America's Grand Strategy: A Pattern of History
Byline: James Kurth
In recent years, there have been many proposals about what should be the future direction, even the grand strategy, of American foreign policy. Among them have been the enlargement of democracy or the market, the containment of Islamic fundamentalism or Chinese expansionism, and the protection of human rights or the global ecology. In recent years, too, American foreign policy in practice seems to have been a matter of frantically dashing around the world, engaging in a new confrontation or intervention every six months or so. During the Clinton administration alone, the United States has been successively engaged with Somalia, Haiti, North Korea, Bosnia, and China. And with every confrontation, the speculations and debates about the direction of U.S. foreign policy begin anew.
