George Epstein: What in the World?

America has no foreign policy. For the first 40 years of my life, “contain communism” was the two-word summary of America’s goal on the world stage. Then, 35 years ago, the Berlin Wall came down and since then, we have simply reacted to the actions of our enemies and adversaries without any strategy, consistency, or principles.

In my youth, it was said, “politics ends at the water’s edge.” America faced the world with a largely bipartisan foreign policy. The president, as commander in chief and as the negotiator of treaties (for Senate confirmation) provided leadership in all aspects of foreign relations. Now we have hawkish and isolationist Republicans and Democrats in the Congress, all of whom consider themselves to be purveyors of America’s international policies. Having 535 people announcing American positions and having our policies reverse with every presidential election means the world has no idea what we will do next. If they don’t like the current policy, they can just wait around for a while and a new one will come along.