One of the chief casualties of the Bush administration’s foreign and security policies has been US standing in the world. This loss of reputation matters. In testing the limits of its “hard power”, the administration has sacrificed precious “soft power” resources too. It hurts the country that so many people around the world no longer trust it to act responsibly, and that (according to a recent BBC poll of 26,000 people in 25 countries) one in two says the US is playing a mainly negative role in the world.

A new report from a panel convened by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, co-chaired by Richard Armitage (a former deputy secretary of state) and Joseph Nye (an eminent international relations scholar), starts with those findings and asks what should be done. It ranges widely and makes detailed recommendations under several broad headings. Attend to alliances, partnerships and international institutions. Elevate development as a goal of US foreign policy. Champion economic integration with a human face. Apply American leadership to climate change and international energy security. Dethrone the “war on terror” as the organising principle of US action – not because containing terrorism is unimportant, but because subordinating everything to that aim makes it harder to achieve. In short, invest in “smart power”, a blend of hard and soft, more effective than either alone.