Why Wilson Matters

Tony Smith is the Cornelia M. Jackson Professor of Political Science at Tufts University. His many books include America's Mission: The United States and the Worldwide Struggle for Democracy and The Crisis of American Foreign Policy: Wilsonianism in the Twenty-First Century (both Princeton).

• Preface xi Introduction Know Thyself: What Is "Wilsonianism"? 1 PART I THE ESSENTIAL WILSON: WILSON'S WILSONIANISM 1 Woodrow Wilson on Democracy Promotion in America 31 2 Democracy Promotion through Progressive Imperialism 65 3 Democracy Promotion through Multilateralism 95 4 Wilson's Wilsonianism 130 PART II WILSONIANISM AFTER WILSON 5 Wilsonianism: The Construction of an American Vernacular 147 6 The Rise of Neo-Wilsonian Theory 182 7 From Theory to Practice: Neo-Wilsonianism in the White House, 2001-2017 235 Conclusion Reviving Liberal Internationalism 276 Acknowledgments 291 Notes 295 Index 321

"A painstaking, take-no-prisoners attack on those who believe that America's historical experience can be duplicated everywhere... This makes for powerful reading."--Robert Kaplan, Wall Street Journal "A valiant effort to assert that Woodrow Wilson's view of how America should relate to the world has relevance today... Smith performs a service to readers looking to place current domestic political developments in historical context."--Publishers Weekly "[Smith] wants to reclaim Wilson's historical memory to bolster the very idea of liberal internationalism, which he correctly considers under assault. For Smith, the problem is not that the United States stands for liberal values and seeks to promote democracy abroad; for too many, doing so has become synonymous with military force and overthrowing governments. The association of Wilson's precepts with the recent wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya has caused many to question the wisdom of a vigorous American role in the world. The result, Smith argues, is that 'neo-Wilsonianism sabotaged the very tradition from which it had emerged.'"--Derek Chollet, The National Interest