Photograph by Nathaniel St. Clair
Is the United States election that important? “What kind of question is that?” most people would ask. The obvious answer is a resounding “Yes.” As an example: “So much hinges on this election,” American political commentator Joe Klein wrote in The New York Times in explaining why he is voting for Kamala Harris. His choice “rests primarily on Ms. Harris’s respect for the traditions and institutions of our remarkable country.” Klein assumes – part of the “remarkable” – that since the United States is the world’s leading economy with the world’s most powerful military force it is obvious that whoever is elected president has major influence on the global economy as well as the key to the nuclear button. But with the global order being reshaped at accelerated speed, shouldn’t the resounding “Yes” and Klein’s “remarkable” be read as nostalgia for a bygone era?
Klein’s assumption – “so much hinges” – is that the U.S. election is THE major political event before November 5. What about the BRICS+ (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa and others) 16thsummit in Kazan, Russia, in late October. “Thirty-two countries have already confirmed their participation,” a Russian presidential aide told reporters. “Of these 32, 24 countries have confirmed participation of their leaders.” he said. In addition, “the secretary generals of the United Nations, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), the Union State of Russia and Belarus, and the president of the New Development Bank will also attend the summit,” he added.
To put the U.S. election in perspective to the summit, the BRICS+ countries represent about two-thirds of the world’s population. According to the IMF, the bloc collectively accounted for 32.1 percent of global gross domestic product in 2023, up from 16.9 percent in 1995 and more than the G7’s share of 29.9 percent. (President Biden just cancelled his visit to Angola; he has not visited Africa during his presidency, a continent with approximately one-fifth of the world’s population.)
Although the Kazan summit will be overshadowed by the U.S. election in the Western press, the BRICS+ meeting should serve as a reminder that non-Western institutions are developing outside traditional Washington domination. The summit reflects that not all countries pay homage to the post World War II centrality of the United States.
Here in Switzerland, the importance of the election for the 47th president of the United States, all 435 members of the House of Representatives as well as 34 Senate seats regularly flash across the front pages. Who’s ahead? Who’s going to win? After the election, how will the United States be committed to international law, multilateralism and the United Nations? What would Trump or Harris do about Ukraine? Gaza? China? What about the impact on big business, from Pharma to luxury goods like Rolex watches?
For Switzerland, a landlocked country with no natural resources, the curiosity is self-interested. The United States is Switzerland’s second-largest trading partner. According to the Swiss government, “In 2023, Switzerland imported goods worth CHF 29.7 billion from the United States, while its exports amounted to CHF 56.6 billion, making the United States the main destination for exported Swiss goods.” Swiss/U.S. relations also have historical origins. The so-called Sister Republics have been close since Swiss like Albert Gallatin – U.S. Secretary of the Treasury 1801-1814 and one of the founders of New York University – crossed the Atlantic in 1780. The 1815 Swiss Constitution is an adaptation of the U.S. Constitution.
But in the context of the Kazan summit and November 5, it is pertinent to step back to look at certain structural realities of why the U.S. election is such front-page news in Switzerland and the West but not so crucial in other countries. We are not in 1945. The United States is no longer the dominating hegemonic global power it once was. Although still a predominant power, the U.S. has considerable competition militarily, economically, politically and morally. Even Donald Trump recognizes that. Trump’s campaign theme Make America Great Again implies that the U.S. is not as great as it once was.
There is no denying that there is global fascination with the U.S. electoral process. No other country puts on a similar show. Local Swiss television regularly shows Swiss journalists interviewing Trump backers in the United States like some evolutionary biologists studying a newly discovered subspecies of homo sapiens.
But fascination has different shades. Watching convention delegates wearing silly hats stand up and raucously cheer like fans at a sports event may be entertaining, but it lacks gravitas. Presidential debates are high theatre, but they are not serious when candidates argue about eating pets and golf prowess.
For Americans, the election is important; it dominates the media. It will determine much of their day-to-day lives. For those living outside the United States, the fact that Hollywood has taken over how the U.S. chooses its leaders – note Harris’s recent media tour – reflects a general lack of moral authority and relevance. (The latest New York Times/Siena College poll shows respondents think Kamala Harris the more “fun” candidate.)
Moreover, for all the touting of the U.S. president as the leader of the free world, the Biden administration’s continued “ironclad” support of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s aggressions in Gaza and Lebanon further diminishes the traditional U.S. leadership position at the U.N. if not globally. Trump’s legal indictments and threats to not recognize the 2024 results if he loses as he does for the 2020 results further diminish whatever image remains of the United States as theexemplary democracy.
The myth that an American president could make the world safe for democracy is long past as is the more and more challenged narrative of the U.S. as the “indispensable nation,” a title coined by Secretary of State Madeleine Albright in 1998. The upcoming election should be placed in its proper global perspective. It is important, but not as important as many Americans think and the Western press leads us to believe.
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