Sunday, 28 October 2012

Did the Great War further or undermine the Progressive agenda?

The
Great War undermined the Progressive agenda in relation to foreign affairs. Woodrow Wilson's
vision of a rules-based international order had been a long-standing goal of the Progressive
movement. Progressives wanted to see an end to imperialism; they wanted international relations
to be conducted on the basis of cooperation and national self-determination. And although the
United States's entry into the war was largely based on such principles, it paradoxically set
back Progressive ideals in the formulation of American foreign policy.

Large
sections of the American public were hostile to their government getting involved in
constructing a new international system. It was one thing to fight a war to make the world safe
for democracy; it was something entirely different to sort out other countries' problems for
them. That was how isolationists in Congress saw the issue, and that's why they subsequently
rejected the League of Nations. It would take another generation before the...

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