ABSTRACT
Presidents George H.W. Bush and William Clinton molded U.S. foreign policy at a transforming moment in international affairs. The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989 ended the cold war era. President Bush envisaged the United States as a leading force in what he dubbed a “new world order.” The new order at minimum meant a commitment to the traditional principles of international law and the UN Charter, and at its best a world “where diverse nations are drawn together in common cause to achieve the universal aspirations of mankind.” The administration’s endorsement of UN activities reversed the downward spiral in U.S. policy toward the organization witnessed in the Reagan years, but it would be tested in the Gulf War and UN peacekeeping efforts. His commitment initially would be carried forward by his successor Bill Clinton, who engaged the UN in crises in Haiti, the Former Yugoslavia, and Somalia. But the revived enthusiasm for a U.S.-led global order could not be sustained as the American electorate recoiled from extended engagement and as global challenges by several great powers to perceived U.S. dominance emerged. Concerned about the shifts in American public opinion and congressional opposition to the United Nations, President Clinton demanded UN reform, a change in UN leadership, and limitations on peacekeeping operations. Increasingly, the U.S. exercised its power unilaterally in conflict zones like Kosovo, the Gulf region, and Afghanistan.
