SVG
Commentary
Wall Street Journal

Stale Foreign-Policy Ideas Imperil America

A failed strategy gave us a dangerous world and created a need for fresh thinking.

walter_russell_mead
walter_russell_mead
Ravenel B. Curry III Distinguished Fellow in Strategy and Statesmanship
Cmdr. Roosevelt White Jr looks through the “big eyes” on the bridge wing on June 11, 2024. (DVIDS)
Caption
Cmdr. Roosevelt White Jr looks through the “big eyes” on the bridge wing on June 11, 2024. (DVIDS)

As hungry revisionist powers challenge the existing world order in the Middle East, Ukraine and the South China Sea, American foreign policy looks increasingly lost. In World War II, we had a plan: beat Germany first, then Japan, and then try to build a robust enough peace to prevent World War III. During the Cold War, the plan was to contain the spread of communism without a nuclear war until the Soviet Union’s inner failings brought it down. After the Cold War, the plan was to use America’s moment of unipolar dominance to build a peaceful, rules-driven world order.

While America’s World War II and Cold War strategies worked out well, our post-Cold War strategy failed. The unipolar moment is over, but today’s world isn’t peaceful, orderly or rules-driven. Instead, we are looking at an era of geopolitical competition driving a wave of wars.

Enjoyed this article? Subscribe to 91’s newsletters to stay up to date with our latest content.