We always talk about "cooperative engagement". Competitive engagement is an interesting concept. Key excerpt:
The current administration, in elevating the value of America’s so called “smart” or “soft” power has failed to understand that being “attractive” is never enough. The internal contests in places of strategic interest to the United States directly impact the ability of Washington to promote human rights, advocate for better treatment for women, improve rule of law, and assist with economic reforms. Any injection of American aid or resources involves us in a cauldron of ongoing competitions. One reason behind the arrest last spring of individuals supporting civic groups in Egypt was because leaders there viewed such assistance as a direct interference in these contests.
Sometimes I think our strategic weakness is our desire to want to be liked, if not loved by everyone.
Competitive Engagement: Upgrading America’s Influence
Journal Article | November 5, 2012 - 2:28pm
The most recent presidential debate made clear that no matter who sits in the Oval Office in January, the President will have to deal with the problem of how to exert American influence in a world of dwindling resources, increasing ambivalence, declining order, and intensifying competition for regional and global leadership. At a time when the United States has much to lose from retrenchment, an Obama or Romney administration will find the United States with few effective non-military instruments of power. Both candidates skirted around the problem of how to exert such power. The fact is, post-cold war America is not good at it and this is not due, solely, to diminished resources. It is because the United States lacks a concept of operations that applies our economic and humanitarian assistance - our so called instruments of “soft power” - competitively.
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