Council on Foreign Relations

This Council-sponsored Independent Task Force finds that Africa is of growing strategic importance to the United States in addition to being an important humanitarian concern. In a world where economic opportunity, security threats, disease, and even support for democracy transcend borders, a policy based on humanitarian concerns alone serves neither U.S. interests, nor Africa's. Furthermore, the Task Force finds that critical humanitarian interests would be better served by a more comprehensive U.S. approach toward Africa; nor is it valid to treat Africa more as an object of charity than a diverse continent with partners the United States can work with to advance shared objectives.

Idealism and the pursuit of power are more closely linked than the liberal or realist traditions would have us believe. Foreign policy should be built on the principles of decency, mutual respect for rights and interests, responsible dispute settlement, and institution-building. But there is no room for idealism for its own sake: it must be tempered by legitimate responses to lawlessness and the necessities of power. For these ideas, Richard Ullman is best remembered.