Abstract
Abstract The foreign policy of Donald Trump in his first term of office is often understood to have represented a sharp break with ‘the Wilsonian tradition’, which in turn is taken to mean an American foreign policy based on liberal principles. By instead advancing an alternative understanding of the Wilsonian tradition that it terms ‘civilizational Wilsonianism’, this article argues that there were actually far greater continuities between Wilson and Trump than initially meet the eye. It argues that Wilson and Trump's foreign policies, whatever their other differences, were both premised on the perceived need to ensure the survival of a particular type of ‘civilization’ in a dangerous, globalized world. If ‘Wilsonianism’ means a tradition that follows from the career of the historical Wilson, then at its core is a set of propositions about civilization, international interconnection, hierarchy and American power. Reframing ‘Wilsonianism’ in this way increases the value that the concept can bring to understanding American foreign policy in our own time and into the future by directing us to also consider the illiberal features and continuities of American foreign policy, alongside the liberal.
Published Version
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