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

ChapterSix

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OWN

H

TheJeffersonianTradition

T

heHamiltonianandWilsonianapproachestoAmericanforeign
policy,howevercontroversialtheymaysometimesbe,arerela-
tivelywellunderstood.Thoughinsomewaysalienandinothersoffen-
sivetotheclassicalapproachesofEuropeandiplomacy,overtimethey
havebecomefamiliarenoughtobeeasilycomprehensible.Furthermore,
throughoutthetwentiethcentury,othercountriestoa greaterorlesser
extentappropriatedelementsofHamiltonianandWilsonianpolitical
thoughttotheirowncircumstances.Thisisnotdifficulttodo.Theuni-
versalismofWilsonianlogicgivesitinternationalresonanceandpopu-
larity.Thecommercialinterestinmostcountriesisstrongenoughto
createsomedomesticanalogofHamiltonianpolitics,andthecommer-
cialadvantagesthatflowtocountriessupportingoratleastparticipating
ina UnitedStates-ledinternationalHamiltonianorderaresubstantial
enough tocreate significant interest groups inmost countries that
endorseHamiltonianproposalsforreasonsoftheirown.
TheJeffersonianandJacksonianschools,however,whichmoredirectly
spring fromidiosyncraticelementsofAmerican(orAnglo-American)
culture, remainlesswellknown, lesswellliked,andmuchless well