On the ineffectiveness of American influence in the Middle East

The United States is being asked to take action against countries like Egypt and Syria, because the International Community has failed the Middle East.  The lack of influence and action on behalf of the US is too often blamed on a decline in American power due to an unwillingness to act.  Consider that President Ronald Reagan stood up to Libya by engaging the country militarily, just as President Barack Obama did to a lesser extent, and used aggressive rhetoric to assert American influence as well as other “soft power” options, which no have as much significance.  In a bipolar world where nations and the Peoples of countries must choose between the Americans or the Russians, it is far easier to make America appear to be the best option, even when the US acts against a population’s interests.  In our multi-polar world where there is no ideological struggle and stateless, globalized terrorism is the greatest threat to the national security of all nations and Peoples, it is unreasonable to expect America to have the same kind of power as it did in the Cold War era and post Cold War era, when we lived in a monopolar world.

As such, an alternative and more helpful explanation is that the relative decline of American power in the Middle East is actually due to a lack of legitimacy in the eyes of the leadership and people.  The international community is going through a democratizing process where it is becoming a more democratic community of nations filled with individual nations that are also slowly democratizing.  Because democracies are rooted in addressing the interests of all the People, to some degree at least, individuals must feel their interests will be addressed by a given actor for that actor to have influence, a.k.a. be legitimate.  Only if a government, foreign or domestic, has legitimacy in the eyes of a People, will that government have influence.  In accordance, the People of a democratic country will only view governments like the US as legitimate, if they belief the US will look out for their interests.  Consequently, America must slowly rebuild its influence in the Middle East and the rest of the world through good-faith efforts designed to look out for the interests of the Peoples of the world in big ways.  Demanding governments fulfill the will of the US government, i.e. directly “shape” events to fit what America immediately wants, will only make people distrust the US even more and discourage them from supporting American goals, even when the People of the given country can benefit from those interests.  Moreover, this means America must become more patient and far more supportive in terms of helping the Peoples of the world reach their own aspirations.  The same is true for other world powers.