As Americans assess the costs and benefits of President Donald J. Trump’s America First brand of statecraft, they need to better understand the enduring connection between the isolationist impulse and the American experience, argues Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) Senior Fellow Charles A. Kupchan in his new book, Isolationism: A History of America’s Efforts to Shield Itself from the World. “Although America’s current yearning to pull away from foreign entanglement constitutes a sharp departure from its recent track record of determined foreign engagement . . . this inward turn resonates strongly with America’s further past,” Kupchan observes.
More From Our ExpertsKupchan’s book traces isolationism across U.S. history, from the founding era through the Trump presidency. President George Washington in 1796 warned Americans “to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world.” Thereafter, “the isolationist impulse embraced by Washington and the other Founders guided the nation for much of its history prior to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941,” states Kupchan. Isolationism, unilateralism, protectionism, racism—these were all defining features of America’s approach to the world from the nation’s birth well into the twentieth century, the author posits.
Americans from the outset wanted their unique democratic experiment to spread to other countries, but they sought to change the world only by the power of example, not by extending their strategic reach beyond North America. According to Kupchan, “Americans were determined to protect the exceptional character of their nation by keeping the outside world at bay.” The author observes that “limiting foreign entanglement long served America well,” clearing the way for its ascent during the nineteenth century. But this aversion to involvement abroad later led the nation astray. During the 1930s, the United States “ran for cover as militarism and virulent nationalism began to engulf Europe and East Asia.” According to Kupchan, “The United States was a passive bystander during one of history’s darkest decades.”
Kupchan’s book explains how, amid World War II and the Cold War, Americans finally broke with their isolationist past and embraced an ambitious brand of internationalism. To good effect: America’s global leadership led to a more stable and democratic world. But since the end of the Cold War, Americans have overreached, lured off course “by the idealist ambitions of Pax Americana.” The nation’s “forever wars” in the Middle East, political polarization, and COVID-19’s painful economic impact have taken a toll on the nation’s internationalist appetite. As the electorate tires of seemingly unlimited foreign commitments, “isolationist sentiment has been making a comeback,” writes Kupchan.
Kupchan warns that “the strategic, political, and socio-economic conditions that long made Americans ambivalent, if not hostile, toward foreign ambition are by no means gone for good.” Today, the United States is hardly destined to return to isolationism. Indeed, the author argues, Americans need to carefully weigh the pros and cons of both isolationism and internationalism to avoid that outcome. He writes, “A principal challenge moving forward will be to draw on both isolationist and internationalist traditions to find a sustainable brand of statecraft.” Looking ahead, Kupchan recommends a “judicious retrenchment” that constitutes “the middle ground between doing too much and doing too little.”