Special Providence: American Foreign Policy and How It Changed the World

Walter Russell Mead

Taylor & Francis Group, 2002 - Political Science - 378 pages

"God has a special providence for fools, drunks and the United States of America."--Otto von Bismarck

America's response to the September 11 attacks spotlighted many of the country's longstanding goals on the world stage: to protect liberty at home, to secure America's economic interests, to spread democracy in totalitarian regimes and to vanquish the enemy utterly.

One of America's leading foreign policy thinkers, Walter Russell Mead, argues that these diverse, conflicting impulses have in fact been the key to the U.S.'s success in the world. In a sweeping new synthesis, Mead uncovers four distinct historical patterns in foreign policy, each exemplified by a towering figure from our past.

Wilsonians are moral missionaries, making the world safe for democracy by creating international watchdogs like the U.N. Hamiltonians likewise support international engagement, but their goal is to open foreign markets and expand the economy. Populist Jacksonians support a strong military, one that should be used rarely, but then with overwhelming force to bring the enemy to its knees. Jeffersonians, concerned primarily with liberty at home, are suspicious of both big military and large-scale international projects.

A striking new vision of America's place in the world, Special Providence transcends stale debates about realists vs. idealists and hawks vs. doves to provide a revolutionary, nuanced, historically-grounded view of American foreign policy.

What people are saying

Review: Special Providence: American Foreign Policy and How it Changed the World

User Review  - Phyllis - Goodreads

You've almost got to feel sorry for WR Mead; the book was released in March 2001. My hunsband's reaction upon glancing at the book was to dismiss it as irrelevant to our current world and events. I ...

Review: Special Providence: American Foreign Policy and How It Changed the World

User Review  - Justin Kerby - Goodreads

A really great explanation of American politics, and the four main schools of thought that guide the actors.

About the author

Walter Russell Mead is Senior Fellow for U.S. Foreign Policy at the Council on Foreign Relations. A contributing editor at the Los Angeles Times, he has also written for the The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, Harper's and Foreign Affairs. He is the author of Mortal Splendor: The American Empire in Transition.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Special Providence: American Foreign Policy and How It Changed the World; “A” Century Foundation Book
• Author: Walter Russell Mead
• Edition: reprint
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis Group, 2002
• ISBN: 0415935369, 9780415935364
• Length: 378 pages
• Subjects: Political Science / History & Theory; Political Science / International Relations / General