Why Is America's Foreign Policy Still Punching Above Its Weight?

The United States has a reputation for driving the course of world affairs — but it doesn't necessarily deserve it

Does U.S. foreign policy matter? Of course it does, but how much?

These days, both proponents and critics of America's omnipresent role in the world tend to portray U.S. foreign policy as the single most important factor driving world affairs. For defenders of global activism, active U.S. engagement (including a willingness to use military force in a wide variety of situations) is the source of most of the positive developments that have occurred over the past 50 years and remains critical to preserving a "liberal" world order. By contrast, critics of U.S. foreign policy both at home and abroad tend to blame "U.S. imperialism," the "Great Satan," or mendacious Beltway bungling for a host of evil actions or adverse global trends and believe the world will continue to deteriorate unless the United States mends its evil ways....

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