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

76 SPECIALPROVIDENCE

hecorrectlybelieved,a waytostrengthentheresolveofAmericansand
theiralliesaroundtheworldforwhatprovedtobethelastactinthelong
battle.
ForCarter,makinganticommunisma centerpieceofforeignpolicy
wasmoredifficultanddistasteful,especiallyatatimewhenthereac-
tion against theVietnamWar had madeanticommunism even less
fashionablethanusualinhisparty.Nevertheless,bytheendofCarter's
presidency, acombination ofideological opposition to communism
based onthe USSR'sabysmal humanrights record anda principled
oppositiontowhatwasinterpretedasSovietaggressioninAfghanistan
haddriventheadministrationbacktowardmoralanticommunismasan
organizingprincipleofAmericanforeignpolicy.Moralityandeconomics
were backasdrivingforces inAmericanpolicy;andintheendthey
didwhatamoralgeopoliticscouldneverdo:defeatedtheSovietUnion
whilestrengtheningtheinternationalorderwhoseprotectiontheUnited
StateshadinheritedfromBritain.
WiththeendoftheColdWar,thetraditionalthemesofAnglo-
Americanforeignpolicyreturnedtocenterstage.Thedisappearanceof
theoverwhelmingthreatandchallengeonceposedbytheSovietUnion
lefttheUnitedStatesfacing thesamekindsofquestionsGreatBri-
tainhad faced inthe nineteenthcentury-andwhichhad faced the
post-WorldWarIIAmericanstatesmenwhocreatedtheconditionsfor
European andJapanese recoveryin the 1940s. PresidentGeorge H.
Bush'scallfor"anewworldorder"andPresidentBillClinton'scallfor
theexpansionoffreemarketsandfreegovernmentsmakeclearthatques-
tionsofeconomicorderandhumanfreedomhadclearlybeenplacedin
thelimelight.
ButifContinentalrealismhadinpracticebeenabandonedbya gen-
erationofAmericanpolicymakers,intheintellectualrealmithadbeen
neitherrejectednorrefuted.TheUnitedStateswasmovinginthepat-
ternsofitstraditionalforeignpolicyconcerns,butstillunderthespellof
the ColdWarmyth. Ourpre-1945 historyand traditionsofforeign
policywere,sowebelieved,worthless.Ourmethodofgovernmentwas
profoundlyunsuitedtothechallengesofforeignpolicy.Ournational
instinctswere wrong.Anglo-Americanstatesmanshiphadtriumphed
overyetanotherContinentalrealistempire,butwedidnotyetknow
whatwehaddone,orhow.
TheAmericanstatesmanwhohasmadethemostsuccessfulattempt
toabandonContinentalrealismandbaseAmericanforeignpolicyontra-