Why Wilson Matters: The Origins of American Liberal Internationalism and Its Crisis Today

Political science professor Smith makes a valiant effort to assert that Woodrow Wilson’s view of how America should relate to the world has relevance today, though the election of Donald Trump may make some of his points moot. He honestly concedes where his arguments are susceptible to challenge, even on as fundamental an issue as whether it is legitimate to consider the 28th president’s views on international affairs a coherent doctrine meriting the label Wilsonism. Smith performs a service to readers looking to place current domestic political developments in historical context, tracking the evolution of Wilson’s view that human progress happens when “democratic cultures, societies, and governments gain in strength,” and thus the U.S.’s task was to “sponsor the expansion of democracy as best it could.” And he carries the analysis forward after Wilson’s administration, through a close examination of successive presidents’ foreign policies up through Barack Obama’s second term. Despite the book’s flaws, he achieves his stated goal of providing background “to the pressing matters of today,” so that people dealing with them—“the young and those in policy-making or implementing positions”—can “learn what they can from the past.” [em](Jan.) [/em]