American Conservatism and US Foreign Policy Challenges in the XXI Century: Between Interventionism and Isolationism

Abstract

The process of ideological and political transformation of American conservatism under the influence of foreign policy factors in the XXI century is discussed in the article. Foreign policy concepts of various types of American conservatism (neoconservatism, traditionalism, social conservatism, libertarianism, paleoconservatism) are studied based on Michael Frieden’s method of «ideological morphology». Two main directions of the conservative foreign policy (interventionism and isolationism) have been identified. The analysis of the foreign policy aspect of Trumpism as US version of contemporary populism is presented in the light of the ideological approach. The characteristics of Trumpism as «thin-centred» ideology, which based on the antithesis of «the pure American people» and «the corrupt Washington elite» and a concept of «common will of the people», are under investigation in the paper. The research shows, that Trumpism uses concepts of «host» ideology (conservatism) to form its discourse. The connection between the international agenda of Trumpism and isolationist and protectionist ideas of paleoconservatism is determined. The influence of conservative ideological attitudes on the evolution of US foreign policy in the XXI century is traced.

Keywords

• american conservatism
• neoconservatism
• traditionalism
• social conservatism
• libertarianism
• paleoconservatism
• us foreign policy
• interventionism
• isolationism
• populism
• trumpism