The Progressive Case for American Power: Retrenchment Would Do More Harm Than Good

Authors

• Megan A. Stewart
• Jonathan B. Petkun, Duke Law SchoolFollow
• Mara R. Revkin, Duke Law SchoolFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2024

Abstract

After more than 20 years of costly military adventures, the United States has failed to root out extremism or bring liberal democracy to the oppressed. Thousands of American soldiers have lost their lives in the failed wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and beyond—and the death toll among civilians is in the millions. In the wake of these calamities, progressives have united around an overriding foreign policy prescription: the United States should jettison its world-dominating ambitions, restrain itself from taking on new commitments, and retrench from the world, shrinking the U.S. military’s footprint. In think tanks and universities, progressives are calling on Washington to avoid what they view as belligerent policies toward China and Russia. In Congress, the Progressive Caucus—the most left-leaning faction of the Democratic Party—has hesitated over U.S. support for Ukraine and opposed a U.S. military presence in Syria.

The trouble with this new consensus, however, is that Washington is not operating in a vacuum. An undeviating policy of U.S. restraint risks giving free rein to decidedly regressive forces in the world—such as China’s authoritarian influence across the global South, Iran’s financing of terrorism in the Middle East, and Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. Progressives are right to have a healthy skepticism of using military force and coercive power. But the reality today is that there are authoritarian powers that are repressing their own populations, bullying neighboring states, and wielding economic influence and military force in other ways that are antithetical to progressive values. If the United States retrenched, the world would surely see more such behavior, not less.

Today’s progressives need to get comfortable with American power, which, for all its flaws, has a crucial role to play. That doesn’t mean condoning illiberal actions to achieve just ends or cynically invoking progressive ideals to justify military adventurism. But it does mean seeking to harness power to advance the values progressives cherish—and accepting that might sometimes makes right.

Comments

Author Accepted Manuscript (post-peer-review, pre-copy-edit). This version is posted for non-commercial self-archiving purposes and may differ in minor respects from the final published version of record. Final published version is available at https://www.foreignaffairs.com/united-states/progressive-case-american-power

Citation

Megan A. Stewart et al., The Progressive Case for American Power: Retrenchment Would Do More Harm Than Good, 103 Foreign Affairs 90-102 (2024)