The Implications of an “American First” Policy: A Focus on Human Rights (Research Paper Sample)

The Implications of an “American First” Policy: A Focus on Human Rights Student’s Name Institutional Affiliation The Implications of an “American First” Policy: A Focus on Human Rights “America First” as depicted by the current administration of the United States argues for an international strategy that consistently positions the country’s interests above those of anything else or any person. In this regard, there has been a reshaping of the international perceptions of the nation and creation of challenges for the United States in coordinating worldwide leaders in settling complex global problems. Although “America First” may sound idealistic, one cannot ignore its phrase’s connection to the 1940s America First Committee that mostly applied anti-Semitic as well as pro-fascist notions in its aim of pressuring against American involvement in the Second World War. The biggest question that should be answered would be associated with the idea of the position of human rights in the era of “America First” notion. For instance, in handling Russia and other adversaries, the President of the United States has mostly been seen to downplay the concerns about human rights abuses as well as dismissing the vitality of moral leadership. Ideally, “America First” policy seems to have appeared as an idealistic notion in the first instances but has since been misguided and led to even more human rights violation incidences not only in the United States but also other parts of the world. “America First” policy can be seen as a part of contemporary globalization that can be defined as a package deal that encompasses informatization, flexibilization, as well as different changes of states. The fact is that many of the policies that have been developed and still being progressed during the modern era have had implications on various facets (Ziv, Graham, & Cao, 2019). Human rights are one of the key areas of concern, especially having been influenced significantly by “America First” policy. A good example can be traced back to the Reagan reforms whereby there were attacks on “the labor and civil rights movements, weakened workplace and environmental regulations, and cut back public services” (Pieterse, 2004). Indeed, this is an indication of the globalization policies being a part of infringement of human welfare and rights. “America First” policy holds onto the notion that strong and sovereign states allow their people to take possession of their future and coordinate their destiny. However, this has not always been the case as not all interests of the people are being fulfilled under the policy. A good illustration is Trump’s wall being built between the country and Mexico, which is an indication that the United States is using the “America First” policy to keep away immigrants (Ziv et al., 2019). The international stage has disapproved such a move since it denies humans the right to live anywhere around the world. Indeed, it can be deduced that the policy has major adverse implications for human rights. “America First” policy has also resulted in global bullying by only encouraging White nationalism at the expense of the rights of other races. In fact, it has been seen around that Trump has got much disdain for the minorities including the immigrants, ethnic, and racial factions. Indeed, this goes against the idea that “the United States is a settler nation; it has always been a destination for immigrants” (McCarty, 2014). Despite there being a lot of studies showing that immigrants are not more crime-prone as compared to the ones born stateside, much discrimination can still be observed in different settings. The denial of refugee rights is still evident in the United States as many of them have been criminalized when coming to the southern territory seeking asylum from dangers in their nation of origin (Löfflmann, 2019). The claim of such criminalization move is that such groups play a role in harboring terrorists and criminals. Trump still makes the claim that the mistreatment of such refugees by separating them from the kids and parents, providing poor conditions, as well as encouraging their overcrowding serves as a deterrent to the people wishing to come to the nation. It appears that Trump’s worries about international immigration are linked to his support for certain values including isolationism, authoritarianism, as well as White nationalism (Ziv et al., 2019). Indeed, all these actions guided by “America First” policy act only to suppress human rights to seek asylum and build relationships with their families among other aspects. “America First” policy has also been blamed for exporting the ideas of isolationism and White nationalism to other nations around the world, thus leading to more infringement of human rights. Beyond the acts of refusal to denounce the notion of White supremacist categories in the United States, the President has pushed for conspiracy theory of “white genocide” (Ziv et al., 2019). The notion has been seen to be a reality among the White farmers across South Africa whereby Trump has asked his administration to scrutinize the alleged attacks. Indeed, this is just one example where “America First” policy has been seen to influence other nations. Although Trump has mostly used the laissez-faire model to fight against human rights violations internationally, he has continuously legitimated leaders to engage in such offenses and promoted such wrongs in specific situations (Löfflmann, 2019). In fact, he has chosen to ignore many oppressions of humans happening globally unless there are pressures to do so. For instance, Trump’s reaction to the killing and dismemberment of Jamal Khashoggi under the forces of Saudi Arabia remains nonexistent. In fact, he has continued to render support to Mohammed bin Salman, who is the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia even after such a heinous act (Ziv et al., 2019). There is also ignorance shown by the regime on the human rights violations of Palestinians under Israeli authorities. For instance, there has been noted restriction of mobility of people and commodities into and out of the Gaza strip (Drolet & Williams, 2020). Ideally, even under “America First” policy, there are many violations of human rights being e...