With the world’s most powerful military and largest economy, the United States has unique influence in global affairs. Its actions, or lack of them, often have far-reaching effects, affecting people thousands of miles away. Its economic policies can help foreign economies thrive; and its trade restrictions can harm their economies. In addition, global events such as the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, food insecurity and population migration are increasingly impacting countries directly, requiring some level of American involvement to address them.
To maintain its global primacy, the United States needs a clear vision of its interests and values. It also requires the cooperation of others. It must create international institutions and regimes that preserve and extend its power, while avoiding the kinds of cultural and political tactics that can sap it over time. And it must work with other powers to spread the costs of action across a larger set of actors, lessening its vulnerability to attacks by nonstate actors. This is a difficult challenge. Throughout history, foreign policy has been a struggle between competing visions of what the state should do to secure its interests and promote its values. Ideologies have ranged from isolationism to a belief that the United States should engage in a grand strategy of integrating the world into a liberal Western world order. Today, many of those ideas remain alive and active, though the challenge is greater than ever. The perniciousness of globalization, which empowers tiny groups to inflict grievous damage, has made the need for a broad coalition in support of international law and liberal values all the more urgent.