Wilsonianism: Woodrow Wilson and His Legacy in American Foreign Relations (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781403960085)

In Wilsonianism, American foreign relations specialist Lloyd E. Ambrosius has compiled his published and unpublished essays on Woodrow Wilson's liberal ideology and statecraft during and after World War I. Although the president failed in his pursuit of a new world order, his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.

Author: L. Ambrosius
ISBN-10: 1403960089
ISBN-13: 9781403960085
Publisher: Palgrave MacMillan
Language: English
Published: 10/14/2002
Pages: 233
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.05lbs
Size: 9.46h x 6.36w x 0.77d

Review Citation(s):
New York Review of Books 11/20/2003 pg. 26