GOING IT ALONE

began to fall apart,Japan invaded Manchuria; Italy

overran Ethiopia; and Germany annexed Austria,
attacked Czechoslovakia and joined the Soviet
Union in carving up Poland. The ensuing slaughter
ISN'T AN OPTION continued until 1945, when World War II ended and
the horrors of the Holocaust were finally exposed.
That was 75 years ago-long enough, evidently,
World leaders seem to have forgotten the power of
for our collective memory to slip. The deficit in
international cooperation By Madeleine Albright cross-border diplomacy is evident in Libya, Yemen,
Syria and terrorism-plagued Central Africa. The
Trump Administration has loosened the shackl es
THE CORONAVIRUS THAT NOW POSES A DIRE THREAT TO PUBLIC HEALTH on Iran's nuclear program and failed to stop North
and to the world economy is so dangerous partly because it is novel-a Korea's. In Latin America, hard-line leaders threaten
new harm that our bodies and our governments must learn to face. But to haul the region back to the days when autocrats
it is also a reminder of a lesson we should have learned long ago: that, to ruled and democrats were routinely jailed.
thrive, people of every nationality must combine strengths.
There is something childish about the belief that one can be safe behind THERE IS A REAL DANGER that our future will be
a wall, a moat or even an ocean. The principal threats we face, even beyond defined by clashes that could have been avoided.
pandemic disease, do not respect boundaries. They include rogue gov- Look around: Where are the leaders who will re-
ernments, terrorists, cyberwarriors, the uncontrolled spread of advanced mind us of our mutual obligations and shared fate?
weapons, multinational In Moscow? Beijing? London?
criminal networks and en- Rome? Paris? New Delhi? An-
vironmental catastrophe. kara? In Berlin, Chancellor An-
It was for good reason gela Merkel is on the way out.
that world leaders strove That leaves Washington.
in decades past to establish In the U.S., pundits are fond
regional and global mech- of declaring, every four years,
anisms to spur develop- that the next election is the
ment, prevent war, promote most important since George
health, regulate trade and Washington put away his hair
prosecute crimes against powder. This time around is no
humanity. The institutions different. I can't be sure what
created were often less effi- historians will say about the
cient than one might hope. balloting in 2020. I do know
But they also helped us re- that a huge gap has opened be-
solve dangerous conflicts tween what the international
and make unprecedented community needs and the re-
gains in, among other mis- A
ality now in place. The size of
sions, alleviating poverty, expanding literacy and containing the ravages Cooperation in this gap represents a failure
of diseases from polio and yellow fever to HIV/AIDS and Ebola. 1955: shipping on the part of leaders on every
This record is worth reflecting on at a time when most powerful national polio vaccines continent who would rather
governments are not prioritizing international cooperation. That includes to Europe win cheap cheers at home than
the idea's traditional champion: the U.S. From its first months, the Trump run the political risk of ta ck-
Administration has claimed that "the world is not a 'global community' but ling hard problems abroad. But it reflects, as well, a
an arena where nations, nongovernmental actors and businesses engage vacuum at the top that only the U.S. can fill.
and compete for advantage;' as two Trump advisers wrote in 2017. In the This troubled spring, as we sit at home for lon-
President's vocabulary, patriots and globalists are on opposite ends of the ger periods than usual, let us think about what the
spectrum-corresponding, respectively, to right-minded and softheaded. coronavirus is telling us and consider with care the
In such thinking, Trump is not alone. Hypemationalist leaders around choices we face. We can learn from history or repeat
the globe seem determined to ignore the awareness of interdependence it. We can embrace our international responsibili-
that was-in the past century-drummed into our minds at a nearly un- ties or go it alone. We can settle for the leadership
bearable cost. Such leaders go beyond the expression oflegitimate national we have endured these past few years or, when we
pride into jingoism, which is defined as an overenthusiastic insistence on vote this year, look for a President who understands
the superiority of a particular culture or country. Self-regard is inflated how inseparable our fate is from that of the world.
into feelings that are di sdai nful of others. In the process, recognition of the
need to cooperate with those outside one's own group is blurred. A/brig/it is a former U.S. Secretary of State and the
Jn the 193os,jingoism enjoyed its golden age. As the League of Nations author of Hell and Other Destinations
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - -- - -

61