USA and the World

In the context of WWII and the Cold War, the USA pointed the world in a direction of democracy and freedom. The Manifest Destiny reached its peak in the 20th and 21st centuries as the United States of America did not only set a high bar by being the world's most powerful country but also by managing to influence other powerful countries decisions through cultural changes.

Manifest destiny or not, to what extent was this ideology applied in the the US foreign policies?

Isolation for Protection

Quick start! After putting a barrier in between them and Europe, thanks to the Monroe doctrine, the United States firmly believed in a god-given mission to expand its territory by seizing the Wild West while maintaining isolationism. In fact, during World War I the USA did not medal in European affairs and even refused to join the League of Nations in 1919.

It is very well known that ideologies change in times of crisis when interests are being threatened. During the Great Depression, indeed, with president Roosevelt election begun the end of the American isolationism as access to market helped the country grow its economical power.

True Colours Revealed

With World War II becoming an American issue, a strong shift of USA's foreign policies was depicted. The Truman doctrine was put into action. Free trade alongside multilateralism, gave to the US the role of Global Leader to combat the spread of communism. An ideological purge then took place, censoring and eradicating every and anything in relation with faint communism in and out of the country.

While being advocates of democracy, the USA was responsible for multiple proxy wars such as the Korean War (1950-1953), the Vietnam War (1955-1975) and even supported leaders such as Babrak Karmal (Afghanistan 1980) to prevent alliances with the Soviet Union. In view of keeping a good public opinion civil rights were granted to minorities in the country (Civil Right movement) as an omission to all the horrors that they had experienced both during war and in society. The imperialism took a step further with the...

... New World Order

According to Wikipedia a New World order is: "(...) a conspiracy theory which hypothesizes a secretly emerging totalitarian world government.". After 1991, the USA have adopted the Bush doctrine which consists in maintaining power through wars, cultural influence and again :) terror :/. Indeed, the USA is known for claiming the role of world peacemaker and global policeman. In the course of the Obama presidency, over 500 drone strikes targeted Yemen, Somalia and Pakistan, leaving a light war footprint and preserving a heroic image at a time. Or should I say other countries feared the USA too much counter it. This is a patent example of America's multilateralism.

Moreover, the USA is a diplomatic landmark (New York) and has very effective Intelligence Service (FBI, CIA) for the lesser diplomatic missions that take place without people knowing. In 2020, under Donald Trump's direction, the US started proceeding in the withdrawal of the Paris Agreement treaty for climate change due to economical reasons. Here we notice that the USA contrarily to internal affairs, might not actually have limits and use the Manifest Destiny as mean to get what it wants tacitly. Nonetheless it is obvious that the USA isn't as trustworthy as it once claimed to be.

Overall the peaceful god-given Manifest Destiny in the USA is a utopian idea that helped the USA reach its goal of superiority in the world. The lack of morals through soft and hard power lead us to believe that its power is imperial and stems from fear and . The European currency (euro) however is becoming stronger, China has the biggest army in the world and Africa's rebirth in the past 10 years, the Americans are facing the challenge of keeping their spot.

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