1673 



In summary: 



A mood of withdrawal from extended — possibly overextended — foreign policy 

 commitments seems to have enveloped the Nation in the post-Vietnam era. 

 Reinforced by other powerful forces, termed isolationist by some observers, this 

 mood has had the effect of restricting foreign policy initiatives and inducing a 

 cautious attitude among lawmakers toward reaffirming traditional but far-reaching 

 foreign policy commitments. Apathy and indifference toward economic develop- 

 ment (and also immigration) is reflected in the attitude and posture of the admin- 

 istration; and thus far in the 1970s the Congress, preoccupied with other pressing 

 matters such as the energy and constitutional crises, has seemed unaware that a 

 problem exists. ^'^ 



Prospects and Options 



At the outset of this commentary the question was raised as to how 

 a problem with important consequences for foreign policy and inter- 

 national relations — a problem, in this case, involving the interaction 

 of science, technology, and foreign relations — could drop out of sight 

 unresolv^ed. The answer to this question is a composite one, and parts 

 of it are suggested by common sense and common experience. 



THE PROBLEM OF LOSING TRACK OF PROBLEMS 



There are fashions in policy issues and political or diplomatic prob- 

 lems, as in virtually all human affairs — ■including village vandalism 

 and international terrorism. Even the great issues are lost from view 

 at times as attention is distracted to more urgent and exciting, if less 

 important, themes or events.^^^ When the issue or problem is of some- 

 what lesser magnitude than the population explosion, or the nuclear 

 threat, or any of half a dozen other matters pertaining more or less 

 directly to the ultimate question of human survival, it has that much 

 less claim on center stage. Yet it may have an important, if undramatic, 

 bearing on one of those more vital matters — including the ability of 

 peoples to live together harmoniously in a world of growing pressures 

 of interdependence. Taking action to solve or alleviate these under- 

 lying problems may be a useful and perhaps essential contribution to 

 the establishment of interdependent relationships that in turn make 

 the larger and more dangerous issues less intractable. This indirect 

 approach may, at first sight, appear unsuited to that side of the 

 American character reflected in the World War II slogan of the U.S. 

 Army Air Corps: "The difficult we do immediately; the impossible 

 takes a little longer." But the slogan is ironically at variance with the 

 disciplined systems approach required to build and operate a fighter 

 plane (not to mention a space ship). Moreover, for all the alleged 

 impatience of Americans to get things done yesterday if not sooner, 

 the American genius in organization and technology — which depends 

 in both areas on the step-by-step systems approach — suggests that it 

 is at least a disciplined and sustainable impatience, when problems 

 are expressed in engineering terms. 



Can a diplomatic problem be dealt with in such terms? In many 

 cases the answer is: Yes — with at least some success, and perhaps 

 considerable. Human affairs may be comphcated by nonrational fac- 

 tors, some of them respected and cherished, which would not fit into a 



2«6 W helan, BTain Drain, vol. 11, p. 1317. 



287 In the article referred to in footnote 265, Russell W. Peterson writes that "... 8 year after the 

 World Population Conference in Bucharest, population, the world's most pressing problem, is its for- 

 gotten crisis." 



