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

74 SPECIALPROVIDENCE

superpowers. Nonetheless, what the administration's Continentalist
approach toforeignpolicyprincipallyproducedwasa seriesofmajor
trainwrecks.PuttingVietnamaheadofBrettonWoodsleddirectlyto
thetwocostliestfailuresoftheColdWar.Thefinalingloriousendtothe
AmericaneffortinVietnamcouldnothavebeenmorehumiliatinghadit
beenscriptedintheKremlin;thebitternessengenderedbytheprolon-
gationofthewarhadnotfadedfromAmericanpoliticsbytheendofthe
centuryandposedoneofthemostseriousobstaclestoNixon'ssuccessors
astheysoughttocontinuetheColdWar.Similarlytheeconomicconse-
quencesofthecollapseofBrettonWoodsandthehastilyimprovisedway
inwhichtheywerehandledinflictedlastingdamageontheAmerican
economyandonU.S. relationswithbothWesternEuropeandJapan.
NixonandKissingersucceededwhereCharlesdeGaullehadfailed:On
thesubjectofmonetarypolicytheyunitedEuropeagainsttheUnited
States.FromthecollapseoftheBrettonWoodssystemtothepresentday,
Europeanshaveburiedalltheirdifferences,howeverbitter,andcooper-
atedtowingreatermonetaryindependencefromWashingtoningood
timesandbad.Theconsequencesofthechaoticcollapseofthesystem
spreadfarther.Theinflationarywavessetoffbythecurrencycrashledto
theoilpriceshocksandtheeconomicstagflationofthe197os,whichhad
massiveconsequencesforprivateinvestorsandfornationaleconomiesall
overtheworld,undermininggovernments,exacerbatingsocialconflicts,
andsettingthestageforsuchfurtherproblemsasthethird-worlddebt
crisisofthe1980s.

T

hesameNixonyearsthatsawthelow-watermarkofAmerican

fortunesintheColdWaralsowitnessedthehigh-watermarkof

the conscious influence ofContinental realism in Americanforeign

policy.Sincethattimewehaveseenananomalousandultimatelyincom-

patiblepairofdevelopments.Atthelevelofpolicy,Americanforeign

policyhasbeenrapidlyandsteadilymovingawayfromContinentalreal-

ismandbacktowardtraditionalAmericanandAnglo-Americanpriori-

tiesandconcerns.Attheleveloftheory,however,muchoftheanalysisof

Americanforeignpolicyremainslockedintheconceptsandmythsof

ContinentalrealismandtheColdWar.

AftertheNixonandFordyearsthereturntotraditionalAmerican

foreignpolicyconcernswasswift;thedismalstateoftheglobalsystemin

the1970Sandthebreakdownofdomesticpoliticalconsensusoverfor-