Jonathan Kirshner
Some observers have approvingly claimed that the second Trump administration heralds a realist revival in American foreign policy. Writing in Foreign Affairs, Robert O’Brien, who served as national security adviser in the first Trump administration, eagerly promised “the return of realism with a Jacksonian flavor.”
This view is gravely mistaken. Realists often disagree, sometimes sharply, about the best course of action, so it is not easy to say what a “realist foreign policy” is. But it is easy to say what is not—and Donald Trump’s brand of “America first” is not.
Realism starts with the assumption that in world politics, anarchy reigns: no ultimate authority can settle disputes or guarantee restraint. In that context, it is necessary to be alert to the capabilities of others and to the potential threats that they might present. Realists are also distinguished by a shared set of assumptions about power and conflict. They see disputes between states generally not as misunderstandings, or disagreements about which differences can easily be split, but as manifestations of opposing ambitions.
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