Isolationism Essay ⋆ Political Science Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

Isolationism refers to a foreign policy in which a nation seeks to limit its contacts and involvements with other nations to achieve and maintain its security and well-being. Although the array of ties among individuals, groups, and nations make the pursuance of isolationism more and more difficult today, this approach has been popular throughout human history and remains an attractive option for some nations.

Historically, Japan adopted a policy of isolation for centuries, lasting until 1902 when it allied with Britain—in an effort to obstruct Russian expansion and control of a China based, Japanese-controlled port for use by the Russian navy. At the time, Britain was also breaking from a period of political isolationism. China, too, pursued isolationism for varying periods of time throughout its history, most recently during Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1976. Today, North Korea pursues a policy of isolationism in foreign affairs by limiting its contacts with the rest of the world and by severely restricting access to its country. Myanmar has long followed an isolationist policy as a means to preserve its independence and to protect itself from the influence of other nations.

Although a nation may not want to pursue isolationism, a nation’s geography; its limited political, military, or economic capability; and its lack of domestic unity may limit its involvements abroad. Nations fraught with domestic turmoil, such as Afghanistan, Somalia, and Sudan, have limited options in terms of foreign policy as they continuously struggle to maintain internal stability. Thus, many weak and failing states will ultimately pursue a more limited or isolationist foreign policy. The actions of the international community may also force isolationism on some countries. During Saddam Hussein’s rule of Iraq, the imposition of international sanctions on Iraq after the Gulf War (1990–1991) limited the country’s international engagements. Similarly, Libya under Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi’s rule since 1969 was internationally outcast due to Libyan involvement with and alleged sponsorship of international terrorist activities. In 2003 Libya announced its decision to abandon its nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons program and was able to reintegrate into the international community, particularly improving relations with Europe and the United States.

Isolationism As A Political Tool: Case Study Of The U.S. History Of Isolationism

More often, though, isolationism is a deliberately chosen foreign policy. By using the United States as a case study, we will examine a country with a long-held tradition of isolationism and explore the philosophical and practical reasons for which the United States employed an isolationist strategy for most of its history. On a philosophical level, the aim of America’s Founders was to avoid the entangling conflicts that seemingly enveloped Europe and from which the colonists had recently departed. According to the Founders, isolationism would allow the nation to develop its distinct values and beliefs. On a practical level, isolationism also had an appeal. The thirteen original colonies were hardly unified at the outset of the new nation, and substantial foreign involvements would only be detrimental to achieving unification since a weak and fragmented nation would likely have little impact on politics abroad but severely risk America’s becoming dominated by European politics.

Thus, isolationism quickly became embedded in America’s foreign policy through the political statements and doctrines of its early presidents. U.S. President George Washington’s Proclamation of Neutrality for the United States in 1793 during a war between France and England was perhaps the first declaration of this policy. Washington, in his Farewell Address of 1796 further outlined future U.S. political isolationism, stating, “The great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is, in extending our commercial relations to have with them as little political connection as possible.” President Thomas Jefferson’s inaugural address in 1801 echoed this sentiment by declaring the United States should have entangling alliances with none. The Monroe Doctrine of 1823 specified these positions by stating that the United States would stay out of the affairs of Europe and that Europeans should stay out of the affairs of the Western Hemisphere.

America’s foreign relations during the next century and a half largely adhered to the imperatives of political isolationism. Although the United States established numerous commercial and friendship agreements with countries around the world, it formed very few political ties. The few political involvements were largely confined to expanding control over the American continent or enforcing the Monroe Doctrine in the Western Hemisphere. Even when the United States became more globally active at the turn of the century and subsequently gained control over the Philippines and other territories after the Spanish-American War in 1898, domestic voices were quickly raised over these seemingly imperialist and globalist pursuits. The United States became involved in World War I (1914–1918) relatively late in 1917, three years after the war began, primarily because Germany violated the freedom of the seas principle toward neutral passenger ships, killing U.S. and European civilians traveling the Atlantic Ocean. Yet President Woodrow Wilson’s call for the creation of a collective international security organization among states, the League of Nations, to stop future international aggression met with stiff opposition in the U.S. Senate. Staunch isolationists, such as Senator Henry Cabot Lodge (R-MA) and Senator William E. Borah (R-ID), led the opposition and defeated American participation in a new international institution. By 1920, the campaign slogan adopted by Warren Harding, the Republican presidential candidate and later president, was a “return to normalcy,” a thinly veiled appeal to return to isolationism after the internationalism of the Wilson years.

This isolationist sentiment continued into the next decade and right up to the outbreak of World War II (1939–1945), as the U.S. Congress passed several pieces of legislation, including the Smoot-Hawley Tariff, a highly protectionist measure to seek to insulate the United States from the economic problems in the rest of the world and a series of Neutrality Acts throughout the 1930s in an attempt to keep the United States out of foreign wars and conflicts. Regardless, the events at Pearl Harbor, World War II, and the postwar threat of international communism ultimately compelled the United States to abandon isolationism. Since then, the United States not only has been involved in but has led the development of multilateral agreements and alliances, in addition to sponsoring international organizations. Still, appeals for U.S. isolationism appear from time to time, specifically after the country has engaged in a foreign armed conflict in which significant American losses or expenses are incurred and future threats remain. In the aftermath of the Vietnam War (1959–1975) in the early 1970s and with the formal end of the cold war in the early 1990s, isolationist sentiments emerged among the American public. After the events of September 11, 2001, some calls were made for isolationism as a way to insulate the United States from future terrorist actions. According to periodic foreign policy surveys during recent decades, roughly 20 percent of the American public routinely embraces isolationist views as a foreign policy option.

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