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

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.