Idealism and Pragmatism

Essay # 2815

History
International Relations
International Relations > U.S.

An analysis of the use of idealism and pragmatism in the U.S. foreign policy.

2,505 words () | 7 sources | 2001 United States

Paper Summary:

This paper examines the role of idealism and pragmatism in the US foreign policy between 1898-1945. The author examines these two principles and discusses the reasons and effects of their incorporation into the U.S. foreign policy.

From the Paper:

"At the time of its independence from Britain, the United States planned to pursue an isolationist foreign policy, reluctant to get entangled in European or Asian affairs. However, the initial strategy had to be abandoned with time as economical developments led to a series of foreign expeditions that many Americans hoped would eventually create a vast commercial empire. These ambitions necessitated that the United States increase its spheres of influence abroad to protect American business interests and investments. Economic interests combined with concern for national security, international balance of power, and world order, all requisite for capitalism to flourish, to encourage American intervention overseas. Moral intentions, full of idealist hopes for a democratic, free world, played part, although sometimes seeming artificial and hypocritical. As revealed in United States foreign policies concerning the major international events of the late nineteenth century until 1945 " the Spanish American War, World War I, World War II " pragmatic grounds initiated American involvement abroad, while the moral reasons amplified the motivation and gave justification, and higher meaning to the involvement later on."