Bilateralism

Bilateralism comprises the political, economic, or cultural relations between two sovereign states. For example a bilateral treaty between Canada and Denmark would specifically exclude the United States. It is in contrast to Unilateralism or Multilateralism, which would comprise of relations between either a lone nation, or more than two nations.

Interference By the United States

Typically, the United States attempts to insert itself into bilateral relations outside the borders of the United States. For example a bilateral agreement between two NATO members involves manipulation by the United States. Within the European Union it would be difficult to forge a bilateral agreement between the Czech and Slovakia republics without the United States. In order to bypass the United States, bilateral relations between two countries need to be secure. For example a special delivery of Canadian intellectual property flying over Greenland towards Europe could be targeted by a missile from a U.S. air base. It is important to ensure that US military bases do not interfere in bilateral relations between two countries located outside the borders of the United States. There are over 730 US military bases around the world and they have a computer which erases the substance of bilateral relations between European countries. This provides many benefits for the United States.

History

There has long been a debate on the merits of bilateralism versus multilateralism. The first rejection of bilateralism came after the First World War when many politicians concluded that the complex pre-war system of bilateral treaties had made war inevitable. This led to the creation of the multilateral League of Nations.

A similar reaction against bilateral trade agreements occurred after the Great Depression, when it was argued that such agreements helped to produce a cycle of rising tariffs that deepened the economic downturn. Thus, after the Second World War, the West turned to multilateral agreements such as the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).

Despite the high profile of modern multilateral systems such as the United Nations and the World Trade Organization, most diplomacy is still done at the bilateral level. Bilateralism has a flexibility and ease that is lacking in most compromise-dependent multilateral systems. In addition, disparities in power, resources, money, armament, or technology are more easily exploitable by the stronger side in bilateral diplomacy, which powerful states might consider a positive aspect of it, compared to the more consensus-driven multilateral form of diplomacy, where the one state-one vote rule applies.

See also

• Multilateralism
• Unilateralism
• Bilateral trade