SS+Refugee+neg+-+Multilat+DA

Karen **__Mingst__**, Political Scientist, University of Kentucky, INTERNATIONAL PEACEKEEPING, Winter **__2003__**, p. 91. (DRG/E23)
 * A. Refusal to work within the UN framework on foreign policy issues undermines multilateralism**

More than anything, __US__ __ambivalence about the UN__ is illustrated in the course of these events. It __is an ambiguity driven by American political culture and domestic politics__. At is root, it is an ambiguity which arises from the conundrum of the hegemon. The US has the power to act alone, power defined in terms of capabilities, but by __exercising__ that __power unilaterally and nakedly, the US may undermine the very multilateral system that it established__, the system that is congruent with American interests ‘95 percent of the time.’


 * B. Multilateralism is the only way to sustain** **US** **leadership and prevent a global power vacuum**
 * Fischer ‘6** (12/27, Joschka, German Foreign Minister, Miami Herald)

For __only the__ __United States__ __-- with all its power and sense of mission -- had the ability to establish a new world order at the beginning of the 21st century. But to achieve this, the country would have had to subordinate its power to the goal of shaping the new order__, much as it did at the close of World War II in 1945. __Instead,__ __America__ __succumbed to the temptation of unilateralism. National greatness for a world power always arises from its ability to shape the world. If a great power forgets this, or loses the ability to act accordingly, it begins to decline. Without a fundamental turnaround in American political consciousness, the unilateralist amnesia of__ __U.S.__ __foreign policy will leave a huge vacuum in the global system. No other nation -- not__ __China____,__ __Europe____,__ __India__ __or__ __Russia__ __-- has the power and the sense of mission to take on__ __America____'s role. Only__ __America__ __was B(and potentially still is) able to fuse realism and idealism, self-interest and ethics, in its foreign policy.__ Great tradition __The United Nations__, NATO, the World Bank, the law of nations and international criminal law, even today's free and united Europe -- all __are crowning achievements of__ __U.S.__ __foreign policy. They mark the moments in history when America's power was used to further a global order, while also pursuing America's own interests in the most effective and sustainable manner.__ America's departure from this great tradition did not begin with the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. As early as the final years of the Cold War, America's foreign-policy elite increasingly came to perceive the United States as a Gulliver tied down by political midgets, with their laws of nations, treaties and multilateral institutions. The existing world order -- created by the United States itself -- was first devalued in American eyes, then weakened and finally consciously attacked. Thus, the current debate about the consequences of defeat in Iraq still falls short -- because, __despite all the critiques of American policy, the debate is still premised on the unilateral use of American power.__ This applies to the views of the Democratic opposition as well as to the Baker-Hamilton report. __What is needed is a conscious, deliberate return to multilateralism. The__ __Middle East____,__ __North Korea____,__ __Darfur____, Central and__ __East Africa____, the__ __Caucasus__ __-- in none of these places can__ __America__ __still act successfully on its own__. And __yet, without__ __U.S.__ __power, the prospects in all these places are still bleaker: more dangers and more chaos. The situation is the same with respect to global growth, energy, resource management, climate change, nuclear proliferation, arms control and terrorism. None of these problems can be resolved or even contained unilaterally. Yet no attempted solution will get very far without decisive__ __U.S.__ __leadership. This also applies to the future of the law of nations, the newly created International Criminal Court and the United Nations. Unless these rules and institutions are further developed, globalization, too, will take an ever more chaotic shape.__ Madeleine Albright once called the United States the indispensable nation. She was right. __The question today is whether the current crisis of American consciousness marks the beginning of__ __America____'s decline or, let us hope, the beginning of a return to multilateralism. The alternative to American leadership is a vacuum and increasing chaos__. But within one or two decades, it may be China that will define the rules, if the United States continues to reject its multilateral responsibilities. For all these reasons__, not only__ __America____'s friends have a vital interest in a__ __U.S.__ __return to multilateralism. Given the dangers of unilateralism for the current world order, so do__ __America____'s enemies.__