Why Wilson Matters: The Origin Of American Liberal Internationalism And Its Crisis Today (Princeton Studies In International History And Politics, 152)

How Woodrow Wilson's vision of making the world safe for democracy has been betrayedùand how America can fulfill it again The liberal internationalist tradition is credited with America's greatest triumphs as a world powerùand also its biggest failures. Beginning in the 1940s, imbued with the spirit of Woodrow WilsonÆs efforts at the League of Nations to "make the world safe for democracy," the United States steered a course in world affairs that would eventually win the Cold War. Yet in the 1990s, Wilsonianism turned imperialist, contributing directly to the invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the continued failures of American foreign policy. Why Wilson Matters explains how the liberal internationalist community can regain a sense of identity and purpose following the betrayal of WilsonÆs vision by the brash ôneo-Wilsonianismö being pursued today. Drawing on WilsonÆs original writings and speeches, Tony Smith traces how his thinking about AmericaÆs role in the world evolved in the years leading up to and during his presidency, and how the Wilsonian tradition went on to influence American foreign policy in the decades that followedùfor good and for ill. He traces the traditionÆs evolution from its ôclassicö era with Wilson, to its ôhegemonicö stage during the Cold War, to its ôimperialistö phase today. Smith calls for an end to reckless forms of U.S. foreign intervention, and a return to the prudence and ôeternal vigilanceö of WilsonÆs own time. Why Wilson Matters renews hope that the United States might again become effectively liberal by returning to the sense of realism that Wilson espoused, one where the promotion of democracy around the world is balanced by the understanding that such efforts are not likely to come quickly and without costs.

• | Author: Tony Smith
• | Publisher: Princeton University Press
• | Publication Date: Jan 08, 2019
• | Number of Pages: 352 pages
• | Language: English
• | Binding: Paperback/Political Science
• | ISBN-10: 0691183481
• | ISBN-13: 9780691183480