PES foreign policy agenda before the European elections in 2009, we should do it totally on our own turf, with our own words, and strongly oppose the trend in global foreign policy led by George W. Bush since 2001.

Moreover, I would like Poul Nyrup Rasmussen to continue with the ”Global Progressive Forums”, so that we can continue to develop our own progressive view of the world.

Lastly, I would also like the PES, or the new PES think tank, to create a yearly foreign policy exchange program between ECOSY and Young Democrats in the US. In the coming years, we need to stand strong across the Atlantic in our belief that another world is possible.

What do you think?

Thanks for being your blogger this week, says
Eric Sundström, editor in chief at ”Aktuellt i Politiken”, the newspaper of the Swedish Social Democratic Party.

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I saw the movie ”I’m not there” about the man, myth and legend Bob Dylan the other night. If you like Dylan, it’s an absolute must. Cate Blanchett is fantastic as Mrs. Tambourine Man, but I also loved the scene when ”Idiot Wind” was played.
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Now I need to run off to a dinner with an old friend. Thanks again for having me this week. Keep it real, y'all.

Tags: blogger of the week, disarmement, solidarity, USA