Wilsonianism : Woodrow Wilson and His Legacy in American Foreign Relations

In Wilsonianism , American foreign relations specialist Lloyd E. Ambrosius has compiled his published and unpublished essays on Woodrow Wilson's liberal ideology and statecraft during and after World War I. Although the president failed in his pursuit of a new world order, his legacy of Wilsonianism - the principles of national self-determination, economic globalization, collective security, and progressive historicism - continued to shape U.S. foreign relations throughout the American Century. Ambrosius examines the American roots of Wilson's liberal internationalism, the dilemmas and contradictions in his principles, and the problematic consequences of U.S. efforts to implement Wilsonian ideals without fully appreciating the world's cultural pluralism as well as its economic and political interdependence. Offering a pluralist variant of the realist tradition in international relations, Ambrosius stresses the centrality of power; but maintains that culture and political economy as well as military strength determine the balance of power within and among nations or empires. Consequently, he concludes, making the world safe for democracy has been more problematic in practice, both at home and abroad, than proclaiming Wilsonian principles in the abstract. Front Matter....Pages i-vii Introduction....Pages 1-18 Front Matter....Pages 19-19 Woodrow Wilson and the Culture of Wilsonianism....Pages 21-29 Woodrow Wilson and the Quest for Orderly Progress....Pages 31-47 Front Matter....Pages 49-49 Wilson’s League of Nations: Collective Security and National Independence....Pages 51-64 Wilson, Clemenceau, and the German Problem at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919....Pages 65-73 Secret German-American Negotiations during the Paris Peace Conference....Pages 75-90 Wilson, the Republicans, and French Security after World War I....Pages 91-99 The United States and the Weimar Republic: America’s Response to the German Problem....Pages 101-113 Front Matter....Pages 115-115 Ethnic Politics and German-American Relations after World War I: The Fight over the Versailles Treaty in the United States....Pages 117-123 Dilemmas of National Self-Determination: Woodrow Wilson’s Legacy....Pages 125-134 Front Matter....Pages 135-135 Woodrow Wilson’s Health and the Treaty Fight, 1919–1920....Pages 137-144 The Orthodoxy of Revisionism: Woodrow Wilson and the New Left....Pages 145-155 Vietnam Revisited: Wilson’s Ghost....Pages 157-173 Post-Cold War Wilsonianism: America’s Mission?....Pages 175-181 Back Matter....Pages 183-233

In Wilsonianism, American foreign relations specialist Lloyd E. Ambrosius has compiled his published and unpublished essays on Woodrow Wilson’s liberal ideology and statecraft during and after World War I. Although the president failed in his pursuit of a new world order, his legacy of Wilsonianism — the principles of national self-determination, economic globalization, collective security, and progressive historicism — continued to shape U.S. foreign relations throughout the American Century. Ambrosius examines the American roots of Wilson’s liberal internationalism, the dilemmas and contradictions in his principles, and the problematic consequences of U.S. efforts to implement Wilsonian ideals without fully appreciating the world’s cultural pluralism as well as its economic and political interdependence.