Time to Sign the Mine Ban Treaty

摘要

Throughout the twentieth century, U.S. foreign policy was pulled in contrary directions by the muscle-flexing appeal of realism and the Utopian promise of liberalism. At the end of the cold war, many pundits suggested that liberalism, having won the ideological battle against Marxism, was now poised to shape and inform the policy realm. But as the debate over banning antipersonnel landmines (APLs) makes clear, the tension between realism and liberalism is alive and well. The United States has refused to sign the international Mine Ban Treaty (MBT) because, it claims, APLs are vital to the security of U.S. soldiers deployed along the 38th parallel in Korea. At the same time, the United States played a key and perhaps decisive role in initiating the mine ban movement in the early 1990s, and it is the single largest supporter of international mine-clearing efforts in terms of funding, training, and technological support.