Neokonservatisme dan Politik Luar Negeri Amerika Serikat

Nur Rachmat Yuliantoro

HI UGM

29 Maret 2012

http://americaintheworld.typepad.com/.a/6a00e553af4af188330120a6b0f06b970c-500wi

http://anarchy.files.wordpress.com/2007/08/perspectives.jpg?w=480

Konteks historis

Kaum neokonservatif telah mempengaruhi jalannya politik di Amerika Serikat sejak awal masa pemerintahan Nixon. Tetapi, baru pada masa pemerintahan Reagan mereka menempati posisi-posisi yang penting. Sejak saat itu, visi dan misi mereka mulai ikut berperan dalam pembentukan baik politik domestik maupun luar negeri Amerika Serikat.

http://img465.imageshack.us/img465/4000/neoconservatives22il.jpg

Apa itu Neokonservatisme?

“[N]eoconservative foreign policy thought emphasizes the moral necessity of distinguishing between the forces of good and evil in the international arena, the importance of maintaining US military dominance, a greater willingness to use force, and deep distrust of international law and institutions.” (T. Lim, Neocoservatism and the Domestic Sources of American Foreign Policy, p. 3)

“[W]hen 9/11 came, neoconservative ideas had developed substantially and were ready to be put into action.” (Lim, p. 8)

Tujuan Neokonservatisme

Tujuan utama kaum neokonservatif adalah ‘maintaining global U.S. pre-eminence, precluding the rise of any other great power rival, and shaping the international security order in line with American principles and interests.’

Tujuan di atas didasarkan pada keyakinan bahwa ‘since America has the might, it also has the right and responsibility to unilaterally pursue “a new world order”.’

Politik Luar Negeri Neokonservatif

Keyakinan ini turut disumbang oleh apa yang disebut sebagai ‘American exceptionalism’ dan kepercayaan bahwa Amerika Serikat adalah sebuah negara yang unik, membawa misi dari Tuhan untuk ‘menyelamatkan dunia’:

“To endorse a war and call on people to kill others and die for the country, Americans must define their role in a conflict as being on God’s side against Satan; for morality against evil, not, in its self-perception, to defend national interest.” (S.M. Lipset, 1996)

Oleh karena itu, kaum neokoservatif menekankan perlunya ‘unilateralism, unlimited objectives, and the use of military force as a primary adjunct to policy.’

Bagaimana Neokonservatisme Disebarkan

Untuk menjamin tersebarnya ide-ide mereka, kaum neokonservatif bergerak melalui antara lain the Heritage Foundation, the American Enterprise Institute, the Council on Foreign Relations, dan The Project for the New American Century.

Di samping itu, tulisan-tulisan kaum neokonservatif disebarluaskan melalui majalah dan jurnal seperti Commentary, the Public Interest, the National Interest, Foreign Affairs, dan the Weekly Standard.

Hancurkan Monster!

‘Why not?’ – Respon Irving Kristol dan Robert Kagan terhadap peringatan John Quincy Adams tentang bahaya bagi Amerika Serikat jika “going abroad in search of monsters to destroy.”

‘Monster’ paling berbahaya, dalam pandangan kaum neokonservatif, adalah Saddam Hussein. Ditegaskan: “slaying the Iraqi monster would [not only] enhanceamerican interests, but also make the world more peaceful and just.” (Lim, p. 21).

http://jeffreyhill.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8341d417153ef011570177dd5970c-pi

Surat PNAC kepada Presiden Clinton

Para penanda tangan:

Elliot Abrams, Richard Armitrage,Paula Dobriansky, John Bolton,Richard Perle, Zalmay Khalizad,Peter Rodman, Donald Rumsfeld,Paul Wolfowitz, Robert Zoellick,James Woolsey, William Kristol,Francis Fukuyama

(Lim, p. 23)

“The Project for the New American Century is a non-profit educational organization dedicated to a few fundamental propositions: that American leadership is good both for America and for the world; and that such leadership requires military strength, diplomatic energy and commitment to moral principle.”(http://www.newamericancentury.org/)

1. Sebagai satu-satunya negara adikuasa, Amerika Serikat bertanggung jawab untuk menjamin perdamaian dunia, sekaligus menjamin peluang bagi terciptanya sebuah iklim bisnis yang menguntungkan bagi kepentingannya.

2. Untuk menjamin perdamaian dunia, akan lebih mudah untuk menghancurkan semua ‘kekuatan kiri’melalui sebuah pendekatan global yang sistematis, yaitu ‘the War on Terror’.

http://www.takeoverworld.info/images/cartoon_official_911.jpg

3. Demi kepentingan bisnis, harus dijamin bahwa tidak ada negara lain yang menantang supremasi Amerika Serikat; inilah yang disebut sebagai ‘the New American Century’.

4. Tujuan-tujuan di atas diperkuat dengan kebijakan radikal ‘pre-emptive’: bila Amerika Serikat percaya bahwa ada pihak tertentu bermaksud menyerangnya, maka ia berhak untuk menyerang lebih dahulu.

The Committee on the Present Danger

Dibentuk pada pertengahan Juli 2004, ‘misi tunggal’ CPD adalah “to advocate policies intended to win the war on global terrorism – terrorism carried out by radical Islamists opposed to freedom and democracy.”

Senator Joseph Lieberman dan John Kyl, bersama-sama Ketua CPD James Woolsey menegaskan bahwa “The past struggle against communism was, in some ways, different from the current war against Islamist terrorist … In fact, the world war against Islamic terrorism is the test of our time.”

CPD akan membentuk “a bipartisan citizens’ army, which is ready to fight a war of ideas against our Islamist terrorist enemies, and to send a clear signal that their strategy to deceive, demoralize, and divide America will not succeed.”

Diskusikan! “[W]ould the U.S. have launched an invasion of Iraq

if there were no neoconservatives?” (Lim, p. 31)

“We don’t want to enslave other countries and loot their resources. We want to liberate oppressed people and extend to them the benefits of liberal institutions.” (M. Boot, ‘The Savage Wars of Peace: Small Wars and the Rise of American Power,’ Slate, 8 May 2002 – cetak tebal ditambahkan)

“A world without U.S. primacy will be a world with more violence and disorder and less democracy and economic growth than a world where the United States continues to have more influence than any other country shaping global affairs.” (S. Huntington sebagaimana dikutip dalam R. Kagan, ‘The Benevolent Empire’, Foreign Policy, No. 111, Summer 1998, p. 26 – cetak tebal ditambahkan)