Clinton leaves big shoes to fill

By Yuriko Koike

The writer F. Scott Fitzgerald famously said that "there are no second acts in American lives." Hillary Clinton's stunning (and, I trust, unfinished) career - from first lady to U.S. senator to presidential candidate to secretary of state in the administration of the man who defeated her - proves Fitzgerald could not have been more wrong.

Today, as Clinton prepares to leave office, there is widespread speculation she will seek to succeed President Barack Obama in 2016. She has had not only a second act, but a third, as well - and millions of Americans want her to write a fourth.

Clinton's four years as America's top diplomat have given her iconic status around the world, and deservedly so. On her watch, two of the longest wars in U.S. history have been wound down, America's alliances have been reinvigorated, and young women everywhere have been encouraged to pursue their dreams - whether in academia, business or politics. Hers is a record that ranks her among the great postwar U.S. secretaries of state: Dean Acheson, Henry Kissinger and James Baker.

The position of secretary of state is truly global in scope. It demands not only a coherent conception of how the world works and the place of U.S. national interests within the international order, but also extraordinary political skill, stamina, timing and, above all, courage. Clinton used all of these virtues to their highest possible effect.

In the midst of two wars and Asia's rise, Clinton confronted the three great tasks that any U.S. secretary of state must face: pinpointing the challenges at hand; developing a viable strategy that attracts the support of the entire U.S. government and public opinion; and managing the actual practice of U.S. diplomacy. Here, she was aided by the great confidence that Obama placed in her - a remarkable outcome, given their rivalry in the 2008 presidential campaign. Obama's decision attests not only to his judgment, but also to her character.

Clinton's primary challenge as secretary of state was to recast the very nature of U.S. involvement in global affairs. The go-it-alone America of the years of the war on terror had alienated its closest allies, and had proved insufficient both to resolving the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and to creating a structure of peace for an Asia struggling to cope with China's new power and assertiveness.

With Clinton at the diplomatic helm, the United States once again made its alliances - in Europe, the Middle East and Asia - both a core principle and the key operational mechanism of its foreign policy. This renewed trust in allies has been particularly important in Asia and the Middle East, where the United States has used cooperation with old partners like Turkey, Japan and South Korea, and new near-alliances with India and Indonesia, to deter aggression.

Indeed, American foreign policy's "pivot to the Pacific" could not be undertaken without the United States having first reinvigorated its relationships with Asia's democracies. But it also could not have been undertaken without Clinton's resolve to make China part of the solution, rather than merely a target of recrimination or containment. As a result, China is being given the opportunity to preserve its dignity while receiving incentives to integrate into a stable regional and ultimately global order that welcomes it as an integral player, so long as it abides by multilateral rules.

Of course, Clinton's efforts to revitalize America's alliances made restoring confidence in U.S. leadership an overriding priority, which she achieved without seeking to militarize every international problem. Her approach implicitly assumed that creating conditions of cooperative strength can make the search for lasting peace self-reinforcing. Moreover, even as she emphasized the importance of alliances, she did not neglect diplomatic engagement with adversaries, though never - particularly with respect to Iran and North Korea - simply as an exercise in splitting the difference.

Clinton, the one-time legislator and practicing politician, understood a stateswoman's real legacy is not found in today's headlines and opinion polls but in lasting policies and institutions. This effort, she knew, requires a willingness to achieve one's goals in stages, however imperfect. In her own words, "the challenge now is to practice politics as the art of making what appears to be impossible, possible."

Finally, less noted but of real long-term consequence, Clinton made the cause of gender equality a special focus of her diplomacy - and not only in the halls of power. Wherever she traveled, she spoke out for equal rights. "In too many instances," she noted, "the march to globalization has also meant the marginalization of women and girls. And that must change."

Clinton has helped to bring about such change, not only for women like her (and me), but, more important, for the world's poor, disenfranchised and silenced women.

- Yuriko Koike, Japan's former minister of defense and national security adviser, is a former chairwoman of Japan's Liberal Democrat Party and currently an opposition leader in the Diet.

© Project Syndicate 2013