Special Providence_ American Foreign Policy and How It Changed World - Walter Russell Mead

84 SPECIALPROVIDENCE

BetweenthestartofWorldWarI andthewinterof1947,theUnited
States experimented withall ofthese approaches. Slowly it became
unpleasantlyapparentthattherewasnomiddleway:TheUnitedStates
hadtochoosebetweenfillingBritain'soldroleinitsownwayorlivingin
a worldinwhichnopowertookresponsibilityforthekindofworldorder
inwhichwehadalwaysexisted.Thiswasnochoiceatall.
ThethirderainthehistoryofAmericanforeignpolicyendedwith
thedecisionthatopenedthefourth,inwhichwestilllive.In 1947 asin
1823,Americansconcludedthatthenationalinterestrequireda strong
maritimepowerabletoupholdthebalanceofpowerinEuropeandto
maintainaninternationaleconomicandpoliticalorderintherestofthe
world.By 1947 thatpowercouldnolongerbeGreatBritain;itwould
havetobetheUnitedStates. Atlasshrugged,andtheUnitedStates
wouldshoulderthesky.SinceWorldWarII,thatchoicehasbeenand
remainsthecornerstoneofAmericanforeignpolicy.TheColdWar,large
thoughitloomedatthetime,andvitalasitwastowin,waslessofa
milestoneinAmericanhistorythanmanyassume.Therealdecision,
whoseimplicationsandconsequencesarestillwithustoday,wastotake
onBritain'soldrole.TheColdWarwasanincidentinAmericanforeign
policy,notanepoch,anditsendlefttheUnitedStateswithessentially
thesamesetofresponsibilities,interests,andtasksthatwehadwhenit
began.

T

hethirdelementina newparadigmhastodowiththeimpor-

tanceofdemocracyinAmericansuccess.Contrarytoconven-

tionalviewsabouttheunsuitabilityofdemocraticsocietiesforsuccessin

foreignpolicy,thetumultoftheAmericanforeignpolicyprocess,and

especiallyitsgroundingindemocraticsociety,hasonthewhole been

beneficialovertime.Thedemocraticprocesshasprovidedamethodfor

aligningthepolicyofthecountrywithitsintereststhatissuperiorto

anythingthatindividualstatesmen,howevergifted,couldaccomplish.

TheUnitedStatesachievesitssuccessinforeignpolicythrougha

processverydifferentfromtheclassicContinentalmodel.Insteadofa

broodinggreatgeniusproducingournationalstrategyinsplendidisola-

tion,somehowapolicy-orevena groupofsometimesconflictingand

sometimescomplementaryminipolicies--emergesfromthejostlingand

jumblingofpoliticalinterests,politicians'egos,economicandethnic

lobbies,regionalvotingblocs,andrandomnoisethatmakeuptheAmeri-

canpoliticalprocess.Inotherwords,Americanforeignpolicyemergesin