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7 June 2024

Illusions of U.S. Foreign Policy

Jakub Grygiel

US and, more broadly, Western foreign policy is affected at its core by a mistaken view of the causes of political order. Built on the conviction that political order is engineered through a top-down process, it assumes that the state apparatus creates domestic order, while international institutions and rules build global order. Accordingly, what establishes a more efficient and lasting order is nothing more than the right application of power in its military, economic, or institutional forms. Three specific illusions stem out of this view: that removing a bad leader or toppling a bad regime will result in a more benign state; that membership in international institutions will fundamentally alter hostile states; and that wealth and commerce will create lasting peace. The result of these illusions is that we overestimate the capabilities of the basic tools of statecraft, from military power to economic means.

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