Leon Hadar
George HW Bush’s famous 1990 speech embodied an era when American power seemed unlimited. Thirty-five years later, we know better.
Today is the 35th anniversary of George HW Bush’s September 11, 1990, address to Congress—the speech that introduced Americans to his vision of a “New World Order.” It’s worth examining how dramatically that utopian promise has diverged from the messy realities of international politics.
Standing before Congress as Iraqi forces occupied Kuwait, Bush painted a picture of unprecedented global cooperation. “We stand today at a unique and extraordinary moment,” he declared, envisioning a world where the United Nations would finally fulfill its founding promise, where aggression would be met with a unified international response, and where American leadership would guide humanity toward a more peaceful and prosperous future.
The Gulf War and the Seductive Logic of Hegemonic Benevolence
Bush’s New World Order represented the apex of what we might call “hegemonic idealism”— the belief that American power, properly deployed, could remake the international system in democracy’s image. The collapse of the Soviet Union had seemingly vindicated decades of containment strategy, leaving the United States as history’s first truly global superpower. What could be more natural than using this “unipolar moment” to establish lasting peace?
The Gulf War itself appeared to validate this vision. A broad international coalition, operating under UN auspices, swiftly expelled Iraqi forces from Kuwait with minimal American casualties. Here was multilateralism with teeth, backed by overwhelming American military superiority. The ghosts of Vietnam seemed finally exorcised.
But this triumph, like many others, contained the seeds of future disasters. The very ease of victory in the Gulf encouraged a dangerous hubris about American capabilities and the malleability of international politics. If Saddam Hussein could be rolled back so effortlessly, why not apply the same formula elsewhere? Why not expand NATO eastward, intervene in the Balkans, democratize the Middle East, and contain rising powers like China?
The Costs of US Overextension
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