Global policeman

Global policeman is an informal term for a state which seeks or claims global hegemony. It has been used, firstly, of the British Empire and, since 1945, of the United States, the most influential of the Four Policemen victorious in World War II.[1][2]

In recent years there has been speculation that China may take over the role[3] as it reaches out to protect shipping lanes, protect its overseas workers, and 'creeps into the superpower league'. The West, according to two columnists of the Financial Times, 'should view this as an opportunity, not a threat.'[3]

In international law

No formal recognition of this position exists. Theoretically, in international law, all nations are equal; 'par in parem non habet imperium', no authority between equals, is the principle applied. In reality, international law is decentralised, unpoliced, unenforceable, unclear and frequently broken. States are 'immortal' and cannot be indicted.[4]

Comparison with state policing

Within states, law restrains and limits power; between states, the opposite is true.[5]

The Peelian principles of policing include: the duty to prevent crime, keep the peace and uphold the law, with the consent of the public, and with minimal use of force and restraint; to act impartially; and not to usurp the powers of the judiciary.[6] The latter standard requires a presumption of innocence. Candidates for police recruitment and promotion are appointed on merit, whereas a 'global policeman' is self-appointed faute de mieux.

Within states, a monopoly on violence is the norm; the police may carry weapons, but few others do so (the US is an exception, prompting Charles Lane to ask if it is 'really a state'[7]) Internationally, a 'global policeman' is but one heavily armed state among two hundred others.

To confer the role of 'global policeman' on any self-interested, expansionary state implies a conflict of interest. States wage war with maximum force; engage in arms sales; form alliances and thus lack impartiality.[8]

History

The comparatively peaceful years 1815–1914 came to be known as Pax Britannica. The UK made efforts to control the Slave trade through the West Africa Squadron[9] In 1827, Britain, jointly with France and Russia, intervened on the side of Greek independence, destroying the Turkish fleet at the Battle of Navarino. In 1854, Britain, jointly with France, prevented Russia from destroying the Ottoman empire. Russia had to withdraw from Moldavia and Wallachia, and Sebastopol was besieged in the Crimean war.

From 1914–1945 no one state was hegemonic. In an era of multipolarity and diffused responsibility, fascist dictators arose and Europe sank into two world wars. The authoritarian German challenge to democratic Britain then, is comparable to the authoritarian Chinese challenge to democratic America now, according to Richard J Evans.[10]

The Truman Doctrine of 1947 promised assistance to anticommunist allies. 'The right of neutrality was abolished...it was an era of aggressive peacetime policy which marked the beginning of America's role as global policeman.'[11] Since the end of the Cold War 'The enemy is terrorism not communism'.[12] But after a disastrous intervention in Somalia in 1993, the US was reluctant to engage in humanitarian intervention in Bosnia[13] and Rwanda.[14]

The US-led Invasion of Iraq, officially a policing mission to find Weapons of Mass Destruction, has been accused of being an illegal cover for ulterior, unethical motives: the need to secure US regional bases, oil supplies, and the loyalty of key allies.[15][16]

Since then, serious doubts have been raised about the validity of US overseas intervention and destabilization in Iraq, Libya and Syria.[17][18] Americans accept no law other than their own on US soil, yet expect other nations to submit to the rule of US troops; a double standard.[19]

The use of drone strikes on terrorists in Pakistan and Afghanistan goes against the presumption of innocence. The CIA, exempt from the Geneva Convention, is 'secretly sentencing people to death for an unproven crime, without trial or inquest.'[20] Al Qaeda is not a state, so 'war law' which permits killing of combatants, does not apply.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Linda Colley, 'Britain and the US once ran the world. Now they're all at sea', The Guardian, 14 June 2017.
  2. ↑ Gideon Rachman, 'The world would miss the American policeman', Financial Times, 2 September 2013.
  3. 1 2 Jonas Parello-Plesner and Parag Khanna, 'Stop fretting about Beijing as a global policeman', Financial Times, 28 December 2011.
  4. ↑ Martin Wight, Power Politics (Wight book), 1978, p 98- 109
  5. ↑ Martin Wight, Power Politics, 1978 , p 102
  6. ↑ Charles Reith, A new study of police history, Oliver and Boyd, 1956, appendix.
  7. ↑ 'In the US, who has the monopoly on force?', Washington Post, 13th July 2016
  8. ↑ Daniel L Davis, 'What the 'world police' analogy gets wrong,' The National Interest, 2/10/2016
  9. ↑ http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk>pdf>britain-and-the-trade.pdf
  10. ↑ 'Before the first world war: what can 1914 tell us about 2014?' New Statesman, 23/1/2014
  11. ↑ Wendy McElroy, 'How America became the World's Policeman', The Daily Bell, 19/3/2015
  12. ↑ ibid,
  13. ↑ Connor Murphy, 'World Police Force?' psu.edu, 31/10/2013
  14. ↑ Scott Baldauf, 'Why the US didn't intervene in the Rwandan massacre', Christian Science Monitor 7/4/2009.
  15. ↑ Richard Norton-Taylor, 'Top judge: US and UK acted as vigilantes in Iraq invasion, Guardian, 17/11/2008
  16. ↑ David Usborne, 'WMD just an excuse for war, admits Wolfowitz', Independent, 29/5/2003
  17. ↑ Tariq Ali, 'America's selective vigilantism will make as many enemies as friends', The Guardian, 6/9/2011
  18. ↑ Nathan Gardels and Hans Blix, 'America is not the world's policeman - in Syria or Iraq', Christian Science Monitor, 27/8/2013
  19. ↑ Daniel L Davis, 'What the World Police Analogy gets wrong', The National Interest, 2/10/2016
  20. ↑ Geoffrey Robertson, 'Drone attacks go against every Human Right in the book', New Statesman, 13/6/2012
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