The purpose of foreign policy is to guide a nation’s role in the world. Nations seek to advance their interests internationally by creating strategic alliances and diplomacy, influencing global systems to align with their core ideologies, and responding to humanitarian crises. This involves balancing support for allies with strategic restraint, preventing war or addressing threats from abroad, and establishing norms that promote peace over conflict.
In a recent poll, most Americans said working with international organizations to protect U.S. and allied security (68%), defending human rights in other countries (65%), and promoting favorable trade policies in foreign markets (65%) are very important goals. However, reducing poverty and disease worldwide and supporting democracy in other countries were less common goals with majority backing.
Historically, the United States has been a major player on the global stage. The Spanish-American War of 1898 marked the shift from isolationism to American expansion as the country gained territories in the Caribbean and Pacific. Theodore Roosevelt’s Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine (1904) and “gunboat diplomacy” in Latin America cemented American influence in the region.
The end of the Cold War (1991) saw the United States emerge as a dominant superpower, shaping a new international order based on democratic governance, free markets and collective security. The United States used its economic strength to rebuild Western Europe and prevent communist expansion, as well as a powerful nuclear arsenal to discourage attacks from other countries through deterrence.