American Isolationist Policies

Paper Summary:

This analysis examines the current isolationist policies adopted by the United States with regards to its foreign policy agenda. The paper examines when the current American attitude towards isolationism began and the considerations that led to this trend. The paper provides a detailed cost and benefits analysis of these policies. The paper notes the economic, political, militaristic and social benefits of the current isolationist policy for the United States but reveals that they are all short lived. The paper contends that for the government to continue this policy at the cost of engendering international alienation and condemnation is unthinkable.

From the Paper:

"The first and most obvious question to consider, is when the current American attitude towards isolationism began. After all, it was a strong consideration for world affairs and multilateral cooperatives that resulted in the Allies victory in World War II. Even in the decades after, American interest in containing the Communist bloc led to unprecedented creations of multilateral protectionism and aid agreements. No defining events seems obvious that would attribute the current state of isolationist policy to something tangible and concrete. Sanford Ungar noted in a research analysis in 1985 that "the United States is estranged from the world - separate, aloof more alone than even the most cynical of pessimistic observers might have predicted in the heyday of American postwar power" (Ungar, 120). Ungar's research indicates that as early as 1982, with Reaganomics still the foundation of economic recovery in America, the country's foreign policy approach turned decisively isolationist."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Cole, Wayne S. America First: The Battle against Intervention
• Kennedy, Thomas C. Charles A. Beard and American Foreign Policy (1975)
• Doenecke, Justus D. "Literature of Isolationism, 1972-1983: A Bibliographic Guide" Journal of Libertarian Studies, Spring 1983, 7(1), pp. 157-184
• Gaddis, John Lewis. Surprise, Security, and the American Experience. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2004.
• Gilbert, Felix The English Background of American Isolationism in the Eighteenth Century The William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd Ser., Vol. 1, No. 2 (Apr., 1944), pp. 138-160

More papers on American Isolationist Policies:

• Essay # 24228 : "American Foreign Policy"
• Argumentative Essay # 26668 : "Philippine-American War"
• Essay # 60373 : "American Isolationism"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: