Beyond the American century: Walter Lippmann and American grand strategy, 1943-1950

Porter, P. (2011) Beyond the American century: Walter Lippmann and American grand strategy, 1943-1950. Diplomacy and Statecraft, 22 (4). pp. 557-577. ISSN 1557-301X doi: 10.1080/09592296.2011.625803

Abstract/Summary

As the United States became a world Power, journalist and intellectual Walter Lippmann feared that it would become its own worst enemy. During and after the Second World War, he tried to steer the country towards coherent statecraft, to define the national interest and the limits of power, and give geopolitical expression to the role of the United States as the core of an Atlantic strategic system. But in response to world war, the Truman Doctrine, and the Korean War, he became pessimistic about the country's ability to conduct strategy effectively. In the prophetic tradition, he believed that a fatal symbiosis between America's growing strength and domestic politics led it towards crisis. Though at times ahistorical, Lippmann's concept of strategy deserves attention for its dialogue between power and identity, for its questioning of “ends” as well as means, and for its focus on the danger of self-defeating behaviour.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/26030
Identification Number/DOI	10.1080/09592296.2011.625803
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Arts, Humanities and Social Science > School of Politics, Economics and International Relations > Politics and International Relations
Publisher	Taylor & Francis: Routledge
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