The Wilsonian Century: U.S. Foreign Policy since 1900 - Softcover

Ninkovich, Frank

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0226581365 ISBN 13: 9780226581361

Publisher: University of Chicago Press, 2001

Synopsis

For most of this century, American foreign policy was guided by a set of assumptions that were formulated during World War I by President Woodrow Wilson. In this incisive reexamination, Frank Ninkovich argues that the Wilsonian outlook, far from being a crusading, idealistic doctrine, was reactive, practical, and grounded in fear. Wilson and his successors believed it absolutely essential to guard against world war or global domination, with the underlying aim of safeguarding and nurturing political harmony and commercial cooperation among the great powers. As the world entered a period of unprecedented turbulence, Wilsonianism became a "crisis internationalism" dedicated to preserving the benign vision of "normal internationalism" with which the United States entered the twentieth century. In the process of describing Wilson's legacy, Ninkovich reinterprets most of the twentieth century's main foreign policy developments. He views the 1920s, for example, not as an isolationist period but as a reversion to Taft's Dollar Diplomacy. The Cold War, with its faraway military interventions, illustrates Wilsonian America's preoccupation with achieving a cohesive world opinion and its abandonment of traditional, regional conceptions of national interest. The Wilsonian Century offers a striking alternative to traditional interest-based interpretations of U.S. foreign policy. In revising the usual view of Wilson's contribution, Ninkovich shows the extraordinary degree to which Wilsonian ideas guided American policy through a century of conflict and tension.

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

With this book, Frank Ninkovich offers a striking examination of Woodrow Wilson's influence on twentieth-century U.S. foreign policy. He argues that the Wilsonian outlook, far from being a crusading, utopian doctrine, was a creative, practical response to catastrophic great power wars that threatened to reverse the progressive course of modern history. Ninkovich shows how Wilsonian "crisis internationalism" guided U.S. foreign relations through a century of global turbulence and made possible the emergence of today's globalizing society.

About the Author:

Frank Ninkovich is professor emeritus of history at St. John’s University, New York. He is the author of many books, including Modernity and Power and The Wilsonian Century, both also published by University of Chicago Press.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0226581365
• ISBN 13: 9780226581361
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 330