Two-Party Politics and the International Scope of Duopoly Ideology

Reactionary opposition between the Democratic and Republican parties is a defining characteristic of politics under the conditions of the two-party state and duopoly system of government.  Yet, the appearance of opposition and antagonism often serves to obscure a fundamental unity in support of consolidating the power of the ruling political class and expanding the scope of the global warfare and corporate welfare state.  A newly released Wikileaked cable sheds some light on how the constitutive dynamics of the two-party system affect our relations with other countries and influence the domestic politics of foreign nations.  As reported at Third Party and Independent Daily:

A newly released Wikileaked diplomatic cable from April 2009 details a meeting between Vice President Joe Biden and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Zapatero at a Progressive Governance Leaders Summit in Chile.  Discussion of the Obama administration's "new approach to foreign policy" appears to have dominated the meeting.  Biden stated that for eight years the doctrine of "my way or the high way" had been ascendant in American foreign policy, but that the Obama administration would seek collaboration and consensus.

For his part, Zapatero expressed high expectations in working with the Obama administration but admitted that "managing the relationship between the United States and Spain under the Bush administration was easy for him."  The cable states: "Whatever position the Bush Administration took, he would take the opposite and see his domestic poll numbers increase. Sarcastically, Zapatero said "for that I will always be grateful to the Bush Administration."  [Emphasis added.]

Zapatero, a member of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party, was elected Prime Minister in 2004 and then re-elected in 2008.  During the Bush administration, he was an outspoken critic of US foreign policy and the war in Iraq.  See a cache copy of the cable at Cable Search.    

In 2004, Zapatero's opposition to the Iraq war helped assure his election to the office of prime minister and led him to publicly support John Kerry's candidacy for president.  The irony, of course, is that Kerry did not oppose the war in Iraq and stood by his vote in support of it throughout the 2004 campaign.