American Isolationism, Past and Present
About this event
The United States is in the middle of an urgent and heated debate over the future of its engagement with the world. From America’s founding era until World War II, the nation’s leaders generally shunned strategic commitments abroad. Thereafter, Americans embraced global leadership and activism. The pendulum now seems to be swinging back; costly military engagements in the Middle East, economic uncertainty and a backlash against globalization, and domestic political polarization have weakened the nation’s appetite for internationalism. What impact will the comeback of isolationist sentiment have on US strategy? Charles Kupchan examines the history and longevity of isolationism in the United States to shed light on how the incoming Biden administration can bring the nation’s statecraft back into line with its means and purposes by finding the middle ground between a foreign policy that does too little and one that does too much.
Copies of Charles Kupchan’s book, Isolationism: A History of America’s Efforts to Shield itself from the World, are available to purchase through our local book partner, The Book Cellar.
