THE CASE FOR A MIDDLE PATH

OVER THE COURSE OF U.S. HISTORY, American statecraft has oscillated between two poles: stubborn isolationism and unstinting internationalism.

Isolationism was the default position from the founding era to 1941. In 1796, President George Washington set the young nation on a clear course: “The great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign nations, is in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible.” Americans thereafter avidly pursued international commerce and ruthlessly expanded across North America, but they shunned strategic entanglement farther afield. Following brief bouts of foreign ambition during the Spanish-American War and World War I, the isolationist impulse returned, leading to the strategic retreat of the interwar era. Isolationism’s long run then ended abruptly with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. From the nation’s entry into World War II until the election of President Donald Trump, the United States embraced global engagement, relying on a mix of U.S. power and international partnership to further its interests and spread its values.

During the Trump presidency, the country has been swinging back toward isolationism. Much of the U.S. foreign-policy establishment has been aghast at Trump’s efforts to quit Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria, his drawdown in Germany, and his cajoling of allies unwilling to do more to defend themselves. Yet these moves resonate with a U.S. public that has grown weary of the nation’s “forever wars,” especially amid the current pandemic and an economic calamity of a scale not seen since the Great Depression. Democratic and Republican voters share little common ground, but they agree that the country needs to offload at least some of its foreign entanglements.

Yet so far, the debate over what form this pullback should