Why America Does So Much

Stephen Walt wonders why the U.S. has such an activist foreign policy:

In short, what I'm suggesting here is that America's role in the world today is shaped by two imbalances of power, not just one. The first is the gap between U.S. capabilities and everyone else's, a situation that has some desirable features (especially for us) but one that also encourages the United States to do too much and allows others to do either too little or too many of the wrong things. The second imbalance is between organized interests whose core mission is constantly pushing the U.S. government to do more and in more places, and the far-weaker groups who think we might be better off showing a bit more restraint.

Let me add a third to this list and that is the imbalance between incumbency and change. Overseas military installations, for instance, are quite expensive to build and maintain. Once they're up, it's very difficult to just walk away from them. So apart from the ideological or institutional support for America's international activism, there is the sheer weight of the status quo.

This is why talk of "change" in foreign policy has to be taken with a grain of salt. Most of the time this change occurs within the broad framework of the existing status quo - it rarely proposes an alternative framework. It's easier to swim with the tide than against it.

---

Photo credit: AP Photo